I lived with MSC for three years at the Ashtree Townhomes. The apartment was a little run down and expensive for the price. I never had any problems with pests, and the maintenance staff fixed problems within a day. They do raise their rent a considerable amount every year for previous tenants, but I think that might be standard practice these days. Overall, I was comfortable in my apartment and would recommend living with them if you can afford it. read more

I am writing this opinion from the perspective of living in a community of 267 lots with MSC as the Management Company for our POA in the Charlottesville Area for four years. They were originally hired by the developers. As a member in good standing and as a former Board member elected by the Community, I find their performance to be below average. I have worked with HOAs/POAs for over 45 years and in communities ranging from 60 to 1000 members in multiple states, including Virginia, so I have seen what good customer service looks like. Recommendation: If you are looking to renew a contract to support your POA/HOA or to start one, I recommend that you consider alternatives. We have had major problems with slow responses, lack of sufficient attention to cash flow, investment of reserves and effective oversight of major contracts. There are aspects of state law that are not yet being met. The annual budgets are unnecessarily high so that large surpluses are accumulated unnecessarily and there is only token use of user fees and no interest earnings in this era of high inflation. As of Dec 31, 2002, none of the capital reserves were invested anywhere. Most recently, they had not been keeping our money in accounts that fully protected them with FDIC insurance. These are basic competencies to expect from a professional management company in my opinion. There has not been a review of the breadth and adequacy of the various insurance coverages and the annual reviews and adjustments of the capital reserve study are not being completed at the required level of quality if at all. There has been a pattern of seeming to hide behind emails and not encouraging members to get involved more in building the community such as through more needed committees and special projects. These, and other concerns have been repeatedly reported to them to give them a chance to provide professional advice or examples from other properties under management. The minimum expected responses have not been provided. read more

I lived at an MSC managed property for two years (Ash Tree Apartments) and while the apartments were nice and featured a wood-burning fireplace, there was a persistent cockroach problem beginning when we moved in. After receiving the keys, we visited the apartment (before moving in) and noticed three dead cockroaches throughout the apartment. This was a sign of what was to come, which were frequent sightings of live cockroaches scurrying around the apartment and finding dead ones in the morning. I contacted MSC several times, and they sent an exterminator over twice, but management eventually conceded that these roaches were, "quite common." Behind that, we frequently had issues with odd-smelling air coming from the vents and it turned out the air intake was caked in dust and hadn't been cleaned in some time. While the maintenance crew was good and responded quickly to issues like clogged pipes or flooding from above floors, the management at the leasing office (Pam and previously Lindsey) were consistently unresponsive and indifferent to the perpetual issues we experienced during our time there. read more

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Actually the worst management company I have ever encountered. No pride in their apartments. They are supposed to completely clean and care for the apartment prior to move in and when I moved in my apartment was disgusting and thrown together in haste. Avoid at all costs. They price gauge and tack on so many additional fees. Never respond to any messages. Dean the property manager is particularly bad. read more

They manage our HOA, and I've experienced better. They are low key, which is good because there are certainly HOA-nightmare stories. The one employee who is the point of contact for homeowners takes no ownership. He responds quickly to questions, but show no contrition and does apologize when MSC or a subcontractor does a poor job. That's just customer service 101--Own it. Apologize. And, tell the customer you will do better in the future. Or, identify with the customer. E.g. "Yeah, I've been frustrated by that too." Customer service should not be a challenge. Other than the lack of customer service, they seem to be okay. read more

Stayed with these guys for 3 years. The apartments were great (The Pointe). Overall, the experience was good. We had an enjoyable and uneventful tenancy for the most part. A handful of times, though, employees of MSC came into my apartment unannounced and without notice, showing our apartment to prospective tenants. They were always nice and accommodating when we complained. Overall, no big issues here. You'll like staying with them and they seem to care about the satisfaction of their tenants. read more

Really nice apartments, efficient maintenance people, and super friendly employees. No complaints about the actual living situation. Two main complaints are 1) prices are stupid high and continually rising 2) They make you decide if you want to resign within 2 weeks of the school year. Like school started August 23rd and they literally told us if we didn't resign for the next year by September 9th then they were giving it to someone else. Who tf actually knows what their housing is going to be for the next year within 2 weeks....really lame. But yeah, 4 stars. read more

This company is trash! DO NOT BE FOOLED! They are very kind and sweet in person but extremely unhelpful and will rob you blind. I lived with MSC for two years and the first year was pretty fine. Then in 2017 they switched to a new rent payment system and we were able to see our entire statement. You get charged for water, sewer, gas, trash removal, tenant insurance (you MUST use theirs to live with them). All of that would fine if the charges for each weren't upwards of $60-$120 each month. My roommate and I were NEVER home. We're both full time graduate students we only slept there so it is impossible that our bills were so high. When we told MSC about the problem initially they told us to call the people who check the meters. We never did, but waited til the next month and magically our utilities were normal for the next four months until we moved out. After we moved out, our lease didn't end for a whole month. The electricity was turned off and no one was in the apartment yet we're being charged $83 for gas, $62 for sewer, and $52 for water. NO ONE WAS THERE!!! When we called about the issue we were told that our utilities had been off for months and that we were actually paying for the previous two months, and had been doing so since my new roommate moved in. I paid $575 in a security deposit when I moved in the first year and am now being told that all $200 of my security deposit will go to the utilities if we don't pay them....WHAT?!?! If all of this weren't bad enough, they jack up rent every year. The apartments are old and have never been repainted or recarpeted or CLEANED. They hardwood is falling apart, and they only maintain the back fences when they're destroyed. The icing on the cake? I called recently to check about all of these charges and to try to get a satisfactory answer and reached Lauren Smith, who promptly hung up the phone on me after I said my name. If you already live with MSC, don't be afraid to play hardball. They may seem nice, but they are snakes in the grass, every one of them. read more

MSC is absolutely a terrible place to live, if you are black. You will not be respected like your white counterparts. If you attempt to communicate issues, they will blatantly ignore you. It's probably horrible for most people. Most of the five star reviews are a result of being incentivized by free food events they had earlier within the year. One of their workers mistakenly entered my apartment, and felt the need to question whether I was in the right apartment, and informed me that he had been a police officer for 17 years prior to his job with MSC. I did receive an apology email, which poorly addressed the issue. Any problem that I have tried to voice with MSC has always been ignored. Just this month, I informed my property manager I would be late, and would like to speak about payment arrangements. He did not respond with an email. However, made sure to send a 14-day late payment notice...it was the 8th. DO NOT LIVE HERE! Choose somewhere else. read more

So far I have lived at Nob Hill Apartments for two months and have already experienced 1. Uniformed young college students at the housing office who tell you inaccurate information or don't know the questions you probably have (talk to one of the leasing agents instead). 2. A property manager named Dean who works alongside the worst predatory towing company in town and had my car towed from my own parking lot which has few spaces for tenants to begin with and basically told me it was my fault even though they only issue one sticker per residence. 3. A maintenance crew who seems to be here every day but doesn't look like they're actually doing anything except walking by windows and sitting in a van outside our windows all day. Not a good experience so far except for the showing, and moving in which for the most part was quick and easy. Once again if you have two cars good luck finding parking on the street below! read more