Sure, my HOA board was rude, refused to fix the problem, and were just generally horrible neighbors who think their job is simply to assess fees and see how much money they can get into the reserve (currently over two million dollars, or at least they say it is). But the problem they refused to fix came from First Service Residential, one of the worst property management companies in the the nation.
Why did they hire a company like FSR in the first place? There are some claims that FSR bribes HOA boards, but I don’t have any evidence of that, and it seems more likely that FSR had an office nearby, showed them a slick marketing video, and they didn’t do any research on the company before they hired them. Always assume incompetence before evil, especially when dealing with an HOA. Of course, if FSR is bribing the HOA board members, that is isn’t a civil case, it’s a criminal offense and I’ll make damn sure that it’s publicized and prosecuted.
First Service was even featured in a local news channels HOA Hall Of Shame a few years ago. Something my HOA board must have missed when they hired them. The HOA that hired them was so happy when they finally got rid of them that they framed the letter confirming the end of their relationship! If only my HOA board was so interested in doing what is right instead of taking food off my table to pad a reserve fund that is already over two million dollars.
I could fill pages and pages of the site with evidence of FSR’s incompetence and greed. A simple Google search reveals a near infinite amount of evidence. But let’s start with the most basic research, something any competent board should be doing before they hire a management company. Let’s look at their reviews.
Yelp is where I would start. And I would find a bunch of terrible reviews with 1.4 stars. This alone would be enough to scare me away from hiring a company like this. The company that manages homes three blocks away has a score of 3.6, and I envy those people and their competent management company.
Next I would check Trust Pilot. If I were a competent board member I mean. I would be interested in seeing if the company was generally trustworthy. It seems they are not and a lot of people have had the same experience I have. Two stars is really not what you should be looking for in a trust score for a company managing big quantities of money for you.
I would also check the Better Business Bureau. Most Americans know about them and trust them. First Service Residential is a huge company with offices everywhere and billions of dollars in profit every year. And you can see where that profit comes from if you scroll through the litany of complaints to BBB offices all over the country. They collect fees and they don’t do their job, which leads to a nice profit for shareholders, but a miserable experience for their customers. This is just from our local branch, the one I’ve been dealing with.
Notice that they are NOT BBB accredited and have fifteen outstanding complaints. But that’s nothing compared to some of the offices around the country. I’m sure glad I don’t live in Dallas, they have literally hundreds of complaints related to one of their offices there.
There are a lot of reviews online that claim FSR is a scam. But the truth is, they are just a corporation with a business plan that works. They openly advertise that they pay referral fees to people who get them into a new HOA, then they lock them into a contract, hire anyone who will work cheap, and then go off looking for more customers. They spend as little as possible on each job, ignore complaints, and go on about their day. Sadly, in the modern world, it’s a pretty good way to make a lot of money. Cheap labor and no accountability.
This explains why the response from FSR has simply been to repeatedly claim that these a re violations. Don’t admit your mistake and fix it, that costs money. Just say it wasn’t a mistake and ignore any evidence to the contrary. These folks would make great politicians.
If you are part of the Spring Mountain Ranch Master Association here in Las Vegas, and want to join me in doing something to get rid of FSR and replace this power hungry board full of bad neighbors, feel free to contact me at blindstraddle@gmail.com and join the growing list of people who are tired of bring ripped off. Together we can get rid of FSR and this miserable, power hungry board and make our HOA into a pleasant place full of good neighbors again.