Understanding management fees
How the money actually works: base fee models, what sits outside them, and where margin lives.
Base fee models
Per unit per month, flat monthly, or a percentage of the operating budget. Published industry sources put community association management at $10 to $20 per unit per month nationally, rising to roughly $50 for premium or full-service arrangements, with flat arrangements commonly $700 to $6,000 per month.
Onboarding
A one-time charge to take the association on. Published ranges run from a couple thousand dollars to $30,000 depending on size and the condition of the records.
Ancillary and a-la-carte
Collection actions, resale and estoppel certificates, document fees, meeting attendance beyond an allotment, capital project management as a percentage of value, mailings, and administrative pass-throughs. Some are statutorily capped in some states.
Who pays
A meaningful share of ancillary revenue is billed to homeowners rather than the association — estoppel and resale certificates especially. That is still your community paying, and it belongs in the comparison.
What to do about it
Require a complete, dated fee schedule from every bidder, priced at your actual volumes rather than in the abstract.
General information for Board members, not legal advice. State law and your governing documents control.
Statutory deadlines, contract terms worth knowing about, and what we learn from proposals. No sales email, and we do not sell the list.
Start with what you already know.
You know your unit count. You know what your current management does well and what it does not. That is enough to begin.
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