Hello. I'm a landlord who is no longer with ERA Anchor. The long and short of this is that they…read moreshould be avoided like the plague, at least by landlords and probably by possible tenants. Something strange is happening over there, and I suspect they'll be closing up shop soon, if they haven't already.
(tl;dr - ERA Anchor has major issues paying landlords and should be avoided at all costs.)
I started using ERA Anchor in 2008, when I left the area and couldn't sell my house. I was never thrilled with the arrangement but it was amicable enough. They paid me my rent money on time, they left me alone for the most part, they let me know if there were problems that required attention, etc. Their web portal has always been garbage but I managed. I was never in a hurry to find a better option.
About a year or two ago, something changed. Payments started taking longer to arrive, and I found myself being forced to interact with the staff more often. Then, last July, they hit a point of no return. The tenant supposedly was quite late on the rent. Fine, I can't control that (assuming it's true), but it took ERA Anchor something like two weeks before they sent me my money. I kept calling and trying to get a straight answer regarding the payment situation. All I got were mealy-mouthed apologies and claims that they're upgrading their computer systems. Getting a straight answer regarding when I was going to be paid just wasn't possible. The episode left me shaken enough to call around and try to find a new management firm. I found somebody but didn't follow up. My mistake, as you're about to see.
Starting around July 2019, they had major issues paying me. Any time I called, it was somebody else's fault, or they tried to razzle-dazzle me with a description of their super-duper-secure computer system that required all these delays. (For the record, I work with and design financial computer systems every day. I know exactly how they work and should work, and have co-workers who can break down why their payment excuses were false.) Being a nice guy, I kept giving them the benefit of the doubt, until the September payment was a month late. I called and had a meltdown. They ended up going to my bank branch and making a payment on the spot for both months (Sep/Oct).
The November payment? Late. I'd had enough. I called and demanded to break our agreement. The apathy I normally got from Melissa suddenly turned into pleas for me to stick around. I was a "long-time valued customer," I was offered some partial refunds, and all the other retention agent BS. I held and demanded a break. She finally agreed and said December would be the last month. It took another week or so but the November payment finally came in.
Long story short, I made some mistakes and didn't retain a new manager until the very end of December. In the meantime, the December payment never came. When the new manager finally showed up at the ERA office to make arrangements for a handoff, I'm told Leigha (or whoever was in the office that day) expressed surprise that I was leaving. She claimed this was the first the office was hearing of me leaving, but that it was okay and January would be the last month. (Lesson learned: Always get these things in writing.)
While all this was happening, I got a letter stating that the December payment was made on Jan. 2. It never arrived. I called and emailed Leigha & Melissa constantly, demanding to know what was going on. Two weeks after the supposed payment, and only once I threatened to get a lawyer involved, Melissa finally deemed me worthy of a reply. Their fancy new computer system somehow didn't send out my payment, and she'd try again on Tuesday, Jan. 21. (Jan. 20 was a bank holiday.) When the payment didn't arrive within two days (the standard time for ACH payments to clear), I demanded more answers. Melissa said she'd get me an ACH trace number. Of course, she never did, and more calls & emails were ignored.
Thankfully, the December rent finally came, along with the January rent, which was pretty late but not quite as bad. I'm with a much better management company now. I can only assume ERA Anchor will be closing soon, if they haven't already. There's no excuse for the terrible customer service and perpetual delays. I'd say something about what I think is going on behind-the-scenes with money. I'll leave it to you to guess. (Hint: It's not good.)
Thanks for reading all that. :)
EDIT: The review was deleted by Yelp at my request - although I saved a screencap and may post it one day - but, for awhile, there was a phony five star review posted by a staff member. It was posted by "Errleigha B.", who was almost certainly Leigha B., an office worker I mentioned earlier. It's obvious to me that they're desperate and trying to save their sinking ship. I'm glad I got out. I hope you can too.
