Hello, I'm writing on behalf of our HOA in Novato, CA, and while looking back at the posted reviews, going back a few years, I would have agreed with the RealManage reviews here on Yelp--except for the misdirected owner complaints that should instead be addressed to their board. The one-star experience was ours also. Now the stars are growing stronger and can also agree with that trend. After the change in management, a change in experience is following behind. In my opinion, each representative has too much on their plate to give the excellence we hope for, and likely the same with other property managment companies. The numbers must say otherwise, and of course, I don't see these details, however out here we witness the reps running as fast as they can ... all the time. It's an industry of problems and complaints, it cannot be easy. Sarah is our current representative and I give her the highest praise (5-star). She makes herself available, prioritizes well, listens, responsive, honest, and most importantly, advises on legal matters. We may need help coordinating contractor bids, however our number one priority is to stay within the law. For us, that is Sarah's number one function, keeping us safe and informed. And she does. Sarah is good at her job, a professional. Also, in my opinion, she could use better support from the assistant manager position, maybe better vetting, training, pay? That is where I'd look to bring excellence. Invest in better support and the foundation becomes stronger. read more

This is the worst HOA company. Our community has had nothing but drama and issues since this HOA has taken over and the person in charge of our community is awful. She hands out non-compliance letters like it's candy on Halloween. The latest one is involving MY TREE saying in the other persons yard line but it's not so I am wanting her to come see me to measure it with me present. The best part is if you drive through our community and you'll see how neglected it is with the landscaping on their end. Weeds everywhere. We couldn't even get winter grass because of "the budget". The community is not taken care of as it should be for what we pay a month in HOA fees. I miss our last HOA company they were so nice and very understanding and transparent. This one....oh no. It's awful. read more

I have been involved in two HOAs for at least 15 years. I have also gone through several changes in HOA Management companies during my time as a board member in both HOAs. This has given me a chance to also interview a lot of HOA Management companies. We hired Realmange around 5-8 years ago for a Condo association I am a part of. I am the current President. Realmanage has always had very good HOA managers working on our Association. As an owner or board member, I worked with Bruce, Tanya, and Kimberly (our current manager). They were all very experienced, responsive, and accessible. They also knew how to handle different personalities with respect and professionalism. I also liked their knowledge of the David Sterling Act, laws that regulate HOAs in California. Our current manager, Kimberly, has helped solved accounting issues, nightmarish insurance repair issues (electrical panel upgrades!), balcony inspections, and updated our bylaws to comply with new election rules. I really appreciate Kimberly's work ethic and organizational skills. She loves her job and is wonderful to work with. Her experience and relationship with vendors helped our board make difficult repair decisions. She cares about our expenses and is always trying to keep our costs down since we have a tight budget. read more

I am very disappointed with Real Manage. I have been trying for over a month to get information about the Hazard Insurance for our community. I have received very little response except that they would send me the information once they get it from the insurance company. The last policy expired over a month ago and they can't get the new policy? Is there a policy? I pay for it with my HOA dues. read more

I am new to our HOA Board. Our property manager, Sarah, has been very patient with getting me better informed and her weekly updates are a great way to remind us all about what we have accomplished and what we still need to work on. John, our Assistant Property Manager is a great addition to the team. He attends our weekly management meetings with maintenance, handles them really well and I enjoy his sense of humor, something we all need! Initially I did a 4 star review. Then my daughter explained that I was being a boomer thinking it's good if we all can strive to do better. I understand if I appreciate someone I should give them a 5 star review. A lot of times we challenge you guys! We are quite a group!, thank you everyone for your hard work! read more

Dangerously incompetent!!! Beware!!! You will not get a call back or reply to email. We have several leaks in our condo and they have ignored this. We had one leak in 2019 and it is still not repaired. We have property damage and no sign of a roofer in sight. Dry rot, mold, termites are on the way. But no reply. We pay 650. A month for what???? Avoid. This company will be going though a class action suit soon! Casa Marinwood condos deserve better maintenance. Let me know if you want to get on law suit. read more

