Connected Property Management

Six months ago our small condo in Jefferson Park lost its long-​time president, while the loyal treasurer got pregnant with her second child, and they moved. We were up a creek! The building had been self-​managed for many years, and it was possible we were out of compliance with new Condo law, but we’d never know it, because we were clueless. Most of us are retired, and many are not native English speakers. In desperation, we scraped together a new, zero-​experience board and turned to Unilocal,which led us to Connected.
Connected went into action. They inspected our building, brought our fire extinguishers up to code, helped us develop a system of fines to help enforce our bylaws in case of need (with two foreclosures, we expected new owners momentarily), got us estimates to fix what needed fixed, found us cheaper and better insurance, and provided us with the template to compare insurance policies in the future according to Illinois legal requirements. Everything that cost money was done for a reasonable price and every procedure was documented, and was completely transparent and easy to understand.
The finances were done well, too. The on-​line owners’ forum was great relief to our worry warts (at least those with computers), who could track every nickel. When it was time for the annual budget, Connected walked us through it every step of the way. They made the legal requirements crystal clear.
They made it so clear that we fired them!
I better explain. The thing is, after our few months, because Connected makes such a point of transparency, our board knew, we had learned, the steps to conduct our Association by ourselves, and so, in deference to the low income of many of our residents, and taking advantage of the time afforded to those of us who are retired, decided to return to being a self-​managed building. Connected’s management fee is extremely reasonable, but no-​fee at all is the most bearable to folks in our demographic! We wouldn’t have to raise our monthly assessments, and we could even put some money aside. And plus, why not? Hadn’t we been well-​instructed?
I dreaded telling Connected. I knew it was a low blow, since they had spent so much time and energy setting us up, and they might have looked forward to getting some financial reward for it in less labor-​intensive future years. But they simply could not have been more gracious to my announcement or more generous in their final assistance. They have a good ‘transition’ program anyway for buildings changing management, and they really went out of their way to make sure we had anything additional that was helpful. For example, my team provided us with a very simple Excel template to record the building’s transactions and assessment payments without having to invest in expensive condo management software for much bigger buildings, which was so kind!
Connected is organized by teams, and we had Team Bravo, led by Jessi Mertz. Jessi is capable of running the state, let alone a condo, but don’t tell Springfield. She’s just terrific, and so is the rest of the team. These young people give the business of management a very gracious touch. It will long be appreciated on our corner in Jefferson Park.

I’m sad to say that Connected has really let our association down. We hired them primarily to collect assessments and pay our bills. This was a costly mistake! Our garbage service through Waste Management was $ 331 in 2013. WM unethically kept increasing the cost form $ 331 to $ 585 in 2015 to $ 670 at the end of 2015 for the same service and Connected just kept paying the bills! Now that we’ve fired them, I have to deal with trying to get out the contract with Waste Management. On top of that they never filed for the refuse rebate for us to get money from the city. If your association wants your money in good hands, don’t let Connected take care of it. I also just found out that they were paying our ComEd bills late every month, so we were incurring additional late fees.

Fraudulent Business Practices
Connected Property Management has managed 4207 S. Vincennes since 2011. I paid my association fees according to their instruction and had no issues with their first 2 years of service. Suddenly in 2014 I received and increased amount of fees and fines from them of $ 500. They add this fee to my account and then told me afterward it was because I did not dispose of a mattress correctly. I should have been notified in writing and given 48 hours to correct the issues but was not notified via phone or in writing only given a fine.
This week in ¹¹⁄₂₀₁₅ I was again fined a fee of $ 300 to have them wash off some paint off the sidewalk and stairs. I had already had contractors who were doing work in my unit at the time clean up the paint residue. Connected Management said they sent special cleaners out to clean the paint after I already had it cleaned. Again they did not notify me in writing or via phone they were doing this or charging me this fee. They also had no before and after pictures of what their cleaners did or if there was anything there to clean.
I am lodging a complaint because Connected Management is fraudulently adding fees to customers accounts to increase their profits. This is not proper business practice.

Managing associations is never a easy task and it takes a good person who can make all the difference. Laura Tharp is that person. She has helped us through several issues and questions over the past few months and has just been a excellent «go to» person for all needs. She handles things with response times in the hour and provides an excellent level of customer service. She knows how to do things, what to do and can explain why when needed.
Laura — thank you!

We no longer have the 5* property manager. Now we have a 3* manager who is not knowledgeable, doesn’t do a thorough job, and requires us to pull teeth to get answers. The manager’s underlings barely deserve 1*
The accounting department and the inspections have also gone downhill (both now 2*)
Every other week we find a major error. Either in the advice given, the payment of bills, or in the recording of assessments. We’ve even found errors with the safety codes they cited. Plus sometimes the inspections are word-​for-​word copies of the previous month, with outdated photos (no acknowledgment of repairs).
Emails with the 2* owner go nowhere. We only get long-​winded excuses and a condescending attitude. The manuals he writes are also long-​winded and talk in circles. Very difficult reading.
If you use Connected, be prepared to do a monthly audit of all bills, the bank account, and the collection of assessments. Don’t use any of the vendors they recommend, even if they have great ratings on Angie’s List.
They are only good for being a buffer between the board and the crazy owners. Their client drive website is good, but must be monitored as well.

