Yes, you can be this happy in your condo unit while sharing so many walls with neighbors. The secret is having an efficient and professional property management company.

Condos can be as beautiful, private and even free-standing as single-structure homes. They are often smart real estate investments, as primary residences, a vacation escape or as a rental property, for their ease of ownership through property management.

However, you will only achieve a “less maintenance” lifestyle and make the intelligence of your investment a reality by making sure you have excellent property management, because the value of your property is directly tied to the financial health and structural wellness of the association’s property.

If you own a condominium or are thinking of purchasing one, I hope you know that you are essentially owning two things: you have the property itself from the plaster in, and you are a co-owner of the common elements and the small business of the association.

Conventional wisdom says that a condo’s value appreciates slower than single family homes, but that is not necessarily true. The value of a condo can slow down for two major reasons.

First, state law says that within five days of being under contract, buyers can request and receive the most up-to-date financial records, bylaws, declaration and other relevant documents. (Obviously, a smart broker will be requesting them sooner, too.) They better look good.

Second, because they are usually one unit within a larger whole of identical or similar units, there are more direct “comps” — recent nearby home sales that will affect the appraisal of your home when it is time to sell.  All it really takes for your property value to tank is one other person’s unit to sell poorly. That doesn’t have to happen with the right property management team.

Here are five ways property management will help your condo association and some questions you can ask to make sure your needs are being met:

1. Maintain financial health

When you list a condo for sale, some buyers won’t even come look at it if the finances are not adding up. Vendors need to be paid on time, taxes should be up to date, and there must be a healthy savings account. From what I’ve seen, self-management is only successful with a small association, like two to four units. They often rotate official duties and use software like Quickbooks, operating like the very small business that they are. Any more units than that, you start involving more people, which means more personalities, more turnover and more need for consistent communication.

Professional management will be meticulous with your money. A notorious problem in condo associations is resistance to raising fees or dues. We can attend meetings to communicate where money is being spent and project future costs. You’ll want to also ask if financial services include tax preparation, especially if your association generates income from a pool, gym or other amenity.

2. Conduct routine repairs to maintain common elements

Keeping common elements in good, clean working condition is the next key to reselling a condo unit for the highest possible price. Siding, windows, roofs or other exterior elements in poor condition could disqualify your property for FHA financing, eliminating a significant number of potential buyers. With our experienced maintenance team, we help our clients create realistic budgets and timelines for needed repairs.

3. Be responsive to emergency and routine maintenance

You want to make sure your management company is staffed up, so that they can respond to maintenance requests in a timely manner—especially the middle-of-the-night ones. How many employees does the company have and what are their roles? What maintenance will I have to outsource? No matter the problem, you want to know what number to call before you have to call it.

4. Professional communication with disruptive units

All it takes is one “problem” unit to tank your condo’s value. Maybe they are noisy, maybe they leave trash outside the door, maybe they are never there and a different smoke detector’s batteries are dying each week. Well, this affects their property values too. You can deploy a management team to have a business conversation with your neighbor and help solve community problems.

5. Find tenants for long-term leases, or list your unit when it is time to sell

This is something unique we do at Flynn & Company Property Management. Through my decades of experience in real estate, I have built a professional network across the country. When it’s time to sell, we have a special perspective on how to market your unit, and negotiate any unlucky comps: for example, we could submit information that someone in the HOA sold to a family member at very low price. We could also identify pre-sale improvements where you’ll make the best return on investment.

Is your HOA’s management making you think “SOS!”? See what’s out there and get a free quote from Flynn & Company. Call 207-776-5226 or email joe.flynn@atlanticrealestatenetwork.com.