I am the President of a new 20 unit condo and we tried self-management at first. It was a lot of work, so we now pay for back-office management. The management company does the books and mailings, advises, runs or assists with the annual meeting and elections and other tasks we negotiated. It's a good deal, though there is still a lot of work for the Board, but not as much, and the books are professionally done and totally transparent. We also hire someone to do some basic landscaping (mowing, pruning) and vacuum on a weekly basis.