My experience with Connected Property Management team has been superb! I don’t typically make the time to write a Unilocal review but I thought it was worth it to share a positive experience I have had recently.
I am in the process of moving in to a condo and worked with the property management team to request a move in approval from the board and request the elevator. Kevin from the team has been tremendous! He kept me informed about the process and latest updates. I recently had to change my move in request and elevator and Kevin made this process seamless. He has been a wonderful person to work with, especially during this stressful moving time. I highly recommend working with this company.

Do NOT sign up with Connected. Besides the usual lack of shoveling in the winter and having to ask multiple times for stupid things like changing batteries or fixing locks (the last condo meeting was a litany of Connected negligence), they’ve helped to thwart the sale of my condo twice now.
The first time, no bank would lend to the buyer because Connected’s collection practices were so shabby that the percentage of assessments in arrears was double the allowed. The second time, the assessments were still in arrears, but it was a cash deal so it didn’t matter.
Easy, right? Not with Connected! They had a MONTH to get a simple form to my lawyer in time for the closing and couldn’t manage it (and they charged me $ 125 for the privilege.) The buyer walked, saying that she feared buying into a place that was so poorly managed.
Things like this are why they work in teams and don’t give out cell numbers – so no one has to take responsibility.

I have to give props where props are due! I’ve dealt with Sarah Landsman (Carpenter?) as of late and she has been great. She is very helpful, polite, and prompt with her responses. A complete 180 from the previous representative. I’m still not happy that our building received such poor service for as long as we did, especially since I suffered severe flooding damage after my several calls about sewage back-​up in my unit went ignored. I wish Sarah was around for that. My problem would’ve gotten the attention it needed and I wouldn’t have had to replace my carpet, nor would I have lost furniture and personal items.
Anyway, keep hiring people like Sarah!

I am a homeowner who has been working with Connected Property Management for several years. They are quick to respond to issues within the building, ie, broken elevator, garage doors/​gates. They run a tight ship over there and I am very happy with their service.

I am a board member of a decent sized condo association. I’ve read through many of these reviews and have had a lot of the same problems. They have actually caused us «more» issues by hiring them on. They can’t ever seem to get the finances correct, rarely get any of our vendor quotes for us as they said they would and when they do it takes months and constant follow up by us to get them. We have been blatantly lied to by one of our contacts. They even screwed up a legal issue we had, after we had «triple checked» with them on where it was at. They have cost us so much wasted money by not doing their job. Then when it came to getting fired they claimed they lost all of our keys so our new PM didn’t have access. Once we told them we are seriously considering a lawsuit against them, they suddenly found our keys. But, yes we are still putting the numbers together in consideration of a lawsuit against them.
Also of concern is some of there employees are NOT LICENSED (OR WASN’T AT THE TIME WE WERE WITH CONNECTED). Not only are they completely incompetent, but they cop an attitude when they are completely in the wrong. Several residents and myself had the same experience where they were assessing late fees on payments that were «on time». She would respond by saying «we cashed them on the 7^th». Our contact actually thinks that the payment isn’t counted until they waddle their incompetent butts over to the bank. REALLY, I know it’s hard to believe someone is that ignorant. Every month, even though I payed electronically and the payment was «time stamped», I would have to go through and pull up proof of payment and send it over and explain to our contact how «time stamps» on electronic checks work. Unit owners would show up at the meetings and complain about the same problem.
We also had an illegal renter who rented from a problem owner, who was arrested for beating someone up in our courtyard. Completely unacceptable. We kept asking them to start the eviction process but they kept ignoring us. Sure enough he attacked another neighbor and a 3^rd had a warrant drawn up after he swung at them. They kept saying the owner was in a bind and the owner told them they would handle it. 6 months later, we told them we would call our lawyer and do it ourselves.
I ‘m not one of those people who think «all management companies are bad», however, I do believe it may take some time to find a good one. Don’t wait for things to get better with Connected… they WON“T. We were already looking after 6 months.

My condo association (43 unit building) has been with Connected Property Management for nearly 7 years. I was on the Board when we sought out a property management company and worked closely with them during the 4 years I was on our Board.
From the beginning they have always been responsive and communicative. Transitions are always hard and there were admittedly some tough times aligning everything, but Connected always worked hard to ensure we were satisfied with the service they provided and have continued to make the tweaks in service needed as our Association changes. Every association functions a little bit differently. Connected adapted very well to ours. I’ve seen them grow over the years into a mature company that is very well organized that responds quickly and effectively to the needs of their clients.
The relatively recent evolution of their team based system has been a wonderful enhancement and demonstrates Connected’s dedication to evolving and finding new ways to ensure their clients have full coverage, quick responses despite the ebbs and flows of the need for management involvement.
They have forged relationships with quality vendors and always have provided a trustworthy and reasonably priced company to perform any range of tasks or work on our building. We have always been very happy with the service level provided by anyone that Connected sends out to our property.
If you find yourself in a position where you are looking for a management company, I would venture to say that reliability, communication and responsiveness are your three top priorities. Connected knows that this is what associations value the most and have structured their business around this knowledge providing the best services that matter the most.

