I contacted EJF today and reached Yoko. She was the consummate professional and helped me set up a recurring ACH transaction. Her patience and friendly demeanor made the whole process very easy. I sincerely appreciate such exceptional service.
I wasn't prompted to write this review. I don't write reviews and usually just rate without providing any comments. I went out of my way and googled EJF because I am very happy with how professional and responsive they are. I pay $35 for their service every month and it is worth it considering other rental properties take FOREVER to respond to maintenance requests. You see it everywhere in reviews! The employees are very professional and kind. I am a tenant and, if I were to purchase a property with EJF, I would definitely hire them to manage my property. 5 STARS!
I am writing this review to warn others about a vicious employee who works for EJF. I was attending a meeting at the cooperative where I live which EJF manages. Shortly after entering I complained about not being provided a key bit of information regarding the outcome of an election that sought to amend our bylaws and then questioned when that information would be provided. The complaint was taken and the question was answered without any issues.
A few minutes later, I tried to voice another complaint and it was at that point that the portfolio manager, Mira Brown, decided to snap and say that this meeting was not the appropriate venue to make a complaint, which sounded extremely strange given the fact that I had literally made a complaint minutes ago. Even worse, all of a sudden she frantically tried to get me to identify myself insinuating that I was not eligible to speak in the virtual meeting despite the fact that I had typed my personal information in the chat when I arrived at the meeting. I explained that I saw that others got the opportunity to speak during other special purpose meetings in the past and voice their complaints but she still would not listen to me.
After the end of the meeting, I chose to file a complaint with the cooperative s property management office asking Mira Brown to explain the confusing and rude actions that she decided to take during the meeting as well as to quote from the governing documents and highlight the text that specifies what business is and is not authorized to be conducted at special purpose meetings. Mira did not respond despite the fact that I have witnessed her respond to an email filed with the management office in the same day. Anyone interested in hiring EJF should consider this encounter before hiring the company as it showcases the mentality their employees have.
EJF manages my condo building. It's an old, small building with less than 15 units in total, but for some reason it's very difficult to get our request handled within a reasonable amount of time. Their communication is never proactive and folks here always need to track them down to get answers or updates to ongoing issues. Emails are simply ignored or answered days after they are sent. Latest example - we've been waiting 2-3 weeks for a locksmith to fix the gate to our back entryway.....we were told the lock would be replaced on a certain day, that day comes and goes with no work taking place and no one from EJF reaching out to confirm the work is done or to explain why it was not done. This is the norm unfortunately (pre covid as well.)
Follow Up 4/11/21: Thank you for taking my call! It was a pleasure speaking with you and I appreciate you hearing my concerns. I'm glad to know our future work request can be managed and tracked more efficiently. However, I was a bit disappointed that no one actually reached out to close the loop on the maintenance order itself. The only reason I was aware the work had been completed was the fact that I saw the maintenance person performing the task. A simple follow up email letting me know that the work was complete would have sufficed. Perhaps it was communicated to someone else, but the loop was diffentanly not closed with me, the person with whom the request came from. Hopefully we can close the communication gap going forward....
As a condo owner (MarArthur blvd) in a building managed by EJF, my recent experience with them is quite horrible and infuriating. As background, there is some water in the lower level laundry room, and my unit (currently a rental) is one of the two or three units on top of the laundry room.
1. EJF (specifically Maria) sent a plumber from Stevens plumbing on 8/11 for the first visit without notifying any unit owner, the plumber went there and got access to one of the units and found everything was dry, but not mine. The plumber charged 1.5hrs for the visit.
2. Maria sent the plumber there again on 8/17 without telling any unit owner even after the plumber told EJF that he would need access to my unit. The plumber went there, couldn't get into my rental unit, did nothing but charged again 1.5 hrs for the visit. It was not until when the plumber was already onsite for the 8/17 visit that Maria called me and mentioned that a plumber needed to get into my unit to investigate a potential leak into the laundry room. As I wasn't there, she asked when I could be available. She didn't mention that the plumber fee could be back charge to the owner.
