I hired Chris Merrker and his company to manage my rental property. the problems started immediatly. He charged me additional fees first two months because he said one of the tenants paid his rent late both months. I find out from the tenant 3 months later he never paid rent late. Chris explained to me it was just a clerical error. But it just kept getting worse , every month he would come up with all kinds of additional charges, and double charge for work done and charges for work never done. And he would word all the work records very vaguely so he could wiggle his way around with excuses. Then after 6 months with no warning he changed the terms of his contract requiring a huge "reserve fund" to be kept by him at all times. Well, I had enough. I informed him that I did not agree the the contract changes and would be taking my business elsewhere. Chris refused to honor my request and he still had funds that my tenants had paid for their rent and he kept sending me invoices with bogus charges until all my funds were gone. He also sent the tenants emails demanding money and threatning them with lawsuits. My contract ran out with him 2 months ago and he still owes me hundreds of dollars AND is still in possession of one the tenants security deposit and refuses to give it back.
If I were you and considering doing any business with Buffalo City Living , I would turn around and run away. Nothing but headaches and fraud.
I hired Buffalo City Living to manage my 5 properties for rent collection and repairs when needed. I hired them because they said they will contact me for any repars needed and give me detail of fixes also monthly management report that includes all charges and collections. I did not get any report first two months just billing me for monthly management. so I gave them benefit becausing they were contacting the tenenants to inform them about the new management company. I got the monthly bill after each month and I noiticed there were charges such as "Owner called asking for monthly report we told him we are behind but will be available soon once we have everything in order" and there was charge of $44.00 an hour for 10 min there was charges like that also like "Tenant called asking for repair because no heat", "Tenant's dougher called again next day asking where is the repair person since father is elderly and it is cold" Remember this is Buffalo and they were charging me for all these calls and inquiries. I have all these on their bills as prooof but no monthly report showing the money coming in. I authorized outside stair repair they charge me to call the downstair tenenat so tehy can get their key to get in to he huse for power, drive to office of the tenant to pick up the key and again to call to tenenat again to bring it back their key and drive back to drop it off and come back. They even charge me to pick up a ladder from their office when they needed for a check a leak on the roof.
I hired Buffalo City Living for property management 5/2014. At first it was fine as they found me good tenants and did some initial repairs on the property that I authorized.
After that it went quickly downhill. Through June and July of 2014 they constantly charged my account in error. They charged me twice for the same thing and only credited the account when I put a claim into Visa. They moved furniture from the attic to the basement, broke the furniture then charged me for it! There were always requests from the tenants that repairs be made to the apartment and I started to get suspicious.
In August 2014 I purposely did not authorize any repairs from them and yet they showed up, made repairs to a window and a heating vent then charged me for it. The excuse was "well we were at the house so we thought we would just go ahead and fix it". They also claimed they mowed the lawn and again charged me for it. (I mow the lawn). When I complained (alot!) the response was "well you never told us not to mow the lawn". These quotes are direct from emails.
I also complained about their poor accounting methods, over charging and wrong charges and the response was "we understand that accounting can be difficult to comprehend". Seriously? I have degrees in science and medicine and yes I can do math.
I fired them mid Sept and they refused to give me September's rent from the tenants. They owe me about $1100. They have several complaints at the Better Business Bureau in Buffalo, NY and it is my bad that I didn't check this first.
I will probably never get the one month's rent they owe me and I firmly believe the only way this guy makes any money is by padding customer's accounts. He takes the money out of the rent for "repairs, lawn mowing and sending and email" (Yup..I got charged for them to send me an email) so buyer beware!
Buffalo City Living, LLC Reviews
My opinion of Buffalo City Living.
I hired Chris Merrker and his company to manage my rental property. the problems started immediatly. He charged me additional fees first two months because he said one of the tenants paid his rent late both months. I find out from the tenant 3 months later he never paid rent late. Chris explained to me it was just a clerical error. But it just kept getting worse , every month he would come up with all kinds of additional charges, and double charge for work done and charges for work never done. And he would word all the work records very vaguely so he could wiggle his way around with excuses. Then after 6 months with no warning he changed the terms of his contract requiring a huge "reserve fund" to be kept by him at all times. Well, I had enough. I informed him that I did not agree the the contract changes and would be taking my business elsewhere. Chris refused to honor my request and he still had funds that my tenants had paid for their rent and he kept sending me invoices with bogus charges until all my funds were gone. He also sent the tenants emails demanding money and threatning them with lawsuits. My contract ran out with him 2 months ago and he still owes me hundreds of dollars AND is still in possession of one the tenants security deposit and refuses to give it back.
If I were you and considering doing any business with Buffalo City Living , I would turn around and run away. Nothing but headaches and fraud.
I hired Buffalo City Living to manage my 5 properties for rent collection and repairs when needed. I hired them because they said they will contact me for any repars needed and give me detail of fixes also monthly management report that includes all charges and collections. I did not get any report first two months just billing me for monthly management. so I gave them benefit becausing they were contacting the tenenants to inform them about the new management company. I got the monthly bill after each month and I noiticed there were charges such as "Owner called asking for monthly report we told him we are behind but will be available soon once we have everything in order" and there was charge of $44.00 an hour for 10 min there was charges like that also like "Tenant called asking for repair because no heat", "Tenant's dougher called again next day asking where is the repair person since father is elderly and it is cold" Remember this is Buffalo and they were charging me for all these calls and inquiries. I have all these on their bills as prooof but no monthly report showing the money coming in. I authorized outside stair repair they charge me to call the downstair tenenat so tehy can get their key to get in to he huse for power, drive to office of the tenant to pick up the key and again to call to tenenat again to bring it back their key and drive back to drop it off and come back. They even charge me to pick up a ladder from their office when they needed for a check a leak on the roof.
DANGER DO NOT WORK WITH THIS COMPANY.
I hired Buffalo City Living for property management 5/2014. At first it was fine as they found me good tenants and did some initial repairs on the property that I authorized.
After that it went quickly downhill. Through June and July of 2014 they constantly charged my account in error. They charged me twice for the same thing and only credited the account when I put a claim into Visa. They moved furniture from the attic to the basement, broke the furniture then charged me for it! There were always requests from the tenants that repairs be made to the apartment and I started to get suspicious.
In August 2014 I purposely did not authorize any repairs from them and yet they showed up, made repairs to a window and a heating vent then charged me for it. The excuse was "well we were at the house so we thought we would just go ahead and fix it". They also claimed they mowed the lawn and again charged me for it. (I mow the lawn). When I complained (alot!) the response was "well you never told us not to mow the lawn". These quotes are direct from emails.
I also complained about their poor accounting methods, over charging and wrong charges and the response was "we understand that accounting can be difficult to comprehend". Seriously? I have degrees in science and medicine and yes I can do math.
I fired them mid Sept and they refused to give me September's rent from the tenants. They owe me about $1100. They have several complaints at the Better Business Bureau in Buffalo, NY and it is my bad that I didn't check this first.
I will probably never get the one month's rent they owe me and I firmly believe the only way this guy makes any money is by padding customer's accounts. He takes the money out of the rent for "repairs, lawn mowing and sending and email" (Yup..I got charged for them to send me an email) so buyer beware!