Condo Media - May 2010 - 40

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

Great North Property Management
20 Years of Specialization in Condominium Management
by Pamela Schweppe t’s hard to imagine that, barely a quarter-century ago, the whole concept of a condominium community was still fairly new. In those early days of the 1980s, management of most associations was almost an afterthought — a division of a larger commercial real estate firm. That’s when Lou Gargiulo came up with an idea. Why not specialize in condominium management? “I saw a niche,” says the man who today is president and CEO of Great North Property Management, the company he co-founded in 1990. “I saw the internal issues faced by condominium communities and the need for more sophisticated systems and a level of professionalism that weren’t widely available back then.” A property management professional since 1972, L. Gargiulo started Great North with just a handful of client associations. Today, the company is one of New England’s largest thirdparty property management firms specializing in condominium associations. It also is New Hampshire’s only Accredited Management Organization (AMO). The Institute of Real Estate Management, an affiliate of the National Association of Realtors, awards AMO accreditation only to real estate firms with demonstrated high standards for performance, experience, stability and financial accountability and that have a Certified Property Manager (CPM) directing and supervising the real estate management team. In addition, AMO firms must abide by a rigorous Code of Professional Ethics that is strictly enforced by the Institute. Great North is now one of only 530 elite firms

nationwide to hold this prestigious accreditation. And the company is growing. Currently centered in Portsmouth, N.H., Great North is in the process of purchasing a large office building nearby that will serve as company headquarters. Offices are also maintained in Boston and Peabody, Mass., and in Nashua, Lincoln, Lebanon, and Breton Woods, N.H. Additionally, Great North is aggressively seeking other management companies to acquire. With absolutely no debt, the company has significant ability to expand through these purchases with little or no financing, L. Gargiulo reveals.

Accountability, to the Penny
The fiscal responsibility Great North applies to its own balance sheet is also extended to clients. The firm offers its clients a full menu of services, including a sophisticated accounting program. “We handle finances, soup to nuts,” says Justin Gargiulo, Great North’s vice president of field operations — and Lou’s son. “Every month, we provide every association with a 50-plus-page report that’s reconciled to the penny.” The financial acumen of Great North’s 17-member financial staff certainly proved helpful to Bob Brown of the Gables condominium association in Hampton, N.H. When he moved into the five-building complex in 2001, “the biggest challenge we faced was getting the capital we needed to effect repairs,” he recalls. Great North was hired three years ago, and the turnaround has been stunning. Not only is the Gables able to direct $90,000 a year toward improvement

projects, but Great North also enabled the association to obtain a substantial loan without imposing a special assessment or raising monthly fees. “That loan allowed us to complete a number of projects, including repaving the driveway and replacing the roofing and the decks,” Bob says. “It’s been a good partnership.” At Great North, just as important as expertise is integrity — a quality that especially appealed to another client in Hampton, N.H., whose previous property manager “had issues with financial irregularities” as Trisha Eveleth, president of the board of Hampton Towne Estates, puts it. “It was devastating,” she says. “So it was very important to the unit owners to find a management company we could trust that would also fit our needs.” Those needs included providing the proper financial controls. Great North offered the kinds of controls the board was looking for, including a peer review of financials. “In 20 years, we’ve never lost a penny of client funds,” says L. Gargiulo. “Every report is read by a peer reviewer to ensure accuracy, proper presentation, and indepth analysis.” “We’ve been very happy with them,” Eveleth reports. “I’m sure we’ll have a long relationship.”

Communication and Technology, Hand in Hand
As Eveleth’s story shows, communication is critical in property management, and to L. Gargiulo, “I believe technology is one of the most important areas today for enhancing communication and service.” Toward that end, his company recently invested $500,000 in

Condo Media - May 2010

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