CAREFREE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT INC

After a long, mainly unacceptable experience with a property manager in Lake Oswego, I turned to Carefree Property Management in 2007 to manage my rental house. The difference has been like night vs. day. Carefree has done everything well. It has kept the house rented with high-quality tenants. It has done good-quality repairs, at a reasonable price, when needed. It has kept the books and made owner payments without a single error. Whereas my previous manager seemed to change agents every year or two, Carefree’s agent (Janet Peterson) was with me for 12 years until she retired. She knew my house well, so I didn’t have to keep retraining agents. Since Janet, I have had only one agent (Shea McGrath) and he has also been very good. Everyone that I’ve had contact with at Carefree has been helpful, friendly, competent and professional. Carefree turned my landlord experience from painful to as carefree as it can be. It took away a lot of the worries so that I could enjoy my life more. I’m very grateful for their help over the past 14 years. Needless to say, I give Carefree Property Management my highest recommendation for residential property management.

Getting a Tenant: Overall, I'm pretty happy about the tenant that Carefree found. I don't hear any complaints from the HOA, she's tidy and clean, the townhouse appears to be taken care of, and she rarely complains. Her rent checks do tend to run late rather than early. But so far there haven't been any serious delinquencies. I hired Carefree when the property was vacant. This was about three years ago but, as I recall, they found a tenant within two weeks and she's been there ever since. Initial Work on the Townhouse While the property was still vacant, Carefree asked if I had changed the locks from the previous tenant. I hadn't yet and they told me that they had a handyman that could do it for only $50. That was reasonable so I authorized it. Two days later I received an email outlining the details of that visit including charges for new smoke detectors, new toilet parts and the lock. When I questioned them about the additional charges, they couldn't answer my questions to my satisfaction. I'll summarize the interaction: Me: Why did you install new smoke detectors? CF: Oregon law suggests detectors in each bedroom. Me: Oregon law requires detectors on each floor and within 5 feet of each bedroom. The existing detectors met that requirement. CF: But the suggestion is to include them in each bedroom too. Me: OK. Why did you replace the two that were already installed? They were only a year old, had new 10 year batteries and were hard-wired into the house. CF: We'll have to check with our handyman. Me: Where are the original detectors? They were nearly $100 each. CF: We're not sure. Me: Are the new detectors hard-wired into the house? CF: We're not sure. Ultimately, CF charged me a "more than reasonable" (their language) cost for the new detectors ($13.95 each) and no fee for installation. But I wasn't happy that my year-old detectors (including carbon monoxide) installed by a professional electrician had been replaced by $14 detectors installed by a handyman. The toilet was a minor annoyance. They charged me for a new stopper because of a constantly running water issue. That's fine but I had just done that exact repair the same week that I hired CF. So I wanted to know which toilet they repaired. I never did get that answer. Ongoing Management Most of the time, CF collected the rent and direct deposited it (minus their cut) into my bank account every month. That worked fine and they provided me with regular invoices and an annual summary for my taxes. However, when the tenant did have an issue, I always ended up getting as involved in the solution as I would have had I never hired CF. For example, on one occasion, the tenant complained that the clothes dryer was not working properly. The clothes would get hot but not dry. CF relayed the problem to me and told me that they were going to send out a work crew. I told them to stop and to work with the HOA. This happened 2 years earlier (while I was managing the property myself) and it was not the duct work or the dryer that was the problem. The problem was that the dryer vent (on the roof) is known to get clogged. Since it is part of the roof structure and not internal to the building, it is the HOA that should handle the repair. CF initially reached out to the HOA but, expectedly, the HOA pushed back and said that we'd have to clean the internal ducting first. At that point, CF was just relaying the HOA's messages to me and my messages back to the HOA. They weren't adding any value to the situation. Ultimately the HOA agreed, sent somebody up there and he determined that the vents that were installed on the roofs were not the right type of vent for where they were installed and the HOA had all of the vents replaced for all of the units. But CF didn't add any value to the situation. On another occasion, I questioned a "refrigerator defrosting" charge on one invoice. The unit only had a frost-free refrigerator. When I asked, CF told me that they'd need to ask the maintenance company about it. Ultimately I found out that the "defrosting" charge was from a tube in the back of the machine and not the freezer unit. But I wasn't thrilled that CF was willing to just green-light any and all repairs without at least knowing what it was that they were agreeing to. In another scenario, the tenant complained that she could hear rodent noise coming from the HVAC system. I'm all for pest control and I consider rats or mice in the house to affect the "habitability" of the property. So I don't mind paying for an exterminator. But before I do, I want to be sure that the rodents aren't being attracted to something in the house. Is the tenant a hoarder? Does she pile up garbage instead of taking it out? Are their problems with the exterior that allow rodents easy access? Depending on the answers, the responsibility for paying for an exterminator may be with either the tenant or the HOA. But when I asked CF those same questions, they couldn't answer because they just hired an exterminator and billed me for it. I eventually had them inspect the house and they were satisfied that the tenant kept it in good condition and that this was just a one-off scenario. That's fine. But that should have been their first step, not a step they take only when I insist on it. Services I Would Have Liked I would have liked them to perform an annual rent analysis to determine if the rent is competitive with comparable units. I think I'm undercharging my tenant but I wanted the experts to do that analysis and be sure. I would also have liked to have seen property condition reports, action plans and budgeting: They should inspect the property at least annually and come up with a list wear items that will need to be replaced or fixed. For example, I know the carpet will need to be replaced soon. It would be nice if they would note that and offer to withhold part of the rent in a trust account to pay for the eventual cost. Bottom Line Carefree found a tenant, collected the rent and acted as the primary point of contact for her. Those are the bare minimum things a property management company should do. But for maintenance and planning, they added no value. I may consider hiring them to find a tenant. But I felt that their management of the property was mediocre.

