Don't hire this property management company in Ohio

[Susan Tan]

On July 1, 2021, I fired Susan Gilbert who worked as a property manager for my 3 rentals since Oct 2019. Firing her was the best decision I’ve ever made in my real estate investing career. A number of glaring major issues came up while working with her for the past 1.5 years. This includes lack of end-to-end ownership in managing contractors to complete projects on time and lack of timely communication.

As the general contractor, she was late in completing 2 rehab projects on 2 different properties because she has repeatedly hired unreliable and incompetent contractors who are late on deadlines and under-deliver. A general contractor’s job is to project manage a rehab on time to save money. 1 rehab project was in Summer 2020 which is when she blamed Covid19 for having to fire/rehire new contractors. A 1-month rehab project that required electrical, plumbing, flooring, painting work took 4 months to complete. Another 2-week project took 1.5 months to complete. I was so concerned with the late project that I went on a flight to see the rehab project in-person and I was not surprised to see contractor Uriah’s incomplete work. The contractor has a very bad relationship with Susan Gilbert. The contractor Uriah even poured tile grout down the sinks to spite Susan Gilbert and caused a thousand dollar pipe damage on my property. I’ve seen unpleasant shouting matches between Susan and Uriah the contractor. This has been a recurring issue with many of Susan’s contractors who were late on deadlines. Since Susan does not charge an overhead admin fee for overseeing the rehab work and happens to live more than 50 miles away from Cincinnati, OH where my rentals are located, her priority as a property manager is not at all aligned with mine.

Communication with Susan has been very sparse and very poor. She didn’t inform me of completed nor future work orders. I am often surprised by the repair bills that come in from Quickbooks a few months later. I never get the receipts or invoices for scope of work unless I ask her directly; I expect a good property manager to send receipts of repairs and keep me informed of any repairs and when they’re scheduled. The tenants complain that their work orders are ignored. The grass & tree branches aren’t cut or the stove is broken for many months. When I did get repair bills several months later, I realized that the handyman had traveled over 50 miles away and the bill was high due to a long travel time. A property manager whose properties are almost all 50+ miles away from Cincinnati, OH is not going to manage properties in Cincinnati, OH effectively.

A tenant that Susan had placed in a 4-unit building is undergoing eviction for non-payment of rent. This tenant has 2 other friends squatting in the apartment and is a heroin addict who smokes cigarettes indoors with impunity. A good property manager should be able to screen tenants properly.

In short, please avoid All Roads property management company. I've learned a hard lesson in keeping a bad property manger for as long as I have. I don't know how to cross-post in the Ohio real estate forum too.