Submitted by SevenSeeds6 t3_z3n0cg in baltimore

I read some horror stories about american management (decomposing body), are they actually that horrible? Does anyone have any experiences with them?

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sllewgh t1_ixmlmd7 wrote

They suck, but they're not the worst. Take this with a grain of salt, though, because I organize tenants against their slumlords and know what the worst really is. I moved in to an apartment with a broken fridge and had to replace it myself as it's not included in the lease. Took 3 weeks of calls to get them to remove the old fridge as promised. They were fairly quick to respond to a leak. The property had heat pump heating which is not appropriate for such a cold climate- couldn't use it in the coldest months because it stayed on "emergency heat" always and cost $400 in BGE bills. They're certainly out to spend as little money as legally possible on their properties.

Read your lease carefully, because anything not in there, they'll tell you to go fuck yourself. Besides that, though, they did take care of the essentials and didn't try to steal from me or take money they weren't entitled to.

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EfficiencySuch6361 t1_ixmmvg8 wrote

It’s totally fine to have a heat pump here… if undersized though it’s certainly problematic

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sllewgh t1_ixmn8ji wrote

I was told by the BGE Home energy efficiency guy that the heat pump installed was not suitable for this climate, but cheap landlords install them anyway because it isn't illegal.

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EfficiencySuch6361 t1_ixmokbw wrote

I’ve been using Daikin heat pump at my 1600 sq ft house + unfinished basement since 2017 with zero issues. It’s actually cheaper than the boiler with radiant heat I had before since natural gas is so pricey these days. Cheaper than Mitsubishi but not the cheapest by any means. I think Mr. Cool is a pretty popular low end heat pump, could’ve been that maybe?

Or maybe that particular landlord simply got too small of a unit and/or hired a crappy installer who cut corners?

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sllewgh t1_ixn15i3 wrote

>Or maybe that particular landlord simply got too small of a unit and/or hired a crappy installer who cut corners?

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

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Crlady t1_ixmfk2j wrote

Not a nightmare but I was moving out in early November, I paid them for November, and I told them I’d be using my kitchen for thanksgiving as an extra oven. Right before thanksgiving they came in and tore the whole kitchen out for renovation. I was pissed.

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Electrical_Finger_64 t1_ixmiuu0 wrote

Your experience varies a lot by the quality of the building you are going to move into. I’ve been with them for 2 years but plan on moving after my lease is up. My main annoyance with them is whenever I reach out for maintenance request- they try to charge me for ‘fixing’ little things.

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whippoorwill36 t1_ixng6of wrote

I’ve rented through AM for the past two years. I read all stories before I moved in and was nervous but thankfully I haven’t had any real problems with them so far. The lease they make you sign is pretty terrible though.

From what I can tell, your experience will depend a lot on who owns your building. In my case the owner seems like a pretty nice guy. I think he does a lot of the repairs himself and takes care of them quickly. When I first moved in, I talked to some of my neighbors in the building who had been there a couple years and they had nothing bad to say about it.

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call_me_ping t1_ixmnwmp wrote

My friend lived in that building on Read St. during that tragedy. It was horrible.

And I have other friends that got in a lot of trouble renting with them cause Baltimore city came after the company… but my friends were caught in the crossfire and forced to terminate a lease due to Am. Management’s negligence and poor practices.

And MORE friends that struggled with general negligence and abusive practices for years. The really rely on leasing to people that NEED affordable rent and can’t afford the time/$$$ of fighting them for their wrongdoings.

All that said, I noticed they haven’t been in the neighborhood chatter as much. Maybe they’re getting their shit together, but I would still err on the side of caution and avoid at all costs.

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UptownHiFi t1_ixole1e wrote

Last I recall American Management was run by Greg Kamenetz, the brother of the late Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz.

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samronreddit t1_ixonkbl wrote

I was very nervous going in because of the reviews but I had an excellent time with them. Every time I had a problem, they sent someone to fix it promptly. All the lease terms were clear and adhered to. The amount they took out of my security deposit was totally fair and reasonable (I’ve had a company say $500 in cleaning fees before). I choose to believe that people with good experiences just don’t write reviews.

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nativeblackbear t1_ixoz1oj wrote

I lived under them for a year. If I had an issue with a pest (common in Baltimore, they’d send out someone). I had an issue with my lawn not being mowed once and when I called it was done within 24 hours. They were great despite all of the negative reviews.

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Horror-Address6972 t1_ixq62dy wrote

My apartment was filled with black mold from a leak behind drywall they wouldn’t fix. It was right next to my air intake so it went to the rest of the apartment. I also had a massive leak in my bathroom due to all of this. They would come out and drain the leak but not fix. I would have 5 gallons of water if I fell asleep for a few hours. It was horrendous. I got into numerous fights with them to fix it or let me out of my lease. Showed pictures of the mold, I was getting incredibly sick and they still wanted a lease termination fee of at least 2000! I threatened with a lawyer and finally they “did a one time thing” of “allowing us to leave with no penalty.”

This was in 2014 but I still feel like they owe me money

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