FACTORS AFFECTING SELECTION OF MANAGING AGENT FOR CONDOMINIUM

Abstract

When some 140 occupants from Bukit Timah Plaza fell ill after consuming contaminated water supplied from the water tanks of their complex in August 2000, all blames were pointed at the Managing Agent (MA) of the complex. The MA for the complex at that material time was a leading and reputable international real estate firm which has many decades of property management experience. Despite the management of the complex by a professional MA, incidents such as this occur. Practicing MAs are complaining about the poor fees they are paid while Management Corporations (MCs) are complaining about the poor quality of services provided. Thus, the question concerns the kind of attributes a good MA should possess. This dissertation examines in details the attributes of a good MA and determines the significance of the factors affecting the performance of MAs for condominiums. Field surveys were conducted for this dissertation. With the SPSS statistical tool, it is found that staff assigned by the MA to manage a condominium emerged as the most significant factor and acts as the proxy for job knowledge, contributing more than 70% towards the performance of the MA. Reputation of the MA's firm is also featured in the regression model but its significance is far lesser than that of the staff assigned. Two other variables: public relation and fee payable by the MC are also featured in the regression model. Public relation is found to have very strong correlation with communication skill, suggesting that public relation is likely to be a proxy for communication skill. The author hopes that the industry would benefit from this research and further fee undercutting will stop, and together with the practising MAs, MCs, the end users will jointly make an effort to improve this profession.