My Horrible Experience with Crestcore Realty/Management Memphis

[Diane Tycangco]

Hello everyone, I would like to relate my experience with Crestcore Realty/Management in Memphis, TN in order to caution investors looking for an honest reliable property manager in Memphis.  Crestcore was recommended to me by my realtor.  My 1st Memphis property already had a tenant in it and I never had any problems in collection or remittance.  There were no repairs.

So when I bought my 2nd property, which was vacant,  I chose to continue with Crestcore.  The first thing Crestcore did was to rekey the house, which is fine.  They looked at the property and gave me a list of required $8k+ and recommended rehab $2k+ which cost over $10k!  I was taken aghast although I did see that some of the repairs they "required" had merit.  and so even if I was in California far away from Memphis.  I did the rehab myself.

Because I was having trouble with my handyman, plus I had never seen the houses in person since I bought them, I decided to go to Memphis.   I was at the rehab property everyday.  When I returned to CA, lo and behold, Crestcore was charging me for lawncare - 3 visits!  I protested and said that I was there and the lawn was unkempt.  They asked me when I was there and promptly sent me dated pictures "proving" that they did the work while I wasn't there.  I asked my handyman, did you really see anyone doing lawnwork.  He told me he only saw them once - a white guy and an ASian guy and they were only there for 15 minutes.  For the 15 minutes they charged me $58!  

I was so upset that I told them on 10/6/21, I opted out of this lawncare.  

So what did they do?  They charged me for lawncare on 10/1/21.  When I asked them, they said "oh, it's before you opted out so it is a valid charge."  When I finally got fed up and told them to remove my rehab property out of their management, what did they do?

They charged me for lawncare for 10/9/21 - 10/15/21 after I opted out!  Not only that, after I took my rehab property out of their hands, they charged me for lawncare for August before I even owned the property!   They added these August just recently.  So not only are they frauds and cheats, if they really did the lawncare, they can be accused of trespassing!

What is their defense?  They said "oh it's in your contract that you may be charged for lawncare."  But what they did not say, is that they don't inform you before they do it.  They just willy nilly charge you right and left.  Also, I was charged for utility services by the power company but Crestcore tacks on an additional 15% to the bill thereby jacking my bill of $95 to $109!  What service did they provide to merit this?  Nothing but for paying the bill which they gleefully deducted from my rental income.

Needless to say, I terminated the contract today.  I am demanding all the security deposits, rental income to be given back to me ASAP.  Don't know what they are going to do.  Charge even more stuff so that they don't have to return anything to me?

BTW, I see the owner of Crestcore here on Bigger Pockets, recommending his own company to investors looking for a reliable property management company.  Do not believe him!  He does not mention that he is the owner, he just says "Crestcore is a good company" or some such thing.