The Building Texas Show has released a new episode featuring John Carona, founder and CEO of Associa, the world’s largest manager of homeowners associations. Recorded at the company’s Richardson headquarters, the conversation with host Justin McKenzie covers the origins of the 49-year-old company, the misunderstood role of HOAs in fast-growing Texas, and the future of community association management as Associa expands across Europe.
Carona, who started the business about 18 months after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, described the company’s humble beginnings. “We started out with just two employees, myself and one rather elderly assistant who I loved dearly,” he said. “And from that we built this twenty-four thousand employee operation.” Growth came “one client at a time,” organically at first and increasingly through acquisition. Associa has now acquired more than 200 companies and adds 25 to 30 management firms in a typical year.
Much of the episode addresses strong opinions about HOAs. Carona made a financial case for them, stating, “The most important thing homeowners associations do is they preserve the value for the owners themselves by adding some degree of conformity, some reasonable rules and regulations.” He noted that property values in communities with mandatory HOAs have been shown repeatedly to grow faster than those outside them. He also addressed friction, citing surveys that show just north of 95% of residents appreciate the experience. “Now, four to five percent out there feel otherwise. And it’s our job as a management company to try to address the issues that those four to five percent bring up.” Associa now surveys every board of directors it represents three times a year to catch problems early.
When asked what sets Associa apart, Carona pointed to technology and training. “We live in the Amazon age. People want more for less, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” he said. “That same technological application applies with community associations, and we have to be able to do a better job, a more timely job, and do it for lower dollars.” The company operates 340 branch offices across the United States, serving 44 states, and has been voted a national best place to work for nine consecutive years. “Nothing makes me prouder than that,” Carona said.
Associa recently acquired the number two operator in Spain, its first large international purchase, and expects to be the number one operator in that market by year-end. Carona described it as the opening move in a three-to-five-year rollout across Europe, with the UK, France, and Italy on the list and inbound interest from Germany. “Whatever they call them, the procedure and the type of service is more or less the same,” he said, noting that terminology varies by country.
For homeowners buying into Texas’s booming triangle, Carona advised scrutinizing transportation, location, and build quality, because Texas does not license builders. “From time to time, bad actors can come on the scene.” The full episode is available now wherever you get your podcasts.
