Acorn + Oak Property Management

We’re moving out West and want to hold onto our house as an investment property. I contacted 3 of the top property management companies in the area. The first one quickly looked up the location of our house and suggested a rent that we thought was low. He didn’t commit to coming to visit us and see the house until we signed on with his company. The second did visit but didn’t seem to know the area well. She thought our house was in the boondocks of Durham when in fact we’re in a desirable location a few miles from Duke and downtown. She suggested a slightly higher rent than the first company but didn’t seem confident that we’d get many offers.
Then we got in touch with Acorn + Oak and the experience has been terrific. We sat down for a long meeting with Michelle at our house, who answered all our questions. She also had a good sense for the area and the kinds of people that would be interested in the house. She suggested a rent that was even a little higher than we hoped. Honestly I didn’t think we’d get many offers. We then had a second meeting with Caleb, who was confident he could rent the house and made some helpful suggestions on marketing it. A week later he came by to take pictures, and a week after that said he wanted to show the house. After 1 showing we got 5 offers, 4 above the asking rent. I couldn’t believe how fast it was. We got our pick of the tenant we want. I can’t even begin to express how much of a relief it is to know the house is rented as we have enough going on without worrying about scheduling showings and hustling to find a tenant.
We’re just beginning our relationship with Acorn + Oak but I just had to give props (no pun intended) for how good everything has been.

My girlfriend and I rented from Acorn and Oak over the past year and had an excellent experience with the company and its team. In fact, we would have liked to keep renting with them, but our current circumstances didn’t allow for it. Maybe in the future though!
Among many of the things that we enjoyed while working with Acorn and Oak were:
1) An easy to set up and automatic online payment process
2) Extremely responsive employees and maintenance teams
3) Monthly raffle prizes for tenants who pay early
4) Flexibility with our move-​out date
In addition, they consistently have an excellent selection of properties to look at! The bottom line is, if you are looking for a company to work with, please give Acorn and Oak a try!

Great property management company!
My favorite perks:
1. Pet friendliness (we got our pet deposit back!)
2. Online/​Auto Rent pay
3. Friendly and supportive staff and maintenance crew
Highly recommend Acorn&Oak for your next rental home!

I deal with management companies all over the country as part of my job and most of them are terrible to deal with.
Acorn + Oak is NOT one of those companies. They’ve been great to deal with since day one. They have excellent communication and are super easy to work with. I wouldn’t hesitate to rent from them again.

We rented an apartment from Acorn & Oak for a year. They have always been extremely quick to answer and solve any maintenance requests or questions we’ve had. Michelle and Daniel have been especially helpful during our time in Durham. Our rent was also extremely reasonable based on how close we were to downtown!

We are currently renting a house through Acorn and Oak. Laura, our rental agent, has been so helpful and attentive throughout the whole process. She never rested until we were completely satisfied with the home. We really appreciate all their help and hard work. Michelle has put together a great team and they really work well together. It’s a great company and I hope to stay with them for a long time.

Originally Acorn + Oak had several properties that caught my eye and my review is for the set up and experiencing with the realtors that showed us these properties as we never actually rented from the company. Once you e-​mail about a property you are paired with the realtor showing that specific property and a time is arranged to view between the two of you. Out of the two properties we viewed, there were two different gentlemen showing the listings even though they were about five minutes from one another.
After the initial e-​mail I quickly received responses back and while it took a couple days to confirm the dates, things viewings were set up fairly quickly (one within a day and the other within a week). We had set up several showings on the same Saturday so I appreciated the fact that both realtors were flexible with time and were willing to accommodate us. We loved the first property which had been listed for three months already and the priced had already been lowered twice. Being a thrifty person I asked if there was anymore wiggle room and was encouraged that there might as long as we didn’t require further repairs/​changes to the property. The second property was too big for us but both realtors were helpful, answered questions (not memorized but could find the answers) and left good impressions. The first viewed the property with us while the other waited outside while we looked.
On Tuesday after viewing both we received a follow-​up from the second property but still had not heard from the first that we were interested in. After e-​mailing the first realtor and hearing nothing all day we called him about twelve hours later. Things were discussed again and he told us he’d give us a call back in the morning to confirm with the owner. We received a call the next evening much later then we anticipated with news that an application was in on the property and an apology. It’s disappointing to feel so close and then have such a huge let down. While the realtor was kind to let us know he was checking with the other staff to see if anything could meet our needs I was very disappointed with how he conducted the follow-​up and thus that we lost the property.
We never heard back from him although we did find another property from Acorn + Oak that we were interested in. I e-​mailed about it earlier this week and have yet to hear back. I checked the site today and the property is no longer listed. Another odd side note is they have no breakage clause on the leases (per the realtors that showed us the properties) Apparently if you are unhappy and want to break the lease you can’t, you must continue to pay until the end of the lease regardless. I won’t be using or recommending Acorn + Oak in the future because of the experience I had with them.

