PROPERTY-MANAGER RFPS, P.2

Bupp agrees. "I don't know how boards are going to judge property managers if they don't write down standards," he says.

But Alex Kuffel, president of Pride Property Management, cautions that RFPs can't simply be imported here from other cities. "If they're going to be used," he says, "they need to be tailored to the mandates and requirements — the idiosyncrasies — of New York City."

Idiosyncratic Wind

In the case of the Park Slope co-op's lengthy RFP, Kuffel noted a glaring unawareness of these idiosyncrasies. On the page titled "Management Bid Form," the questionnaire asks the management company to specify if its fee will be a flat fee or a percentage of the maintenance billed, the maintenance collected, the gross potential maintenance, or some "other" number.

"What went through my head when I read that," says Kuffel, "is that they took a nationwide RFP for a rental property and sent it out to management companies. All companies that manage co-ops and condos in New York City charge a flat fee. In rental properties it's a percentage of the rent roll. If a co-op refinances its mortgage and the maintenance goes up, it wouldn't be fair for the management company to collect more fees. So this question about fees is not applicable here."

Howard Mandel, a managing agent with TKR Property Services, believes that while RFPs might prove useful, they're no substitute for experience.

"I've had four RFPs in the past two years, so I would say it is not uncommon," he says. "I think it's happening more since you have more board members who work in finance getting involved. If you have a seasoned board that has been in control for a few years, you do not need an RFP to decide on a new management company. But if you do use one, I think an interview should come first, and then the RFP. That way you don't scare the management company away."

Bunis, for one, is glad she completed the long form. "I knew where I stood and what they wanted before I signed on the dotted line," she says. "And that's not a bad thing."

Illustration by Dave Bamundo

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