CYNDI and DAVE of Affirmative Mgmt Services are imcompetent, never use them. I live in Campbell where affirmative mgmt services is our property mgmt firm and there is some construction going on directly effecting my unit and I was provided zero notice resulting in damage to plants and art falling off my walls. Calls to Dave and Cyndi at Affirmative Mgmt Services, resulted in complete dinial and deflection of any part of the process resulting in lack of notices etc... which is a basic resposibility of a reputable property manager. A simple notice and awareness of the scope would have saved 000's and enabled me to mange accordingly. I am unable to work from home during this construction as the constand hammering, sawing, etc... is disruptive causing further issues which Affirmative Mgmt services has no concerns about. I own many condos with management companies and this is by far the most irresponsible company I have ever seen. read more

As a realtor, I have dealt with countless HOAs, and it's often a nightmare to get a timely response from them. They rarely pick up the phone, and emails can take up to 7 days to get a reply--if you're lucky. This is incredibly stressful when you're in contract and every delay can create a huge mess. Working with Cindy, the property manager of Park Villas Association- Forest park, was a completely different story. Cindy picked up the phone every single time I called and provided me with all the information I needed in record time. When the lender sent her the questionnaire, we were behind schedule, and I explained we needed it within 24 hours. Cindy filled it out the same day, which was crucial for us to close on time. Cindy is incredibly professional, responsible, polite, and nice. Thanks to her efficiency and dedication, I had the best experience I've ever had with a property manager. Thank you very much, Cindy! read more

ParkVictoria Townhouse Association just fired this incompetent company. And replaced with Professional Association Services 510.683.8614 When I have time next month, i will present the list of AffirmativeMgt company's total set incompetences during the last 10 years, trying to do ineffective management services in addition to deliberately violating the Sterling Act law in not holding annual board elections for more than 5 years, perhaps trying to control the board. ------- One year after the fence company created a non-close-able gate. No action!! Blake admitted that it was his fault that contracting this Los Gatos Fencing company but refused to fix it even after 1 year!! I asked for the fencing company's principals contact info so I can sue them. It's very suspicious that Blake REFUSED!!!! Very suspicious! read more

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The owner of this company was rude to both myself (and other homeowners I went to the meetings with) when I had to interact with him from 2012-2014 during HOA meetings. He used personal insults instead of hearing homeowner concerns from myself and others and did not follow clear rules of procedure (including letting the board run the meetings, and not himself). I had to eventually file suit against my HOA due to his actions, and I won in negotiations. As part of the deal, we agreed to remove the lawsuit from the SCC website, but I can provide anyone who wants it with the details of what I filed (the financial terms of the settlement were good, but are classified). For some reason, the business owner has been objecting that my review does not cover a personal experience. It does and here are some additional details: * In a July 2012 HOA meeting, the owner talked over myself and other homeowners who went to the meeting with me as we tried to express some issues we had with that board's actions. He also led the HOA meeting, which is against state law: the elected president of the board must lead the meetings. * In 2013, I filed a suit naming my HOA (since removed from the SCC website) naming his continuing illegal actions to lead our board meetings and to collect election ballots himself (as an agent of the board), when those ballots need to be collected by neutral third parties only according to state law. I prevailed in negotiations big time. * In a Spring 2014 HOA meeting, once I was a director myself, he stated that I was not happy with his actions because I had "small [bleep] syndrome." While deeply insulting and untrue, I proposed to clarify the truth of the matter. I can provide more examples, but I hope this suffices as some specific examples for Yelp's moderators! I'll be glad to add more if needed! read more

Cindy Grover is the rudest person I have ever met. I answered her questions and she had the audacity to say that I didn't when I repeated it 3 times. She had also hung up on me. HUNG UP ON ME. Totally unprofessional. I wanted clarification because my landlord said that they were requesting to paint the door and it was included with HOA fees. Cindy's email said otherwise and I called for clarification and she told me I didn't know anything and hung up. WORST experience ever. read more

