Strata Management services are like a timeshare

Why are strata management services like a timeshare?

Well, it’s important to remember that when you hire a Strata Management company in BC, and you’re assigned a licensed Strata Agent, that he or she is more than likely a “portfolio manager”, meaning that you are just one of the many clients in their portfolio.

Depending on the size of their portfolio, you could be one of 1500 owners that they deal with, or one of 15- 20 buildings that they are in charge of! This differs from other markets, that may have one strata agent per building, but BC strata corporations, especially smaller ones, are unable or unwilling to pay for this service, thus the “portfolio” style of management has become the norm.

Depending on your service agreement, you may be assigned a certain number of hours per month, and you may only receive 5-10% of their time. In essence, this model works like a “timeshare” of sorts, except instead of buying into a pool of time for a vacation property in Mexico, you’re buying into a pool of time for strata management services.

setting realistic expectations regarding your strata management services

While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as expectations are clearly laid out and understood on both sides, it does mean that you are sharing your agent with MANY other clients, and that they serve many different masters. While a good strata agent will always try to make you feel special, remember that they may have up to 100 different Council members telling them what to do on a weekly basis, so please keep that in mind if you don’t hear back from them first thing Monday morning!

Looking for a more detailed explanation regarding strata management services? Please feel free to reach out to us here today!