Property Management Blog

If you’re a trustee sitting on two or three management proposals right now, here’s the short answer: a good one spells out fee structure, exact scope of services, financial reporting cadence, reserve and capital-planning support, vendor management process, emergency response, and termination terms — in writing, not in a sales call. If a proposal is…

A condo board can hire a management company, switch to a new one, or end a contract that is not working. The rules that govern how you do it sit in three places: your management agreement, your master deed and bylaws, and M.G.L. c. 183A. Read those first. Then run the change as a planned…

To end a condo management agreement, follow the agreement. The notice period, how notice must be delivered, any cure period and any fee are written in your contract. Your bylaws set how the board has to approve the decision. Get those right before you send anything. Step 1: Read the termination clause Find these items…

A clean condo management transition takes about 45 to 60 days. That is enough time to collect records, move bank access and vendor contracts, confirm insurance and tell owners what is changing, without leaving the building uncovered. Here is how the phases usually run. Before day one: sign and give notice in the right order…

Interview every candidate with the same questions and score the answers. Boards that do this compare managers on substance, not on who presents best. Below are the questions to ask, grouped by topic, with what a strong answer sounds like. How to run the interview Send the questions in advance and ask for written answers…

A condo management agreement should say exactly what the manager does, what it costs, who controls the money, and how either side can leave. If any of those four are vague, the board carries the risk. Here is what to look for before you sign or renew. 1. Scope of services List what is included,…

Short version: a reserve study doesn’t tell your board to save more. It tells you what order to spend in: what’s urgent and what can wait. Without one, most boards over-save for the thing that’s fine and under-save for the thing that isn’t. The question we hear most “Couldn’t we just save more instead of…

Short version: for condo mortgages dated January 4, 2027 or later, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac want your association putting at least 15% of assessment income into reserves. It has been 10%. If your building comes up short, it can be flagged non-warrantable, and that makes units hard to sell. What changed Fannie Mae’s Lender…

Short answer: there isn’t one. Massachusetts doesn’t have a state agency that licenses or oversees condo associations the way it licenses, say, real estate brokers. Condo associations are private entities, governed by their own documents and by the state’s condominium statute — not by a regulator you can call with a complaint. This is general…

Massachusetts smoke detector and carbon monoxide alarm rules for rental properties — who’s responsible, where alarms go, and how landlords stay compliant.

For most Waltham rental owners, a property manager is worth it once you own more than a unit or two, don’t live nearby, or just don’t want to be the one fielding a 2am maintenance call. The typical fee runs around 8 to 12 percent of collected rent, and a good manager usually earns that…

Wellesley’s rental market looks different from most of the towns around Boston: fewer units overall, higher price points, and tenants who expect a level of upkeep that matches the town. If you own a rental property in Wellesley, the bar for maintenance and responsiveness is higher than in a typical multi-family neighborhood — and the…

Newton has a growing number of condo conversions and purpose-built condo developments, and a lot of first-time trustees end up on a board without ever having budgeted for one before. The most common mistake isn’t a bad decision — it’s not budgeting for the right things in year one. What a first-time Newton trustee needs…

Cambridge condo associations deal with two things most Massachusetts boards don’t: a housing stock that includes a lot of older, pre-condo-conversion buildings, and a rental market shaped heavily by Harvard and MIT. If you’re a trustee here, both of those affect what your reserve fund and your governing documents need to cover. Older buildings mean…

Jamaica Plain’s rental stock is dominated by triple-deckers and small multi-family buildings, many owned by landlords who bought one building and self-manage it. That works fine until you’re juggling three or four separate systems, three sets of tenants, and repairs that show up faster than in newer construction. The triple-decker maintenance pattern JP’s triple-deckers are…

Somerville has some of the densest housing stock in Massachusetts, and a lot of it has been converted from multi-family rentals into condos over the past two decades. If you’re a trustee on a self-managed or newly self-managed Somerville condo association, the density itself is the thing that trips boards up: shared walls, shared systems,…

Waltham’s rental market runs on two engines: the biotech and tech companies along Route 128, and the students at Bentley and Brandeis. If you own a rental property here, your tenant pool is mostly working professionals on 12-month leases and students looking for 9- to 12-month terms near campus. That mix changes how you should…

How much can I make renting out my home in Boston? Start with realistic rent, subtract vacancy and operating costs, then subtract debt payments and a capital-expense allowance. The result is estimated cash flow, not guaranteed profit. Your home’s location, condition, financing and actual expenses matter more than a citywide average. This Boston rental property…

Positive cash flow is what pays you every month – not appreciation, not equity on paper. Here’s what actually moves the needle on Boston rental cash flow, and how to fix it when it’s thin or negative. What Cash Flow Actually Is Cash Flow = Collected Rent – Vacancy Loss – Operating Expenses – Mortgage…