Services Overview and FAQs

Royal Oak Realty and Property Management (ROPM) is a full-service real estate and property management brokerage licensed with the Colorado Real Estate Commission. We provide a full spectrum of services across the real estate life cycle including acquisitions, buyer agency, sales listings, rental property management and management of townhome communities governed by Partywall Agreements. 

HOAs VERSUS TOWNHOME / PARTYWALL COMMUNITIES 

Many multi-family residential communities are part of an HOA where the HOA actually owns and oversees the common areas within the community such as common drivelanes, sidewalks and landscaping and sometimes the exterior of the buildings. HOAs have a set of rules and regulations that homeowners must adhere to as well. Homeowners are members of the HOA and ‘dues’ are assessed to each homeowner which cover the costs of all the associated expenses of running the HOA. ROPM does not provide full HOA management services.

A townhome community governed only by a Partywall Agreement DOES NOT have an HOA and there are no ‘common elements’ and no separate Rules and Regulations document for homeowners to adhere to. There is a Partywall Agreement that dictates how costs and services that are shared expenses between all or some owners are handled and sometimes dictates homeowner’s actions such as parking restrictions, etc. Most commonly the shared expenses include shared water, sewer and trash service, landscaping and snow removal. In some partywall communities this can also include fire monitoring, backflow prevention device testing, storm water retention facility maintenance, and other shared bills depending on the community. ROPM offers services to oversee and provide billing services that need to be split between the homeowners for the shared expenses within partywall communities. 

Reimbursement Billing and Operating Reserves

Owners will be billed monthly in the arrears, and will only be billed for actual costs incurred during the previous month, including management fees. Expenses will fluctuate monthly/seasonally with winter costs tied to snow removal, and summer costs will typically have higher water billing due to irrigation requirements. Some communities may see annual or quarterly costs related to additional services such as fire monitoring or backflow device testing, etc. ROPM provides an estimated budget during contract setup when initially onboarding a community. This estimated budget is used to calculate the required operating reserves. The operating reserves collected from each homeowner at the time of their purchase are used to pay bills received for contracted services each month. Then costs are tabulated and split according to the governing Partywall Agreement for the community and billed monthly to each homeowner. 

Payment Process

Owners will receive a statement via email each month. Balances can be paid online through a secure online portal or by check (see below for billing address). Instructions to activate your homeowner portal will be including in your welcome packet. Charges are posted on the 1st of each month and balances are due within 15 days, and a late fee or interest may be charged on any past due accounts. A $7.00 fee will be charged for returned payments or incorrect bank account information entered. Owners are encouraged to enroll in automatic payments through their secure online portal. 

Insurance

There is NO blanket/master insurance policy in place for Partywall communities. Homeowners are expected to purchase a full coverage policy. Owenrs can refer to the recorded Partywall Agreement/Townhome Declaration for exact requirements.

Transfer or Ownership

In the case of a sale, the seller may be responsible for full or partial invoices which may not become available until AFTER the closing date. Since monthly costs fluctuate, Royal Oak cannot advise as to the exact amount that should be collected from the seller at closing to account for all expenses incurred prior to the closing date. Royal Oak will continue to bill the seller directly until all expenses incurred prior to the closing date have been paid in full. Royal Oak will prorate charges between the buyer and the seller based on the closing date if necessary. As soon as the monthly bill reflects that the buyer is fully responsible for all incurred expenses, the seller’s required reserve will be refunded to the seller by Royal Oak, less any outstanding balances, assuming that the buyer has replaced the required reserve.

Excluded Services: Our management services are provided based on a specific Service Agreement with each community. This typically excludes **waste removal, interior/exterior building maintenance to individual units, rules/regulations enforcement, parking enforcement, landscaping replacements, or installation of lighting or security systems, etc.** Additional services/projects may be added at the discretion of the Property Manager with a majority vote from the community for an additional 10% management fee per project.