I'm sorry so to hear of your problems with RobinsOak. My experience with them was a nightmare. Check out my previous posts (2005 and early 2006) and posts from MediaAvid - you're not alone.

I live at 260 Harrison and you may have noticed that there was some police activity around 7:00 pm yesterday and I just wanted to let the people of JCList that live on Harrison know what happened.

Sometime between 3:30 am and 11:30 am Sunday Morning (I always considered that to be Saturday night but whatever) someone slid open my kitchen window and climbed into my apartment after gaining access to the back of the building by hopping a short fence located between 270 Harrison and the house along side of 270 Harrison.

After gaining entry to my apartment, the perpetrator then proceeded into my bedroom where I was asleep and stole the pants I had been wearing the night before. This strikes me as an odd thing to steal but my jeans contained my wallet and a $100 in cash.

Seemingly the individual/s only wanted money, but then again I am a guy and not an attractive subject for sex offenders...had this been my fiance who was home alone instead of me who knows what might have happened.

Patricia Meadows of RobinOaks Mgmt. informed us that putting bars on the windows is the condo owner\'s responsibility (whatever I sort of assumed that) and that there is a lot of renovation that?s supposed to start on 260 and 270 and that she will have to look to see if there?s enough money to put up whatever is needed to deter anyone from going in the back area of these two buildings.

Quite frankly her (Ms. Meadow\'s) rude and dismissive demeanor was not appreciated and her answer is unacceptable. The fact that they say they are concerned with the safety of the residents is laughable at best. Access to the buildings and the common areas (specifically in the back of our homes) by anyone other than a resident should be made much more difficult and I encourage other residents to make their opinions known.

If this sort of thing upsets you please contact Patricia Meadows at her direct number: 201-963-3886 EXT: 116

rompride AND investwme are posting with the same IP address.

You say this lady Pat got contractors to put in new boilers, pull oil tanks and convert all these buildings from oil to gas? and all within a few months?...

this is who i need to manage my properties...

stop blaming her laundrybob for problems that seem to have been in existence at your building before those folks at ROM took over.. you should ask your lawyer about how you can hold accountable the people who managed before them..

put a pushpin in your ego

laundrybob,

you arent a complainer? you should have bought new construction, this way you could find something else to harp on.

BTW, I should add that the developer is doing some great work on the buildings. I have seen a few of the gut renovations and the workmanship is top notch. The workers are in no earlier than 8:30 and usually out by 6 and they always clean up after themselves. You can also see the exteriors of the buildings being spruced up by the developer. After speaking with people who have purchased the renovated units I have been led to believe that they are quick to respond to problems in the their units after they have moved in.

Credit where credit is due.

I appreciate everyone taking the trouble to respond to my post. I have since met a few owners and I have been to see a real estate lawyer. The information I have received has been both helpful and enlightening. I do feel the need to respond to the recent posting by RobinsOak. Excuse me while I rub my eyes in disbelief and take a breath but here we go:

Living in these buildings is a frustrating experience. Obviously it is not all the fault of RobinsOak but as their posting suggests they trumpet their services with a fair amount of hype so I can only respond by detailing (again) what they have actually been like to work with. They are the company that we have to deal with to seek assistance. I had never heard of them before they appeared on the scene last year. So I only have to go by my dealings with them in the past few months. The hype is in quotations, my response is below.

"Unfortunately these buildings were in very poor condition, both financially and otherwise."
Then why did RobinsOak take over if the situation was so bad? What's in it for them? What arrangement do they have with the developer that would entice them to get involved in such a mess? And why weren't the owner's consulted before RobinsOak was hired? When I asked to see the financials from the old management company I was told by Pat that they weren't available, that they weren't aware of what went on before RobinsOak came on board. Imagine that? They got involved in this big mess without researching the history of the buildings, financial and otherwise. Odd that they now refer to the previous management company in such negative terms.

"Hired New Exterminator"
The exterminator they hired comes into the unit once a month and puts down a bit of gel in the kitchen and bathrooms. Timed them. 2 minutes, 30 seconds. I hired a private exterminator after 2 of these treatments failed to resolve the cockroach problem. Total cost: $165. It took him 4 hours to do a proper job. Now instead of seeing a few roaches every day we might see one once a week.