I have decided to rate them this low because Blake was non responsive once he found out that i was selling my home. Also he can be very good if you are on the board of the HOA, but once you leave he will not respond. read more

If there was a zero rating Blake Freeman of Affirmative Property Management is deserving. He is the most unprofessional, unresponsive, unaccountable, rude, incompetent, irrational, condescending, abusive, patronizing individual I have ever encounter in my 30+ years in real estate. He has mastered pointing the finger in the wrong direction and never being accountable. Just as one of the many, many examples, we had repairs on our residential rental condo that were supposed to be completed in Oct/Nov 2023. I sent him an email asking for an update and he never responded. When I found out months later that the repairs were still out standing, he blamed me for not continuing to follow up with him. He was patronizing, rude and condescending - telling me how I should have handled the situation differently when he was completely in the wrong. He finally told me that he was blocking me since I was the one being rude. (Never mind that I am one of the owners /customers.) He also told me that I should have changed "the subject line" which was part of an email that originated from a bigger issue that had to do with two separate units. Completely unbelievable. read more

I gave one star because there is nothing lower than one star - if only they had minus stars. After catastrophic handling of our HOA business by these anger balls...we decided to switch management companies. In transitioning to the new company, Affirmative Management was less than cooperative and failed to handle the change over in a professional manner. They either kept or disposed of most of our documentation and it has been quite costly to recreate the documentation but worth every penny to get rid of these clowns. They should wear big ol' shoes and big red noses... Change your name to Negative Management - more appropriate!!! I was asked to remove my negative review by Mr. Freeman because her personally turned over our records and rattled off another HOA ~ sorry not my HOA read more

Affirmative Management is responsive, helpful, and reliable. They are very committed to their properties that they manage. We have been very fortunate and lucky to have Blake Freeman manage our property, who is a very reliable, knowledgeable individual. If you need the job done, Blake is your guy! They know the state and city laws, depending on what the problem/issues are, and can assist as needed. AMS usually addresses the problems within 24 hours, and they also follow up with the resident that reported/reached out with the issues. If I could give them 10 stars I would, they deserve a lot! Thank you AMS! You guys a amazing!! read more

Wow it's been two years since I wrote my original review. Unfortunately I'm sorry to report that nothing has changed with this business even with attempts by board members to provide feedback on improvement to the business. The business basically ignores the board's concerns. I continue to get complaints from residents all over the complex about slow response and general shoddy management of issues that need attention. I do respond to messages on Yelp if you need any additional information. read more

I am selling one of the units that they manage. The property manager is Cindy Grover. Almost 20 years in business as a realtor, I had to deal with many property managers and I also manage properties for myself and clients. I never came across a property manager for an HOA who is so responsive and professional as Cindy. I highly recommend Cindy and her company if your HOA is looking for a property management company. read more

I have been on the board of directors of our HOA for 25 years, elected in 1992. In that time, the association has gone through about a half-dozen property managers (prior to hiring Affirmative Management), each failing to provide the quality of service that our association expected. Fortunately, Affirmative Management was hired by the board about 12 years ago and things have been running very smoothly since. Our property manager, and owner of Affirmative Management, has been a bona fide asset for our HOA. The many projects that have taken place (for example: asphalt re-sealing, roof and wood repairs, lighting and landscaping renovations, plumbing emergencies, pool maintenance, etc.) have all been handed with extreme proficiency and efficiency. And the administration of the typical day-to-day HOA occurrences (architectural control, parking, pet issues, etc.) have also been handled with recognized expertise. As president of our HOA, what I have found most satisfying is how well Affirmative Management has handled cost control. Our financial situation is in excellent shape as a consequence of Affirmative Management's extreme dedication to keeping our expenses within budget without compromising the quality of service. read more

