If your HOA is considering hiring this company, PLEASE read this before signing anything. What was promised during the sales process and what homeowners have actually experienced are two very different things. This is the first negative review I've written about a property management company because I believe other communities deserve to know what our HOA experienced before making the same mistake. We were told our neighborhood needed significant attention and were given assurances about what Main Street would do for our community. Once the contract was signed and our business was secured, those promises seemed to disappear. The communication, updates, accountability, guidance, and professionalism we expected did not materialize. The bills, however, continued. Since Main Street took over, I have personally watched the quality of management decline. Homeowners stopped receiving important communications. The resident portal was not consistently maintained. Community inspections and covenant enforcement appeared to become virtually nonexistent. Our entrance landscaping deteriorated. Residents paying for professional management have struggled to get basic information about what is happening in our own community. This isn't a luxury service. This is our community and our money. When homeowners raise legitimate concerns, getting meaningful answers has often been difficult. Separate issues have been lumped together instead of being addressed individually, leaving residents repeatedly asking: Who is managing this community, and what exactly are we paying for? Then there are the vendors. Contractors have performed work on our property while homeowners have raised serious concerns about the professionalism, conduct, and oversight surrounding some of these companies. On one occasion, a worker was wearing an ankle monitor while performing work in the community. Homeowners are expected to trust people entering and working around our homes, yet we have been left questioning whether vendors are properly vetted and supervised. When concerns are raised, the response has often felt like silence, deflection, or a generic answer. The pool rollout was another example. Residents were not properly informed about the pool opening, hours, or rules before the season began. Handwritten poster-board signs were used to direct residents to key-fob distribution, creating confusion and, in my experience, attracting non-residents into the neighborhood. When homeowners couldn't obtain their own key fobs, many of us went directly to the management office for answers. My personal experience there was particularly shocking. While I was in Main Street's office as a homeowner seeking a key fob, one of their top employees became confrontational, cursed at me, and directed profanity toward me. That is the level of customer service and professionalism I personally experienced from a company being paid to manage our community. Perhaps most frustrating is the apparent lack of accountability involving the HOA Board. I have served on the Board and understand that management companies do not make every final decision. However, a professional management company should provide guidance and administrative support, communicate with homeowners, oversee vendors, help ensure proper administration and compliance, and assist the Board when problems arise. Instead, homeowners have been left feeling like we are managing the management company. Think about that: We pay them to manage the community. We shouldn't have to manage them. Before hiring this company, I would strongly encourage any HOA to ask very specific questions about communication, vendor oversight, inspections, covenant enforcement, homeowner support, Board guidance, and accountability. Most importantly, ask current communities what their actual experience has been--not what was promised during the sales presentation. If this review prevents even one community from making the mistake ours did, then writing it was worth it. A company confident in the job it is doing should have no problem answering these questions. read more
