Hello, has anyone worked with Great Jones as PM? Particularly in Indianapolis? 

Feedback and reviews are appreciated

Thanks

I get their post cards too. That card said they have a zero percentage eviction rate. I actually laughed out loud when when I read that. That’s not possible. I actually called their number and got transferred to an account manager that confirmed zero percent. I think they are a newer company to Indy. Possibly a national franchise, since their post card said they were quoted by CNN etc. Lots of great local companies here in Indy. I think we do a nice job, but there is other PMs active on the forums that great too. Personally I think a PM company is a like a contractor or really any other company for that matter. The medium sized guy with local ownership that will actually give a rip does the best. All of my subs with under 20 employees and the owner is still in the business always takes care of me when things hit the fan. While the big guys could care less about me as a client even though we are big clients with a big spend.

Good luck!

@Josh C. What do you mean they cant have a Zero eviction rate in all the cites they manage in? The patented system they use can see if a tenant will lose their job in the future or get hit by a bus and be off work for 6 months or have a heart attack and die. If you need one let me know I have an old bowling ball ..I mean crystal ball I can sell you!

Lots of big PM companies across the country are  using  a platform of low fees to the Investor  (as a draw to gain lots of business fast), then they charge the tenant fees for everything under the sun. For example I am aware of 1  who is not yet in Indy, that charges a different fee based on if you pay rent online, by mail, or in person. Can you imagine asking a tenant to pay the PM for actually paying the rent!!! One told me they average in tenants fees over 150 per month extra.  After a year or 2 the tenants move and of course that makes the investor have to deal with vacancy loss as well as increased turn over cost. Companies in every industry still need to stay in business and in order to do that need to earn enough profits to offer the right services to operate as a professional customer service  (Investor and tenant )  focused organization. For investors that should mean long term tenants creating higher returns on investments with asset protection  and for tenants a system to provide great  service in a quality unit. When was the last time you were in a big retailer and had an easy time getting assistance?

@Harvey Levin I first heard of PM's leveraging tenants late last year. The few investors that I've talked to who were with PM's like these were unaware and didn't understand why their tenants were not renewing. I've seen monthly fees for the PM, fees for calling work orders, fees for paying online, etc. While some of these fees are ok, these PM's seem to be somewhat predatory. They charge you a discounted PM fee but keep 100% of the various "convenience fees" charged to the tenants that add up to more than the PM fees charged to the owner's. If a tenant ends up paying an extra $50/mo or more with their rent for using your PM, they will likely move across the street to the home that isn't charging that. While it's normal for an online processing fee, I spoke to a previous tenant who's owner transferred to a property management company that manages from out of state. She is very frustrated as they only take online payments (since they have no local office) and they charge a convenience fee (not just a processing fee that comes through the processing provider.) Putting an undue strain on tenants is a good way to have tenants who do not pay, don't pay on time, and simply don't care about taking care of your home.

BTW, this is not saying that Great Jones is good or bad as I haven't heard anything bad about them... but if you look up case# 48C05-1908-SC-002536 at mycase.in.gov you will see that they just filed eviction on a tenant a week ago. Maybe it's their first one... who knows.

Most of the bad PM's have fizzled out over the last couple of years and the industry is always changing with new technologies. A valid PM in Indiana has to be licensed to manage as a 3rd party. While there are some that are better than others at certain aspects and types of investments, most of us are pretty good at what we do. That includes Great Jones as well. Property management is the most difficult business that I've seen to do well with. Trying to keep owner's, tenants, and vendors satisfied with the same activity can be tricky. There's always some sort of drama in the background somewhere. 

I know that Jones has been on a big advertising campaign, which is usually a sign of someone hungry for growth. We've reduced our advertising this year and have been more selective about the clients we work with. I know that Harvey and I talked last year about his company doing the same thing. For us, it's quality over quantity. While we still have issues, like any PM, but we know who we are, where we excel, where we struggle, and what makes our clients portfolios perform. A good PM will always be looking for ways to do things better when there are problems. Honestly, if you call me about something that is not a fit for us... I may tell you to call Harvey or Josh as we all do things a little differently and have niches and areas that we excel.

@Graziano Casale best of luck! I recommend interviewing several different providers and see who is a fit for your needs.

I received a call from them today and I asked for an email detailing all there specifics.   We don't use a PM company now, but I think it may be worth discussing as we have 7 units and I travel 30 weeks of the year.     Here are the details they sent to me.

• Price - Our Management Fee is 8% of the rent collected per month or $99/unit/month and our tenant placement fee is 75% (37% for 5+ units) of the first months rent. With that tenant placement comes our eviction protection and lease break protection.

• Tenant Placement - With Great Jones tenant placement is a hassle of the past we take professional photos and get your properties maximum exposure; posting your units on 50+ websites including our own. We place a high quality long term tenant within the month so you're not losing out on rent & our average tenant stays 36-40 months (including rent raises). Last of all a Great Jones tenant pays on time, this is because we really take proper steps to make sure they are the right fit for your property.

• Maintenance Savings - We will be able to get you excellent prices on maintenance (whole sale) but you are not locked into using our vendors, you're always welcome to use your own.

• Savings Continued - We also go as far as to teach your tenants about how to preform simple fixes on the property (replacing air filter, changing toilet flaps reset the fuse-box, etc...) with this we will decrease the amount of micro-maintenance fees that add up over the course of the year. We also have video tutorials available for the tenants too, that will give them visuals to perform smaller maintenance tasks as well as a 24/7 hotline they can call to resolve things with a professional.

• Accounting - You'll never have to worry about keeping track of payments or receipts ever again we'll do it all for you and present it in an easy to read visual with our custom built owners portal 

Stay away!!! We have used GJ as PM on two houses for two years. Good luck getting them to answer your calls when you need to contact them. Tenants do not like their online system. It takes two months to fill a vacancy, when before it took a few days if any. They have one field rep trying to do the work of ten and who lives a hour from the area. They make so many mistakes, we spend a lot of time managing them. We are seeking advice on how to get out of our contract with them. If anyone has advice, please share.

@GrazianoCasale Did you end up using Great Jones?  

@Graziano Did you select PM in Indy? Would you mind sharing whom you went with?

RUN AWAY FROM GREAT JONES!  I have water damage to my property for which I cannot get a response from them to fix. See the photo below. Communication is absolutely terrible and issues like this are not being addressed. They do not even keep a copy of the key, if you need access to the property to fix something, you need to have the tenants let you in or you need to call a lock smith.

@Paul Kuhn  , sorry for your frustration here. I know Justin our Property Manager reached out to you yesterday after we received your email and we are aware of the importance of this issue. We have already had a vendor to the property to investigate this issue further and will relay the next steps to you directly.