Page 11 - New Jersey Cooperator February 2019

NJCOOPERATOR.COM THE NEW JERSEY COOPERATOR — FEBRUARY 2019 11 can come up here \[to the offi ce\] and have them handled the right way.” Another major consideration is what a particular property requires from a manager. A large multi-story, multifam- ily building with many amenities is more management intensive than, say, a small six-unit line of duplex units with no in- terior common areas and no amenities. So what requires the expertise of profes- sional management. And what does the manager actually do? What Gets Managed Management services can be divided into several categories. First of all, there are continual management items as well as non-recurring needs. Building em- ployees, such as doorpersons, handyper- sons and porters, have to be supervised daily and require payroll services. While payroll services can be easily outsourced with or without a managing agent, actual on-site supervision requires continuing management. Another recurring management item is purchasing and bookkeeping. Owners send in monthly payments for mainte- nance and common charges, and bills must get paid out of those collected funds. Th is recurring item is handled by the management company’s bookkeepers, who work hand in hand with other man- agement company employees to make sure a property has everything it needs to function – from paper towels to light bulbs to cleaning supplies. Th ere are also non-recurring or oc- casional items like various building in- spections; supervi- sion of occasional work or scheduled projects for improve- ments; and owner- ship transfers for units. Th e managing agent has the re- sponsibility of overseeing these things as well. Effective Self-Management All those responsibilities sound like a lot of work – and they are. In a large complex of units where owners share the management fee at aff ordable levels, it’s pretty clear that it’s well worth it to have professional management. But are there alternatives for smaller properties? Tina Larsson is the Co-Founder of Th e Folson Group, a New York City- based company that helps co-op and condo prop- erties self-manage eff ectively. “We set up policies,” she says, “the same way a managing agent does. How do we vet contrac- tors, for instance? Managing agents have requests-for-proposals, or RFPs. We set up something similar, only easier and simpler. We guide the client on how to use this system. It’s specifi c to the work to be done. We also direct them to resources like Th e New Jersey Cooperator, where they might fi nd what and who they are looking for.” And what about the idea that manag- ing agents who represent multiple prop- erties have purchasing power that indi- vidual properties don’t? Larsson says it’s not true. “Purchasing power – managing agents say they have it, but if you call a specifi c vendor, you can ask for the same discount the managing agents get, and most of the time you’ll get it too.” Larsson’s fi rm also off ers its clients a thorough review of their expenses – something a managing agent generally doesn’t do. Th e fi rm searches for ways to save money and earns its fee based on those savings. Larsson explains that whereas a managing agent’s job consists of bookkeeping, compliance, closings, complaints, and inspections – a self-man- agement consulting fi rm fi nds sources for these services for self-managed prop- erties and sets up systems to track and manage them. Records and documents are kept in the cloud to reduce or even “Th ere are two big benefi ts to self-managing: the fi rst is that it’s cheaper, and the second is the accessibility and you know the people personally.” — Domenick Lorelli continued on page 21