Michelle Ketchum and her team at Acorn & Oak are first class in every way possible! She works extremely hard to create a culture of compassionate customer service. She and her team care about the clients they serve in a way that i have never seen before. They always do the right thing when it comes to her clients. If you are considering a property in the triangle area, I urge you to talk to them first.

I cannot recommend these guys more. They are highly professional. They rent excellent properties to excellent tenants. Good property management=happy tenants=paying tenants and high retention=happy property owners.

‘As good as it gets’ best describes our experience working with Acorn + Oak. Ten years ago my son and I invested in 16 condos in a centrally located development in Chapel Hill. Since then, we’ve sold 8 units, and worked with three different property managers, A+O being the most recent. We’ve had management that’s good, bad, and excellent, with A+O second to none.
An auto-​immune system condition forced our former manager to step down at a time when two of our units had been vacant for nearly a year. From the time A+O stepped in, they’ve performed miracles. All of our units are filled, and there’s a ²⁴⁄₇ portal for us (and our tenants) to access so we can be in constant communication.
Our personal manager works around the clock, and always responds to our queries in a timely fashion. That he’s hard working, upbeat (and owns a GREAT dog) is frosting on the cake!
Michelle Ketchum, the owner, runs this company on the premise that truly successful property management is rooted in the notion of head, hands, and heart, and treats her clientele with care and consideration accordingly – far above the call of duty.
During a time of year when we’re called upon to give thanks, I’ll just say this: The gods were smiling on us the day Acorn+Oak came into our lives. We cannot recommend them highly enough!

Michelle made renting out my house in Durham incredibly easy and painless. Rented super fast and for a lot more than I thought it would rent for. And the tenant she found has been great. Highly recommend for your property management needs.

I didn’t end up renting with Acorn and Oak, but I thought I’d give a few thoughts on what it was like to work with them in the apartment and rental home hunt:
My wife and I were both fortunate enough to get jobs in the RTP area at the same time, so I went the «old fashioned» route and went on Craigslist. After looking at a few postings, A&O caught my eye so I went directly to their website.
I think what made it easier for all parties was that we knew exactly what we wanted: no cookie cutter homes, no apartments/​condos/​townhomes, had to have 2 car garage, had to allow dogs, had to have certain amenities. What made it difficult was that we were looking for a firm August 1, 2014 move-​in date and it was… oh, late May and early June. Yes, yes, I realize that in this location with this type of market, that’s asking a lot, but I was used to being able to put money down 60 days in advance to secure a building in both Milwaukee and Chicago. Oh, and did I mention that because we were in Chicago/​Milwaukee, we couldn’t view the properties ourselves, but had to have A&O coordinate with my brother in law? Sheesh!
Regardless, Michelle and her staff were easy to work with. She responded to me right away with a personal email (didn’t just send me to the website), and then worked quickly with my brother in law to set up a viewing. We had our eyes set on this house on Garrett Place (I still remember the exact address but don’t want to post it for privacy reasons, durr… but I remember the address because THAT’s how much we wanted the house!) and in the end, the deal didn’t work out because the owner (s) wanted a firm early July move in date, which we just couldn’t swing. From what my brother in law said — if that home had been closer to where he and my sister had been looking, they would have put in an offer to just outright buy the house ON THE SPOT. THAT’s how amazing the house was, omglolzkittenz!
Each subsequent exchange with Michelle and her staff were equally as professional and prompt. I had my eyes set on another property that the owner later didn’t want to list on the rental market, and the listing agent was quick to let me know, «Hey, just wanted to give you a heads up that it didn’t work out, but it’s not your fault…»
I’d also note that by nature, I’m very detail oriented, so what likely helped was that I had everything in order before even making arrangements for viewing: past rental history, my own credit reports/​checks, proof of income verification for my wife and I, proof of clean pet rental history, etc. etc. I think this type of preparation just makes it easier on everyone, and subconsciously or not, makes property managers AND home owners more likely to um… take a look at your application (s).
In the end, I almost hired A&O on retainer to be my head hunters for the MLS rental market, i.e., if I saw a property I liked and it wasn’t their listing, they could go out and secure it for me for a flat fee. It was just a dumb stroke of luck that I found a home that worked out for us through a different listing agent.
I’d recommend A&O for your rental needs, and as a side note, they’re quite prolific on social media as well. Cheers!