I am the past president of a homeowners association in Cupertino. We recently seal coated our asphalt street which is a big deal because our units line a long, narrow culdesac and a project like this could have been very disruptive. The solution: our Affirmative Management property manager split the project into two phases and he was very proactive to ensure the job went smoothly. For example, he posted several rounds of notices before each phase so residents would have to be living in a cave to not know what to do on the days when the project blocked their half of the street. He was also onsite talking to the contractor and some of the residents on the mornings when the project started... he even knocked on the doors of a few residences where people hadn't moved their cars and were in danger of being trapped. Then came by after the crew finished and reviewed the job with our current president. Is a seal coating job rocket science? Not really. But it could have been a fiasco without good planning, or if the execution had been poor. So I wanted to write this review update to thank our manager for turning a potentially complicated project into a non-event. read more

All I can say is that Affirmative Management does not care about the community and can not handle all the service requests for our complex -- I live at Elk Ridge Estates in San Jose. Our complex is falling apart, I have lived there for almost 3 years and during that time all we hear about is all the work that is going to start. Yet nothing has been done since. We have 116 units and 50 of them are fed up with Blake and his BS company,we have a petition going around and at the last meeting we told him he was on his way out when elections start and then look it gets postponed. Gee I wonder why that happened. Blake is a low life lier and will do NOTHING to TRY to make those 50 people happy in the complex. His staff does not have ANY customer service skills. We are now looking to see if we can take any legal action against this. DO NOT LET THIS AFFIRMATIVE MANAGEMENT INTO YOUR COMPLEX ! Also I have noticed that almost every complex handled by Affirmative Management also has N.A. Shade as the Accounting Association. All I know is that I pay $470 a month for HOA and don't have a pool, clubhouse or any other amenity. We have nothing to show for that kind of HOA costs ! John Spalding read more

I own a townhouse in a complex in Mountain View managed by Affirmative Management. Recently my roof began to leak so I called them about getting it repaired. I sent my request in via the website they provide for our homeowners association and later that morning they contacted me to say that a roofer would be calling me to patch the leak, which he did. The roofer came out after a couple of days and patched the leak. I then contacted Affirmative Management regarding repairing the water-damaged ceiling and they arranged for a paint & drywall guy to visit my unit and repair it. Again this was done within a matter of days (it took a couple of trips for the crew to patch & paint the hole). From first call to final painting of my ceiling was less than two weeks. Based upon my experience Affirmative Management was responsive and professional and the roofer and painter they sent over were both courteous and competent. I just wanted to say that Affirmative Management took care of my problem and they didn't waste any time doing it. I have had two other similar experiences with them over the past several years - a sewer line in front of my garage backed up and nearby streetlight went out - and they took care of both problems quickly and efficiently. I wrote this review because I wanted to give credit where credit is due. read more

Yes, I was curious, and don't like being called bogus. Here is one lawsuit that Affirmative was named in, 4-04-SC-009231. In 2004. So much for Blake's bold statement that he has never been sued Also, while A.M. might have some insurance, they do NOT have errors & omissions insurance. The Association (with insurance) gets sued. A.M.'s name may not show up on records because they were not named as an initial defendant. So I stand by my statement: Affirmative Management's attitude/service is the cause for Associationst being sued. I think A.M.'s overly defensive and deceitful responses confirm my report, too. Also take the time to look at the filtered reviews and check their Better Business Bureau rating, which is usually D or F, until they finally respond to the complaint I guess. All those "bogus" people, too? Check other review sites, and ask for a list of ALL Associations they manage. Note that the references on their web site are mostly undated. One is signed by one of his employees. Look for a management company that has its OWN errors and omissions insurance. That is a true sign that they are confident in their level of service read more

When our complex had fallen into disrepair we decided we needed to hire a new management company to help us complete a number of projects. As president I was involved in selecting Affirmative Mgmt and I worked closely with them and the contractors they hired to do the repairs. With their help we were able to put new roofs on the buildings, repair & paint the units, fix our concrete & asphalt, and address a number of other deferred maintenance items. Because we had so many projects it took a couple of years to complete them all and while some projects took longer than I would have liked, this was as much our fault as it was theirs. Basically there were a lot of decisions to make and the board had to decide how to prioritize and fund the projects. Our property manager really helped us with these decisions. I was pleased with the advice we got from Affirmative, the contractors they brought in to do the work, and how they executed. read more

