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| - If you are an investor/owner, my advice is to NOT hire Rowan Real Estate & Rentals to manage your property. I did, but ultimately was compelled to fire them for poor service. They exhibited little professionalism and competence in protecting my income stream and my investment. My distinct impression is that they are focused solely on their month-to-month bottom line.
My chief complaint centers around the handling of tenant security deposits. Tenant A (my first managed by RRE&R) started to become habitually late with the rent. Then, in the final month of the lease, he/she paid no rent at all. What did RRE&R do? Nothing. They used the security deposit to "cover" the last month's rent, the tenant left town, and that was that. But wait, there was some $2500 damage to my property caused by abuse. With no security deposit, I of course had to come up with the full amount. Now, while not the most costly aspect of this episode, I am particularly irked by the fact that RRE&R took their normal commission on the last month's rent. In essence I paid them for NOT collecting rent. The main thing to take from this is to RRE&R a tenant's security deposit exists to insure RRE&R's income stream, not the owner's investment.
There's more. Foolishly I let them manage my next tenant. Tenant B immediately became increasingly tardy with the rent each month. I saw where this was going and finally terminated our contract. As part of the transfer of management services (to another management company), RRE&R helped themselves to $400+ of tenant B's security deposit. Without a word of explanation, and without any accounting. On inquiry I was told that the $400+ was for past due late fees and the like. I have no knowledge of the local business practice in this area, nor what was written into their contract with the tenant, but I would have preferred that they actually collect such fees from the tenant, rather than taking it from a pool of money that is (arguably to some measure) mine as well.
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