100 Questions to Ask a Property Manager or Managing Agent Before You Hire Them
Before hiring a property manager or managing agent, a co-op or condo board should ask about the firm's track record, the specific manager and team assigned to the building, communication, financial controls, building operations and NYC local law compliance, vendor bidding and conflicts of interest, insurance, building staff and union matters, and the management agreement itself. The 100 questions below cover each of those areas, written for New York City buildings.
The Folson Group has run property management searches for NYC co-op and condo boards since 2014.
How to Use This List
You do not need to ask all 100. Pick the 20 to 30 that matter most for your building, ask the same ones of every firm, and get the answers in writing so you can compare them side by side. Listen for how a firm answers as well as what it says. Vague answers, defensiveness, or slow responses are information too.
Experience and Track Record
1. How long has your firm managed co-ops and condos in New York City, and how many buildings do you manage today?
2. How many of your buildings are similar to ours in size, age, type (co-op or condo), and neighborhood?
3. Can you give us at least three references from current board presidents or treasurers at buildings like ours, plus one from a building that left you in the last few years?
4. How many buildings have you added and lost in the last three years, and why did the ones that left decide to go?
5. Who owns the firm, who makes the final decisions, and has ownership or leadership changed recently or is a sale or merger planned?
6. What is the hardest situation you have managed at a building like ours, and what did you do?
7. Is your firm or any of its principals involved in any current lawsuits, regulatory actions, or complaints related to property management?
8. What professional licenses, designations, and continuing education do your managers hold?
9. Why do you want to manage our building, and what would you do differently from our current manager in the first year?
Communication and Responsiveness
Financial Management and Accounting
20. What is your standard response time for board emails, resident requests, and emergencies?
21. How do you handle emergencies at night, on weekends, and on holidays, and who actually answers the phone?
22. What written reports will the board receive each month, and can we see a sample?
23. How many board meetings per year are included, and will our manager attend in person or by video?
24. Who prepares meeting agendas and minutes, and how quickly are they circulated?
25. How do you communicate with shareholders or unit owners about projects, outages, and building rules?
26. How do residents submit and track service requests, and can the board see the open items log?
27. How do you keep the board informed about a problem before it becomes a crisis?
28. How do you handle a board that is divided, or a board member who contacts you directly with personal requests?
29. How do you handle complaints from residents about the board, and about your own firm?
Building Operations, Maintenance, and Capital Projects
40. How do you track Local Law 11 / FISP cycles, and how far ahead of our next filing window do you start planning, budgeting, and hiring the engineer?
41. How have you managed Local Law 11 projects at buildings like ours, including scaffolding and sidewalk shed duration, change orders, and keeping residents informed?
42. How are you helping your buildings comply with Local Law 97, who prepares and files our annual emissions report, and how do you factor future emissions limits into capital planning?
43. How do you schedule and manage Local Law 152 gas piping inspections, and what is your plan if an inspection leads to a gas shutoff?
44. How do you handle Local Law 87 energy audits and retro-commissioning, and Local Law 84 benchmarking, and who files them?
45. How do you manage elevator inspections and tests (annual and five-year), boiler inspections, and the resulting repairs and filings?
46. How do you track other recurring inspections, such as water tank, backflow prevention, sprinkler and standpipe, and gas detector requirements, where they apply to our building?
47. Do you recommend a reserve study, how often should it be updated, and how would you use it in our budget?
48. What does a five-year capital plan look like at your firm, and can we see an anonymized example?
49. Who oversees capital projects day to day: our manager, an in-house project team, or an outside owner's representative?
50. How do you select and coordinate engineers and architects, and how do you keep projects on schedule and on budget?
51. How do you approach preventive maintenance for roofs, façades, mechanical systems, and building systems?
52. How do you manage apartment alterations, including alteration agreements, plan review, insurance requirements, and contractor oversight?
53. How do you handle water leaks between units, including investigation, responsibility, and documentation?
Vendors, Bidding, and Procurement
Staffing: The Team You Actually Get
10. Who exactly will be our property manager, and can we meet that person before we sign?
11. How many buildings will our manager handle, and how many units does that portfolio add up to?
12. Who supports our manager day to day (assistant manager, accountant, compliance staff), and how do we reach each of them?
13. How long has the proposed manager been with your firm, and what is your manager turnover like?
14. If our manager leaves or goes on vacation, who covers, and how quickly is a permanent replacement assigned?
15. Can the board request a different manager if the fit is not right, and how does that work in practice?
16. Will the person who pitches us be involved after we sign, and in what role?
17. Who on your senior team is accountable if our manager is not performing?
18. How are your managers evaluated and paid, and does any part of their pay depend on things like vendor volume or building retention?
19. How often will our manager physically visit the building, and what do those visits include?
30. Who prepares our monthly financial statements, and what will they include (budget versus actual, arrears, reserves, open payables)?
31. How do you build the annual operating budget, and how early in the year does that process start?
32. Will all building funds be held in bank accounts in the building's name and tax ID, never commingled with other buildings or the firm's own money?
33. Who can approve and sign payments, what are the dollar thresholds that require board approval, and can the board see every payment?
34. What fraud controls do you have, including segregation of duties, positive pay, vendor verification, and protection against payment-redirection email scams?
35. What fidelity or crime insurance does your firm carry, what are the limits, and does it cover theft by your own employees of our building's funds?
