[jess01]

Hi - I was wondering if anyone used Action Management for leasing and managing their rental property and could give me some feedback on their experience. I was planning to hire them leasing my house for rent and manage it. Will really appreciate your help.

Thanks a lot in advance!

[wclasspoker]

Jess,

I can give you some feedback as a renter with Action Management and some of my experiences. As a landlord, Action Management has been friendly and easy to communicate with, however, their timeliness in dealing with issues has not been as quick as I would have liked.

I do not know if the issues are with Action Management or with the owner of the house we rent, but we pointed out many times that the roof was leaking, staining was occurring on the ceiling, but no action was taken regarding the roof until it actually started dripping in the house. They used the cheapest bid on the roof, and most of the leaking was corrected, but the roof actually still leaks in places, just not enough to be an issue.
Part of the new roof included a heater to de-ice an area where ice builds up. an electrician was contracted to perform the work but we were never notified of when the worker was going to be at the house. Nobody was home when the electrician showed up and we got a call from him complaining of us not being there. Then he called Action Management who called us to complain that we were not being flexible. We are flexible, but we need to know when appointments are made so we can kennel the dogs if we are not going to be home.
When we first moved into the house, we noticed that the showers did not have thermostatic valves (scalding water when toilet flushes) Thermostatic valves are now required code for homes and if any plumming work were to be done on the showers, the plummer is obligated to bring them up to code.
Action management told me that the owner would not install thermostatic valves because it was too costly (about $1,000) so now we just have to be sure we are aware when someone is in the shower.

Again, I do not know if the management company is to blame for these experiences or the owner, I think it may be a little bit of both. I put the blame of the communication breakdown with the electrician soley on the hands of Action Management. I believe they do a good enough job, but they could definitely be better organized.

Personal opinion, if I were thinking of renting a house, if I were to stay in the local area, I would manage it myself rather than have Action Management do it because I believe I would be able to do a better job even working a full time job. If you are moving away, I would say that Action Management would be adequate, but I would insist on having a direct communication link to the tenants so they could circumvent Action Management if they felt that certain items requiring attention that need addressed were not being handled appropriately. Either the owner of the house I rent does not care about the house or they are not being given the entire story. As a renter, when things are not taken care of the way we would like, it is easy for Action Management to simply tell me that the owner is being stingy or that they have tried to contact the owner, but have not heard back or that the owner has not decided what to do and that they can't do anything until the owner gives the go ahead. I truly believe that not addressing the issues that were brought to the attention of action management cost the owners of the house thousands more dollars if the issues would have been handled in a more timely manner by higher quality companies.

The good thing that came of this is that we decided to move and purchase a house rather than continue renting.

Best of luck in your rental experience