"Conducted Walk-thrus and began Renovations (5 bldgs)"
In my building a walk-thru was done in November 2007. $5000 was allocated (via assessment) to address security issues. We were told after the walk-thru that 3 exterior doors and locks would be replaced immediately. That has not happened and they have not followed up with the owners. Note that this money was allocated. It was pointed out during the walk-thru that the fire alarms were not working. Pat assured everyone that this would be dealt with immediately. Didn't hear back for a month and when I followed up with Pat she said that they were getting a company to check it out. Never heard back. None of the owners have. Imagine that. We're talking about fire alarms and security issues here. We did get a lovely planter in the front of the building though.

"Replaced two boilers"
I complained in late November that only one room was getting heat in my apartment. The rest of the unit was very cold. Pat told me that it must be only in my unit and kept referring me back to the super. After 2 1/2 weeks of this and long after the super had determined that the problem was with the boilers a guy showed up from a heating company. With no follow-up or communication from Pat the crews showed up and after a few days the heating issue was solved. In fairness to RobinsOak, after making alot of us wait over 2 weeks with poor or no heating and zero communication, they got it right. What I mean by that is they hired the right company to do the job. The heating over the winter was spot on.

"Removed leaking underground Oil Tanks and Remediated Soil (3 bldgs)"
Hmmmm.....this was completed. Here's what the brain surgeons doing the work did as well as replacing the tanks:

-Knocked out the Comcast line resulting in loss of service for 3 days. Then for another 6 weeks the service was intermittent. When I called Comcast they said they could only fix it temporarily until RobinsOak called them upon completion of the work. Guess they forgot to call. I called to inform them the work was essentially completed and Comcast permanently fixed the problem.

-Left the wrought iron fencing in the middle of the walkway after removal. It was later stolen. Who is RobinsOka going to blame for this? The super? The tank company? I'm guessing they will blame the thieves. A bit obvious but it gets them out of taking responsibility for lack of monitoring the company doing the work.

-Left a big pile of dirt with no replacement fence. The job is still not completed. But there is a lovely planter out front.

"Management of Superintendants to ensure better delivery of service (5 bldgs)"
My calls to Pat have resulted in her blaming the super for just about everything. I personally overheard her screaming at him outside his home. Yet he cannot get anything done, I mean anything, without her approval. I guess that qualifies as management of the super. Poor management, but management nonetheless.

"RobinsOak continues to resolve a multitude of violations and issues relating to the cleanup and security of these properties"
So can you tell me if the fire alarms are working and if you can run a test (as per my request in November) or are the owners not entitled to see that documentation or to have a test performed? Has the laundryroom door been replaced to stop the homeless people and the crack addicts from making the laundryroom their personal home and play den? (of course I know that the door has not been replaced).

"As part of their ongoing commitment to customer service, RobinsOak sets up a website for each condo association that it manages. The passcode to the financial documents is provided in the welcome letter sent to all unit owners and made available to all unit owners in attendance at the annual meeting. It is also given without hesitation to any unit owner who has called requesting it."
Okay, I'm starting to get angry now. I have never heard of this site nor have I received a password. Wasn't in the welcome letter. That is a bold-faced lie. I made a request, in writing, requesting a look at the financials. My letter was ignored and when I personally asked Pat to follow-up on my letter I was told that she was too busy and would deal with it in the new year. Guess what? Never heard back. I had a leak in my unit a few weeks ago caused by a leak in the main roof. I was assured by Pat over the phone that my ceiling would be fixed at no cost by the company doing the renovations in the building. She promised she would follow up with me. After 6 weeks I called her back and asked her to call me back. If you have been following along you know what she did next. That's right, she blamed it on the super. He got in touch with me and I have not heard back from Pat.

"They use a digital system for document management which means that faxes, invoices etc. are scanned, processed and filed in electronic folders by our computer system."
I faxed over documents to Pat last year and after a week without a response I called her. She actually said it was my fault because I should have called her in advance to tell her the fax was coming so the paperwork would be delivered to her desktop. I guess all the modern technology in the world is only as good as the people running it.

"The property managers at RobinsOak are diligent, hardworking individuals who respond quickly to questions and concerns of unit owners."
My understanding, after speaking with long-time owners and new owners, is that the new owners are receiving a quick response. The existing owners are not. That probably has more to with the developer than RobinsOak. I can only comment from my perspective as an existing owner.

