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    RealManage Seattle

    5.0 (1 review)
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    7 months ago

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    Stephanie H.

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    Ask the Community - RealManage Seattle

    Emerald Management & Consulting - Another successful Rock Wall and Drainage Project overseen by Nicole Lemons, Director of Special Projects

    Emerald Management & Consulting

    (41 reviews)

    Predatory billing and lack of transparency…read more I own a townhouse in a community managed by Emerald Management & Consulting, and my recent experience raised serious concerns about their billing practices and transparency. We experienced water intrusion into our unit through an exterior door off our second-story balcony. I immediately notified Emerald Management because I reasonably assumed that exterior structural issues would fall under HOA responsibility. Emerald contacted a mitigation company, 24ResTech, which came out and addressed the interior moisture over the following week or two. At no point during this process were we informed that we would be personally responsible for any project management or administrative fees. No estimate, hourly rate, or discussion of costs was ever provided. During this time we were told we would need to hire a contractor to make repairs to prevent the issue from recurring. The contractor who inspected the door identified several installation problems: * The head flashing was improperly installed * The door had insufficient weather stripping * The threshold had been installed backwards, sloping inward toward the unit I have no knowledge of any work done by previous owners on this door, and one would assume that any prior work would be documented in HOA or management records. Later we received an invoice from 24ResTech for roughly $1,500 for mitigation work that included removing about one square foot of carpet and running fans for a total of about eight hours. On top of that, Emerald Management charged us $907 in "administrative/project management fees." These charges were never disclosed ahead of time and appeared only after the other invoices had already been paid. When I asked what the charges were for, I was simply told they were administrative costs for overseeing the project. This was shocking considering we already pay over $1,000 per month in HOA dues. Being charged additional administrative fees that were never disclosed and never requested felt unreasonable. Emerald told us we could dispute the charges with the HOA Board and encouraged us to attend the meeting. My husband and I presented our concerns to the board, but a representative from Emerald Management was also present and recommended that the board keep the fees in place because the bylaws allow them. That situation felt like a clear conflict of interest. The management company that issued the charges was effectively advising the board on whether those charges should stand. The entire experience was extremely disappointing. The lack of upfront disclosure, vague invoices, and unexpected administrative fees raise serious questions about transparency and fairness in their billing practices. Homeowners deserve to know what they are agreeing to financially before work begins.

    A Warning to Homeowners: Predatory Practices at Emerald Management…read more I urge all current and prospective condo owners to steer clear of Emerald Management. My recent experience with them revealed a pattern of predatory billing, a lack of transparency, and an alarming fee structure. Following a water tank leak in my unit, Emerald, my HOA's management company, assigned themselves to oversee the repairs. Only after the project was underway was I informed of a "special project management fee." There was no prior disclosure of this cost and no opportunity to decline their services, which I had reasonably assumed were covered by our HOA's existing contract. Emerald defines this fee as covering "administrative time and coordination efforts with the vendors." To minimize these charges, I personally handled nearly all vendor communication, scheduling, and on-site supervision. Despite my efforts, Emerald's billing was excessive and unethical. Their invoices included charges for: -Answering my questions about the fee itself, including billing me for the time it took an employee to state they didn't know the cost. -The time they spent responding to my official dispute of the first invoice. -Correcting their own billing error after I pointed out they had charged me for a contractor invoice that my insurance had already paid. Disputing these charges is futile. Emerald is paid by the HOA, which then bills the owner. Any dispute is with your own HOA, not Emerald, who faces no financial risk for their billing practices. Ultimately, their "management fee" totaled nearly $1500--over 20% of the entire repair cost--for a project they barely touched beyond securing initial bids. These practices are designed to siphon money from homeowners who are left with little recourse. Avoid this company at all costs. Just an example of how ridiculous some of the fees are. I've attached two photos of showing me telling Emerald that I will have my insurance the vendors directly. They paid the vendor and invoiced me anyway. I told Emerald that it has already been paid (and I called the vendor for them to let Emerald know). It took Emerald multiple calls to finally correct the invoice, and they charged me $120 for correcting their own invoice mistake.

    SJA Property Management - SJA Property Management

    SJA Property Management

    (179 reviews)

    SJA managed our property in lake Stevens for about 2 years. Ugh. It was so poorly run that even…read moreafter we told them we were leaving we still did not get a timely reply back until I cc'd management and other staff we had interacted with on the emails. We calculated how much money we were getting after their fees and all the repairs they had done (for our 1990 house that was in great shape) and it turned out to be 65% of the rent. If you need anything be prepared to interact with their robust team of offshore folks in the Philippines. We are still unclear why we needed our septic pumped 2x within 2 years and were quoted $3-4k each time as they did not send us the detailed breakdown of the requested work. We had a suspicion that the folks they use for maintenance and for other repairs were financially incentivized or tied to the company as we did not receive multiple bids and it looked like SJA had ties to the company doing the work. Shout out to Kayla Schwartz who never answered any of my emails until I cc'd Claudette Scott. They did not seem to fully do walk throughs and left our property and wood floors covered in dog pee pads during the walk through. We requested that they not allow tenants to use our fireplace and found they had left that in the listing so we were legally obligated to allow it. Neat. If you want to lose significant amounts of value and gain 0 value except for a huge headache, SJA is the property management firm for you!

    Amber Rowedder, is a kind, intelligent and knowledgeable property manager lead at SJA, and she has…read morebeen a gem to work with. Each time I've reached out to her, be it something minor or something important, she's prompt in getting back to me and she's excellent at following through until the situation is resolved. I appreciate her responses especially since AI and automation are at an all-time high. She's delightful to work with, and I know when I turn to her for questions or a problem, she will take care of it. On my scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) she is definitely a 10!

    RealManage Seattle - homeownerassociation - Updated July 2026

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