By Julie Adamen

After talking with another experienced community manager making less than $30k per year this week, I figure maybe the best way to end the year it to just put it out there: What should YOU be making in terms of salary and benefits? How many hours should you be working? Job satisfaction? Support? And what about that alphabet soup behind your name? Well, we’re going to share with you the knowledge we have gleaned as we go in to our fifth year in community management placement and consulting. Understand, this is based on our experience, there are variables, but this is what it boils down to:

SALARY

Portfolio Managers. (Defined as one who manages several communities from an office). Almost to a person, portfolio managers are paid a salary, not by the hour. Unfortunately, in keeping with the stagnation of what management firms are able to charge communities for management, the salaries of portfolio managers have remained relatively static in the past ten years – thus – as a general rule of thumb, portfolio managers should be salaried approximately 35% of their total gross contracts managed. Contracts add up to 9k? Your gross salary should be around $3100 per month.  Sorry, we just can’t get away from that type of percentage – just as we can’t get away from the “per door” charge for management. There are exceptions and caveats to this, but it is a good working figure. My bottom line would be 36k – and most of my clients feel the same way.

On site managers.  (Defined as professional community managers, not maintenance-type managers). On site managers, unless they are working part time, should make no less than 36k – 40k for even the smallest association. Of course, the larger the community, the more complex the community, the salary increases. Budgets over 3 million with numerous units should make at a minimum, 70k+. Rule of thumb: Higher budget, higher salary. Other factors in that increase should be the number of employees managed and the political structure of the Board (take a look at the life of the previous managers – if they are running a manager about every 1-2 years for the past 7 or more years – manager candidates beware and charge for your services accordingly).

We talked with Rob Felix, PCAM, of Consolidated Community Services, LLC a consulting and search firm for large scale communities, about salaries for large scale community managers, and this is what he had to say:  "For large-scale communities (1000 units or more, municipal type services, recreational amenities, etc.), I find that they should be shooting for a range between $75,000 to $150,000 depending on complexities. Any community with a budget in excess of $5 million should be over the $100,000 mark base salary. Communities with golf programs, food and beverage operations, etc., regardless of size, should be well in excess of $100,000.”

JOB PROSPECTS

Portfolio Managers.  Always in demand, portfolio managers can find work even if they have been terminated for just about anything short of stealing.

On site and out of work. If you are an on site manager, there are some realties for you to deal with, and here they are: 1) your life expectancy at any one association is, on average, four years.  2) If you are terminated and you don’t have something already lined up in the industry, you are looking at somewhere between 9 – 14 months of unemployment. This figure can be greatly reduced if you have networked with your peers and always kept your eyes open for opportunity. 3) If you want to be in consideration the best jobs, you must be willing to relocate.

BENEFITS

Anyone working in the community management industry should have a benefit package, and this should include, at a bare minimum, medical benefits, with the premium paid for the employee by the employer, and two weeks vacation. More and more management companies are providing many more benefits in the knowledge that a better benefit package could give them a leg up on finding and retaining managers. These better benefits include dental and vision plans, either offered or paid for, and some sort of retirement such as a 401k. Many forward thinking forms are matching funds in the 401k, up to 25%.

On site managers, especially those making in excess of 60k per year, should expect full benefits including retirement plans. Have to move? There should be a relocation stipend, too.  And here’s something for portfolio managers, and management companies, to note: Savvy on site managers know that benefits are very often a negotiable item. Need three weeks vacation instead of two? Don’t need those medical benefits? Prepare to negotiate.

HOW MANY HOURS SHOULD I WORK?

Portfolio Managers.  My management mentor gave me some sage advice at one time, and that was, if you can’t get the job done in 40 hours, you are either not doing it appropriately, or you need help. Of course, in this business, it doesn’t always apply in such a cut and dried fashion, but it made me re-think what I was doing (and I was managing 11 accounts at the time). In all reality, if you take the time due you for night meetings, you will be working just about 45 hours per week on average. Any more than that, and either you aren’t managing your time and tasks well, or you need help. 

On site Managers. On site managers, especially those in the higher echelon are akin to any business executive – you are never really “off work, “ as you are being paid to “think” far more than you are being paid to “act.”  40 - 50 hours should be standard “working” hours with, of course, exceptions made for those crises that need your attention.

