Phoenix Realty & Property Management

I have been living in a rental property managed by Phoenix Realty for about 1 ½ years. As can be expected things go wrong from time to time. Omar, the head of maintenance is very good about getting someone out to do repairs as quickly as possible. About 2 weeks ago, just as we were switching from heat to AC, our unit stopped working. Omar sent a technician quickly. I also had two other minor electrical issues as well. The Technician, Carlos, was the most professional and efficient technician. He was extremely knowledgeable and repaired the HVAC unit quickly. He explained what the issue was and how he resolved it. He also quickly repaired the 2 electrical issues. He immediately put booties on when he entered the house, and was polite and thoughtful. I know that another HVAC tech would not have been able to diagnose and repair the issue as well or as quickly and I am sure as cost effective for the landlord. I am deeply grateful and appreciate above and beyond service. Thank you Carlos!

So after 2 years, I’ve moved on from NC and moved out of the house I was renting from Phoenix in Cary. This was a relationship that started out very rocky — we were given keys to a home that had not been painted as promised and had literal holes in the wall in the master bathroom. The hot water didn’t work initially and we were told that someone would come by and fix a door that was off the hinges and replace a few lightbulbs. All this was promised to us by Stan Crow, and he really managed to start things off on the wrong foot, as it took multiple calls and emails to get these things fixed.
Happily, things got better after the first six months. Maintenance, which had to be called regularly because the property was in poor repair (2x for the garage door, 1x for a smoking light switch (yikes!), 1x to replace the water heater, 3−4x for broken toilets, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some) finally became responsive and generally came out within 2 – 3 days to fix things.
Our lease termination date was scheduled for early March, and as we had vacated the property by mid-​January, we asked them to list the property early in the hopes that we could get it rented and not have to pay for a month and a half that we weren’t living there. We were, of course, willing to pay if they couldn’t find someone. They were willing to work with us in that regard and found a new renter that moved in on 2/​1, saving us a few thousand dollars in the process.
Once we got the move out report, we were charged $ 60 for damage to a doorframe that was apparently caused by a dog (we have never owned a dog), $ 15 to replace a light bulb that had burned out and $ 15 to replace an air filter that we had changed the week before. There were a handful of other, legitimate charges on there (blowing leaves off the deck and out of the garage), but $ 15 to change a light bulb is pretty ridiculous. I worked with Jewell on these three items and she was able to find a move in picture that proved the doorframe was damaged before we moved in, and agreed to refund the $ 30 for the light bulb and air filter. I’m satisfied with that resolution, and I think a large part of my frustration with Phoenix was brought on by the bad first impression that Stan Crow made.

Phoenix Realty has been wonderful to me. I have had a very tough year — I recently left my husband and moved out of the home that we owned with my small child into one of Phoenix Realty’s listings. I have had to deal with the unexpected aftermath of that separation, which far surpassed my greatest fears. Jewell and Brandon went above and beyond to help me with all maintenance needs (which were few) and went above and beyond as far as property management. They responded to my needs immediately and thoroughly and when I had to move again before my lease was up, they were incredibly understanding and helpful in a multitude of ways. I do not agree with past reviews (there must have been different staff then) because every interaction I have had with members of the company has demonstrated professionalism, courtesy, and generosity. I am so grateful to have leased one of their properties during such a difficult time and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a new home.

We cannot express how much we appreciated all the efforts you have made over the past couple months. It was very stressful on our end at the beginning, since we are outside of the State and cannot be there for a lot of occasions. We are at the beginning of starting a family and we really need the success in house selling to get our dream house in another State (and now we are successful!!!). The house cleaning, furniture moving and listing process was a huge relieve for us. We understand that house selling can be very stressful, both on our side and your side. So many uncertainties can exist, some we can control, some we cannot. You handled everything very well. We are very happy and satisfied with your service. Our house was sold with at a very satisfied price and we are happy to get the value that our property is worth.
We will definitely recommend you and Phoenix property to my friends in NC and let them know how dedicated and hardworking you are both in property management and house selling.

Worst property managers I’ve delt with ever. They painted half our room (they will only paint one color), don’t respond to requests and messed up our lease and a host of other issues.

