HOA Management Fees: What Your Community Could Save
Most HOA boards know their management company's monthly fee. Few know the full yearly cost once the add-on charges are counted, and fewer have priced the alternative. This guide covers both. It explains what professional management typically costs, where the hidden fees are, and what a self-managed community actually spends. It ends with worked examples for communities of three sizes.
What HOA property management typically costs
Most management companies charge a per-door (per-unit) monthly fee. Ranges vary by region, community type and scope of service, but these figures are common:
| Service level | Typical per-door fee | What it usually covers |
|---|---|---|
| Financial-only / “lite” | $8–$15 per unit/month, or a flat $200–$700/month for small associations | Dues billing, collections, bookkeeping, monthly reports |
| Full-service | $10–$30 per unit/month | All of the above plus vendor coordination, violation inspections, resident calls, one board meeting a month |
| Large-scale / amenity-heavy | $30–$50+ per unit/month, plus on-site staff salaries where there is staff | Pools, clubhouses, gated access, on-site manager |
Larger associations usually sit at the low end of each range; condos and small communities sit higher. Many full-service firms also set a monthly minimum, often around $1,000–$3,000, so a 30-unit HOA may pay what a 60-unit one does.
The fees that don't show up in the per-door rate
The per-door rate is the number on the proposal. The yearly total is usually higher because management contracts commonly bill extra for:
- Extra meetings. Annual meetings, special meetings and evening meetings past the included one are often billed at $150–$350 each, or hourly at $50–$100 or more.
- Mailing and printing. Postage plus a per-piece handling markup on every notice, statement and violation letter.
- Collections and late-account handling. A charge each time a delinquency letter goes out or an account is turned over.
- Resale and transfer packages. These are usually paid by the buyer or seller. They still go to the manager rather than the association, and they add cost to every home sale in your community.
- Setup, onboarding and termination fees. Read the termination clause. Notice periods of 30–90 days are common, and some contracts add an early-termination fee or a charge to hand back your records.
- Project management surcharges. Some firms charge roughly 2–10% of a large capital project, such as roofing or paving, for “oversight.” Others bill hourly or charge nothing.
Together, these extras can add materially to what the association pays. Pull last year's general ledger and add up every payment to your management company, not just the monthly invoice. That total is your real baseline.
What self-management actually costs
Self-managing isn't free. It moves the work to your board and a few low-cost tools and vendors:
- Software: The Good HOA's full platform is $0 a month for communities up to 400 units. That covers dues and invoicing, online payments, violations, architectural requests, documents, voting, meetings, announcements and reports.
- Online payments: Card and ACH payments carry a small processing fee, always shown up front. Your board decides who pays it, the resident at checkout or the association. Checks are always free.
- Printed mail: $4.99 per letter ($14.99 certified), printed, stuffed and mailed for you, only when you need paper.
- Optional extras: A public community website ($10/month) and a resident Community Wall ($5/month).
- A part-time bookkeeper (optional but recommended): Typically $200–$700 a month, depending on size and transaction volume.
- What doesn't change: Insurance, your annual CPA review or audit, legal counsel, landscaping and other vendors. You pay these whether or not you have a manager, so they cancel out of the comparison. Coverage matters more once your board is doing the work; see D&O insurance for self-managed HOA boards.
Worked examples
These examples use mid-range assumptions. Your numbers will differ, so substitute your own.
| 40 units | 120 units | 300 units | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management fee assumed | $25/door/mo | $20/door/mo | $15/door/mo |
| Annual management cost (before extras) | $12,000 | $28,800 | $54,000 |
| Bookkeeper | $2,400 ($200/mo) | $4,200 ($350/mo) | $7,200 ($600/mo) |
| The Good HOA platform | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Community website (optional) | $120 | $120 | $120 |
| Printed letters | ~$100 (20 letters) | ~$200 (40 letters) | ~$500 (100 letters) |
| Annual self-managed cost | ~$2,620 | ~$4,520 | ~$7,820 |
| Annual savings | ~$9,380 | ~$24,280 | ~$46,180 |
| Savings per unit, per year | ~$235 | ~$202 | ~$154 |
These figures leave out the add-on fees from the previous section, so the real savings are usually higher. They also leave out processing fees, because your board can set residents to cover them.
What the savings can pay for
The difference is often enough to:
- Fund the reserve. Many communities are underfunded, and $20,000 or more a year raises a reserve study's percent-funded figure quickly. See How to Build an HOA Budget That Survives the Year.
- Avoid or shrink a dues increase. About $200 per unit a year is roughly $17 a month off every owner's assessment.
- Pay for a specific project, such as repaving, landscaping or lighting, without a special assessment.
What you give up, and how to cover it
A management company does real work, so a self-managed board needs a plan for each of these:
| What the manager did | How self-managed boards cover it |
|---|---|
| Billing and collecting dues | Automated invoices, recurring dues, online payments and autopay in the platform |
| Bookkeeping and monthly financials | Platform reports plus a part-time bookkeeper, or a treasurer with a CPA review |
| Answering resident questions | A resident portal with documents, balances and announcements, so fewer calls |
| Violation inspections and letters | Board walk-throughs, violations with photo evidence, and printed or certified letters sent from the app |
| Vendor coordination | One board member owns vendors. See HOA vendor management: fair quotes, no lock-in. |
| Meetings and votes | Agendas, minutes, online polls and sealed ballots with a legal record |
| Institutional memory | Every document, decision and payment in one system with a full audit trail, so knowledge doesn't leave when a board member does |
Choosing the software is its own decision; our buyer's guide to HOA management software covers what to ask any vendor, including us.
When keeping a manager still makes sense
Self-management isn't right for every community. Keep professional management, or at least part of it, if:
- You run on-site staff, major amenities or a high-rise with building systems.
- Your board can't fill its seats, or nobody is willing to act as treasurer.
- You're in active litigation or a complex construction-defect claim.
Many communities choose a hybrid: they run day-to-day operations on The Good HOA and hire a bookkeeper or a manager only for specific tasks. That still removes most of the per-door cost.
Next steps
- Find your real baseline. Total every payment to your management company over the last 12 months.
- Read your contract's termination clause: notice period, fees, and records hand-back.
- Put the numbers in front of the board. Use the worked examples above with your own figures.
- Plan the switch. Our 90-day plan for leaving a property manager walks through it step by step. The Self-Managed HOA Playbook covers running things afterward.
The Good HOA is free for communities up to 400 units: every module, no contract, no card required. Set up your community
Fee ranges are typical industry estimates and vary by region, community type and contract scope. Use your own management contract and general ledger for your board's decision.