How We Grade HOA Management Companies
Every HOA Intelligence grade is produced by the same disclosed, consistent methodology, applied identically to every company. Grades are built only from verified public records, and every data point is traceable to its source. This page documents exactly how a grade is calculated — so any grade we publish can be understood, checked, and stood behind.
The Public-Record Sources
We draw exclusively from government and public-record systems. We do not use private data, anonymous reviews, or unverifiable claims.
Colorado Secretary of State
Entity standing (Good Standing, Delinquent, Dissolved), formation date, registered agent, and filing history.
DORA & DRE HOA Registry
Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies license records — active, suspended, or disciplined — and the DRE registry of HOAs each company manages.
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
Complaint count, complaint pattern over time, response history, and accreditation status where available.
Court Filings
Publicly docketed civil and criminal matters involving the entity or its officers.
Five Weighted Categories (100 Points)
Each company is scored across five categories. The weights reflect how strongly each signal predicts real risk to an HOA board or the professionals who advise them.
Legal & Regulatory Standing
32 pointsColorado Secretary of State standing, DRE HOA registry presence, and DORA license records. The single heaviest category — an entity that is not in good standing or carries active regulatory discipline cannot score well regardless of other signals.
Complaint History
22 pointsBBB complaint volume and, more importantly, the pattern of complaints over time and whether they were addressed. Isolated complaints are weighted far less than sustained, unanswered patterns.
Financial Integrity
20 pointsFinancial-stability signals drawn from public regulatory filings and standing. This category surfaces documented financial or compliance red flags, not private financial data.
Professional Credentials
18 pointsVerified industry certifications held by the company and its officers (e.g., CAMICB certification, AAMC accreditation) and licensing history.
Operational Transparency
8 pointsHow openly and consistently the company presents itself across public records — consistent naming, current registrations, and verifiable contact and officer information.
The Grade Scale
Total points map to a single letter grade. The same thresholds apply to every company in the dataset.
Verified clean across all public-record sources with credential depth.
Clean across public records; typically a credential or transparency gap.
Operationally clean but limited verifiable credentials or minor flags.
Documented complaint patterns, regulatory concerns, or material gaps.
Serious, documented legal, financial, or compliance red flags.
Data Currency & Limitations
Each report reflects the state of the public record as of the report date printed on it. Government and regulatory systems update on their own schedules, and newly filed actions are not always immediately visible. Regulatory records may not reflect actions filed within the preceding 30 days.
HOA Intelligence grades are assessments based on publicly available records — not legal findings, regulatory determinations, or adjudications. A grade represents an opinion formed through this disclosed, consistent methodology. No grade should be interpreted as a finding of fraud, criminal liability, or breach of fiduciary duty, and no report constitutes legal advice.
Dispute a Grade or Report
If your company has been graded and you believe a report contains a factual error, you may submit a correction request below. We investigate every good-faith dispute and respond with the outcome within 30 days. Please describe the specific fact you believe is inaccurate and, where possible, point us to the public record that supports the correction.
See the methodology in action
Review a sample report, or order a vetting report on a Colorado HOA management company.