"However, blaming one person for the condition of these buildings or taking statements out of context is unreasonable."
And this my friends, sums it up. Letters received from RobinsOak are unsigned (from the RobinsOak Management Team). When I call the super I am told Pat has to approve everything. So I call Pat. And that is the face of RobinsOak to me. Let's say that Pat was replaced with someone who followed up on issues, returned calls, returned letters and actually informed the owners of the progress of resolving very serious health and safety issues. Would that not solve my problem with RobinsOak? I have no idea if it's RobinsOak or Pat that is the problem. All of my dealings are with Pat. When I call and ask to speak with someone else I am directed to Pat.

Believe it or not I am not a big complainer. I have dealt with the issues here appropriately and I have given them weeks, not days, to solve problems. My suggestion is that RobinsOak sets up a meeting with the owners to discuss these issues and to clear the air on what is happening now and in the future. In the end, I have been able to vent on this site and to inform prospective buyers of units in these buildings. But now that I've got this off my chest I would much rather live in the solution rather than live in the problem. Time to back up the hype RobinsOak. A board election is coming up sooner than you think. Either deal with the owners professionally and respectfully or count up your profits and prepare to move on to the next sucker.

I don't live at any Harrison Ave location and RobinsOak is still bad. Nice "look on the bright side" post though.

"Your actions speak so loud I can't hear a word you're saying" -Greg Graffin

#CC0033

What a Great Forum!

RobinsOak began managing five buildings on Harrison Ave six months ago in September 2007. What a challenging project it has been! Unfortunately these buildings were in very poor condition, both financially and otherwise.

Within the six months, under the direction of Pat Meadows, General Manager and with the assistance of supporting staff, RobinsOak has:

*Replaced two boilers
*Installed new timers to better control temperature (5 bldgs)
*Converted buildings from Oil to Gas to save money (3 bldgs)
*Removed leaking underground Oil Tanks and Remediated Soil (3 bldgs)
*Rented Dumpster and cleaned out basements (4 bldgs)
*Hired New Exterminator
*Conducted Walk-thrus and began Renovations (5 bldgs)
*Management of Superintendants to ensure better delivery of service (5 bldgs)

RobinsOak continues to resolve a multitude of violations and issues relating to the cleanup and security of these properties and without question have done more in six months than the previous management company has done in six years.

RobinsOak does not have any members on the board at any of the properties that they manage. The receive direction and approval for major improvements to the buildings from the board president who is very active and interested in the successful outcome of these properties. Unit owners may also feel free to contact their board president when there are questions or concerns.

As part of their ongoing commitment to customer service, RobinsOak sets up a website for each condo association that it manages. The passcode to the financial documents is provided in the welcome letter sent to all unit owners and made available to all unit owners in attendance at the annual meeting. It is also given without hesitation to any unit owner who has called requesting it.

RobinsOak is technologically advanced. They use a digital system for document management which means that faxes, invoices etc. are scanned, processed and filed in electronic folders by our computer system. This alleviates the need for a physical fax machine and file cabinets in the office, thus creating a paperless environment that is earth friendly.

The property managers at RobinsOak are diligent, hardworking individuals who respond quickly to questions and concerns of unit owners. Many unit owners have commented that they have seen remarkable improvements since RobinsOak has taken over management of these buildings on Harrison Ave. They understand that it is a work in progress and have realistic expectations about what can be accomplished in a short amount of time with little money.

RobinsOak receives a multitude of phone calls from the properties that they manage. In many instances these calls are directed to the super at the property location. The supers live on site and have been provided with a cellular phone in order to respond quickly to the problem at hand. They are given instructions and authority to handle problems and are being held to a higher standard of customer service than what was previously expected of them from the prior management company.

It's understandable that unit owners who care about their surroundings want to see changes. However, blaming one person for the condition of these buildings or taking statements out of context is unreasonable.

RobinsOak is committed to working through the challenges presented at the above mentioned properties and look forward to working with new associations in the future!

The board needs to be proactive. If you are not on the board you can still organize and complain in groups---strength in numbers. It is working for us at The Beacon.

The outside companies Metrovest Management hired for our parking and spa were disappointing. But we owners catalogued problems and reported them to Metrovest consistently, and they have improved vastly. Even the developer has come in and done snap inspections! The spa even changed thier manager and assistants. Again we owners had to be vocal and stay on top of things, but our management listens and does follow up. Like anything else you need to be assertive and patient.

Quote:

We have LaBarbera managing our small building. I wouldn't classify them as terrific, but at least they return phone calls and emails. Sometimes they are slow with our requests but then they sometimes have the very daunting task of dealing with the different Jersey City agencies for requests that involve obtaining a work permit of some sort.

