Our Passion for Service
Can Make a Difference for You
Thousands of communities across North America trust and depend on FirstService ResidentialMaking a Difference. Every Day.
Welcome to FirstService Residential, North America’s leading residential property management company. Our company was founded in 1950 as Wolin-Levin Inc., a small firm managing just one rental property in Hyde Park. Since then we have grown to become the most experienced full-service community association management company offering a wide range of services. We currently have the privilege of managing over 160 communities and 18,000 homes in Illinois.
In 2004, Wolin-Levin became part of FirstService Residential, the largest residential property management organization in North America, overseeing more than 6,500 properties and over 1.5 million residential units. This allowed us to leverage the many programs and industry-leading services the organization offers to benefit our clients.
The FirstService Residential
Difference
1. Regularly scheduled property inspections to ensure quality control practices and continuous evaluation of building mechanics.
2. We have great people serving our clients. We work to find the best match between every client and our management team. 3. We have been managing associations like yours in the Chicago
area for over 60 years and we use our experience to meet the needs of every client.
4. Implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (i.e. weekly site visits, work order system, and preventative maintenance). 5. Leveraging cost savings opportunities with our buying power
North America’s Property
Management Experts
Through our decades of hands-on experience, we understand every detail and nuance of property management; we continually build on this expertise through collaboration and the sharing of best practices across our organization. Our associates deliver proven solutions to any challenges facing your community; ensuring your property and its residents benefit from our best-in-class property management services.
We listen to our clients and design customized property management solutions to meet their unique needs. We provide full-service
management services to properties of all sizes and types, including: • Low-, mid- and high-rise condominiums
• Large-scale, master-planned communities • Single-family homeowner associations • Cooperative Corporations
• Town home communities
• Investor-owned rental and REO properties
A Commitment to Exceptional
Service and Solutions
Our teams are comprised of service-minded professionals who share our commitment to making a difference in the communities we serve. Our associates are the best in the industry, and our most valuable resource. Our success is dependant on their talent, integrity, and passion for service.
These talented property management professionals come to us with diverse backgrounds and expertise and they unite to create a team that shares a commitment to delivering value and service excellence in all we do. To ensure our management teams have the best knowledge and skills to deliver outstanding service to your community, we provide a variety of advanced training programs including instructor-led training, mentorship programs, and the FirstService Residential School of
Professional Development, our proprietary online associate training curriculum.
Our Technology. Your Advantage.
At the core of our services is our proprietary software, FSRConnect™. This tool is the central communication piece to engage with your homeowners. FirstService Residential includes this software and its service components at no additional cost to the community. Why? Because we understand the importance of connecting homeowners through technology.
FSRConnect™ will improve communication between the board,
homeowners, and your manager. Our software is web-based, accessible, user friendly, and syncs with all of FirstService Residential’s service products.
Scan & Store
FirstService Residential believes in the advantages of paperless technology. We scan and electronically store your documents. This allows for better security, better access, and quicker dissemination of information.
Transparency and Accountability
Property management can be chaotic. Not only does FSRConnect™ streamline processes, but every stroke of communication is tracked, reviewable, and archived. This allows FirstService Residential
FSRConnect Value-Added Programs
A Community Website
• A convenient option for homeowners to obtain information about their community, check their account status, or pay their assessments.
• Where board members can access confidential reports, data, and information.
Resident Alert
• Allows our managers to promptly and efficiently communicate to all residents over the phone within minutes.
• Gives each resident of your community a personal phone call with important community news. Whether concerning an upcoming board meeting location or urgent updates on a power outage, your residents will be kept informed.
iPhone Violation Tracking Application • “We’ve got an App for that!”
• Photos included in all violation letters and uploaded to the website for the homeowners to view.
Work Order Management
• Engineers and doormen are involved in the management of work orders.
• Homeowners can submit and review their personal submissions with progress updates.
FSRConnect Plus+ Features
• Visitor management is an interactive security feature that facilitates accountability for all building guests. All visitors are logged into FSRConnect™ where their contact information, picture, and
signature are tracked. Visitors and contractors are then given photo badges prior to entering the building.
• Doormen can use this system to automatically inform residents of deliveries by e-mail or a phone call. Doormen use a package scanner to efficiently log all packages that arrive which automatically
24-Hour Customer Care
Our commitment to service means residents never have to wait for answers to their questions. In addition to providing online assistance through FSRConnectTM, we offer a 24-hour Customer Care Center to
provide answers and information by phone. Our representatives are equipped with the software and knowledge base that enables them to answer a majority of homeowner’s questions immediately, minimizing the need to leave messages and await a returned call.
Residents can ask questions about a variety of topics, including community specific information concerning rules and regulations, or information relating to their account, work orders, etc.
Typically, the Customer Care Center achieves the following performance metrics:
• 95% first call resolution rate
• 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds • Average handling time of 3-4 minutes
Financial and Accounting Services
By providing full-service financial and accounting services to our managed communities, we create an integral roadmap for their
continued growth and success. We tailor the industry’s most advanced financial and accounting procedures and systems to the needs of each community, delivered by an experienced, CPA-led, financial team with an eye for detail and a commitment to precision and timeliness. Team members utilize industry leading accounting software, Jenark, which provides real-time access to financial reports, banking
statements and more. In addition, they utilize a proven and reliable checks-and-balances system to ensure the accuracy of each
transaction. We further strengthen our associations’ financial stability through proven cost containment and collection services.
Banking and Insurance Programs
Through FirstService Financial, our specialized financial services affiliate, we are able to secure the most attractive terms and pricing for the high-level banking and insurance programs your community needs. FirstService Financial’s programs are available exclusively to our managed communities throughout North America, creating another tangible value-added service for our 6,000 clients. By consolidating their bank accounts into select top-tier financial institutions, FirstService Financial creates value by eliminating bank fees on operating accounts and delivering significantly higher interest rates on reserve and escrow funds. As a result, FirstService Financial created more than $15 million in value for our clients in the past year. In addition, FirstService Financial is able to offer proprietary insurance products to our clients through strong and stable carriers due to the ongoing analysis and demonstration of the proven loss experience of the FirstService Residential portfolio. By leveraging our buying power, clients are offered better options and long-term stability in their insurance purchasing decisions.
Although FirstService Financial’s financial services are elective, many of our communities take advantage of the added value and quality they provide.
Combined Purchasing Programs
Green & Energy Programs
“Going green” isn’t just good for the environment - it’s also good for your bottom line. We are committed to providing our clients with the tools and resources to reduce their buildings’ total energy consumption in order to see a positive impact financially as well as environmentally. Education & Compliance
Education is the first crucial step in implementing change. FirstService Residential has taken a knowledge-based approach to green and sustainability and is proud to have on our staff LEED accredited associates who’ve gone through the US Green Building Council
certification program. These associates translate what they’ve learned through their rigorous studies in the field, and work to identify areas where our clients can operate their properties in a more sustainable, energy efficient manner while saving money and preserving our
environment. In addition, our staff is available to train your staff, board members, and ownership.
Energy Report Card
The Energy Report Card is an energy assessment and billing audit of your building’s total energy usage. We can evaluate your building’s energy use in comparison to like size buildings through our national presence. Using a proprietary Building Energy Rating Guide (BERG), we can quickly compare and benchmark your building against others in our database and identify opportunities for improvement. We consider every practical means and then comprise a package of solutions to resolve a building’s energy management issues.
Retrofits & Capital Improvements