36. How do you collect maintenance or common charges, and what is your process for arrears, late fees, and legal action?
37. How do you work with our outside auditor and accountant, and how quickly do you respond to audit requests?
38. How are reserve funds invested, and who decides where they are held?
39. Will you disclose in writing any commissions, rebates, referral fees, or other compensation your firm or staff receive from vendors, insurers, banks, or service providers connected to our building?
Building Operations, Maintenance, and Capital Projects
54. How do you monitor HPD, DOB, ECB/OATH, FDNY, and DEP violations and complaints, and how often do you check?
55. What is your process for curing and closing out violations so they are actually removed from the record?
56. Who represents the building at OATH hearings, and how do you decide whether to contest or settle a violation?
57. How do you handle HPD property registration and any other annual registrations required for our building?
58. How will you manage our tax abatements and exemptions, including the co-op/condo abatement, J-51, 421-a, and STAR, and how do you protect the building from losing them?
59. If our building has an abatement or exemption expiring, how will you plan for the tax increase in our budget?
60. Who handles our real estate tax certiorari (tax appeal) work, and how do you coordinate with the attorney?
61. Which annual filings and deadlines do you track for our building, and can we see your compliance calendar?
62. How do you keep the board informed about new local laws and changes to existing ones?
63. Do you review the building's open violations and filing history before you take over, and will you share what you find?
Insurance and Risk
64. What is your competitive bidding policy, and at what dollar level do you require multiple written bids?
65. How do you build a bid list, and can the board add its own vendors?
66. Do you present bids to the board in a side-by-side comparison with a written recommendation?
67. Does your firm, or anyone who owns or works for it, own or have a financial interest in any contractor, supplier, insurance brokerage, or service company?
68. If you recommend an affiliated company, how do you disclose that, and how do you show the board it is the best value?
69. What is your conflict-of-interest policy, and will you put it in writing?
70. How do you verify vendor insurance, licenses, and lien waivers before work starts and before payment?
71. How do you evaluate vendor performance, and how often do you rebid service contracts?
72. Who negotiates our service contracts (elevator, exterminator, waste, energy), and who signs them?
From The Folson Group: Affiliated companies are not automatically a problem, but the board should know about every one of them before the first bid goes out, not after the work is done.
Building Staff and Union Matters
82. How experienced is your firm with 32BJ contracts, and who on your team handles union matters?
83. How do you handle grievances, discipline, and terminations, and how do you involve the board and labor counsel?
84. Who processes payroll for our building staff, how are timekeeping and overtime controlled, and how does the board review payroll costs?
85. How do you manage pension, health, and annuity fund contributions, benefit fund audits, and union contract changes?
86. How does our manager supervise the super day to day, and what expectations and written duties do you set?
87. How do you evaluate building staff performance, and how often?
88. How do you handle staff coverage for vacations, sick days, and emergencies?
89. Do you help with hiring a new super or staff member, including background checks and interviews?
90. What training do you provide or arrange for building staff, including safety and compliance training?
73. How do you help the board review the building's insurance program each year?
74. Do you or an affiliate act as the building's insurance broker, and if so, how is that compensated and disclosed?
75. How do you make sure our property, liability, umbrella, D&O, workers' compensation, and other coverage limits are appropriate for our building?
76. How do you handle insurance claims, and who manages the process from first notice to settlement?
77. How do you collect and track certificates of insurance from vendors, contractors, and residents doing alterations?
78. How do you help reduce claims, for example through water-leak prevention, inspections, and loss-control recommendations?
79. How do you handle incidents involving injury, fire, flooding, or a building emergency, and how is the board notified?
80. Does your firm carry its own professional liability (errors and omissions) insurance, and what does it cover?
81. How do you prepare the building for an insurance renewal so the board is not surprised by premium increases or reduced coverage?
Transitions, the Management Agreement, and Technology
91. What is the term of your standard management agreement, does it renew automatically, and what notice is required to end it?
92. Can the board terminate without cause, and what are the notice period and any penalties or costs?
93. Beyond the base management fee, what other fees can the firm charge, such as for capital project supervision, transfer and sublet processing, refinancing, extra meetings, compliance filings, or annual increases, and will you list them all in writing?
94. Who drafts the management agreement, and will you accept changes proposed by our attorney?
95. What does your onboarding plan look like for the first 30, 60, and 90 days, and who leads it?
96. How will you handle the transfer of bank accounts, records, vendor contracts, and open items from our current manager?
97. Who owns the building's records and data, and if we leave, what will you hand over, in what format, and how quickly?
98. What resident and board portal do you use, what can each group see and do there, and can we try a demo?
99. How do you handle the transfer and sublet application process, including the timeline, board package, and communication with brokers and applicants?
100. What would you need from our board in the first month to make the transition a success?
From The Folson Group: The termination clause and the list of extra fees are easy to skim past during a search, yet they are the two parts of a management agreement that matter most if the relationship stops working.
Before You Decide
Asking the questions is the easy part. The real work is comparing written answers across several firms, checking references and reading between the lines, meeting the actual managers, reviewing each firm's management agreement clause by clause, and making sure the board agrees on what it needs before anyone signs.
Founded in 2014, The Folson Group has run dozens of property management searches for co-op and condo boards. We manage the process from start to finish so your board can focus on running the building.