Ross Maddaluno Real Estate - Morwell

I would not recommend Ross Maddaluno Real Estate to manage a rental property. After purchasing the property through them in April, there seemed to be issues from the start with a lack of communication and organisation in managing the rental property. As settlement was just before Easter, it was nearly impossible to change property managers prior to settlement so I decided to stay on with them. Over the following few months, it became evident that the team was understaffed when it came to managing properties, and their management systems appeared outdated and inefficient, making it difficult for them to manage the property effectively. The first warning sign, aside from the lack of communication, was the pre-inspection report. It was completed with photos of only the issues found attached individually to an email, along with a photo of a basic tick-and-flick checklist with comments. It then took nearly a month and multiple follow-ups for me to gain access to their property management system. A property inspection was completed in April; however, it took months of follow-up to receive the report, which I eventually received in June. More concerningly, during the entire three months I was with them, I never received the updated electrical compliance report. This report had been completed and paid for by their electrician in April and was still left outstanding at handover to the new property management company at the end of June. It was also very difficult to get hold of the property managers to follow up on outstanding issues. Emails were rarely answered, and calling would usually result in missing the property manager. On one occasion, I called three times over the course of more than a week trying to get hold of one of them, but without any luck. I will give a special mention to the receptionist, who did her best to personally organise and follow up on issues regarding the property. At times, she was much more helpful in managing the property than the actual property managers. I had a number of repairs and maintenance issues that needed to be resolved after settlement. In the three months I was with them, the only maintenance they were able to organise was having the roof cleaned. Once I started trying to organise trades myself for the outstanding repairs, it became evident that I was not the only person who had experienced issues with this company when it came to property management. Numerous trades had nothing positive to say, with one trade even going as far as saying they would not do any work while the property was managed by Ross Maddaluno. One of the trades referred me to my current property manager, which I am very grateful for. Hearing not so positive feedback from numerous well-rated trades about the company managing my property was ultimately the final straw. While the property management fees are cheap, you do get what you pay for. If you have a property with excellent tenants that requires very little maintenance or attention, this company may be a perfect fit if you value low management fees. I will also mention that, although the staff were extremely difficult to get hold of, they were always respectful and friendly. I believe they were doing their best the company just didn’t have the best systems in place to support them.

TeganGoogle

Always beware of a business that needs to buy fake positive reviews. But in regards to Ross Maddaluno, we dealt with them for multiple years, the emergency number was always disconnected. Responses were generally far from timely, we applied to have another dog added, 3 weeks of no response we got a 2nd puppy, they responded 3 weeks after that to say it was "in poor form" to not wait for a response, I informed them that legally after two weeks its approved and incompetence on their side doesn't equal poor form on ours. Overall I'd avoid unless you really don't have any other option.

Elise BaileyGoogle

I engaged the team at Ross Maddaluno Real Estate about a week prior to the settlement of my investment property. Unfortunately, their communication was lacking from the start, and I had to chase them up every step of the way just to get things moving. ​Because of this, I made the business decision to move on to a more proactive agency. As I had already signed an exclusive management authority, I reached out in good faith to exit the contract. I explicitly mentioned that I was happy to pay a fair amount to compensate them for the pre-settlement inspection they had attended. In response, they sent me an invoice for $528 the literal day after settlement, which I found highly unreasonable. When I called to discuss this fee, the property management team was never available and made no attempt to return my calls. I ultimately had to contact the principal, Ross, directly; to his credit, he agreed to reduce the fee to a flat $200 so we could sever ties. ​The most disappointing part of this experience was that there was never any attempt by the agency to rectify the situation or address my underlying customer service concerns. Instead, it felt like they were more worried about extracting as much money as possible before I moved on. What left a particularly sour taste was receiving a written ultimatum telling me to "be good enough to pay," alongside threats of legal and debt collection action if the invoice wasn't settled on their timeline. ​For investors who value professional communication and mutual respect, I would recommend looking at other local alternatives.

David PhanGoogle