It’s a trick question! In California, there are no licensing requirements to be an Association Manager.
There are more licensing requirements to be a hair stylist and they don’t handle millions of dollars of people’s money. If your hairstylist makes a mistake, your hair will grow back. If your HOA Manager bankrupts your Reserve Account, it’s NOT growing back.
Does having a degree in Physical Education qualify you to manage finances? Does creating a bunch of Reserve Studies automatically make you a Reserve Expert? There are many people that have played golf for decades yet they have zero chance of ever making the PGA Tour.
There are no education requirements, no intelligence tests, no years of training — in theory a new born baby could be an Association Manager. The only thing stopping them is those child labor laws.
Be very careful when selecting an Association Manager, especially one that requires they also manage your finances and forces you to select one of their preferred attorneys to be the HOA’s Attorney.