Advanced Property Management Inc

I used APM for five months and was very disappointed with my experience. I was a little circumspect initially, but I could not find anyone else. APM performed disappointingly in many ways and there was nothing they did well. First, APM repeatedly and completely failed to inspect my property before it was rented. I called at least three times to discuss this and no visit was ever made. After the property was rented I continued pointing out they should still visit it, such as when I had an ongoing communication problem with the tenant (English was the tenant?s second language). It was disturbing APM did not initially understand why seeing the property before taking management was a necessity. They never visited this property. Second, Another duty of APM was to contact the renter and explain the manner in which rent was to be paid. The renter was an immigrant with a weak command of the American language and did not fully understand this process. It was when payment was paid directly to me from the renter and not APM that it was clear there was a misunderstanding. This happened again in the second month. In the third month the renter mailed payment to APM. However, the check came late and APM did not react. After seven days past due I contacted APM and ONLY then did they contact the renter. APM received the check by the last day of the grace period (10 days), but then I had to wait an additional seven days to receive if from APM. Smart phone apps allow this to be done in minutes. As a final note on this issue the lease I have is a little different than the standard lease APM uses. I do not recall exactly, but I know by day seven of my grace period this would have been considered late by APM?s contract. This is significant because I could tell by speaking with APM on the phone when this issue came up that APM was under the impression it was now necessary to collect a late fee in addition to the rent. This is very disturbing since APM believed we had exceeded the grace period, yet they were still not reacting to the situation. Third issue is the speed at which they respond. Specifically, I needed a standard APM lease made by the next day because the tenant needed to move in soon. I did not want to pass on this tenant since I had went through numerous showings and denied many people because they could not pass the background check. I gave APM all the information they needed up front to complete a lease for signing. All APM needed to do was plug in a small amount of information to complete the lease. Since they could not do this I had to use a standard State of New Jersey lease and then add an additional clause in order to make it work. Fourth regards the language barrier. APM was quick to point out there was a communication problem, but made no attempt to address it. An obvious solution would have been to speak to the renter in person, which was doubly important given APM still had never seen this property in person. The fifth issue is with the security deposit. After securing a renter I learned I would have to maintain the security deposit myself because APM does not do this in instances where they do not find a renter for the property. This undermines the purpose for one to have a management company. The sixth issue is APM does not regularly provide monthly statements, although they say they do if there is an irregularity. This is not a big deal, but another manager I use for another property does this and I find this reassuring that everything is going smoothly. On one occasion I asked for a statement of all activity since the beginning of the lease (four months worth) since I had received any records and they said they would provide it next week (this was a Wednesday). That took eight days. Seventh, a repair was needed to the exterior of the property and APM sent a contractor to make an estimate. 13 days after notifying APM I still did not have an estimate, so I called to ask why. The APM representative simply stated they had not heard back from the contractor. At this point APM should have realized on their own to hirer another contractor. This is more problematic when one considers I had a contract with the tenant and this failure by APM could have meant I had a bigger problem. Additionally, although this did not affect me I should make a point about using a photographer for marketing. Any photos of a real estate property should be done with a wide-angle lens. Conventional lenses, whether on a phone or purpose-designed camera, will distort rooms into appearing smaller than they are. Real estate professionals who understand this will use a professional photographer to take the proper photos. However, APM uses a conventional non-wide angle lens. This important point speaks to their lack of dedication. In my case I took it upon myself to market my property and I had a professional photographer take photos for me. Just something to keep in mind . . . . There are other scenarios and services I never had the chance to go through with APM, such as: · Inspecting a home after a tenant moves out · Listing the property · Routine maintenance and purchasing · Evictions These are important issues that can arise for a landlord and I was not willing to take the risk of having APM address these advanced scenarios since they have demonstrated an inability to handle the basic ones. My experience with APM was so disappointing I exited our annual contract, as per the contract, by paying a termination fee of $150, equal to one month's rent. Although this was discounted by APM from $450, this does not change the fact terrible behavior was rewarded. They were disorganized, disinterested, and untrustworthy. The most pedestrian needs were difficult to address. Therefore I replaced APM in favor of Abacus Avenue Property Management Service. Although I cannot speak from experience how good Abacus is, I feel far more confident than I did when I began with APM. There is one other manager worth considering by virtue they present themselves more professionally and on paper have demonstrated more planning. Although again I cannot speak from experience, they are T.R.M. Property Management. T.R.M. seemed good, but Abacus Avenue looked a little more serious and dedicated. Finding a good management company is very challenging given the real estate industry attracts a very large volume of dishonest people who lack talent or the necessary moral business principles to give clients what they deserve.