My condo association (15 units) has worked with Connected for close to a year now. We have been working with Team Romeo, first with Ryan as the lead and now with Kevin, and have had nothing but positive experiences. They always find us a diverse selection of vendor proposals for landscaping, cleaning, snow shoveling, etc., and are very productive when we ask them to negotiate on our behalf.
Of particular note has been how Kevin has dealt with a recent building emergency requiring a large amount of plumbing work. He was constantly quick to respond to requests and questions and negotiated the company into coming out significantly sooner than they originally proposed.
Overall I would say that the only reason I feel confident enough to serve on my HOA’s board is because I know Team Romeo has got my back.

If I could give zero stars, I would.
They do NOTHING to support their residents and come with ZERO customer service. I have spent three months trying to get in touch with them and have never once received a response regarding a concern with a neighboring home owner. The manage NOTHING, help you with NOTHING, fix NOTHING, and are there to solely collect monthly checks (for NOTHING).
Run.

If your building needs entail construction projects that overlap; porches, roof, masonry, etc. I would look elsewhere.
My 15 unit building has been a client of Connected since 2011. Initially the service levels were great, but it has steadily gone down hill. Each year we’re shuffled from one point of contact/​team to another and it’s caused problems which resulted in loss of time and money. The lack of clear consistent communication, the lack of thoughtful project management — both problems have resulted in damage to our building. Damage that could have been completely avoided with common sense.
If you’re patient and have the time to persistently engage Connected, they are ok getting quotes from vendors, etc — but managing the project after signing? Connected doesn’t treat the project with enough care and attention. You will need to manage your management company if you want things done right.

Connect Management failed to pay our building insurance not once, but two times.
They also failed to pay the garbage removal service twice.
Our building has decided to terminate them based on the above, providing quote from vendors that are overpriced, and asking them to do their job over and over for damaged property and lost property via their management of vendors.

I spoke to Nick who came out to our 3-​unit building to meet and take a look over everything. Nick had his very important folio with a pricing sheet, showing their company charges a flat rate of $ 90 per unit.
During his visit, we happened to mention that one of the unit owners was an extreme pain in the #$%^, which was the only reason in the world why a 3 unit condo building would even need a property manager in the first place.
The next day, he sent a note saying the price would be $ 150 per unit because there would be «more work than they expected». Seriously. That was the justification.
Basically, since they can’t just setup auto-​bill pay for our utilities and collect $ 270/​month in perpetuity for it, they have to charge more. I mean, they might actually have to DO stuff…
I would highly recommend avoid these winners.

We moved into our condo at the end of August. We have contacted the property management company several times to find out various information. Such as what storage locker we have, get front door keys, have items that are stored incorrectly per my condo’s rules and regulations removed, find out what parking space is ours, etc. Every time we have requested information they have no idea what is going on. They have said items will be removed and it’s been over 1.5 months and still nothing. We are having problems with a person parking in our spot and they have yet to address the issue. We’ve requested to know which storage space is ours and they have no idea what one is ours. We went to get the front entry way keys and they have no idea which key it was and gave us several keys, none of which were correct. They are slow to respond and do not actually do anything.

I am new to a condo that is managed by connected and over the last few months the continued unprofessional service that I have received is unbelievable. Unanswered emails, incorrect information and the latest «I don’t care I don’t manage your building» instead of finding out the correct information for me. Wow. I really hope that we are able to find a different management company that will at least answer our questions and follow up with the correct information.
I guess that connected property management company does not want new business and that they don’t care about keeping their current customers happy.

Our 8 unit building hired Connected about seven months ago. In that time, we’ve spent almost as much time managing them as we did managing ourselves when we were self-​managed. I was going to write a LONG review, but after reading Allen J’s review, I will simply say that our experience replicates his experience — rough transition, poor roster of companies to work with, TERRIBLE accounting practices,
and no follow up on any of these issues. Apathy is NOT a good business model, but it seems to be the model Connected follows. I don’t like the ending of Allen’s review because I’m afraid it is a precursor about what is ahead for our association.

Our 79 unit building in Logan Square terminated our contract with Wolin-​Levn and was courted by CM. We thought it was a good fit, smaller company, promising a different approach. They had such a difficult time getting our documents– emphasis on «our» — from W-​L so they knew how frustrating it can be for mgr and building. Their actual policies and website for owners and board members turned out to be woefully inadequate. And we were always chasing info and there were no protocols for good follow up.
Now we are termnating them and they have not given us about half of the documents we are legally entitled to. They sent a CD that is incomplete and some of the documents are not able to be opened. We also heard nothng from them when we sent the initial letter of termination, as if they didn’t care to lose our business.
If our new company shows us that they can operate as a proactive, responsible and progressive mgr, I will review them within 6 months.