3. Despite me telling her that I wouldn't be available until after 11 am on 8/24, Maria set up an appointment for the plumber visit on 8/24 between 8-10 am, and she wouldn't pass my phone number to the plumber company to address my questions before the visit, and remained unresponsive. On 8/24, I got a call from my renter at 10:05 am that a plumber wanted to get into the unit, I was in the middle of a work meeting and let my renter to deal with him, the plumber claimed that he found some clogging in my convector, and unclogged it and left my unit at 10:40 am. He did agree that my unit floor was dry and he couldn't see any water anywhere on my floor. He charged 2.5 hrs for the visit despite only spending ~ 40 minutes in my unit. It is not until this visit that I had a chance to talk to the plumber on the phone when he told me that the charges will be back charged to me.
4. I found that the plumber's conclusion questionable, because my unit floor has been dry throughout from 8/11 to 8/24 spanning his three visits, and the convector was only partially clogged in his third visit. This can't explain why there was water in the laundry room on 8/11. But that's a separate dispute I am having with the plumbing company.
5. On the other hand, the plumbing company is charging a total of 5.5 hrs (1.5 hrs + 1.5 hrs + 2.5 hrs) for the three visits at a total of $687, which is certainly excessive. however, EJF didn't do any verification or gather unit owner response even after I sent them a document showing that the plumber was overstating his visit hours. They simply let the plumbing company charge whatever they like.
6. EJF is aware that they were doing a poor job on the plumber visit coordination with the unit owners which resulted in unnecessary plumber visit and excessive plumber hours, but they simply decided that the unit owner should pay all the bill.
Overall, EJF was not professional or responsive with its client in this case, and while I am still disputing on the charge (even the plumbing company agreed that EJF should be responsible for half of the bill due to their poor coordination), I would really like others be aware of limited response and unexpected financial burden you may experience from EJF's poor management.
I sent two documents to EJF on this particular matter, and invited them to give me a call back, so far I am still waiting.
Avoid this company at all costs ESPECIALLY, if you are a renter.
I'm currently renting from this company and I am 6 months into my lease which started September 2020. Within the first week, the water randomly shut off within my unit (split house). I reported it immediately. This continued until January of 2021 after needing to file a complaint with DCRA and they were found in violation.
EJF lacks the ability to be proactive and communicate unless the owners of the properties they manage need or want something (because, their allegiance is to owners and not renters). As a renter, I feel like a means to an end for EJF to maintain that relationship to the owner of this property--the owner wants their rental income. There was little concern for when I didn't have access to an important utility---water. From the time of the repair being completed (January 2021), until now--my partner and I have been frequently contacted by EJF's maintenance and rental teams without little peace. I can fundamentally say, that we've had less than a month of solitude (no working water, constant communication about resolving maintenance issues by phone and e-mail, having workers in and out of our unit) since moving in our unit.
All the while, we've paid rent and have tried to be responsible and responsive tenants. I will say this again, absolutely avoid this company if you are planning to rent.
The $35 monthly Residents Benefit Package is a scam, we've yet to receive an air filter in the 6 months we've been here. When we've had the water issue, we've called and the only concern of the person on the other end was whether or not the water came back on and not necessarily what the larger issue was.
As a SWE that has worked for SaaS companies, I'll guess that the $35 most likely pays for your access to the tenant portal. I'd much rather keep that $35 and just mail them a check if that's the case.
Also, please know, that a landlord is required to give you 48 hours notice before they want to enter your unit and you have the right to refuse non-urgent repairs due to COVID.
Lastly, if you decide that you want to rent out a property OR rent a property in Washington, DC---you should work with a company that sources all of their employees from your local area because, having people that are local would lead to their ability to understand what climate you are in and provide greater empathy when you say.. don't have water!
Just don t live somewhere managed by these ppl... they try and spare every expense no matter the inconvenience to the tenant.
Best Quality of professionalism. The agent Mr Marco Francisco helped my case with perfection.It was Quick ad effective and I was able to resolve my inquiries.
As Anequim LLC, we proudly have a commercial relationship with EJF. We truly recommend and admire EJF for being a professional and ethical at all times. We hope our relation lasts for many years as we continue to grow together.
I have been very impressed by Jamie Glassman at E.J.F. over the years. He always manages to respond to my concerns in a timely manner. What stands out for me is that he is so thorough in his responses. It's clear he really enjoys his work and he takes the extra time for each unique situation be it a leak coming in from my window or so background information on F.H.A. financing status of our building as a whole. He offers nuanced, detailed responses. Never cookie cutter!
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