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Kris from Carefree went over all the details of their service and fee structure. It was better and less expensive than any other property management company I could find on the internet that would provide the level of service and pricing I was looking for. Once we signed on Kris immediately went to work. She updated all our leases, ordered a property inspection and arranged and over saw all the repairs that were needed. Kris is responsive to the tenants questions and needs. When we had a vacancy she was quick to get it advertised and leased (at a higher rent!) It is great to have her there to handle all the day to day tasks of managing a rental property. I receive detailed statements monthly that are always clear and accurate!

We were referred to Pam and Carefree when we were considering keeping an old house as a rental. She was very flexible to set up a meeting with us and really clicked with her at the first meeting. Having a rental was a big leap for us and was something we were concerned about, but Pam was great explaining the process and making us feel good about the decision. The house needed various work in order to rent it, and they helped us decide what did/did not need to be done, and managed a large chunk of that work. Once they stated posting ads, the ads were exceptional, reflected the unique properties of the house, and generated strong interest - even with a fairly ambitious rent. As the renters moved in, there were additional minor things that came up (e.g. broken oven) but other than authorizing work - they did everything! All told, we were looking for a company that would let us be landlords without ever thinking about the house, and they have helped us to do. In fact, we are so comfortable with Carefree, that we are considering purchasing additional rentals in the future. The only thing that I would not rate as exceptional is their fees. Annually - with a new 12 month lease, we will pay over $2000 a year to Carefree - which is around 2x monthly rent or 15-20% of the annual rent and the bulk of our positive cash-flow... making the service a little expensive, but worth every dime.

They were given to me as a referral from my realtor. It is a family run business. I have had a very positive experience with them. They are very thorough and very conscientious. Their follow through is good, and their reporting is good. Their rate is in line with everybody else.

They were often slow to follow up on things. We talked to them at least 2 times about a change in lease agreements, that we'd discussed with the renters. Both times they assured us all was taken care of, but ended up totally disregarding what had been asked of them and greatly inconvenienced all concerned. We ended up referring to them as "Careless Mismanagement."