HOW TO INTERVIEW FOR A MANAGING AGENT, P.2

Lamel's board did just that. "We give them a situation that actually happened, where we knew how the current management company had handled it and whether correctly or not, and put that to the potential new manager. … If he or she says, 'Get a board member,' then, no, that's not the right person. Consult with us, yes, but hand it off to us? No."

Don't take their first answer, either. "Continue to drill down … keep asking for more," Colan advises.

And don't be afraid of hard questions. "Ask if they have had any complaints filed against them," says Horwitz. Would they answer truthfully? "Maybe not, but they should, because they don't want it discovered that they lied to you." A complaint "isn't the kiss of death, but you need to get the relevant information to make a decision. The fact that a person got a complaint may simply be that someone may have been mad at the board and filed a complaint about the managing agent."

Also remember, says Colan, that "you are in control of the interview, and it's important not to 'sell' the co-op. People get caught up in 'We're a great building, blah blah,' and the table gets turned."

Conversely, "Never try to intimidate somebody," says board president Peter Morello of the Thwaites Terrace House co-op in the Bronx. "Some people like to do that to show power." You'll both get and present a more accurate picture of things, he suggests, "if you behave however you normally do at a board meeting."

How long should interviews last? Within reason, as long as it takes to get your questions answered. Sometimes, unfortunately — usually from ineffective prescreening — "you know 10 minutes in it's a waste of time," Colan says. "But remember, sometimes our first impression gets overruled. If you're 20, 30 minutes into an interview, though, it's okay to cut it off: 'Thank you for your time, and we'll be in touch.'"

Back to Basics

In the course of asking open-ended questions specific to your building's needs and wants, you don't want to neglect basic stuff. Standard questions, says Wurtzel, include:

• How often do you visit the building and do you visit on a regular schedule?

• How many buildings do you manage?

• What support staff do you have?

• Do you have an assistant?

• Who processes sales packages?

• What is the company's policy for handling emergencies?

Talk about contract fees, and get referrals. Suggests Morello, "See how they respond to your asking for a complete list of their buildings and the number of apartments in each, and ask if you can pick the referrals. That's a good way to see if they have anything to hide, and whether they have good relationships with their buildings."

One seldom-considered factor is geography, says Gary Paul, a former president and current board member at 106-108 West 87th Street in Manhatttan. "For a downtown company, if they don't have any other buildings uptown, coming uptown to service your building would not be efficient. We know from experience the kind of time-wasting issues that come up with a managing agent in another part of town, and you want to be fair to the managing agent also."

"I would certainly ask how they'd work with your current managing agent on a transition," says Horwitz. "What do they expect in the transition in terms of the time frame – getting records and things like that. You want to get a sense of how aggressive they would be in getting the required information. I'd also ask if they've taken over any buildings from your current managing agent before, and you'd want to talk to that [building's] board about how that went."

In the end, make sure to close the loop with candidates not chosen.

"There's no substitute for good manners," says Colan. A board "can get a little bit arrogant, but it's a small world and it's important to have a good reputation. When you finish the last interview, tell them, 'Thank you very much, we're going to interview three other agents over the next few weeks, and afterward we'll let you know if we've selected you or if we've found a better fit at this particular time.'"

Finally, it's good to review every so often and talk to other managing agents; you may well end up choosing the same company again.

And despite all your preparation, you have to hope you're also blessed with some luck. "The agent we have now wasn't our original choice," says one board president. "Our original choice wound up involved in the corruption scandal of the 1990s. We went with our second choice and it turned out very well for us."

Adapted from Habitat July / August 2008. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>