If there were a negative star rating, it would be well-deserved. One word descriptions for this company include crap-tacular and suck-tacular. Common Interest is a bad company that their accounting division refuses to resolve things such as a $650 interest on a $450 balance, much worse than a credit card! The CC&Rs for the condo complex mention nothing of being charged interest for an unpaid balance that was caused by them not recording payments properly. Upon examination of records, it was discovered the previous company never recorded the payments properly. When CIMS was asked them to resolve this since 2013, nothing has happened with the interest charges caused by the improper billing. According to documents obtained, their first response was to place the account in collection. No one wants to resolve this issue. The Bella Vista Gardens HOA Board & Common Interest are too busy blamestorming each other. Common Interest has threatened to place this account into collection yet again for their accounting mistakes. Dan Nelson and his staff named Christa Schenk and Amy Johnson and the Bella Vista Gardens HOA Board consisting of Ana Leon have not resolved this issue or even bothered to contact that person despite being emailed directly several times. If you want a damaged credit rating, then Common Interest is for you. If anyone wants to use this company, they should think twice before their credit gets damaged as well. During the Bella Vista Gardens HOA Board Meeting, CIMS Employee Diane Harn did something completely stupid: she threw her bosses under the bus - and it's all on video. She was at a meeting at the Bella Vista Gardens HOA and told people to stop recording her unethical behavior. She did absolutely nothing when residents of the complex asked about why money was not being accounted for and why billing issues were not addressed since 2013. She did absolutely nothing when the Bella Vista Gardens HOA Board composed of Fremont School employee and Constitutional stupidist Ana Leon (aleon@fremont.k12.ca.us) shut people down for raising these issues. Another person overheard the Bella Vista Gardens HOA Board composed of Ana Leon and some other women using a racial slur at a resident. At CIMS, they apparently do not train all their employees to know state laws such as the use of cameras is legal. The video has been emailed to lots of people who are laughing at this company. read more

Where to start. We have been using this Property Management company now for years. I wish I could say that there was one positive attribute to write about, but in this case I am remiss in finding just one. In several years of dealing with these people I have made only 3 calls to their office. Not one of them was ever returned. My 4th atempt was a letter by US mail and again, no response. In my letter I left my home phone, work phone, cell, emergency answering service number, e-mail and home address (obviously) so there was no reason for them not to be able to respond to my letter. Several months ago (and my 5th attempt to contact this company) I had the absolute pleasure (sarcasm) to deal with a woman named Kelly. Not only is she rude, curt, blunt, and disrespectful, but she failed to follow up on the property's common area problem. I got one obnoxious e-mail, then nothing. After months of dealing with the issue, I took matters into my own hands and had the problem fixed. It was actually easier to pay someone out of my own pocket to come out and repair the problem than it was to deal with this company or just get a response from Kelly. I am hoping that our HOA will soon fire these people. If you are looking for a new management service, skip this business. Heed the Yelp reviews. There is a reason people write so many poor reviews. If you are the owner and are thinking of writing the same canned response you have posted on other reviews, don't. You know your company has big problems. Your time would be better served finding new employees and taking a good look at your business, than responding to posts on Yelp. Here's a thought. You might want to send out a comment card to property owners so that they can anonymously give you feedback on your company's service or more accurately lack thereof. read more

As a Real Estate Broker veteran, I have had plenty of negative experiences with some Management Companies. I rarely feel compelled to share the few acceptable experiences I occasionally received. But this time I find it a moral obligation to express my gratitude. My experience was not just acceptable it was exceptional! My Clients were on the verge of loosing their transaction due to the "Bank" staff incompetence and unreasonableness. I had hours to straighten out their ommissions, errors and last minute additional HOA requirements... Most management company need a few days turn around for the myriads of document requests they get. This fact should have sunk my Clients' transaction by itself! Starting with my pressing call to customer service at Common Interest Management, I had the good fortune of explaining the situation to Christina, at Customer Service. She took the time to hear me out, understand the true emergency and take immediate action to have her Escrow Department Manager Heidi contact me back in the briefest delay. She, in turn, assisted me in solving the "Bank" last minute requests and questions, in spite of her on going very busy agenda. All this was done with great professionalism, understanding, caring and expeditiousness. To Common Interest Management my congratulations for the professional caliber of these two employees. To Heidi and Christina, my Clients and I owe you a debt of gratitude for making this transaction conclude positively. More so than that, Thank You for going the "extra mile" and as true professionals give some of the best Customer Service I have received from a management company in my 26 years career. I hope that soon I will have the pleasure to work with both of you under less stressful circumstances. My most sincere Thank You. Bernard Accrisro RE Broker read more