SUPPORT

The issue of support - staff and other types – is one that is still debated among management companies, but not among professional on site managers. Regardless, as a manager, on site or portfolio, you should have a few minimums, including your own workspace, voicemail, a PC with access to email and standard business machines (such as a functioning copier that collates) and tools (from sticky notes to staples). Should you have an assistant, or an assistant you share with other managers? Yes, you should. Often, for the management companies that “don’t believe in assistants” it’s a matter of the devil they know, or a desire to provide “personal” service to the clients in a business increasingly driven to less “personal” service because the client won’t pay for it. Often the powers that be just don’t have time to make a strategic business plan to incorporate a support structure – that in itself should be a screaming indication their company needs more support staff. It also seems a little penny-wise and dollar foolish to have your highest paid employees standing at the copy machine for hours every month putting together those board packs….

On site managers usually understand the value of appropriate support since they are pretty much hanging in the breeze out there at their properties. But here’s another important item, one that I hear a lot of on site managers complain about: If you simply don’t have a private office (one that you can close the door and keep homeowners and board members out of for at least a portion of the day) – then you need to set parameters addressing this issue. You simply cannot function as an effective manager when you are constantly interrupted by your charges.

HOW VALAUABLE IS THAT ALPHABET SOUP?

CMCA. AMS. CCAM. PCAM. LCAM. NBC-CAM. Aside from Florida (LCAM) and Nevada (CMCA), you still only need a van, a PO Box and (maybe) some business cards to be a community manager. So, other than the required designations of those two states, what do those initials mean in terms of compensation as a manager? Unfortunately, not as much as they should.

Without a doubt, the most recognized designation and the most difficult to receive is the PCAM designation. The PCAM is issued by Community Associations Institute (CAI), to those completing and passing the required course work, case study and requirements. Based on our experience, management firms generally recognize the value of the PCAM and those with the designation will generally command 10% - 15% more in salary – and are more likely to be considered for supervisory positions. CAI has statistic about PCAMs making a significant percentage more than non-PCAMs – but I believe that is somewhat skewed as the PCAM is often held by well-paid on site managers who see a cost benefit ratio as opposed to the average portfolio manager in the trenches.  Those on site managers are also more likely to negotiate an employment package that includes continuing education.

With competition so tight for the best on site positions, a PCAM may be what gets you interviewed instead of tossed in the “Miss Congeniality” pile. Is that always the case? No. Unfortunately, all too many of our clients (read: homeowners) have absolutely no clue what it is. In addition, the larger the community, the more likely they will be sophisticated enough to require a college degree. According to Rob Felix, for the large-scale manager, “Education and experience of the manager is huge in getting compensated adequately for the job."

At the risk of being a commercial for CAI (which is not the intention here), on site or portfolio, the bottom line is, if you are going to stay in the industry and give yourself the best chance for those few positions that will offer better compensation, it may well prove beneficial, in the long term, to get your PCAM.  Until they come up with something else, it’s the best we have to increase an individual’s earning potential.

CONTINUING EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

In terms of professional development, exclusive of salary considerations, obtaining those initials listed previously can be very helpful – simply attending classes and rubbing elbows with your peers can give you professional contacts and support that otherwise may not have been available to you. They will also give you a much wider perspective of your industry - this applies especially to classes where managers from other states or vastly different regional areas attend.  Recently I attended a manager’s workshop at CAI National – and was fascinated to hear from managers who actually had to deal directly with the events of September 11 – from an on site manager who had members of the Bin Laden family living in her project, to the VP of the management company in Washington, DC whose projects include those near the Pentagon with people like Dick Cheney as residents.  You can’t get a global view of your industry, or yourself, by never leaving your comfort zone.

OK, WHERE DO WE GO WITH THIS INFORMATION?

You don’t have to go anywhere with this information. What you may wish to do is evaluate your job satisfaction – and that doesn’t mean dollars alone. It means placing value on how you feel about your work, how you are treated by your company or your board(s), how you feel valued, or if you feel valued, by them.

As I stated in the opening paragraph, I have recently spoken with two managers making less than 30k per year. One was making only 23k, with no benefits, at a small yet regionally known firm. Although it made me angry, not only that someone would pay that to a manager, but that the manager would work for it, I could have almost dismissed it - thinking, well, small Mom and Pop firm…. It happens.

Then last week I received a call from a manager with two years of experience with some alphabets behind her name, and with very, very large, high end, well known management firm and she was making less than $30k. It told me something was up. It told me this type of salary information is not a state secret; it should be talked about openly. Higher salaries for managers means management firms have even more reason charge more for their contracts. The same with on site managers – If you give away the service, the consumer does not value it. If it’s not valued, all the talk in the world about professionalizing the business will remain just that: talk.

Walk the talk.