Buying a property management company in South Florida

• Many owners and associations, with no single client making up much of revenue. An investor with dozens of homes can leave in one phone call.
• Clients who stay for years, and few lost doors (the industry's word for units under management).
• Clean, reconciled trust accounts and owner statements that go out on time.
• Managers who have their own client relationships and plan to stay, so clients don't leave with the departing owner.
• Fees that cover the work, including leasing, renewals and maintenance coordination.
• A reliable network of maintenance vendors who respond quickly, since slow repairs are why owners and tenants leave.
• Software that owners, tenants and association members actually use.
• A reputation with associations for smooth board transitions, budgets and annual meetings.

• The client list: doors or associations per client, fees, how long each has been a client, and clients lost in the last three years, with the reasons.
• Trust account reconciliations for at least a year, matched to bank statements. A shortfall can become the new owner's problem.
• Management agreements: notice periods, fee schedules, and whether they can be assigned to a buyer.
• Revenue by fee type: management, leasing, renewals, maintenance markups, late fees.
• Complaints to the DBPR and any lawsuits with owners, tenants or associations.
• Who manages each relationship, and whether those managers have signed agreements not to solicit clients.
• Who owns the software accounts and data.
• For associations, contract renewal dates and any boards that have recently asked other managers for proposals.

• How many doors and associations do you manage, and how many did you lose last year?
• Who is the broker of record, and would they stay after a sale? Who holds the association manager licenses?
• Who reconciles your trust accounts, and how?
• What are your main fees, and when did you last change them?
• Can your management agreements be assigned to a new owner?
• Which clients are closest to you personally?
• Do you manage vacation rentals, and how is that business licensed and taxed?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.