RealManage Novato - Water damage to carpets. - Homeowner Association Near Me - Novato, California

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Kimberly's proactive approach to problem-solving has resolved several issues before they escalated, which speaks volumes about her dedication. If you're looking for a community manager who is not only professional but also passionate about her work, Kimberly is the one to have on your team! read more

Excellent HOA management. Our other company was really bad and unresponsive. RealManage is different in every way. Our financials are up to date monthly and they helped us balance our reserve with ease! read more

I do not recommend RealManage. My experience has not been good. We would like to see them take ownership of our problem, approach it with a sense of urgency, and provide timely resolution. For now I feel this is not happening. read more

Absolutely awful and unprofessional. A tree fell on my car causing about $4,300 worth of damage, the property looks run down, and facilities have been out of order for over 6 months. I reached out to notify the company that the trees at the front of our property are dead and two large branches had fallen that week, one being on my car. It has now been over one week without any response to my email. I called them on Wednesday, was told to call back Friday, and when I did I was put on hold. Being on hold is not an issue, however, i was then sent to someone's voicemail and still have not received a call back. Run as far away from this unprofessional company as possible. read more

All the reviewers who have mentioned lack of responsiveness are totally correct. They are well know for NOT responding to emails or voicemails in a timely matter if at all. You will find better managers at your local Popeyes or McDonalds read more

The company is not responsive. They charge fees to residents for transaction error that banks including theirs do not charge. Update. I want to Thank Brandi in the Dallas office for her Quick action In Resolving this matter. Preventing it from happening again. read more

Horrible management company. Intentionally gave landlord and tenant fake numbers. Treated tenant like a subpar human being. Unwilling to help. Joe guzman was his name. If your looking for someone to manage your hoa look elsewhere. All they care about is taking your money and nothing else. read more

Brad Bacome, Northern California branch, Midtown Hayward manager--terrible. Unresponsive, impolite. The building is not well kept: filthy trash areas and stairways, broken elevators. read more

RealManage became the manager of Berkeley Town House (http://berkhouse.info), a senior housing cooperative in Berkeley, California, in July 2010. I live there. In my opinion, RealManage has shown itself to be a bundle of strengths and weaknesses. Good things about RealManage: (1) When a resident reports something out of order, RealManage sometimes dispatches a contractor to examine the problem as soon as the next day, then within a couple of weeks gets the repair made competently. (2) RealManage has a Resident Portal, a website where we can see records, such as minutes of board meetings. RealManage digitizes records and posts them there. This is much more efficient than responding to individual record requests. (3) RealManage permits payment of monthly assessments via ACH. (4) Some RealManage personnel (particularly Aletha) show genuine concern about doing a good job for customers. (5) RealManage has a round-the-clock emergency response service. (6) RealManage often replies to emails fast and informatively. (7) RealManage sometimes apologizes for misjudgments and corrects them. (8) Sometimes RealManage corrects bugs in its information system reported by users. Bad things about RealManage: (1) RealManage has a broken information system that it has sometimes failed to fix even months after being told about its bugs. (2) RealManage has no issue-tracking system visible to customers. If you report a problem, you get a blank issue ID number. There's no place to look up the status of an issue. If you've noticed something that needs repair, you can't see whether others have reported it yet. (3) RealManage emptied our office of its files, taking them to its offices. Months later RealManage reported that several of our association's most important documents, such as major improvement contracts, had vanished. When asked for details, RealManage did not respond. (4) RealManage has left some problems unattanded for half a year or longer. In July a dozen residents complained that the elevator emergency signal and telephone were inoperative and there were no instructions on how to use them. For half a year RealManage didn't attend to this, and people got trapped in the elevators more than once, unable to summon help. (5) RealManage has skimped on the records it makes available. The board president asked RealManage to post everything possible on the Resident Portal, but until months later there was no documentation on income and expenses, and it's still meager. (6) RealManage allocates inadequate time and attention to its job. Its personnel are well-meaning, but they don't have the time, and possibly don't sufficiently care, to learn the basics of our bylaws, rules, and building. The main manager of our community also manages 8 other communities, so how could he have time to manage any of them thoroughly? (7) RealManage began running board meetings with minimal shareholder participation, limited to a pre-meeting "Homeowner Forum", with any comments prohibited after the official board meeting was called to order. Later RealManage claimed this was merely a recommendation. Even if so, it reflects a goal of restricting shareholder participation, when a healthier orientation would be to encourage more participation. (8) RealManage has made serious accounting errors caught by us, not by RealManage's own auditing system. These included charges to us for many services that were not performed, or that were to be covered by the fixed monthly fee. (9) RealManage helps the board of directors comply with its legal obligations, but unfortunately also helps the board break the law and infringe on shareholder rights. It participates in illegal secret board meetings, which violate the Open Meetings Act. It has refused requests for some records, violating the bylaws. RealManage has also assented to the hiring of an unlicensed contractor to do major maintenance work, and has recommended an uncertified contractor to remove asbestos-containing material from the building, which would be illegal. RealManage could be great. Its idea of an automated Web platform to track information about a housing community and make it instantly available is superb. But RealManage has decided to let that concept remain partly vaporware. And RealManage's view of the rights of shareholders is inconsistent. RealManage's potential is far from fully realized. Are there great alternatives to RealManage? Our community didn't find any when it conducted its management search. If you peruse the information published by the Center for California Homeowner Association Law (http://www.calhomelaw.org), you'll get the impression that the industry is basically pro-board, anti-shareholder. Caveat emptor. read more

