Our HOA had hired Emiroglu Management Service of Leesburg, VA to handle financial bookkeeping and also Resale Packages with architectural code inspections. They ended up not performing inspections and then terminating with us after only 4 months. While their price was the lowest, we soon learned that you get what you pay for. We are now struggling with resident complaints over getting charged $100+ for having a few documents mailed to them by Emiroglu. I think their modus operandi is to get in at a low contract price and then to try to up the price over every little item.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
We have some 138 units in our HOA. Emiroglu couldn't seem to get the assessment billings under control. We had a number of our residents who kept getting double-billed for their HOA assessment fees. They also sent out erroneous penalty fees for late payers which were not approved by our Board. This caused a number of complaints and dissatisfaction with the firm. In the end, we opted out with Emiroglu before it got worse!
Always ask for a breakdown in the description of services and fees in your community management contract. Our contract with Emiroglu had lists of their charges but we had not sought a detailed description. Later, we had Emiroglu disavowing that they meant this or that to our loss! They had previously emailed back and forth with us to explain, but the contract language was lacking. Consumers beware!
Checkout the American Homeowners Resource Center
http://www.ahrc.se/new/
Arlington Rocks (AR), also know as Community Advocate (CA) on another complaint site was the lead board member who submitted a request for proposal from EM. Our standard practice is to visit the property Prior to agreeing to bid, submit a written proposal of our services and meet with the Board to answer any questions on our submittal. AR approved our written proposal and submitted to his full board for consideration and they engaged EM for full service management. Records were turned over to EM to begin management services. These records would include current owners (tenants if the unit was rented), balance on a unit's account if applicable and the collections policy for the association. We first confirm balances with owners prior to collections proceedings. Fees that can be billed to an owner could include their assessment (whether paid annually, monthly, quarterly or semi-annually depending on policy), late fee (in accordance with a collections policy), attorney fees (in accordance with contract) and administrative fees( in accordance with contract). EM does not make up fees. Invoices for assessment were sent out in accordance with the policy enacted by the BOD, not management. Our contract has always and remains industry standard and it contains details of any charges that could occur (as is statue in VA...we are a VA firm). Since these complaints were written, we responded to only 2 prospects for service to address. We were awarded both contracts. We look forwarded to answering any valid issues with our service prior to it getting to the point of abuse.