Community Management Services, Inc.'s FAQs

Navigating the specifics of community association management can often raise questions and concerns, so we have compiled Community Management Services, Inc.’s FAQs in Silicon Valley Bay area, designed to provide clear, concise answers.

Whether you are a current client or considering partnering with us to manage your homeowner’s Association, these FAQs aim to shed light on our service offerings, management philosophies, and how we can help enhance the living experience in your community.

Part I – General Information

Question 1: How long has your company been in business?

September 2025 marked our 48th year in business.

Question 2: Who will be the site manager assigned to handle this Association?

This will be determined after meeting with the Board.

Question 3: How much experience do your managers have?

We have 23 managers with 200 years of experience in this industry.

Question 4: Which licenses or certifications do your managers have?

CAI, and CACM ongoing in-house training.

Question 5: To which professional organizations does your company belong?

ECHO, CAI, and CACM

Question 6: What are your company’s office hours?

8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.

Question 7: What form of after-hours service does your company provide?

CMS provides a seasoned, dedicated manager available during evening hours, weekends, and holidays – seven days a week – to address emergency issues. Our on-call service is not a third-party answering service, but a direct line to an experienced manager equipped with the expertise and emergency contacts necessary to respond promptly and effectively to urgent matters.

Question 8: What will your company do to help us run our Association more efficiently?

Emphasize customer service and improve homeowner contact and follow through:
Size:

Having a large professional staff (43 employees) to handle the customer service needs of an association your size.
We should have our staff organized by departments, so your members’ questions are answered by staff members who specialize in the specific area of concern. Each department will have an individual explicitly assigned to your Association. Experience:
We have 23 Managers with 200 years of experience in this industry. If the assigned manager does not have the answer, our office has a wealth of knowledge to draw from, including millions of dollars of reconstruction experience.

Vendors:

For big and small jobs, we have established professional relationships with the best vendors in the valley, specializing in serving the needs of planned communities. Our company size places our company’s clients on the highest priority to accomplish the Association’s needs.
Accurate financials with multiple reporting capabilities, work order logs, unit files, and maintenance and repair tracking. We provide the information the Board needs to make good business decisions. A customized database is currently being used to facilitate access and reporting.

Question 9: If we are unhappy with our service, whom do we contact within your company?

Marianne Hudkins, President

John Stinson, Vice President

Brian Emery, Vice President

President Part II – Administrative Meetings:

Question 1: Will the assigned manager attend monthly and every other month or quarterly board meetings?

Varies with the Association’s needs.

Question 2: Does your company offer an early meeting discount? If yes, how much is the discount?

Yes, the discount is negotiable.

Question 3: How many hours do you allow for meetings before extra charges are incurred?

Two (2) hours.

Question 4: How much do you charge per hour after the limit?

$150.00 per hour if it is a regular occurrence and after a letter advising the Association of intent to charge.

Question 5: Do you attend annual meetings?

Yes. As agents for the Association, our job is to provide service and support to the Board of Directors to make their job as trouble-free as possible.

Question 6: Will you prepare ballots and annual meeting notices?

Yes, it is part of the management agreement.

Question 7: Will you prepare and post agendas for all meetings?

Yes, we will prepare agendas and post on Associations portal or coordinate physical postings with the board of directors.

Question 8: Will you record, prepare, and distribute the minutes of all meetings?

Yes, it is part of the management agreement.

Question 9: Are your company’s manager’s reports oral or written?

Written reports with oral presentations at Board of Directors meetings.

Question 10: Does your company provide board meeting packages before the meeting?

Yes, board packets will be mailed or emailed 4 days prior to the board meeting.

Question 11: If yes, do the meeting packages include the following:

Agenda – Yes
Previous Meeting Minutes – Yes
Manager’s Report – Yes
Copies or List of Correspondence Sent from Manager – Yes
Work Orders (Service Requests) Pending and Completed – Yes
Financial Statements – Yes
Delinquency Report – Yes
Specifications and Bids – Yes

Record Keeping

Question 12: Does your company maintain an owner roster?

