MacPherson’s Community Management Service FAQ’s

We are AppFolio users, and the portal is awesome, user-friendly, and we teach how to navigate it. Owners can view their ledger, make payments, submit maintenance service requests, submit ACC requests, view shared documents, and opt in to electronic communications. On the Shared Documents tab of the portal, there are all the forms necessary to update the occupant or vehicle information, as well as view all the Association governing documents, Association insurance information, the budget, reserve study, meeting minutes, and owner financials. There is a community calendar where dates of services, projects, meetings, etc, can be posted for the community to view.

The Board has all the options of a Homeowner, plus more options where they can review ACC requests and make approvals for Board decisions, receive the weekly activity reports (Friday check ins is what we call them), Management Reports, and view other Board specific documents such as a more complete version of the Financial statements, contracts etc. The Board can also run reports for the owner directory, renter directory, registered vehicles, work orders, and some financial reports.

Tenants do not have access to the portal as the Association does not have a relationship with the tenant. The Association's relationship is with the Owner of the unit. Owners are responsible for making sure the tenant information is updated. We send out information update forms a couple of times a year, and we do the input when we receive them back. On the Shared Documents tab of the portal, there are all the forms necessary to update the occupant or vehicle information, and those can be completed and submitted to our Admin team at any time.

Yes, they can opt in right on the Account Profile tab of the portal. If the owner is not tech savvy, we have someone in office 9-5 M-F who can assist and get them to the right place --- or print and mail it to them. MacPherson’s Community Management Service FAQ’s

Yes, Owners can pay via ACH, where we deduct the amount from the account they specify on one specific date per month. They can also set up an e-check payment via the Alliance Association Bank portal and designate their preferred payment date. We also accept check payments at our payment processing center in Las Vegas. All of these methods are free and shared with owners when we take over management. Owners can also make their payments through the AppFolio portal, but AppFolio does charge a small service fee for this if using an e-check method. There is a different charge if paying by credit card on either the AppFolio or Alliance Bank site, which is more and is a percentage of the payment amount.

We are headquartered in Lynnwood, WA. Our managers work remotely from their home offices, and we assign their communities geographically, so that it is easy for them to perform their site visits.

The managers perform the site visit utilizing AppFolio, and it is designed so that they can enter work orders right from their site inspection report. The manager provides the site inspection report to the Board as part of the monthly Board Packet. The manager updates the Board on a weekly basis with the Weekly Activity report.

Frequency/content Our managers send a weekly update report by Friday each week and also add it to the AppFolio portal in the Board section. Site Visits are performed once a month and are scheduled for the same date each month. The site visit report is included in the Board Packet that is sent to the Board monthly, typically the Friday before the Board meeting. It includes the Agenda for the meeting, a Management report with a brief financial summary, and any supporting documentation for any decisions required at the meeting. The goal of the Board packet is to set the Board up to conduct efficient business meetings.

Our communication policy is that we respond within 24 business hours. Our preferred method of communication is by email or via Service Requests in the AppFolio portal. Phone conversations can be scheduled by appointment. The reason for this is twofold: 1. Our managers are trained in time management and often work in uninterrupted blocks of time on tasks for their communities. They are often not free to take unscheduled phone calls. 2. As a management company, we are tasked with maintaining the records of the Association. Phone conversations are difficult to document. Texting the manager is not an acceptable method of communication. The managers’ cell phones are their personal phones. We encourage a healthy work/life balance and do not require our managers to give out their phone numbers. Board members are volunteers, often with jobs of their own, and often communicate after hours. We need to keep that communication in the appropriate channels to give the managers their time off. We pride ourselves on excellent communication, and our Boards find our approach to be quite effective.

Each community is assigned a dedicated email communityname@macphersonspm.com that is monitored by their community manager. We also have a dedicated infohoa@macphersonspm.com email that community members can send questions to that goes directly to our customer service team. Community members can also call our office between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm and either reach our customer service team or be routed to their manager's extension. Again, the response policy is 24 business hours.

We can provide eblasts to the communities at any time, without charge. As a company, we communicate the days that the office is closed and if there is a change of manager, and usually a general message once a year. We also provide for mailings of the community as required for the budget and annual meeting notices (or any other legal notice). Mailings are performed through a 3rd party mailing service, and the actual cost of the service is billed to the community. When mailing a notice, we eblast it to the community at the same time.

The Manager will obtain up to 3 bids for a project as per our contract. We track the progress of the bidding for you and upload them to the portal or include them with the Board Packet for review and decision. The manager is always willing to provide their expertise and vendor experiences to the Board.

We follow the process that is outlined in your Rules and Regulations. AppFolio is great for setting up a follow-up schedule so that the manager can easily track and follow up, and either resolve or progress the violation as necessary. Our letters request that the owners provide proof of compliance within 10 -14 days, depending on your documents.

Requests are submitted in the Appfolio portal. The Manager is alerted when a request has been uploaded. The Manager reviews the request for accuracy and completeness. If the request is not complete, the Manager will reach out to the owner and request further documentation. Once the request is complete, the Manager pushes the request to the Board via the AppFolio portal. The Board will receive notification that there is an approval waiting for them, and they can log in to the portal and discuss and vote. Once the Board decision is made, the Manager will communicate the decision to the owner, both through the portal and via a letter for their records. For owners who are not tech savvy, they can email the community email, and the manager will upload the request for them for the Board to approve through the portal. If the owner does not have a portal activated, the Manager will communicate with them via email and letter.

The Manager conducts a monthly site visit and can overlap this with a meeting. Work can be inspected on the site visit as well. The Manager also partners with the Board for vendor access and work inspection. We are not on-site managers, and our contract calls for one site visit per month, so we do rely on some Board involvement with vendor access and advising us if there are performance issues between site visits.