Alger Apprasials

My husband and I have been working with Alger company for many years now. I couldn’t think of one complaint about this company. Customer service is great, staff is quick to respond to concerns via email /​phone calls. Management and consulting are awesome! I would definitely recommend Alger Appraisals to everyone.

We hired Alger to manage our condo in 2009 when we left the area, knowing that it was unlikely we’d be back in the area (my husband is in the Navy). We initially went with Alger because they were marginally cheaper than some of the bigger names and, since we were already going to be losing a few hundred dollars per month (damn you, HOA dues!), that was a pretty important factor.
Over the next few years, I felt like they were perfectly mediocre. We had a difficult time getting ahold of them, they didn’t let us know about the condition of the unit in between tenants (eg, whether it needed repainting or the carpet needed to be replaced), and they could never seem to get our address right no matter how many times my husband «updated» it with them.
Over the past year, though, we have become increasingly dissatisfied. Last summer we were in the area for the first time since ’09, so we set up a meeting with the owner to look at the unit. While we were pleased with the condition of the unit, we did have several questions about our account, the length of the tenants’ lease, etc. These questions were met with, «I don’t know — you’ll have to call the office.» We were appalled that 1– she hadn’t brought notes on the file, or at least gone over some details before meeting us; and 2 — expected us to follow up with her instead of saying, «I’m sorry, I don’t know. Let me call you this afternoon when I get back to the office.»
The final straw was when our tenants left and my husband and I wanted to talk about adjusting the rent to reflect the current market. Alger apparently manages several units in the complex, however our unit was quite a bit nicer (vaulted ceilings, remodeled kitchen, a few extra sqft, modern paint scheme, and updated fireplace surround, etc). We based our suggested rate based on similar units we saw in hotpads/​craigslist that were moving pretty quickly, as well housing allowances for the military personnel that would most likely be interested in a small 2-​bdrm condo. Alger, however, told us that it was entirely too much, and recommended the rate that tenants in their other units were paying. My husband sent an email expressing concern that they were failing to maximize our profit. They basically told him, «sure — I guess we’ll start there, but don’t be surprised when it takes months and price drops to rent it out…»
At that point, we decided to look for alternative management companies. We settled on Windermere based on recommendations from friends in the area. The management costs are now equal to those at Alger, and they offer many more services (quarterly drive-​bys, annual inspections with written reports, etc.).
As it turns out, the unit rented just a couple weeks after going in the market at the rate we had insisted on.
Have you ever broken up with someone and then, based in their reaction, you can’t figure out why you didn’t do it sooner?
The owner sent us an apology/​please don’t leave email, which was full of typos. They apparently didn’t know how to transfer management services, because they sent us several emails to clarify what exactly they needed to mail us. I told them to coordinate with our new management company (based on windermere’s suggestion), instead they continued sending us emails. In one instance, the owner specifically asked if we needed the copies of the keys. I told her that — based on the fact that we currently live in upstate ny (as both my husband and I had expressly stated) — there would be no need for us to have the keys. Several weeks later, my husband’s parents got a package from Alger. Alger had apparently sent it to our old address in Hawaii (even though we had told them *multiple* times that we no longer lived there), and it was forwarded to his parents’ house. And, yes — it absolutely contained the keys.
TL;DR — poor communication, unprofessional, failure to properly price our unit, and a lack of common sense. Plus, it’s not even cheaper than other companies. Stay away, kids.

HORRIBLE!
Alger Management was an absolute NIGHTMARE! They are anti-​customer service!
Vacant and unkept by them for almost 3 months and they were not advertising the property or preparing it for any kind of showing, their cleaning crew created a leak and then they tried to refused to have them (or their vendor) pay for the repair, and all they claimed was done was NOT done thanks to a surprise visit from us. We gave them $ 2000 and they spent some without authorization and some on landscaping that was NOT done to our specifications on the bid. They ripped out over $ 300 of flowers and plants recently planted and the cleaning was atrocious! They did not keep in contact with us on a regular basis OR even after we’d try to contact them repeatedly.
Hired new management company (Reid) … they are AWESOME! They rented our home within weeks and don’t waste our money! Constant contact with us as homeowners, proper management and consulting, and an all around feeling of security and trust.
Say NO to Alger!!!