I can't really compare them to any other management company because I haven't lived in any other buildings managed by another company. But from the sounds of it, I'm glad to have them instead of RobinsOak.

It sounds like these companies enjoy a sort of "shared monopoly" - relatively small number of family-run management companies that control a large number of all the small buildings in Hudson County that wouldn't be worth the time of the larger, more professional companies. They all seem to be glorified real estate agencies. If a building association gets ticked off and fires its management company, they don't care because there aren't many other companies to take their place and you'll come back to them sooner or later when your association gets pissed off at the next management company. Still, their neglectful attitude is no way to win the potential business of being your real estate broker when you're ready to sell your unit, because there are plenty of real estate agencies and agents to choose from in the area.

The first thing you need to do is check your bylaws and articles of incorporation. These documents will tell the details of how a board of directors is empowered. You should have received them when you purchased the condo. If you rent, the condo owners, i.e., board, is the group with whom you should take your complaint to.

It sounds like the board is not doing their job. Perhaps the board is still controlled by the developer? I suspect that's the case. The best bet is for disgruntled owners to organize a meeting with as many owners as possible and, if legal, throw out the board and elect a new one. Frankly, even if it's not totally legal, sometimes common sense prevails.

As for management companies, I've yet to come across a good one. And our condo tried out more than our share. The best bet is a pro-active board who plays an active role in overseeing a management company or for the board to act as the management company. In theory I think the latter is the best option. However, in practice, this often doesn't work out because of the egos of some board members. Every building seems to have a few such people. Good luck.

No I don't work for them nor am I advertising for them. I guess we're one of the lucky ones. We had some AWFUL mgmt companies in the past so maybe they just *seem* great by default.

La Barbera is terrible. We just fired them. I wont say who we hired because i dont want to think Im advertising for them. I've never come across anyone who liked them, you must be an advertisement for them or work for them

Is it possible to "fire" them? I live in a small building (9 units) and we went through several property management companies. We finally found one that we like: LaBarbera Realty Express. They are reasonably priced and WILL return phone calls and are attentive to our needs. Our contact will even show up at our condo board meetings.

http://www.relb.com/mgmt/four.html

Like I said, our building is small and I'm not sure what sort of contractual obligations there are between RobinsOak and the condo board. If you can get out of the contract I seriously suggest looking into LaBarbera.

RobinsOak was hired by us and fired in less than 6 months. Absolutely afwul. Bldg Mgts are generally a disappointment but these guys take the cake.

The founder/owner is smart and comes across very professional and knowledgeable, but it is all a front. He lied and lied and distanced himself as time went on. The Prop Manager we were given was pure comedy too. When they are mentioned in our building, people just laugh as in it is so bad that you gotta laugh.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Arnie Diaz shaking these people down.

Hey! I am your neighbor too! Let's do an owner's meeting together and take over the board. Who is on it and when are elections? I was on the board at my old building and I used to do coop and condo law as a profession. You're right about all of your complaints.. granted, I've only lived there for two weeks. So far, I can't tell when the developer ends and the management company begins. My suspicions are that the developer (who probably controls the board or is the board) hired RobinsOak who does nothing.. and the developer does it all themselves. I know that the Harveymobile was provided by the Developer. Although Harvey tells us to contact the office, the developer is much more responsive.
By the way, Bedbugs.. yep, that's right. I'm not a happy camper this week. Please send me a PM and we can talk this weekend, since I'll be holed up doing laundry in the dungeon to get rid of my new roommates.

FYI if you are a rented in a condo building its not the management company's responsibilty to fix anything inside the unit. That is the condo owmers responsibility. Unless the condo owner has a side contract with the company to manage their individual condo. they are responsible for commpn areas etc.

RobinsOak Management manages the property I rent, and are they are definitely horrible. You need to nag them to get anything done, as they rarely return emails or calls.

I was warned of them when moving into my building and I would have listened, had it not been a great apartment for the money.

When push comes to shove, the people in my building end up contacting the owner when the management company fails at keeping up its end of the bargain.

The light in all of this is that the lease states they must keep up their end of the bargain - so things get done, but in the cheapest way possible, and usually after a few attempts.

I despise them, and have come to fix things myself that I can.

I live in one of these buildings myself and I did not even know that we have condo board meetings.

