Response from Mark Downey on 11/1/2024

We have hundreds if not thousands of 5 star reviews from tenants and owners alike (across Zillow, Facebook, Google+, Realtor.com etc). We work very hard to provide excellent service to our tenants and owners. It’s a fine line because our job is to help the owner lease their home and take care of the property. Equally though, we want the tenant to have a pleasant experience. This however, costs money. We cannot provide our services for free. Yes, we do charge a renewal fee of $100 to renew the lease annually but this protects the TENANT as much as it does the owner - keeps the owner from being able to suddenly raise the rent rate every couple months and ensures that the tenant has someone advocating for their needs in getting repairs completed etc. But $100 is hardly “money hungry” and it pays for the cost of the lease that we pay to our attorneys to draft the lease. See, we like to do things the LEGAL and right way. Many companies just don’t bother to do things the right way and will not even renew the lease. I have a larger staff that has to be paid to do the work. So when our tenants or owners call us for help, we have the staff to help. Not just ignore. 99% of our clientele appreciates better service and is willing to pay for it. We are NOT the McDonald’s of property management. We are the local 5 star company that provides the best “meal” in town. Of course when you go to that “restaurant “ you expect to pay a little more. But it’s worth it! At least that’s what we have been told time and time again. Sure, there will be a few who don’t like it and they will not stay long. But we’ve also had many leave us to find another property, only to come back, recognizing that the service with other companies is horrid. We also sent you a letter telling you exactly how to get EVERY dollar of your deposit back. We go to great lengths to try to help you keep your money. We don’t get it so why would we want to keep it and just make you mad at us? The owner gets it when damage is found, as someone has to pay for the repairs. We allow a lot of “wear & tear” so we definitely don’t nickel and dime our tenants. Again, we want to return every dollar we can. But if a tenant damages a home, or doesn’t pay the last months rent etc, we have no choice but to keep it. Mostly, it’s from tenants who vacate and don’t clean or do a terrible job cleaning. We are then forced to send a cleaner back in and they generally charge $300-400 to clean it thoroughly because the next tenant moving in won’t be happy if it’s dirty whatsoever. So we have to be sure it’s cleaned well. Everyone’s idea of what “cleanliness” is varies. We use a guideline that is given to the tenant prior to them vacating so they know exactly what we expect. I’m sorry you feel we tried to take your deposit, but that simply isn’t the case. Again, we don’t get it…so we don’t want to take it from you if we can avoid it. I care about every review I get - my name is on the sign and it matters to me! I’m not a large corporation with managers who don’t care. Everyone at MD&A cares - and I like to think it shows! I can’t make everyone happy - we manage 550 rentals (the average company manages maybe 50-100 at most) so of course that means we deal with a lot more people than the average. But I can tell you that once again, I care about all our tenants and owners. I strive to provide the best service possible! For that, I can sleep well at night knowing that I did everything I could. I wish you the best in the future, in spite of your negative comments towards my company. If your opinion ever changes, we will be ready to serve you with the best care and service available! Mark Downey, Broker/Owner