I am on the board of a large townhouse complex in Mountain View that has been managed by Affirmative Management for over 10 years. They have helped us complete two major exterior repair and paint projects, upgrade our landscaping and reduce our water usage, convert our lights to LED fixtures, purchase our own dumpsters (saved us about $3000 a year), put our insurance out to bid and saved us approximately $50,000 over the last three years. Just last month we had an unfortunate water main break very early in the morning. Affirmative Management, Blake the owner was on it as soon as I called him. There were plumbers on site before 9am. I rarely get pulled into any resident issues and problems because Blake solves them before they hit my radar screen. AM helped us rewrite some areas within our CCR's several years ago and that has helped us operate more efficiently. My experience is that AM is responsive, knowledgeable and courteous and they have done a good job providing customer service to our residents. I am pleased with their performance. read more

I would not even give them one star rating, but it is a requirement of yelp to provide a rating. This company is horrible. I completely comprehend what the other yelpers reporting of the horrible phone service upon calling Affirmative. Our complex was initially represented by Michelle of Affirmative, however, due to numerous complaints about her lack of knowledge and lack of action to homeowner complaints, the owner, Blake Freeman was contacted by a homeowner and subsequently took over the account. Unfortunately he is as useless as an ice machine in a snow storm. Since Blake has ben overseeing our complex, he has failed to complete board orders asked of him, shown favoritism to specific construction managers, shown favoritism to specific board members, lacks knowledge of our bylaws, habitually contradicts himself, repeatedly forgets or loses the minutes from previous meetings, and interprets our bylaws to the convenience that favors him or his "pet board member". Additionally, Affirmative has failed on numerous occasions to check work ordered, even after it has been paid for. Thus, we have learned of work not completed but the contractors were paid thousands of dollars. Affirmative has also recommended "band aid" repairs for damages that caused further expensive repairs. In addition, Blake himself has demonstrated to conduct himself in a very unprofessional manner in our HOA meetings. He fails to listen to home owners and repeatedly interrupts them and board members to argue their point rather than hear their concerns. He does not seem to know his role as a property manager because despite being ordered by the board to do work, he does not do it and claims that he did not do it because he felt it was unnecessary. While getting involved in our HOA meetings, I checked Affirmative through the BBB and learned their rating was D- for lack of response to BBB complaints by the company. This was pointed out to his "pet board member" and somehow the rating was later changed to a B-. My biggest concern is that in our last meeting, he stated all home owner personal contact information could be requested by any fellow homeowner and he would provide a full listing for them. This immediately raised concerns of my privacy and safety. I do NOT recommend Affirmative. read more

I am a president of a small homeowners association that has been managed by Affirmative Management for over seven years. Because we are small, every issue that can cost over $500 becomes a big problem. Over the years we have had a number of challenging issues ranging from plumbing emergencies to dealing with some very difficult homeowners. I have found Affirmative's advice and execution to be consistently good. Specifically, our property manager has a very good understanding of how small communities can save money on maintenance without compromising the quality. He introduced us to a host of capable and honest vendors, worked with the landscaper to re-landscape the complex, collaborated with a plumber to solve a sewer line problem that had given us trouble since the mid-1990s. They were exceptionally helpful in an expensive emergency situation. Couple years ago a washing machine hose burst inside a unit and water poured into the unit for hours when the owner was out of town. A neighbor called Affirmative Management and our property manager responded immediately, he was able to turn the water off, locate the owner (who was on vacation), get into the unit, and bring in a company to start drying out the unit - all while the owner was still out of town and all without having to interrupt the working board members' schedules and plans. Affirmative is very helpful with annual planning and budgeting and provided very valuable suggestions when we were updating our governing documents. I have found Affirmative Management to be reliable, honest, and very competent. They have reduced the board's workload, which is what any good management company should do. They may not be perfect, but they have been very helpful to us and they are a lot better than our two previous property managers. read more