I have actually two properties that I own that are managed by this company. Each property is in a different community and town and I have have not shared with anyone at this company the fact they mange both. The community I currently live in is managed by Kellie Graham and her team and is called Landmark Oak . I really want to applaud them for the consistency in replying to my questions in a very quick and professional manner. If they have the authorization to assist they do and if not they explain why and the process involved to reach a possible solution. The trade people (vendors) they have sent out if I have a problem have also been (so far) good to work with. Sometimes the decisions that the Board of Directors make are considered in the minds of many residents as having been decided by the management company. The management company as well as residents are governed by the the CC&R's and Rules and regulations. These are often not read by new owners then they resent the management company for enforcement! I have owned the other property managed by this company (Heritage Oaks) for a longer time and although I have had fewer reasons to need assistance the few times I did they were there to help in answering questions or resolving issues. Having lived in this area for 20+ years and always having lived in some type of a PUD development I have actually had many, many poor experiences but not with this company. It is a hard job with limitations that are sometimes not understood by the residents given the possible legal ramifications. As a 30+ year real estate broker with over 20 years spent in this area believe me there are some communities you learn to avoid. Sometimes it is because of the management company. There is truly excellent customer service here in my opinion. read more

Mr. Dan Nelson, please stop inducing fake reviews that make your Company look good - because there is nothing about your company that's good for the owners of the communities that you manage. Mr. Dan Nelson is your company receiving any kickbacks from contractors? It seems like you do, you have just demolished perfectly good stairs just to rebuild it at Serra Heights Condos and it took over 4months for you to rebuild it with estimated cost of $50K that we the homeowners have to pay for no reason. Mr. Dan Nelson the President of Common Interest Management, was that the most critical maintenance issue that had to be addressed? ********************* Another issue with Common Interest Management: Mr. Dan Nelson, I have given you the opportunity to make it right with me, but you and your company refuses to cooperate and there is no way to get a hold of you(since you spend all of your time trying to moderate Yelp reviews), so this is the only way I can rely the information to you, and you still can't address the issues that made me come to this forum. I'm just glad that we, the Community of Serra Heights Condos were able to kick you out of here as a managing company of our community and I'm proud of it. You,(Common Interest Management) do not belong in this business and Department of Real Estate will be my next venue to address your abuse towards members of communities that you think you manage. I was going to only sue you in a small claims court, but after today's experience with your team addressing the property management change, I will be suing you for all you got - just because you have enabled me to do so. Thank you, and good luck. Best, Victim of Common Interest Management, Inc. read more

I am not a yelper :) but I had to give props where props are due. We have several properties with Common Interest. As you know balancing a ledger can be involved and time consuming especially when many hands are involved. It can get a messy and become frustrating trying to work through the unforeseen payments posted to wrong accounts, incurring late fees and then trying to explaining what is going on to individuals that just don't give you the time or support you need . I have been calling and walking through outstanding credit or balance due ledgers with several representatives, feeling like I am getting nowhere. Leaving message that are not returned or untimely call backs. This time it was different, after sharing my frustrations with Adriana Lima, a representative of Common Interest, I finally found someone who knows customer service and wants to help. She gave me her direct line and email and said to reach out anytime and she would be happy to help! I was so elated that I told her, Thank You so much for caring and wanted to help. So I decided to write a yelp to send a HUGE THANK YOU to ADRIANA for her willingness to make a difference and her professional. So don't give up there are people out there that do care and do want to help. I am now current on all my accounts and I have a contact at Common Interest that is someone I know I can count on. Kudos to you Adriana YOU ROCK!!! and Common Interest should be proud to have you as an employee............... read more

I am president of the HOA for a large housing development that uses Common Interest as its property manager. I have to say that I have been most favorably impressed with their services. They are an invaluable resource to the Board of Directors of the HOA. They understand the laws governing HOAs and keep the Board and the HOA on solid ground. In these tough economic times they have provided good advice to help keep our finances in order. They are well connected in the community to vendors who do quality work at reasonable rates. They do most of the leg work and coordination for our many maintenance and improvement projects. They are very good record keepers. Perhaps the single most important benefit has been to provide timely advice and continuing guidance through litigation with our developer due to some egregious construction defects. They connected us with qualified and experienced legal counsel and other professionals to help us build and document our legal case. We changed to Common Interest from another property management company and the level of service has improved dramatically. Had we not done so when we did, the HOA almost certainly would have missed a window to bring the action against the developer resulting in a serious depletion of our reserves. Our property manager is professional, personable, intelligent, efficient and very service oriented. I highly recommend their services. read more

