Windermere Property Management - Oak Harbor, Washington

KJ R.

Reminder: property Management companies are traditionally protective of landlords and not tenants. A good property management company balances this so that the arrangement is fair for both sides.

This property management company takes landlord protections to the extreme. This is the specific clause within their leases that they use to screw over tenants: "If Tenant vacates prior to the expiration of the term as identified above, Tenant shall be fully responsible for the rent and all utility and operating costs for the premises until a new, qualified Tenant is secured, or until the end of the term- whichever is earlier. In addition, Tenant shall be responsible to pay the leasing fee and all associated costs to secure a new tenant."

Our situation- we provided notice that we would not be living in the house 3 month before the expiration of the lease. The property management took about a month after we notified to list the property because they were fixing the roof. They did find a new tenant fairly quickly after that, but charged us $1400 to "secure a new tenant." Therefore, they were able to use the time we were paying rent to fix the house for the next tenant, got a new tenant, and got to charge us instead of the landlord to re-lease the property. We continued to pay rent, pay utilities, and mow the lawn the entire time before they were able to secure a new tenant.

This is one property management company I would be very careful of. Not great for renters who are looking for a fair, equitable agreement with a landlord.

Chelsie O.

I had an absolutely awful experience renting through Windermere, to the point where my husband and I bit the bullet and bought a house after just one year with them.
1. The toilet in the main restroom wasn't sealed correctly. Before it was confirmed that we weren't at fault, the representative with the plumber was extremely dismissive with my concerns. Then it took NINE WEEKS for them to replace the laminate flooring. That was nine weeks we were not able to use that restroom because they made it very clear that any damages occurred due to the lack of flooring would be my fault.
2. There was minimal communication. I had to reach out several times for updates about the floor, but got no response. The floors were completed once I threatened legal action. They should could communicate about the lawn care, though.
3. Extremely condescending during inspection. "iS tHaT a PeT sTaIn?" Yes, sir, it is. It is also well documented that the pet stain was there before we moved in. Also talked mad shit about my neighbors. I don't know you, or them, like that. Keep it professional.

My husband and I are getting ready to rent out our house, and they lost us as a potential rental property because I absolutely refuse to allow our tenants to be treated the way we were.

MatthewWainani V.

Very unprofessional company. They have no idea how to manage property period. They know how to spend your HOA'S money and over ride and not follow HOA laws. If your looking for a company to run your property into the ground look no further. This is what you will get .No monthly walk though, no winterizing, which turns into to over 5 pipe burst and your insurance going up, lack of preventive maintanance which leads to costly perimeter fencing repairs and rebuilds, 12 plus deck replacement and repairs, no road matinance, broken garage lights and so much more. Christina Rodoades was our property manager
for 3 or 4 years . Christina Rhoades: Rude, unprofessional, childish, and very unpleasant to even work with as an owner and board member. I've never in my life had a management company allow an employee to speak and treat owners the way she has.
As for the rest of the office staff I've had no problems. I'd like to thank Sabrina for trying her best in resolving our HOA problems and it was pleasant working with her. In my opinion if your looking for a management company,Run , dont walk ,don’t even consider Windermere Property managment to manage your property.

John O.

Have managed our property for years. Very professional in communication with both tenant and landlord. High rating for services. Would definitely use there services if i had to do it all over again.

Caylin B.

Windermere really came in clutch for me when i was trying to find a place out here. I was struggling to find something spacious for my daughter on the way and having two dogs. They were able to talk the landlord who owned the house we were interested in to allow pets provided we paid the appropriate deposits and fees and I am super happy with the place and i signed the lease for it sight unseen. They have also been super helpful, timely and responsive with the maintenance and it takes them at the latest a working day to schedule someone to come fix whatever needs fixing. I recommend!

jforjessee

***MILITARY MEMBERS BEWARE***

Lack of transparency to military members when signing a lease. Read up on SCRA and your right as a tenant because Windermere will not provide any information to you until it’s their own benefit after the fact.
Ensure even if you are given orders last minute for example (June) and you give notice 6/2 and move out 7/10 they will take your entire months rent for that last month (July) instead of pro rating it from the time you were no longer occupying the residence.
Definitely an absolutely shove up the A*s*s to service members & their families who are moving across the country.
Hopefully they can learn from their mistakes & educate their next set of tenants so they know what to expect but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Cheyanne H.

Stay Away!!! My husband and I rented from them for 3 years and it was an absolute nightmare. Our property manager Jacklyn was always harassing us. She put a 10 Day notice on our door once because we didn’t mow our lawn when she asked us too. Another time my daughter was sitting at the dining room table doing homework and was absolutely terrified and started screaming for us cause she saw Jacklyn starring through our window trying to take pictures of the inside of our house for some reason. When my husband and I came running downstairs she was gone so I showed my daughter a picture of the Windermere staff and asked if she saw the person in the window and she pointed right at Jacklyn. We kept our blinds closed after that. Another time we put in a maintenance request because our dishwasher was leaking and it took almost a month to get it replaced. We also tried to make a little extra money cause we’re a family of 5 and started selling food as a small side business, I kid you not, instead of talking to us about it because we didn’t know we weren’t allowed to do it. Jacklyn placed an order under a false name, paid for it, came to pick up the food and then served us with yet another 10 day notice and had a health inspector with her to close us down. This wasn’t our first time serving food to the community either. For thanksgiving my family and I served over 40 plates to people in the community who didn’t have anywhere to go free of charge and had no issues with that. We advertised that on Facebook just like we did our business with no issues but it became an issue when we tried to make a little extra money.
She would send maintenance men over to our house without giving us any notice. They would hook up to our water hose that we pay for and use it to spray the house down with zero reimbursement for the water usage. They’ll also take every bit of your deposit, down to the last penny. I got the receipts to prove it.
I could go on and on with more things that happened to us while living there but just know if you rent with them you better document EVERYTHING!

HazMatt

$787/ ~$800 for HOA DUES?!?! Y’all must be out of your damn minds! If any of you are considering moving to the island, I highly recommend you DO NOT consider any properties to rent/buy under this management company. They are associated with the Windermere HOA BOARD OF DIRECTORS. They don’t gauge based on current economy standards, especially considering most owners on the North end of the island are military affiliated and don’t receive the appropriate BAH to fully afford most HOA demands elsewhere in the US.

Again, I repeat, DO NOT consider this management company. Find a better one. If you’re military, really consider military housing on the island. All they take is BAH. It’s better than nothing!