I've been to a few HOA meetings -- that seemed to be run by Blake Freeman and not the actual board. Mr. Freeman exudes an extremely condescending and unprofessional attitude. When I was there, he tried to stifle legitimate concerns brought up home owners and to instead push through his own agenda. At times it even seemed like the board members were taken aback by his forcefulness and they could hardly keep him in check. Multiple homeowners under the iron rule of His Highness Mr. Freeman can back me up. To those looking for a property manager: if you need a king for your HOA that ignores legitimate concerns and antagonizes homeowners, then look no further than Mr. Freeman. read more

We have used Affirmative Management for our property management for over 10 years. and have found our property manager, Blake Freeman, to be competent, responsive and available. He is especially good whenever we've needed a quick response in an emergency. For example, when a large tree limb fell down and blocked the street, he had it handled and carted away the same morning. He is in constant communication with our gardeners regarding landscaping and having individual units comply with our HOA regulations. He is very knowledgeable about plants and trees, and coordinated the landscaping on our small park. He planted flowers and bushes that met water district standards for a rebate, which enabled the park to be completed with minimal cost and also considerably improved the appearance. He also made useful suggestions for our center divide and individual properties regarding appropriate plants and flowers. Additionally, he regularly checks up on the state of the property and is often available on the street for informal communication. Hilarey and Paul D. I served on the HOA board for four years. Prior to my being on the board, it had determined that for consistency, it would be good practice for Affirmative Management to draft the Agenda, run the meeting and take the minutes. For our association, this practice was the norm and worked well for a number of years. As board members changed, his handling the meetings provided us with some historical continuity and provided new members with a smooth established process. He kept all board members aware of issues and new developments for our complex. He knows the State laws and our bylaws, and provides useful advice when there is a need. Hilarey D. read more

If there were an option to put a negative rating, I would gladly do so. Affirmative Management has been managing our community (Elk Ridge Estates) for several years and all I know is that the complex has fallen apart and HOA dues are skyrocketing. $470/month with no amenities, yes i mean nothing, no pool, gym, park, playarea etc. What we do have in the community is messed up landscaping, broken stairways, rotten wood and probably the worst HOA mgmt community. Customer Service 101 would be extremely beneficial for all members of the Affirmative management staff. I have never had a phone call returned in the 6 + years that I've lived here, the only way to get their attention is to threaten with legal action which they are becoming oblivious too as well. I can go on and on, but do yourself a favor and DON'T employ Affirmative Management for your HOA needs. There are plenty of companies who can provide better service for a reasonable cost. read more

I am pleased that my HOA has chosen Affirmative Management and Mr. Freeman as property manager. I have been working with him directly regarding a window leak issue and he has been more than generous with his time and guidance. His knowledge and years of experience with community issues has been invaluable. He has set up appointments with vendors and made them available to me for questions and information. I am grateful for his "willing to please spirit" and sincere effort to keep me calm and realize that he honestly cares and is working towards the proper choices and completion of this project right along with me. Thank you Affirmative Management and Blake Freeman. read more