Phoenix Reality in Durham, NC seems 2b okay for sellers rather than renting from them. Below is my personal experience as a Renter. This is quite lengthy. Renter Beware…
1. High staff turnover rate– clue#1. Originally dealt with Amy Thai, then she quit and there was a new office manager but no notice to tenants when correspondence done by email. So for months, who knows who was reading any of my email inquiries? That would explain repeated maintenance request follow-​ups after initially place a request on their website, which by the way gives no e-​mail record to the tenant of a request being made.
2. Handy man, Kevin, in fall of 2012 would arrive to the rental property with blood shot red eyes, not really know how to fix anything technically speaking unless it was simple and basic of basic, and forget his tools at the rental house.
3. Day of move in inspection, Davood, the real estate agent, was already taking pictures of the pictures before I even arrived and then had the nerve to tell me had another appointment and he could not stay to complete the full walk through after only being there 15minutes after I got there. Common sense would dictate, to inspect a whole house you have never fully looked over; that 15 minutes will not be enough time. To add insult to injury, I insisted on the termite damage in the landscape timbers to be notated on the move inspection so that I am not liable when I moved out. He argued with me for 10 minutes citing that he would not be able to give me the keys that day unless I signed the move-​in checklist and not include this notation. I did not budge on that point. I had to show him my own digital pictures I had taken in 15 minutes to prove my point before he agreed. By law, I had so many days to document any issues I noted. If you were to compare the move in checklists side by side, according to Davood, everything was fine. But my list had numerous DETAILED issues documented that were wrong with the house or needed repairs and I provided my own pictures which were much more accurate to paint a fuller picture. When I went to the office to turn in my move in checklist, the staff manger, Amy Thai, did not even offer to sign the list saying it was not needed and it would be okay as is. I insisted and said I was not leaving the office until I have a staff member sign off. Glad I did!
4. Maintenance requests were fully documented by website and email. Due to change in staff, there were significantly lag time of fixing anything for weeks at a time. Once the owner of the rental house and president of Phoenix Realty (Vince Thai), saw so many repeated request, the tone of the email was accusatory and questioning why I have made so many requests. This is the one straw that made my decision for me as a renter to move out as soon as my lease was up. After deciding to pay a visit in person to discuss why so many maintenance requests, I showed up at the office to wait to speak with him. Of course, his staff notified him and I waited 45minutes but conveniently he was unavailable to come into the office that day. I retried again another day unannounced and conveniently he was in a meeting and could not speak with me. Couldn’t even call me back? Really?
5. Carbon monoxide detector when off in the middle of the night. Local fire department called, apparently there was a gas leak outside the house in the lines before it entered the house. I left an urgent message that night of the event on the afterhours maintenance number to notify them. Never got a call back or concern about my safety or the neighborhood’s safety. Only got an email like 1 – 2 weeks later say glad everything turned out ok from Amy Thai. Really? An email?
6. The A/​C unit was installed prior to my move in, however the handyman installed the wrong temperature control unit inside the house, thus causing me a $ 500 gas bill during the winter. I did not know until after receiving the gas bill there was an issue with the wrong thermometer install by the handyman Kevin. The unnecessary gas bill due to their unknowledgeable repair staff is not acceptable.
There were numerous repairs that were needed, they were eventually all addressed but with every single dealing, I documented up to wazooo all in pics because it was like stepping on eggshells in order to prove your point with these people. One shouldn’t have to conduct business in this manner. In my opinion, they were unorganized. Even if the original staff I dealt with between 2012 – 2013 is no longer there, still, it could be better managed. Final impression is they just want to rent a house but take no responsibility of upkeep to the property they own in anyway unless you corner them with unquestionable documentation. A judge would have a field day in court! I think that is was you call a slumlord or very close to it, right? You decide…
Run!

I owned a home in Durham that I was going to use as a retirement home. After having a really bad experience with local Durham realty management firm I found Phoenix Realty. I’ve used them for 4 years and they did an outstanding job of renting my house, finding the right tenants and maintaining the property. The management staff is really responsive and nice to work with. They also have a staff of handymen that can handle most repairs without charging you an arm and a leg. I live in NY and was able to rely on Phoenix to handle everything without concern. They also have a website that handles your monthly statements.
I recently had to put my house up for sale and was glad to find out that Phoenix also did sales. Being I already had a relationship with them I figured I’d have them sell my house. Boy, did I make the right choice. After a few showings a buyer made an offer but I ran into all kinds of technical issues with property encroachments, engineering issues and changes that needed to be made to bring items up to code. Working with Vince Thai at Phoenix he went above and beyond what I’d ever expect a realtor to take on in getting local engineers, repairmen, working with the neighbor on encroachment issues. Going to the town hall researching issues. Without the extra work Phoenix did my house wouldn’t have sold. It’s easy to sell a house when there’s no issues. In a case like this where the issues were enormous I was glad I had Phoenix representing me they did an outstanding job!