Condo Media - March 2015 - 36

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

Great North Property Management

Behind the Scenes at One of the Area's Largest Property Management Firms
When the cast takes a bow at the end of a play,
they are greeted with applause. But there are a lot
of people behind the scenes-from the stage manager
and running crew to the light and sound operators-
who are just as essential to making the show successful.
The same can be said of corporations. Take property
management, for example. There are often many
people behind the scenes who are vital to keeping
things running smoothly at the property. As Jaclyn Sirrine, vice president of corporate ﬁnancial services and
controller for Great North Property Management Inc.,
puts it, "Board members may see the property manager
exclusively, but there are many others that go into
delivering that ultimate package to the association."
ALL SYSTEMS GO
As one of New England's largest property management ﬁrms, Great North is able to centralize many of
its administrative functions at the ﬁrm's Exeter, N.H.,
headquarters. Among them are the ﬁnancial services
provided to all associations within the portfolio, which
spans all of New England.
To ensure the highest level of ﬁnancial service, Great
North has made a long-term commitment to staying on
the cutting edge of technology. Unit owners can interface with the GN Connect system to access an array of
options, such as making payments and reviewing their
payment history, accessing condo documents, and work
order processing. Board members have an enhanced access level that allows them to track management functions and review sensitive documents, such as vendor
contracts and monthly ﬁnancial reports online. "It's a
very useful tool," Sirrine says.
Hand in hand with the company's ongoing upgrades
of its technology is a commitment to going paperless.
Property managers are able to review an association's bills quickly and efﬁciently from a computer or
handheld device, and all data are integrated with the
company's own systems. "Take water and sewer, for
example," Sirrine explains. "If you want to see if there's
a trend, you can view all the information right there,
and it interacts with our software programs on a secure
path." She adds that the company has also installed a
scanner at every workstation and purchased a copier
with functions that support the effort to be "more
paperless," as she puts it.

"Great North was an early adopter of using an online
document delivery system," says Erin Bowen, vice
president and New England regional account executive
for Mutual of Omaha Bank, a banking partner of Great
North since 2011. "They have embraced technology by
going paperless, giving their owners online portals to
access their account information and vendor information, as well as utilizing an accounts payable lockbox.
These services not only beneﬁt their clients but
streamline their own ofﬁce processes."
One client who appreciates Great North's ﬁnancial
expertise is David Fields, trustee and treasurer at
Woodlands II in Belmont, Mass. The ﬁrst phase of the
property transitioned from the developer to the association as recently as last year, creating a steep learning
curve for the new board of trustees.
"None of us had prior experience in this, so we
wanted stability," Fields explains. "Being the treasurer,
I've found that they have a great system online, which
has been really useful. And they've helped us with the
budgeting, which has been very helpful."
SHARING THE WEALTH
In addition to its commitment to constantly upgrading
its technology, Great North also pursues an active and
ongoing acquisition policy. Since its founding 25 years
ago, the company has expanded in size and geography
and now serves more than 200 associations totaling
more than 13,000 units from its Exeter headquarters and
satellite ofﬁces in Bretton Woods and Nashua, N.H.; Boston, Foxborough, and Peabody, Mass.; and Wells, Maine.
From this network, Great North can provide a wide
geographic area with local representation, coupled
with the in-depth experience and deep resources of a
large organization. So Jared Lewis discovered when
his association, Boxberry Square of Rockland, Mass.,
retained Great North as its property manager. "The
ﬁrm has seen so many different situations, they could
bring ideas to bear on our account," he says.
For example, Great North revealed an opportunity
to generate income by bringing Verizon FiOS onto
the property-an idea that resulted in the deposit of a
$10,000 check into the association's capital reserve fund.
Lewis also appreciates the depth of Great North's vendor
list and the company's ability to leverage its size to enhance its buying power on behalf of its client properties.

Condo Media - March 2015

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