Vacasa, which manages properties across Colorado and around the world, will up it’s game in Steamboat Springs by offering Vacasa Community Association Management program. (Photo courtesy of Vacasa)

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Since 2009, Portland-based Vacasa has become the go-to for travelers looking to rent a home or condo for vacation and for homeowners hoping to pocket a little cash on a home they own in a popular destination.

Recently, Vacasa has expanded its reach by launching a real estate arm in July, and now a community association management program that will provide management services to vacation rental homeowners through their respective community associations.

“This is a new offering from Vacasa,” said Meghan Lutterman, of Vacasa Community Association Management program. “Most people are familiar with Vacasa as a short-term rental management offering for our vacation rental owners. But we are now launching this program as a full service management support for communities that are highly transient.”

The program will work with the boards of directors of associations by providing association governance for them, accounting services and on-site management to make sure the pools are clean, front desks are staffed appropriately with friendly people and guests of Vacasa have a positive experience in Steamboat Springs.

“As you can imagine, most of our homeowners don’t live in Steamboat or in these complexes. We believe in transparent, professional management and are providing that service at a new level not offered in the marketplace,” Lutterman said.

Lutterman, who lived in Steamboat Springs in 2009 when she worked for Klauzer and Tremaine, has licenses in community association management and is a certified manager of community associations. She will be working closely with Bob Milne, another longtime Steamboat Springs resident who has a wealth of experience in property management.

Before joining Vacasa in August 2017, Milne founded, then sold, the Resort Company in Steamboat Springs to Wyndham Worldwide. He moved to New Jersey briefly to be president of Wyndham Vacation Rentals North America but returned to Steamboat before taking the position of chief operations officer for Vacasa.

Vacasa recently surpassed Wyndham as the largest vacation rental management company in North America with more than 10,600 homes in it’s portfolio, including 22 in Steamboat Springs.

“One place where we have excelled since 2009, when we founded Vacasa, is working with individual owners,” Lutterman said. “Those homeowners have developed a lot of trust with us in managing their individual homes. When they walk out of their home and see a fitness center that is closed, or a pool that doesn’t quite look right or an elevator that needs to be mopped, they come to us and ask us to provide them with that larger service to make sure that, when they enter that property or their guests or tenants enter the property, they can experience the Vacasa quality from the parking lot all the way in through to the unit, or the home that they own there.”

She said the community association management program is directed to assist community associations and their boards of directors.

“The board of directors are required by law in Colorado to preserve and enhance commonly held property — that includes the hallways, the elevators, the parking lots,” Lutterman said. “The boards of directors are strictly volunteers. Most of them are sophisticated business people, but they are not paid for these positions. We are here to help them and guide them with making sure meetings are run pursuant with Colorado law, making sure we provide accurate and transparent accounting services as well as on-site management.”

Vacasa’s Community Association Management program started operating in Summit County, in McCall, Idaho and Costa Rica in the past year.

“We are currently operating ten associations in Summit County. We have a community association management team there, and they are incredibly successful, and that has allowed us to expand northward to Routt County,” Lutterman said. “We manage two in McCall, Idaho and four in Costa Rica and expect to see pretty massive growth in 2019 with this offering. We have proven the concept and we are looking to expand it based on our successes.”

To reach John F. Russell, call 970-871-4209, email jrussell@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @Framp1966.