Admittedly, I am like most people and rarely leave a positive comment or review. After all, when I order a pair of jeans on Amazon, what is there to comment? I ordered, I paid, they delivered, and the jeans fit (or not). Only if there is a problem will I bother to leave negative feedback. Hence, most reviews are understandably negative so it came as a surprise to me when during an unrelated Google search the hits included a link to Affirmation Management Services (AMS) and, being a customer, I read them. I was quite surprised about the negative tone of some reviews because my experience is quite the opposite. For example, in 2008 we noticed that the roofs of our buildings were sagging. Knowing there was likely a bigger problem, we had a structural engineer investigate the roofs. He confirmed that our beam & rafters were stressed and/or cracked and recommended a total roof replacement. Our property manager at the time felt she wasn't up to a project of that size which forced us to look for another management company. Enter AMS who gladly took us on as a new client and, long story short, they orchestrated a roof replacement project as well as a special assessment to pay for it. Within months the roofs on all buildings were removed, stronger beams, etc and plywood - which wasn't there before - were installed, then roofing paper, followed by new tiles. Despite a setback or two the project was completed on time and under budget! AMS played a significant role and without them I doubt we'd have been able to pull the project off. Since then AMS has been our management company and we are glad we picked them! Be it exterior painting, wood repairs, asphalt projects, upgrading our ancient mailboxes - whatever - AMS reaches out to multiple contractors, gets bids, presents them to the board, then 'makes things happen'. Another quick example: when it appeared the drought was over we decided to proceed with a long-deferred landscaping upgrade. Now, several months later we have replaced all of our thirsty grass, old, funky trees, and boxy plants with beautiful new trees & shrubs - all on efficient drip irrigation (no more sprinklers!). Our AMS property manager convinced us we could do it and even designed a 'pilot project' with our landscaper to give us a taste of what was possible. We are very content with AMS and particularly Blake who is detail-oriented and responsive. We consider him to be a valuable extension of the Board. read more

I'm on the BOD for an association and very pleased and appreciative of the many, many positive things that Affirmative Mgmt. does for our association. Carefully reviewing all bids for business, getting competitive bids, taking the time to document and explain the differences. He doesn't leave a stone unturned. read more

As a resident of a condo, I have had nothing but grief from Affirmative Management. They are the worst in handling problems and the customer service from both Blake and his outdated assisted Mary are beyond words. You can never expect them to handle a problem in a timely matter. I can't believe our Association continues to use there company. When talking with other residents the minute you mention Blake their eyes roll and have nothing nice to say. read more

I am a board member at a 40 unit townhouse complex in Sunnyvale. Our Affirmative Management property manager, Blake Freeman, has been a huge help over the past several years. In the area of finance and budgeting, he has led our board from confusion to clarity. Each year he goes over the budget with us in detail so that our decisions and their impact on dues are clearly understood. With our former managers budgeting was confusing and mysterious, with Blake it's clear and easy to understand. Probably the most complex issue we faced was to decide whether or not to purchase earthquake insurance, then decide on the right amount of coverage and deductible to purchase. To help members of our community understand this complex topic, Blake hosted a series of meetings where he explained how earthquake insurance works. In the end, the community was able to make an informed decision on this important matter. Another big issue that we faced when we hired him was the terrible condition of our 25 year old landscaping. We had been reluctant to tackle this huge project, but Blake led us through it and delivered an excellent finished product! The residents in our complex benefit from our beautiful landscaping every day and I feel it has dramatically improved our curb appeal. Blake has also done some creative problem solving for us. For example, because we could not find matching pavers to repair broken and discolored parts of our walkways we lived with disfigured pavers for years. He came up with a design using new, different colored pavers in a remote area of the complex. This freed up enough pavers to repair several more visible locations with pavers that matched perfectly. As a result, we were finally able to fix our pavers for a fraction of what full replacement would have cost. When we wanted to replace our street lights, Blake walked through the complex with the board members and suggested ways to reposition fixtures without reducing the amount of light they provided. Because we were able to reduce the number of pole lights by about 25%, we saved thousands of dollars on this project! Finally, Blake has introduced us to many reliable vendors that he works with very efficiently. Although we are not a very large complex, he comes by, photographs a particular area or problem, and sends pictures to the board and the vendor making it very clear about what needs to be done. He also gets multiple bids for larger jobs or when we ask him to. When the vendor says the job is complete, he will swing by the complex and check out the workmanship. I don't have the expertise to deal with the many issues that arise in a condo complex so I am thankful for Blake's ability, experience, and his professional contacts. Since hiring him our complex is in the best shape that it has ever been in. I highly recommend Affirmative Management. read more

I am a board member at a 91 unit townhome complex in Mtn View. Blake Freeman of Affirmative Management is our property manager. His support , experience and willingness to help could not be better. I can turn over any project to him and he will jump on it and I can trust that the details will be correct . He is always ready to help. I appreciate his guidance and I truly enjoy working with him. read more