I owned a condo in Novato that is part of a large HOA. Real Manage works with a construction management firm named CIDology, who not only manages projects, they changed our CC&R's, brokered an HOA loan and worked for years on our re-siding and re-roofing project. The HOA board was equally to blame for this project. The work done was very substandard. I have worked for architects for eleven years and had one check up on the project every week. He said it was some of the worst work he'd ever seen. CIDology never hired an architect or engineer. An engineer signed the drawings, but was never involved in the project (which is illegal and unethical). Anyway, I sold the condo and lost any equity I had due to the $35k assessment (each) for the project. RealManage never refunded a credit I had in escrow from the sale of my condo. Their customer service was HORRIBLE. I know a vendor of theirs who had to call their main office somewhere in Texas? to get paid for his work, and it took months. My escrow person told me that they are the worst managers in Marin. If they recommend that you work with CIDology (Brian Smith, owner. used to be Bison Construction Management, but changed names after he lost a million dollar law suit in East Bay), RUN SCREAMING OR SELL. I believe RealManage has an unethical relationship with CIDology (a friend in Novato also owns a condo managed by RealManage, who recommended CIDology. Her HOA was smart enough to stop the job). Note that it seems to me that most of the people here giving 5 stars are board members. read more

Real Manage = Real Frustration / Real Pain. We hired them in March-2016, and we are ready for the next transition to a new company. If you have the patience to send lots of emails to Accounts Payable team and Accounts Receivable team to solve your vendor payments and members payments issues and call them weekly than this management company is for you. What did not work for us... - Bill Payments delayed and interest charges / late fees from vendors Eg. City of Pleasanton, Lowes etc. - Only uses email despite several escalations - Almost 4 escalations and literally no response to most topics listed there - Need to talk via a lawyer to get a response from CAM, Vice President operations in Pleasanton, CA - Extremely high transfer fees are too high for buyer and seller ( make sure you ask this question if you are on the board when you hire them) What worked for us.. - Our Assistant CAM is responsive - their system for board portal is good - Accounts Payable team in TX is very responsive and great to work with for issues FYI.. the sales team is not your service team and there will be a big difference. Unanimous decision in our Board not to renew their contract when it ends. read more

I have had problems with sink backing up several times. Previous management fixed it without even questioning the issue as there is a known plumbing problem in the building. With the new management they referred me to a plumber who charged me $300 and sent me a report that the new management incorrectly presented to the board and refused to fully reimburse me. When I tried to get a more clear report from plumber the management reached out to the plumber and after talking to the manager the plumber refused to clarify the report. Very corporate management. read more

