This is an account of some of my experience with RDU Broker over a 21 month period. Jonathan Matthews was my principal point of contact during this time. I hope to simply provide an account of my experiences to help others make an informed choice on property management.My conversations with RDU started off great. Jonathan reassured me of the value RDU could provide through personal connection and high quality service. In my opinion, the Founder’s Letter written by Jonathan expressed values of: (1) Open Communication, (2) Actively Engaged Management, (3) Care for Each Client
Although RDU was stellar in getting me off the ground in my first real estate venture, about halfway into our relationship, I noticed that action on core values expressed in the Founder’s Letter began to wane.
Most recent, after Hurricane Florence, I received a text message from Jonathan saying, “Your properties faired well during the storm”. The message contained pictures of each property from the street to demonstrate they were still standing.Unfortunately, this is not the same story my residents told.
My real estate agent was given information by a residents that their home had a notable leak in the bathroom. They expressed that this defect had been communicated to RDU prior to the storm and had progressed to grow worse after the deluge. To my surprise, Jonathan claimed no knowledge of this situation; I sensed some defensiveness on our call.
The damage to the home was extensive enough to require two holes to be patched in the roof and a small hole in the bathroom ceiling to be repaired. The situation was ultimately resolved, though, I wished that RDU had started with a solution-oriented disposition which favored the resident experience.
The first embers of deteriorating communication from RDU began about mid-2017. The subject was rent disbursement. As a property owner, I desired from RDU clear expectation on the range of dates during which the money would reach my business accounts. I received targets for disbursements that changed from month-to-month. Eventually, Jonathan set a clear expectation with me that I would receive rent by the 20th of each month. I believe RDU could have improved by setting one clear, conservative expectation that applied to all properties.
RDU’s systems & tools have consistently fallen short of meeting my needs. I encountered some challenges in properly equipping my tax preparer with the documentation necessary for 2017’s filing. RDU Broker has an electronic rent collection and document management system however, it is not updated with regularity nor with all important documentation. I often attempted to self-serve business critical records. Most times, financial and repair records are not uploaded to the portal. I would have to contact RDU directly. On average, it would take 2 - 3 weeks to get my document service requests resolve.
Finally, tenant turnover scenarios have also been a challenge. Though, that would require another post.
There were some positive things about my experience with Jonathan. He is a genuinely nice person and he procured contractors who completed necessary repairs on-time and on or under budget. In my experience, Jonathan can take RDU Broker to a recommendable level by: (1) Investing in client expectation setting; (2) Setting resident/property check-ins on regular intervals & after critical weather; (3) Moving the self-service portal to more frequent updates.
In the beginning, I hoped to experience a great relationship with RDU Broker.
In the end, was left feeling neglected and abandoned while sharing 8% of my revenue each month with a company that did less than the minimum to meet my needs.
