In the coming weeks, we will be adding a special section to this guide that will educate HOA members (owners) on how HOA boards and the property management companies they hire (and owners pay for) often scheme to overcharge HOA members by, among other things, bid rigging, accepting kickback payments, inflating contractor fees on building repairs and maintenance and other vendor recommended services (including insurance covered restoration work), all of which are, BTW, prosecutable crimes. We will also advise on why we believe that no HOA member should ever agree to do business with vendors who are associated with or recommended by HOA board members or property management companies.

For example: At a recent annual HOA board meeting I attended just southwest of the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, as written on the property management company letter head and presented by the HOA President to HOA members (owners) as a capital expenditure for the year 2026 - the listed cost to replace perfectly good and perfectly working outdoor wall lighting was $31,100. However, upon conclusion of my investigation into the matter, as a former remodeling and restoration contractor and winning Pro Se litigator who knows how such work should be fairly priced, the price given to me which included the cost of the required permit and the cost for a non HOA board member, non-property management company representative, and non-preferred property management company vendor connected licensed electrician to replace the existing lights with new came to just $16,336 or $14,764 less than the property management company and the HOA board had presented as the cost to the HOA members for the unnecessary and unneeded "improvement". Hmmm...what’s that spell? FRA..

If the same property management company that actually represents 220 different and independent Minnesota HOA's were to do that to each of the 220 – which seems to be a common practice, the overcharge would amount to over $3,248,000 dollars – and that’s just for replacement of the perfectly good lights that did not need changing.

Interestingly, when one of the attending non HOA board members asked if the lights replacement issue would be discussed, the HOA board president waved the asking member off and moved on to other items without addressing the issue. After the meeting, several of the members suggested that the HOA board president had heard I was looking into the issue and the pricing and wanted to therefore avoid any discussion on the subject.

Part of the problem is the fact that, like most insured property owners who know little about how P&C insurance companies repeatedly scam their insured property owner customers by underpaying them on their storm damage claims or outright denying payment for legitimate covered damage, HOA members who are - homeowners, many who may also have suffered insurance covered damage to their properties, also don't understand how far too many HOA boards and property management companies also scam those too trusting homeowners out of their money.

As the HOA Board and the property management company both are coming to understand, I will continue to keep my eye on them and, if appropriate, seek to have them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 

This free guide is only available to insured commercial and residential property owners and restoration contractors who have completed the 3RSystems, LLC restoration contractor training program and can provide proof in the form of a signed certificate of completion from 3RSystems, LLC.  If they cannot provide the certificate, they are not a certified 3RSystems, LLC trained restoration contractor.