It is clearly evident that Michael Brown does not have the experience or the competency to be managing our account. We are paying $40,000 a year to RM. We deserve and expect to have a competent and very experienced person managing our account. Absolutely unacceptable. Where is the accountability????? Who oversees RM? read more

The best property managers for HOA's and apartment complexes that I have ever had the pleasure to know. We have used RealManage for our small gated community in Novato for several years and they are the real McCoy. Our Client Manager, Heather Peters is as competent as she is pleasant--not to mention beautiful and talented with people. She has personally solved many issues that have arisen at our HOA and is always a welcome addition to our meetings. She is attentive, detail oriented and results driven. She always gets the job done, whether it is arranging for security or managing a leak in the swimming pool. She is also great at working with non-compliers to keep the community safe and well appointed. We all hope that she does not leave. Behind the scenes, Heather has great support from her supervisor and the rest of her team. Our correspondence and financial management are superior to any I have seen in the many HOA's for which I have been a board member. If it were not for RealManage and Heather Peters, I would have resigned my position as I have at other less well coordinated HOA's. read more

Heather Peters is the best manager I have had the privilege working with, at the Pentacles, in the past 12 years. She is both efficient and friendly, a quality which is often difficult to come by considering all of the multi tasking she has to perform. As s board member I find it a true pleasure to be able to work with such a great leader and a wonderful person. Mikal read more

I am new to the HOA system as I lived independently in a single family home. My first experience is bad. In Orlando, I only get a voice message and no return phone calls. Calling the TX home office, I get a voice during banker's hours. My impression is that Us verses Them. They are slow to respond to simple inquiries. God forbid an emergency. They collect the money but have no demonstrated interest in the local HOA member's concerns. Complaints are not recorded for view; and there is no progress reporting. I hate to bother them again; but we must get issues resolved quickly. I support firing them and finding a new company at this moment. read more

FIRED BY OUR HOA BOARD. This large corporation (based in Texas) was fired for overall incompetence by our very professional Board. Around that time, I discovered with my realtor, that when I purchased my condo earlier that year, this incompetent management company HAD SUPPLIED OUT-DATED AND NON-COMPLETE LEGAL DISCLOSURES. This is a legal and extremely important responsibility, and they could not even do this correctly. Later I discovered that I was negatively impacted by something in the legal disclosures WHICH I DID NOT RECEIVE BEFORE PURCHASE. Hire this horrendous company at your own risk.   It appears that Real Manage has bought another company named "Baum Property Management" -- and absorbed that company's good reviews -- we'll see how long that lasts. One of the umbrella reasons given by our Board for firing this incompetent company was that their multi-layered/ineffective business model is designed NOT for the benefit of their customers, but to maximize corporate profits for themselves. Think about that -- and by the way, the management company hired in their place has been excellent -- at lower cost. read more

Don't waste your time with them. Incompetent employees passing the buck. No one is uniformed with policies and procedures. Not a professional company whatsoever and was horrified when I spoke with a dumb employee. Said I can check out the website. Are you kidding me? When you are on hold, you get disconnected after 10 long minutes. read more

Never get my calls returned. I call the hotline in Dallas Texas to get someone's attention after days. Have not met our property manager ever. No emails nor introduction. Only reason I am giving this one star which is for the nice gentleman from Dallas who was very courteous. read more

If Yelp would let me, I'd give them Zero stars. Our HOA just switched management companies leaving RealManage behind and not a moment too soon. They were disorganized, inattentive and unable to keep up with crucial items of our business. We've been left with a mess and fortunately our new management company is doing a GREAT job in cleaning it up, but what a huge mess it is. If you see the name RealManage, steer clear. read more

I also agree with the OP. This org (based in Texas) seems to me to be just a big slick corporation. Their staff (in my opinion) is not interested in hearing, clarifying, or addressing issues. I had a chance to speak with their customer service department and I felt they were sloppy and heavy handed with addressing my concerns. read more

