Frequentlly Asked Questions 

1. What is your Accounting system name?  

    

   We use Buildium and Appfolio. Depends on the HOA / COA and their needs.

    

2. Can you provide the Community a Financial report where the board of directors can drill down to the detail transactions to see what makes up the total for the account? 

    

   Absolutely, this is a basic requirement of the Davis-Stirling act, we reconcile and provide financials by the 10th of the following month every month and a budget 45 days prior to year end for Board approval.

    

3. How many HOA’s is a community manager assigned to manage at once (e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc)? 

    

   In addition to our admin and support staff, depending on your HOA unit count and community needs/amenities we assign 2-3 liaisons to every association we manage. 1 for Maintenance, 1 for Accounting, 1 for Compliance & Miscellaneous requests.

    

4. What makes you different from other HOA property management companies? 

    

   Below are 10 reasons that differentiate us:

   1: Operated by a California Realtor Broker. (CA DRE# 01484625)  

   2: CATALYST is registered with the Department of Real Estate. (CA CORP DRE# 01527534)

   3: Fixed Fee Comprehensive Management. 

   4: Local company with an attentive staff to Board Of Directors.

   5: Operate with ethics and integrity with a high sense of urgency.

   6: Near 20 years of licensed HOA Management experience.

   7: Several local current HOA BOD references available upon request.

   8: Fully customizable services to accommodate your community.

   9: We abide by and enforce the Davis-Stirling Act.

   10. Financials are managed/overseen by Certified Financial Fiduciary

    

5. Do you have full Accrual accounting (not modified Accrual) when expenses are recorded in the period they are incurred 

    

   Yes, we abide by strict accounting principles and in a manner for a real time/immediate audit by the DRE or the Boards we serve.

6. How do you manage vendor and vendor insurance requirements?   

    

   We have a Maintenance coordinator and compliance team that confirms W9 and insurance coverage is current and meets HOA requirements for every vendor serving the properties we manage.

    

7. Does this cost the vendor any money to use this system? 

    

   No, we absorb tech costs.

    

8. Can you provide a sample contract and a rough estimate of the monthly charge? 

    

   Yes, we require HOA/COA name, units, a BOD contact and amenity details, if any.

    

9. Do you manage the architectural approval process for our community? 

    

   Yes, we help form a Architectural Committee within the HOA/COA and manage the process of all submissions.

    

10. Do you manage the community violation process for the Board? 

     

    Yes, per enforcement leniency of the Board we will hold accountable all owners and tenants violating rules and bylaws with fines, levies and legal action.

     

11. What is your target/standard turnaround time on emails and phone calls?

     

    If received during business hours, same day for 90% of requests, however we ask for up to a 24 hour response for non emergencies and requests submitted after business hours. Our business hours are from 8AM-7PM M-F.

     

12. How would your management handle passive aggressive behavior and/or lack of critical thinking from a community manager? 

     

    Our staff is qualified in conflict resolution and are multiple designee holders. We are experts at serving all homeowners and strive to bring unity among all within the communities we serve regardless of owner personality preference, behavior, Board and owner disagreements or conflicts. We help everyone identify a clear, common vision and mission of your HOA/COA and by doing this effectively we have less challenges among the community than our competitors whom lack this skill.

     

13. Do you have an in-house handyman our community can use? 

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    Intentionally, Not “in house”, but we do have independent handymen that are preferred vendors. We eliminate any conflicts of interests with the vendors that serve our communities by not having any “in house” vendors outside of management. But we do have qualified, vetted and insured handyman independent vendors to refer and would recommend based on previous experience. Should your community require, we would request and designate a local “on call” full-time provider.

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14. What Agency oversees Homeowner Associations in California?

 

Homeowners' Associations in California need to be set up as a corporation and therefore must also adhere to the California Corporation Codes. These codes state that all community associations must be operated by a board of directors. Currently, no government agency regulates homeowners' associations.  For this reason, we are registered with the Department of Real Estate as layer of oversight.

 

 

15. What to do when a homeowner refuses to obey the Association's Governing Documents including the Rules and Regulations?

 

We do our best to mitigate challenges among disobeying homeowners, but we come across a rogue member often and experts at resolution.  Fortunately we leverage the bylaws, CCR or CRR in our favor, explaining the sections that are being violated.  We issue a courtesy notice, followed by fines, and liens if necessary.  It’s renters that give their owners a challenge more than it is the owners challenging the HOA.

 

16. How can the Association solve their financial crisis?

 

With transparent accounting to start. Every line item needs to be accounted for, then a savings and increase of dues, or combination of special and emergency assessments could be necessary. In extreme cases we can seek loan options to buy some time.  Usually this predicament is due to mismanagement of funds from your Board or current/previous management company.  One flag is the line item labeled “miscellaneous” in your monthly financials…our competition hates us for exposing this one. 

 

17. How do we run an effective Homeowners Association Board Meeting?

 

We help with Agenda items, distribute and encourage owner participation, take roll call, lead the meetings and take copious notes for the homeowners in and not in attendance.

 

18. How do we organize our Board of Directors?

 

Abiding by the Davis-Stirling Act we will hold annual elections in compliance with your communities requirements.

 

19. Your Association has not held an election for a long time, what can we do

Hold one…Send out the call for nominees, then the announcements and hold the election...What are you waiting for?

 

20. We have a Bully on our Board, how do we solve this problem.

Stop being soft…just kidding, we love bullies.  Here’s why, it’s usually an ego conflict.  However an experienced management company knows how to identify the bully’s intent, need or grudge.  If they decide to continue playing tuff, we help you vote them out. We believe in the NBA principle. No Bullies Allowed.

 

21. Who is responsible for termite treatment?

 

In most cases its the Associations responsibility to upkeep common areas, hence termite treatment in common areas is the HOA/COA responsibility. This can benefit confirmed in your Bylaws or CCRs or CRRs.  

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