Maybe we should just try to get a bunch of the owners together on our own and then maybe we can come up with some sort of plan to get these things fixed?

If you are interested in organizing something let me know, I am willing to help put something together.

Cankicker is right, most management groups usually work with small margins since the developer always underestimates the monthly condo fees in order to entice buyers.

they usually dont care if you fire them because you are going to get same service or worse unless you pay alot more.

Word to the wise, the Condo owners have the most pull with any Bldg Mgm grp .

Has any of this been brought up to the owners during the monthly Condo board meetings ? if not, than shame on you for not getting pro-active with this mess.

Fact is, most Bldg Mgm grps are not that great, they operate with a very small margin for profit and therefore are not going to bend over backwards to get some problems resolved.

If I were you, your best to find out when their contract is up for renewal and do yr best to get them booted from your
Bldg.

Good Luck

CK

We fired them a couple of years ago after we suspected that their loyalties were with the developer rather than us. We also felt that they were unprofessional and unreliable.

I just joined this forum and I'm impressed with the knowledge people have about JC and the research that goes into the posts. My post relates to a group of buildings on Harrison Ave. (260, 270, 275, 277).

These buildings were rentals until a few years ago when they were converted to condo status. Most units, however, remained rentals controlled by the management company. Now a single developer has come in and bought up all of the rental units (20 in my building out of a total of 41, probably 80+ in all).

First, the good news: The developer, by and large, has done a good job. He was a bit slow in getting permits but the work on the individual units is very good. Alot of gut renovations with quality workmanship and higher end appliances, etc. The workmen are in around 8:30 and out by 6 and they clean up after themselves.

The bad news: RobinOaks Management. They took over last year and made very few positive changes. I had to put them to the test a few times with the following complaints:

-Only partial heat in my apartment for 3 weeks in late November (boiler problem)
-Non-working fire alarms
-Crack users in the laundry room
-No (or non-working) locks on exit doors
-Intercom not working
-Flooding in walkway to parking lot

Guess what? Calls were not returned. Letters were ignored. I was even told that a fax I had sent was not received because I should have called ahead to tell them it was coming. When I suggested that I needed to go to the fire department to ask them about the alarms I was warned not to do that. Keep in mind these were my first few interactions with them. It gets worse.

-When my ceiling started leaking water I was told, 24 hours after making an emergency call, that the leak came from the main roof and once the leak was fixed they would repair my ceiling. That was a month ago. No calls from them since the first call about the leak.

-The woman we all have to deal with is Pat. She's rude, fights back regarding complaints and rarely returns calls. I witnessed her screaming at the super in front of his family. She was responding to a complaint from a remaining renter in the building who had a major leak. She told the super that the guy could move out if he liked but they weren't fixing the leak.

-The laundry room is in terrible shape. Water leaks, bare wires, rusted machines, absolutely disgusting. Complained. No response.

-Major work on an underground tank resulted in our wrought iron fencing being stolen, Comcast cable wires cut, and a pile of bare dirt that now looks like a garbage heap. When it rains it is just a big pile of mud. Complained. No return call.

-For marketing purposes they are advertising a shuttle bus to Journal Square. The "bus" is actually a small van that seats about 5. The kind you would drive your kids around in. The super drives it. We call it the Harveymobile. It doesn't take a lawyer to know that you can't advertise a small van as a shuttle bus when you are catering to over 300 people. Is it insured properly? Don't know. Pat hasn't returned my call.

To be fair, they did get the heat fixed by eventually putting in a new boiler and that justified the major assessment on my
building. The problem is how to deal with them in the future. The management company has someone on the board believe it or not. I have seen a lawyer and he gave me a number of tips and insight but I suppose it's a matter of getting new owners out to the meetings and getting in a new board (only 2 owners showed up last time). And, yes, I have asked for financials, minutes, etc. They refuse to give them to me. There are no scheduled board meetings so the next one will likely be when they want more money. BTW, our maintenance is already quite high and they talked about an increase at the last meeting.

I realize some of this will change as the units sell. The market is slow and the renovated units are overpriced so they aren't moving. It's a decent neighborhood. Lincoln Park is right across the street. Beautiful, tree-lined streets and gorgeous homes to the right. Not so nice on the other side where Greenville starts.

Maybe it's time to upgrade to a better building. Not sure I want to wait it out with these zipperheads running the show.

Anyone with experience with RobinOaks or suggestions please reply.

Thanks.......