RealManage is a RealNightmare of a management company, and we would sue them if we could, but according to the contract, you can only sue them for a breach if you're willing to go to some small town in Texas, where they're headquartered. Why are they headquartered in Texas? Because they know before you do that you're going to have to sue them. Why would an honest company doing reputable business in California, place the jurisdiction for settling disputes in Texas? Aside from jurisdiction, the RealProblem with an agreement with RealBadManage is that the contract itself is 12 pages of fine print, which you can't read without a magnifying glass. This is a management company built by and for lawyers. In fact, they may have more lawyers than property managers. Trust me, if your HOA is even considering doing business with RealNightmare, don't do it! They failed to pay our bills on time, other than they their own, and they even failed to attend our board meetings. Their staff is rude, and completely non-responsive to both homeowner and board member request. They also failed to correct or refund their over-billings, and we regret every dollar we paid them. In my opinion, this company is the biggest scam from Texas since Enron. They sign you up for a year of service, which they don't intend to deliver, forcing you to suffer through a year of incompetent service, or terminating the contract early, still having to pay for a full year of service. The only good thing about RealLosers is that after doing business with them, you'll have learned a good lesson, which you'll have pay good money for. UPDATE: 2/29/2016 I cannot believe that these RealCrooks from Texas had the nerve to respond to my post, so casual and dismissively. "Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention...." Are you kidding me! Yelper, Let me help you out. If your doing research on RealCrooks and considering them to manage your HOA or other property, then stop reading now, and move on to the next management company on your list. Save yourself from a RealNightmare, and find a company with more than this two-star RealHorror story, because you don't want to deal with this RealScam, and you have nothing to gain by considering them any further and you have a lot to lose. Now if you're currently contracted with RealUnprofessional, and you're not doing a little research on them, because you have your doubts about their integrity, then your doubts and instincts are correct, and you should terminate your association with RealBadBusinessManagement as soon as you can. The best thing we Californians can do to protect our communities is to every association in California, currently doing business with RealHorrorStory, end their relationships with these Texans, and drive them out of our state. And we should do that not just because their the "worse management company ever", but because we should be keeping our money in our state for ourselves. Their service is as bad as it gets. read more

We sent a letter in December asking a question about our HOA. To date, we have not had a phone call...or a letter thanking us for our inquiry. The more we look into this...(it is now April) the more we have deep concerns about this poorly managed operation. Bad customer service...non responsive...and we are afraid...much more. read more

This is the 3rd HOA for our condo. I'm so disappointed in the customer service. They take for ever to respond (if at all). Each unit in a building does not have it's own water shut off. Our plumber gave proper notice to all the units in the building to turn off the water in the building so he could make a repair. Unfortunately, they have kind of lock or something preventing it from being shut off. I contacted the HOA that same day & actually spoke with someone. But, after being told she was going to get their own plumber out to fix the main so our plumber could do work, I haven't heard anything. So the repair still hasn't been done, almost 2 weeks later. Of course trying to call today, I just get the run around & transferred to voicemails. No call back. This isn't the first problem I've had with them. They send someone to make "inspections" and give violation notices for silly things to try to get money. This was for storing a bicycle on an enclosed 1st floor patio. Prior to that, trying to get information from them for anything is next to impossible. I would not recommend this management company to anyone. They don't keep good records of issues nor keep to date documents online. UPDATE 4/20/15 Continued poor record keeping of contact and requests. Even though there are dedicated people for our community, they refuse to give direct numbers to these people, making us go through the phone tree every time we call--FRUSTRATING. It's taken well OVER 1.5yrs to get the gate fixed and when they finally get around to do it, give 1 day to pick up remotes, although they said they gave other dates, of which I never received notice, So asked to have remote sent to us and it's been almost 2 weeks and still no remote. Called today, Sherry claimed I talked to her on a Friday "I checked" and sent it right out after that. I reminded her that the gate was to go "live" on a Wednesday and I called her on Tuesday before. I then asked if they keep any record of when something like this was sent and she said "we usually do", but of course not this time, because they had so many requests. She said I should have tomorrow, how she thinks this since she can't tell me when she sent it. I will be so happy to sell this condo so I do not have to deal with this management company every again. It can not be soon enough. read more