Acorn+Oak took care of me for the 3 years I was a tenant. There were no major complaints or issues about other neighbors or the property. I did have a few issues with my unit, but nothing major. They were attentive to any issues I called in, and the property owner for my building was also friendly. Michelle was attentive to any needs, and the rental and moving-​out process was smooth for me.
Were I to move south again and needed an apartment, I’d probably look at Acorn+Oak units available.

Michelle is the very best! Professional, responds quickly and is always helpful. I know Acorn & Oak has a lot of clients but they always take time to answer questions/​concerns. I have followed Michelle from a previous employer to Acorn & Oak because she always goes above and beyond expectations! So that says a lot. I have referred various family and friends to Acorn & Oak and have never been disappointed. I highly recommend their services!

Do NOT use this rental company. You’ll be nothing but a number in a computer system to them. They have extremely poor customer service and are exceptionally rude if you ever have to deal with them in person, acting like you’re an inconvenience to them. They will do anything they can to screw you out of your deposit when you leave — including «losing your 30 day notice», not telling you about it, taking your keys and doing your final walk through, and THEN telling you they are going to charge you unpaid rent because they received your SECOND 30 day notice late. We left our property in better condition than when we moved in, they had our keys and the property was completely vacant, and you better believe they had a for rent sign in the front yard, but conveniently had to charge us rent because they can’t keep up with their paperwork. Even better, there is no way around it because of the «computer system». We would have been understanding about the misplaced paperwork and could have pushed our dates back on our new home if they would have been up front and honest with us, but instead they withheld information in order to take our money. Save yourself the time and headache and rent from a company who actually cares about you as a customer, because Acorn + Oak is NOT that place.
IN RESPONSE TO MICHELLE:
An emailed notice is not what was communicated in our lease — we were following the guidelines we were given. If your goal was to be fair, it should have been communicated that you would be using the second date to end our lease and not the date of our original notice, when we called to discuss it originally. We could have easily moved our move in dates in our new home. Instead, that information was withheld until after you had our keys and did our walk through — all of which was done on the timeline of the FIRST notice. I’m not sure how you would like me to locate a letter that was mailed to you. Obviously, that’s not something I can do. We will be contacting the home owners ourselves, because thankfully they treated us like people and not a number. While I appreciate your offer for us to call with questions, we tried that and we were told there was nothing that could be done. Customer Service and Fairness are obviously not your goal when you’re doing nothing to make the situation right. Taking our money was obviously your priority and you’ve accomplished that, despite the fact we rented for 2 years, always paid our rent, and left the home in excellent condition.

Michelle was able to get us a great house in Durham! We inquired about a listing and she able to book us a showing for the same day and two days later we had the house. Her customized listings that she sends out via email everyday feature houses that aren’t on Zillow or Trulia yet which is how we were able to get such a great house.

My daughter and I were searching for this company (because of previous history w/​Michelle) and we’re so glad we took the time to do so. Michelle is so warm and friendly she knows how to ask the right questions, concerning what your needs are and she was invaluable in helping us locate the perfect place to live.
I highly recommend this company to anyone looking for a home in the Durham/​Wake/​Chapel Hill area.

Friendly, easy to work with, and fast response to maintenance issues!