Don't use Shoreway Realty. Where do I start with the headache they are?
Cleveland passed stricter rental registration requirements over the last year, and Shoreway did not order the needed lead testing or HVAC testing to meet the required deadline, and when I asked if they had ordered such since the city sent me a letter, they have no timeline to! They filed incorrect and invalid registrations with the city. Huge red flag to not have your management company up to date on the local regulations, that leaves me as the owner in a very bad position. Then their professional advise was to not do the required lead testing and to register myself as the in-area contact even though I live 2,000mi away, which clearly goes against the rules of the law. Now they also won't let the property transfer to the new manager for 30-days even though I found a management company willing and able to correct the issues immediately, and offered to let Shoreway keep the following month management commission for the 1 week that would be under their management anyway.
Unit turnovers have been way too slow, usually taking 3 months just to get rent-ready (all cosmetic, no mechanical replacements). One they took 6 months to do! On the last one the contractor said they would be finished by December, deadline passed so I asked for progress photos from the management company since the contractor from their vendor list kept delaying in sending them. When I responded to the photos with some questions I got a lecture from the owner, Kathleen Bassett, how the person who had taken them was her highly paid bookkeeper who was doing a favor. They take 10% for all managed construction, so this is not a favor to ask for progress inspection on a project that was behind schedule several weeks, and was a vendor from their list. It is their job! Also, I didn't ask the bookkeeper to be sent out, send someone with construction knowledge. Overall just find she is very arrogant, don't let the fake schmooze fool you.
I also go out once a year to check properties. Their landscaping personnel constantly let the ivy grow up the side of the house, which costs money to pull and damages siding, versus being at all preventative in pulling the ivy when it is small which is what every gardener I hire in the area I live does. I raised this issue several times and it never changes. They don't follow basic instructions. I asked for concrete expansion joints to be sealed, very specific, and then they emailed me back and asked it the cracks should be sealed AS WELL! I said yes. When I got the repair photos they only did the cracks, not the expansion joints, and then wanted to charge me more to quote the expansion joints. This type of so-called "miscommunication" has happened on several occasions with other repairs even though instructions are in-writing.
I regret not firing Kathleen Bassett and her team at Shoreway Realty sooner, but finally done! Save yourself the headache!