First, I want to assure readers that this review is being written by a level-headed person, who just wants to potentially save others from the painful relationship I had with this company. For my particular situation, I had to move several states from NC due to a career change for my wife and I hired Dazcon to manage my entire property; from finding/screening potential tenants to managing repairs/security deposit.
I'll start with the one main item Dazcon did well --- find & screen tenants. Their screening process/background checks filtered out the rift-raft and they gave their honest opinion on potential tenants. The honest opinion helped, particularly for me, as I was far away from the property. I had two tenants over 4 years and my house was pretty much full most of the time. They also ended up setting up an electronic portal for statements, which is nice benefit in this electronic age.
To the landlords out there, you may think that getting tenants to fill the property fulfills the main goal of revenue and that's all there is to worry about. I would caution against this line of thinking, unless you plan to rent for 1 year or less or your property is a slum & you don't really care about it. Dazcon is poor at managing long-term rental situations and generally do not deliver when it comes to what property mgmt. should be.
1) Higher Price --- Dazcon charges a higher fee for management than other property management companies (~10%, instead of 8% or 9%). They boast that they had a personal local touch and have their own repair crew to handle the little jobs. I can frankly say, it is not worth the extra 1-2% for this potential claim. See bullets below.
2) No Visibility --- Dazcon does not periodically view the property. Not even a drive-by or random check-in with tenants to make sure the property is generally being up kept. I received several notices from my HOA and neighbors of problems that I then turned over to Dazcon to handle. I had more visibility then them and I wasn't even in the same state.
3) Shady Repair Estimates --- Dazcon repair crews do not provide time, labor, material estimates for the small jobs they will do (ex: mailbox replacement, secure railing, etc). They literally just give you a "ballpark" price for 1 or a group of repairs. Dazcon also does not require outside contractors to provide time, labor, material estimates. Even upon my persistent request for time/labor/material estimates, I would not get them or they would be not to the proper level of detail. For example, after requesting a time/labor/material estimate from an outside contractor they used, I got a bill that said, "Hot water heater replacement ---- $600". This is not good business practice and lends me to believe shady practices could be occurring.
4) No Repair Follow Through --- Dazcon repair coordinators do not follow up on repairs to ensure completion. I had scheduled some simple sheetrock repair & paint work to be done in January with Dazcon & the tenant. I was assured the work was done on the property, so I paid for it. It was discovered 3-4 months later that the work was never done when my realtor toured the property. From that point, it took Dazcon an additional number of weeks to coordinate and complete the work. I was not offered a refund on the work, discount, or any other compensation for their error.
5) Moderate turnover of Employees --- Dazcon had decent turnover of their employees that manage repairs / properties. This makes it hard to know who to talk to from a distance or to build a relationship.
6) "Hands off" approach --- NC is a state that favors the tenant's rights. Dazcon clearly follows this same model and does not try to equally represent the owner's interests in the various conflicts & problems that come with tenants & landlords. In several situations (such as working with a contractor of my choice, dealing with a broker, etc), Dazcon communicated to me that they would be "hands off" in these situations. To me, a property mgmt. company is paid to manage the property and the tenant-landlord relationship. Except for extreme situations (such as police involvement), there is almost no situation where a property mgmt. should be "hands off". They are paid to be the hands on, because the owner cannot be.
So overall, I'm rating this company 1 star. Finding & screening tenants is 1 part of a multi-part job a property mgmt. company must fulfill and Dazcon failed at nearly all other aspects. If you are a landlord that values your property and wants a solid management company in place to take care of it, Dazcon is not for you. read more
