O’connor Property Management

I’ve had an interesting combination of experiences with O’Connor which is why I’m putting them squarely in the middle of the road at three stars. On one hand, they made the apartment-​viewing process very easy. The lady that helped us out with it (whom I won’t name because she no longer works there) made herself very available and she showed us the same place twice in a day so we could double-​check our findings. We used her as our primary contact for all of our questions, concerns, and needs and she always gave us very timely responses. After she left, however, we were directed to a new contact. A month later we tried to reach him about something and we were told he was gone, too… so then we were told to direct all questions to the main office and those have been very sporadically responded to. I frequently have to send requests in multiple times to get a response. There was one issue that I was told three separate times was being «taken care of» while I was out of the state but, when I returned, it hadn’t been addressed. Luckily, it wasn’t exactly an urgent issue… but it also wasn’t being «taken care of.»
This all being said, I’ve had some absolutely terrible landlords in my life and I definitely wouldn’t put O’Connor in that category. When they do take care of issues – albeit at a sometimes delayed pace – they do so with courtesy and professionalism. They are always pleasant to speak with and they seem to have a very live-​and-​let-​live attitude. That is, if you pay your rent on time and take care of your place, you’re fine. They also make the lease renewal process pretty straight-​forward and simple and I haven’t yet had my rent increased and I’ve never been charged some of those weird «maintenance» fees that some landlords will spring on you out of nowhere for building or property maintenance (yes, this has happened to me and I know it’s happened to others out there somewhere…)
My exact apartment is wonderful and cute and it was extremely clean when we moved in. It was built in 1940 but they had updated the kitchen counters and appliances (which is great because most apartments in U City have all that mid-​century charm but utterly atrocious kitchens). If I had to give my exact apartment a star rating, I would give it a 4. The extra star would be left off because the building – which I love for its old charm – has all of its original windows and they leak like sieves. I’ve sent in e-​mails about this issue and never gotten a response. The electric is inordinately expensive because of the brick/​plaster walls, the lack on insulation, and the super-​old windows. I knew what I was signing on for with choosing an old building but the windows could easily be addressed.
O’Connor is a rather large property management firm and they own quite a lot of places around town. If you’re thinking of renting from them and you’ve found a place of theirs that you like, go for it. They may frustrate you on occasion but they’re not going to take advantage of you or screw you over.