Yes.

Question 13: How about a tenant roster?

Yes, if requested by the Board. The roster would be updated monthly.

Question 14: Do you use lot files for the units?

Yes.

Question 15: Do you have general files where you store the Association’s records?

Yes, a complete file system is kept electronically.

Question 16: Do you charge a storage fee for maintaining old files and records?

We store five boxes plus current year records at no charge.

Question 17: If your answer was yes, how much do you charge?

Records older than current plus five boxes may be stored for the Association at $2.00 per banker’s box monthly.

Correspondence and Mailings:

Question 18. Does your company charge for any of the following? If yes, how much?

General Letters – Printing and Postage
Notices – No Charge to Produce
Special Mailouts – No Charge to Produce; Printing – 14¢ Per Side; Stuffing/Folding – 6¢ Per Page; Envelopes – 11-36¢ (Varies by Size); Printing on Envelopes – 14¢ Per Envelope
Newsletters – Printing, Envelope, Postage, and Folding/Stuffing Charge

Escrow Coordination:

Question 19: Are your costs billed to the Association or the owner?

To the owner.

Question 20: How much do you charge for a transfer fee?

Demand with Transfer Fee – $250.00 (Includes demand statement and buyer escrow instructions. If additional documents are needed, please see pricing in question #22).

Question 21: How much do you charge for a refinance fee?

Certification Fee – Please contact our documents department for latest pricing.

Question 22: If your company charges for any of the following documents, how much?

Please review management agreement for latest pricing.

Enforcement of Rules and Regulations

Question 23: Does your company send violation notification letters?

Yes, it is part of the management agreement.

Question 24: Do you charge a fee for sending them out? How much?

Printing and Postage. See pricing under #18.

Question 25: Do you help the board establish a hearing procedure?

Yes.

Question 26: Does your procedure include the right to appeal?

At the Board’s discretion, but recommended by Community Management.

Part III – Financial Bank Accounts

Question 1: Will you keep all of the Association’s bank accounts in the Association’s name?

Yes, absolutely.

Question 2: Does your company use trust accounts?

No.

Question 3: If yes, who gets the interest?

Not applicable.

Question 4: Will all of the Association’s accounts be interest-bearing?

Yes.

Bookkeeping:

Question 5: Do you do bookkeeping in-house, or does an outside company do it?

In-house.

Question 6: Are the cash receipts and disbursement statements submitted to the board monthly or quarterly?

Monthly.

Question 7: Does your financial statement show an actual-to-budget comparison?

Yes.

Question 8: Does your financial statement show a reserve account reconciliation?

Yes.

Question 9: Does your financial statement show the amount in each Association’s accounts?

Yes.

Question 10: How often are the bank statements reconciled?

Monthly. Bank statements are reconciled by the accountant for the Association, not the Accounts Payable clerk who writes the checks.

Question 11: Is a copy of the reconciliation submitted to each board member?

Yes.

Homeowner Assessment:

Question 12: How do you handle members' billing for their monthly assessments? Statements? Coupons?

Statements.

Question 13: Do you use “Direct Deposit” to the bank?

Homeowner option, service available at no charge.

Question 14: If the assessments are received at your office, how often are deposits sent to the bank?

Daily.

Accounts Payable:

Question 15. Who approves payment of the service/product invoices to the Association?

Managers can authorize check requests, and only the board can approve payment.

Question 16: Who prepares the checks?

Accounts payable department. (One accounts payable clerk will be assigned to your account)

Question 17: Who signs the checks? How many signatures do you recommend?

Board members sign the checks. Two signatures are required.

Question 18: How do you file the paid invoices after the disbursements have been made? By month? By account?

Invoices are filed by month and tracked by date and account.

Delinquency Collection:

Question 19: Do you send a statement describing the Association’s delinquency collection policy?

Yes, annually.

Question 20: Is the delinquency collection process handled in-house or by an outside company?

The first ninety days are processed in-house. If delinquency progresses beyond that point, it is handled by a collection vendor of the Board’s choice, along with our company’s interaction.