I work at Saint Mary's College and in my role there, I am always looking for opportunities to build St Mary's relationship with the surrounding communities and to give back in some special way. Upon meeting the owners of Common Interest Management, Mike Archer & Dan Nelson, I learned that Common Interest Management was committed to building stronger communities through employee participation, community outreach and charitable investment. Both owners expressed a strong desire to support our work with the Special Olympics to sponsor clinics that would touch the lives of Bay Area Special Olympic athletes in extraordinary ways. Across the last year, Common Interest Management has sponsored three different Special Olympics clinics with the St. Mary's Soccer, Basketball and Volleyball teams. Each clinic has been a true success with all participants and athletes discovering the joy that comes from giving generously. The sheer joy and enthusiasm expressed by the Special Olympics athletes was contagious and it validated the mission to make a difference in the lives of individuals who live in our local communities. I want to recognize the owners and employees of Common Interest Management for their generosity and support of our community building efforts. It is a rare gift to have a small business in the local community invest to help to strengthen our community by committing time and resources. read more

Until I talked to your employee, Millie Thomas by phone, I was very, very unhappy with Common Interest Management. I've called in before and even come into your office to fix my account billing. This time, I called in about a billing irregularity in CIMS's favor, and Millie explained it. She also gave me the number of the CIMS rep for my HOA. I never knew we had one. She also gave me a way to contact her, Millie. Last year, I arranged on your website, I thought, to rent our HOA clubhouse for an Easter celebration. I had done that successfully with our in-house Diablo West reps for about 13 years prior. No answer ever. Reluctantly, I made arrangements with another relative to host. I explained the oversight online and received a late, limpid "Sorry." Yesterday, I was expecting a callback from your office after I called in. No callback. In fact, when I called in first, I was transferred to a rep only to hear a "hang-up click." My next call to another number rated no promised callback. Millie is a TREASURE! She takes responsibility for your company's actions. If she hadn't answered the phone, I was ready to go to the next HOA meeting and BEG for consideration of a new management company. After talking to her, I believe your company can do the job if it copies her dedication. I never thought that before I talked to her. For your consideration, Katherine Knabke, Diablo West read more

If you are a home owner association or property owner, looking for a management company, may i recommend Common Interest Management? I am a landscape service provider and it has been my pleasure to work with CIMS, as they are known, for many years on several projects. As the contractor and service provider, it has also been a lot of work! You see, CIMS is very thorough and knowledgeable. So, as a contractor, they make me work a little harder because they are hands on, observant, and smart. Now, that is not to say that I am trying to get by and not do my job, but my experience with them has shown me that I need to stay on my toes and keep one step ahead. Well, if I were the HOA I think that is just what I want. In all fairness, I would rather work with diligent, well informed people like CIMS because they are professional. They are straightforward, honest, business minded, and they don't waste my time. They understand all sides of complex issues. I have my share of clients that I must educate constantly, and that can be a chore. It is rewarding for me to work with a management group that is TOP NOTCH. I have worked with at least a dozen of their managers, and I have found that the quality runs through the entire group. That depth is hard to find and a key ingredient in your serach. So, may I highly recommend CIMS? My answer is yes. read more

As an HOA board member and former board President I have many reference point as to Common Interest Management Services. Common Interest is an excellent organization and one of the few or perhaps only management companies with the computer systems, training and staff to be fully effective and responsible. They have a fully integrated data base system to assist in tracking issues all all types so there is no going through individual spread sheet to understand the history of any issue or topic. For those of you on HOA boards that read these reviews please keep in mind that several of the negative comments I have read come from individual home or condo owners that are upset with their boards or are out of compliance with the CC&R and are venting at the management company...which is not fair or accurate in my view. Common Interest has saved our association thousands per month in helping the board take out costs for services while improving the services we receive. I have found Common Interest to respond in a very effective and professional way with each and every homeowner even when the homeowner is at fault. The vast majority of association members in our community have nothing but good things to say about Common Interest and their hard working staff. I know this to be true because we ask our members for input all the time in this regard. read more