Changed a parking policy at my complex without notifying tenants. My car got towed, I lost a day of work, and they refuse to alleviate the situation. If they don't pay for the tow and expenses I'm going to take legal action. read more

A nightmare. They have only one answer to any question asked: "I don't know, see the website." Questions submitted through the website go unanswered. Expect to have to escalate things to the VP of operations via phone to get any info needed. Update: Well, the VP of operations was not much help either. Never, ever, in my life have I been so dissatisfied with a service business. The other professionals that are working with me on this are appalled as well. Do not even consider doing business with them, and if you have to, as I did, my sincere condolences to you. read more

My wife and I own multiple properties in Marin, all of which have a HOA. None of them are as complicated as Marinwood. Due to largely ignoring the maintenance work over many years, it is now critical that action needs to be taken--and it is not going to be cheap. In short, the Association is faced with the prospect of a substantial Special Assessment. All I can say is "Thank God for Denise Wolford" the RealManage Property Manager. In a divided environment she manages to keep the Board and membership on task and most importantly--civil. I hesitate to imagine how all this would play out without her professional guidance. Hopefully, RealManage appreciates Denise as much as I. read more

The mailboxes at my complex were vandalized. This HOA management company think it's acceptable for the residents to pick up mail at USPS for over 2 months. read more

Our HOA switched to Real Manage and the property management company made their priority the removal of BBQ's and proceeded to send people during the week to take pictures, move residents property and work with the HOA to fine residents who had grills. All this while there are plenty of other issues that need to be handled. Beware if your HOA tries to use them. read more

This company is the worst I have ever dealt with. They totally mismanaged our HOA and were totally useless. Wish I could give them negative stars... read more

They never call you back. I called today to speak to Mr Esposito and was told they would not allolw me leave a message for him to call me back. Nothing gets fixed regularly, they let people do their own landscaping, put plants and yard ornaments everywhere, cover there decks with plants and then assess everyone to pay for fixing the water damage. They are the WORST. read more

I've been asked to give an update now that it's 2.5 years later. Someone also accused me of working for RealManager or being a shareholder (I don't and I have received no compensation whatsoever from them). Full disclosure: I am no longer the President of our HOA as of May 2014, but I am still on the board and interact with the management company regularly. No company is perfect and RealManage is no exception. They have made some mistakes over the years (one huge one, which accounts for the drop from 5 stars to 4 stars) but they have been responsive and willing to try and "make things right". A management company is only as good as the manager assigned to your account. We've been assigned 3 different managers over the last 30 months and they've all been excellent. The value of a large organization is that if you have a good manager, they have the resources behind them to do their job well. Ultimately, I think it also rolls up to the branch manager who is knowledgable and competent to support the individual property managers. I stand by my original posting, the initial experience was incredible. Yes, as a large organization, they impose certain restrictions on what we as the board can do, but that's what we pay them for... to guide us to run our Association properly and nudge us back when we start crossing the line. In summary, I don't believe we have any plans to change management companies. RealManage has performed better than any of the other companies we have used over the years. read more

I agree with a previous response that "if Yelp would let me, I'd give them Zero stars." There isn't a number negative enough to reflect the level of dissatisfaction our condo owners and Board had about RealManage Property Management. Even with constant follow up from Board members and owners, they were non- responsive or too slow to react to our needs. Within a few months there were concerns about their lack of responsiveness. We initially attributed it to the initial assigned property manager, but our experiences soon went from bad to worse. Their Resident Portal, a website where we can see records, is only as good as the information that is uploaded, and cannot replace the need to do a good job for its customers. Its personnel's reactions were as if they don't sufficiently care. Accounting errors were caught by us, and not by RealManage's own auditing system. They are a very poorly managed operation, and provide very bad customer service, and are non responsive, and answer with excuses. Our HOA DID NOT renew after a year, and switched management companies. RealManage is un-attentive to business needs, and does not live up to their property management contract responsibilities. No one in our community will recommend them. read more

They have been responsive , caring and helpful. Jana is the best HOA manager on the planet earth. Thank you for all the help and great guidance. read more