**B2B Realty: The worst business decision I've made in 15 years of property ownership**…read more
I've owned rental properties in multiple states for 15 years, and I have never dealt with a property management company as incompetent, exploitative, or untrustworthy as B2B Realty. Hiring them to manage my Cleveland duplex was an extraordinarily expensive mistake.
The clearest example of their incompetence? They left my upstairs apartment vacant for approximately FOUR MONTHS while I continued paying the mortgage, utilities, maintenance, and their fees. When I finally took over advertising the property myself, from 2,500 miles away, I found a prospective tenant in just EIGHT DAYS. Apparently, I could accomplish in one week what this supposedly professional company couldn't accomplish in four months.
Their fee structure is equally outrageous. I paid monthly management fees plus an entire month's rent as a leasing fee. But B2B also charges tenants $25 to apply, $225 to move in, and approximately $50 EVERY MONTH for a so-called "Resident Benefits Package." That's another $600 annually collected from tenants by a company their landlord is already paying to manage the property.
And then there's their "pet guarantee." B2B collects monthly pet fees and keeps the money rather than passing it to the property owner. The owner bears the risk of property damage, but B2B pockets the payments under the premise of providing protection. I found this arrangement deeply misleading and the explanation completely unconvincing.
Maintenance was another nightmare. Their fee structure included a charge for using my own contractor rather than their preferred vendors. I spent countless hours questioning charges, reviewing confusing statements, chasing unanswered requests, and coordinating work myself. Instead of reducing my responsibilities, B2B became another problem I had to manage.
Perhaps the most disturbing discovery came AFTER I fired them. I received an unexpected email from a company called Obligo informing me that my downstairs tenant had been enrolled in a security deposit alternative. I had expected a traditional security deposit and had NEVER knowingly authorized this arrangement. Nobody consulted me. Nobody explained it. I discovered it through a third party after terminating management. I find that an astonishing way to handle an owner's financial interests.
Even something as basic as retrieving my own keys became ridiculous. After weeks of requesting a lockbox code without receiving it, I had to hire someone to physically BREAK OPEN THE LOCKBOX to recover the keys to my own property.
And when I finally escaped this disastrous relationship, B2B charged me approximately $626 in termination and administrative fees. Apparently, even getting rid of them required another substantial payment.
I understand that vacancies, repairs, and unexpected expenses are part of owning rental property. What I cannot accept is paying a company to manage those challenges while I end up doing its work, questioning its charges, and discovering financial arrangements I never knowingly approved.
In my experience, B2B's ability to collect fees vastly exceeded its ability to manage property. I have never felt so poorly served by a company entrusted with a substantial investment.
I strongly caution other property owners, especially out-of-state investors, to examine every fee, contractual provision, and tenant charge before considering B2B Realty.
I now manage my Cleveland property myself from California, and the difference is remarkable. I would rather handle everything from 2,500 miles away than ever entrust B2B Realty with another dollar.
After 15 years of real estate investing, I can say without hesitation that hiring B2B was the worst business decision I have ever made.
