Property Management
HOA & Condo Association Management in the DMV
Boards comparing HOA management companies in Maryland and Northern Virginia are usually solving the same problem: volunteers are out of time, the books are murky, and vendors have gone unsupervised. Levaru manages homeowner associations and condominiums across the DMV from Alexandria, as part of our full property management practice, with our own maintenance crews behind the contract.
You keep the authority. We do the work, and we document it where every board member can see it.
What does an HOA management company actually do?
An HOA management company executes the board’s decisions: it bills and collects assessments, pays the bills, keeps auditable books, bids and supervises vendors, runs the covenant enforcement process, maintains records, and prepares everything the board needs to govern. The board remains the decision maker; the manager is the operator.
A good manager also protects the board from its two chronic failure modes: inconsistency and lost knowledge. Processes run the same way every month regardless of who is on the board, and every decision, contract, and inspection leaves a record the next board can find.
The board governs; the manager operates. Any management company that blurs that line is either doing too little or deciding too much.
Board support: meetings, minutes, elections
We prepare the board packet before every meeting: financials, delinquency report, violation log, open work orders, and vendor items needing a vote. Meetings run off an agenda, minutes get drafted promptly, and action items get owners and dates.
Annual meetings and elections follow the governing documents and statute: notice periods, proxies or ballots, quorum tracking, and documented results. This is exactly the work that goes wrong when it is done from memory once a year.
Assessments, collections, and clean books
Assessments are billed on schedule, and every dollar lands in association accounts, never commingled. Monthly financials show budget versus actual, delinquencies, and reserve balances in a format a non-accountant board member can read.
Collections follow a board-adopted policy applied uniformly: reminder, late notice, payment plan where warranted, then escalation to counsel with board approval. Uniformity is not just fairness; it is what keeps the policy defensible.
Covenant enforcement done fairly
Enforcement fails in two directions: the association that ignores violations until the community deteriorates, and the association that enforces selectively until neighbors are in open conflict.
We run a written process instead. Scheduled inspections, photographed findings, a specific first notice citing the covenant, reasonable time to cure, and escalation with a hearing only when needed. Virginia’s Property Owners’ Association Act and Maryland’s community association statutes both impose notice and due-process expectations, and the process is built to satisfy them. Most matters end at the first courteous letter.
Reserve studies and funding
Every association owns things that wear out: roofs, paving, retaining walls, pool equipment, elevators. A reserve study inventories those components, estimates remaining life and replacement cost, and recommends an annual funding level.
Our job is keeping the study alive: funding reserves per the plan in each budget, updating the study after major projects, and showing the board the gap, in plain numbers, whenever contributions fall short of the plan. Underfunded reserves are tomorrow’s special assessment with today’s signature on it.
Vendor bidding and real supervision
Landscaping, snow, pools, trash, elevators, insurance: association money deserves competitive bids on a written scope, proof of insurance, and someone checking the work against the contract.
Because Levaru also runs its own facility crews, we know what the work should cost and what done looks like. Where self-performing fits, our teams handle it, from janitorial service in condo common areas to snow removal with documented service logs. Where a third party is the right answer, we bid it hard and inspect it.
Residents see everything through the portal
Every community we manage runs on our own platform. Residents submit requests through the client portal and see status without calling anyone. Work orders close with photos. Common-area assets carry QR-coded tags tied to service history, and board members can review documented conditions of the property remotely at any time.
For boards, this ends the oldest argument in association governance: what the management company actually did last month is on the screen, with timestamps and photographs.
Condo versus HOA: why the difference matters
In a condominium, the association maintains the building itself, which means engineering decisions, larger reserves, insurance complexity, and statutory rules specific to condominiums. In a typical HOA of single-family homes or townhomes, owners maintain their dwellings while the association handles common areas, so the workload centers on grounds, amenities, and architectural standards.
The management plan should match the type. A condo needs mechanical and envelope expertise close at hand; an HOA needs strong grounds vendors and a fair architectural review process. We staff and price accordingly rather than selling one template to both.
If your board is evaluating management companies in Maryland, Northern Virginia, or Washington DC, call +1 (703) 646-8300 or write info@levaru.co. We will review your documents and budget and return a written proposal your whole board can read in one sitting.
FAQ
HOA & Condo Management — common questions
What does an HOA management company do that a volunteer board cannot?
The manager executes what the board decides: billing and collecting assessments, keeping the books, bidding and supervising vendors, running violation processes consistently, preparing meeting packets, and answering resident calls. Boards keep all decision authority. The value is consistency and time; volunteers with day jobs cannot chase delinquencies, inspect vendors, and document everything month after month.
How are HOA management fees structured?
Most contracts are priced per home or per door per month, scaled to the number of homes and the service level the board chooses. Full-service management costs more than financial-only management. Drivers include amenity count, meeting schedule, collection workload, and whether the community has staff. Extra services such as major project oversight are typically quoted separately, in writing.
What is the difference between managing a condo and an HOA?
In a condominium the association maintains the building itself: roof, structure, corridors, and shared mechanical systems, which means larger budgets, engineering decisions, and bigger reserve obligations. In a typical HOA, owners maintain their homes and the association handles common areas like streets, ponds, and amenities. Governing statutes also differ, so notices, resales, and records follow different rules.
How do you handle covenant enforcement without creating conflict?
With a written, board-adopted process applied the same way to every home: documented inspection, a courteous first notice with a photo and the specific covenant cited, reasonable cure time, escalation and hearing only when needed. Most violations resolve at the first letter when it is specific and fair. Selective or vague enforcement is what creates conflict and legal exposure.
What is a reserve study and how often should we update it?
A reserve study is an independent inventory of the major components the association must eventually replace, such as roofs, paving, and elevators, with their remaining life, replacement cost, and a recommended funding plan. Boards commonly update the study on a multi-year cycle and after major projects. Funding reserves steadily is what prevents special assessments later.
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