Question 21: Are there any additional costs for the delinquency collection? If yes, how much are they?

No additional cost to the Association.

Question 22: Do you provide a delinquency report on a monthly or quarterly basis?

Monthly.

Question 23: Is the report written or oral?

Written and may also be reviewed orally at the Board meeting.

Budget:

Question 24: Will your company prepare a pro forma budget?

Yes.

Question 25: Does your company bill an individual homeowner for a copy of the budget?

Every association member receives a budget copy as the law requires (special mail out and email). Additional copies may be charged to the homeowner at a reasonable rate.

Question 26: Do you coordinate the budget preparation with a committee?

Board or committee at the Board’s discretion.

Question 27: Does your company do the entire reserve study?

No. An independent reserve study is required by law at least every three years. Those numbers are incorporated into the Association’s budget. Our company will update the budget information with current year-to-date and inflation rate numbers.

Question 28: Do you oversee an outside party's preparation of reserve study?

Yes.

Question 29: How often is the reserve study conducted?

Every three years (minimum requirement)

Audit/Review and Taxes:

Question 30: Do you coordinate the audit/review preparation activities?

Yes, and actively assist whenever questions arise.

Question 31: When do you send out the review/audit?

Within 120 days after the close of the fiscal year.

Question 32: Do you charge an individual homeowner for a copy of the review/audit?

No special mailout by the Association to comply with current laws.

Question 33: Do you make sure that an association’s taxes are paid on a timely basis?

Yes, it is part of the management agreement.

Vendor 1099’s:

Question 34: Does your company prepare 1099’s for all of the Association’s unincorporated vendors?

Yes, it is part of the management agreement.

Part IV – Maintenance

Question 1: What information does your company request from a contractor before awarding a contract for major work?

Contractor’s License – Yes
Certificate of Insurance – Yes
Illness and Injury Prevention Program (IIPP) – If Requested by Board
Eligibility for Bonding – If Requested by Board
List of References – Yes
Professional Certificates – Yes

Question 2: Do you file and retain the requested information?

A third party is used, and the information can be obtained.

Question 3: How many bids do you obtain for major jobs like re-roofing or repainting?

A minimum of three (3).

Question 4: At what monetary level do you consider a job major?

$2,500.00 plus. However, this amount may vary; it depends on the specific job and the board’s discretion.

Question 5: How many site inspections does your bid include?

A minimum of one per month.

Question 6: Do you handle service requests?

Yes, it is part of a management agreement.

Question 7: Will your company supervise the Association’s vendors?

Our company will assist in supervising contracts approved by the Board of Directors and monitor the Association’s regular vendors.

Question 8: Do you regularly provide a list of the Association’s vendors to the board members?

Yes.

Question 9: Does your company provide in-house maintenance services for the associations you manage? If yes, what kind and what are the rates?

No, we believe this is a conflict of interest. However, 47 years in the industry has allowed us to develop an extensive vendor listing for all association services.

Part V – Extra Services

Question 1: Are any of the following provided to the association at an extra cost? If yes, what is the cost?

Participation in Legal Matters/Lawsuits – $150.00 Per Hour
Insurance Claims Facilitation (Beyond Submission of Claim to Agent) – $150 Per Hour
Participation in Revision of Legal Documents – No Extra Cost
No additional fees will be applied to large contracts

Part VI – Expenses

Question 1: How much does your company charge for the following management expenses?

Please see your respective proposal for a breakdown of the charges.

Part VII – Management Fees

Question 1: Will a startup or close-out fee exist?

Administrative Fee: Community Management Services charges a $500.00 administrative fee to onboard all new clients.

Question 2: What will be your monthly fee?

Please see page 6, Agents’ Fee of the Management Agreement.

Question 3: What hourly rates do you charge for the following staff members?

Principals
Managers
Administrative Assistants
Accounting Personnel/Bookkeepers
Delinquency Collection Personnel (Included in Management Fee for All Contracted Services).