Urbane Results

Awful customer service. They were «bought out» by Wexford Property Management but my guess is they are trying to just rebrand themselves after so much negative feedback online. I would avoid living at one of their properties if you can, otherwise be prepared to go thru a lot of hassles to get any maintenance requests fixed in a timely manner. They also often fail to communicate properly with the maintenance staff and so their is constant confusion about when something will be fixed, what needs to be fixed, etc. They always blame someone else but after so many problems it’s obvious the issue is with them.

I have been a tenant under UR for more than two years. I should have seen the red flags of the UR teams lack of organization and complete unprofessionalism when it took them 3 weeks to let me know if I had secured the apartment. They continued their half-​ass methods by not doing a complete walk-​through, not having the apartment ready when I moved in and not even having the glass shower door installed (yes — I took showers without a door for a week!). On top of that our building has had several bouts of bedbugs, roaches and mice on the bottom floor. Currently, 4 apartments have bedbugs — this is a fact. Robert (Woolfe) is so incredibly dishonest and unaccountable for any of the actions (or lackthereof) for Urbane you wouldn’t know he’s been working with them for as long as he has. They chronically don’t answer the phones or email and have trespassed in my apartment several times before, only for me to find out later. I enjoy my apartment but i wish ANYONE else was managing it.

We have been with Urbane (Robert) since 2012 and he has been great. He always keeps us updated and is prompt with our requests (if any). Our tenant has been at our condo for 3 years (renewed yearly) and just renewed his lease again. I’m guessing he is happy with the condo and service.
I’m going to just list a couple of situations that may help others reading this review.
Maintenance Requests: We had a maintenance issue that the tenant told Robert about. Robert contacted us right away and stated that we should ask the condo management if that issue was covered under our fees and if not, he had a plumbing company that Urbane used for a specified price (I forgot how much it was but it was reasonable). I called my condo building manager and asked if the building maintenance person took care of that specific problem… she said no, and so I gave the okay to Robert for their plumber to come in and fix the plumbing issue. It was that simple.
Getting a Permit/​Tax Document Requests: To own and rent out a condo in DC, one needs to have a license/​permit for it. You need to renew it every year or couple of years (I forgot but Robert always reminds us when it is about to expire). Some of the management companies we interviewed (before we hired Urbane), told us that we should not file for a permit because of tax reasons (you have to file unincorporated business tax returns). I was appalled at the idea because why the heck would I (or anyone for that matter) want to cheat on my taxes just to save a couple hundred bucks? I would rather A) stay out of jail and B) be honest and pay taxes that are rightfully due. Anyway, Robert told us about the permit right away and I was like okay this conversation is def going in the right direction (it made us realize that he was an honest person). He informed us more about the process and made us feel comfortable about renting it out. Also, from 2012 to now, every time I have emailed Robert to send us a document I realized I misplaced so that I can do my damn taxes, he always sends it to us right away.
Bottom line, I’m very happy with Urbane’s services.

These guys are a mess. They provide no value whatsoever — quite the opposite. They make things much worse than just renting the place directly. They’re mostly non responsive to all requests and generally a pain to deal with. They don’t get the job done. They waste your time and money while essentially doing nothing.

Do not even think about hiring these people to manage your property. The last straw was when they blocked my email from their servers when I asked them to complete a repair job that they charged me for after I terminated my contract with them. they had a month to finish up all repairs and didn’t, but took my money. It was a total headache from day 1 dealing with Robert Woolf who put in little effort renting our place,
(missing appts and having my husband do the tours) then offered no assistance in evicting a tenant.
We had some difficulty at first with our move across country, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt that yes, the leasing period was rough, but we were able to find our own tenant in between relocating and finding new housing across the country to help Robert out since it was too difficult for him, but things never got better.
I have a tenant that’s been with out a dishwasher for several months because Angie took her sweet time calling the people to fix it and following up. They are terrible. I’m really close to filing a suit against them for the $ they took for property management fees, while barely managing the property and ignoring my emails. They put little to no effort into collecting the rent. They are the absolute worst. worst year of my life dealing with Urbane results. please feel free to contact me for further details. I can show you all the rude emails and bounce backs from their servers after asking a simple question as to why they will not finish the repair job they were paid for.
They also wait 15 days before processing rent $ and after I shopped around for PM found that everyone else just deposits the $ in your account and sends a simple statement. Maybe they are just too disorganized to process the rent in a timely manner.
And I’m good at the internet so I know that all their good reviews are written bu former employees for friends.

My wife and 2-​year-​old daughter and I live in a apartment building in NW of DC that Urbane Results started managing over a year ago. Overall, things have gotten better in several ways.
They have a cleaning crew that comes to the building several times a week and does a very thorough job cleaning the hallways and entrances. After snow and rain, they come to clean up the entrances. (This is important for me because my daughter is two years old and likes to pick up and sometimes even taste anything that’s on the floor.)
The maintenance requests are handled over their web site and there are two polite repair men who come twice a week with a van full of tools to fix things. They also send out emails periodically to inform residents about any repairs in the building that people need to know about.
There are six big washers and six big driers in the basement that work very well, and you can pay by coin or by credit card.
The plants and grass around the building are very clean and well maintained by a crew that comes weekly, so my wife and I feel comfortable letting our daughter crawl around and explore.
One of their employees also lives in the building, so of there is someone around who checks up on the cleaning and gardening crews, as well as can respond to urgent off hours issues.
My wife and I were also excited because last summer they installed solar panels and solar water heaters on the roof of the building, so it has been nice to know that most of the energy and hot water has been green.
We are moving to Annapolis this spring, but our experience at their building on MacArthur Blvd has only been positive. Services definitely improved when they took over. And we felt like the building and grounds around it were cleaner and safer for our daughter to enjoy. Thank you!

It has been a pleasure working with Jeremy and his team. They are very passionate about everything property management. They are responsive and easy to communicate with. If I had an investment home in Washington D.C. then I gladly would let them manage it. I look forward to working with them in the future!

Since the original review the company has been able to resolve the charges. It seems that they are making efforts to improve their accounting. Since the review I have had more frequent communication.
I would encourage this company to further the training of their employees in effective communication, and to put measures in place so that all of their clients have an avenue to provide feedback and resolve concerns, not just those who post a review on Unilocal.Proactivity is better than reactivity…

You know, I was careful in my review… not to go into detail about the tenant issues which is something that occurs behind closed doors and is frankly private. I feel it’s highly inappropriate for you to post those type of details
Yes, I found my tenant. But that is an option in your contract. If you find the tenant, you have the ability to charge me a higher fee. If I found them, it’s a lower fee.
I needed to fill the space before leaving the country and your companies methods were not working.
Your company ran the background and credit checks and advised me to go ahead with the rental.
I am happy to show you the invoice and correspondence from the attorney I hired.
I’m also happy to re-​send or post here the confusing correspondence as it relates to the security deposit.
I stand by my review 100%. They mirror the other many negative comments in your Unilocal listing.
Recommendation: Use the various feedback to improve your companies service.

I hired Urbane Results to manage my rental house in Bethesda. They did a bad job and then in the end I had to sue them in small claims court before they would hand over my tenant’s security deposit.
Along the way they ignored not only my tenant’s repair requests but also our calls and emails and stood us up for appointments. They neglected to tell us important things like when our tenant gave notice that she was moving out of the house (we only found out she was leaving over a month later). Then they didn’t advertise for a new tenant for another month after that. Finally, after all that, they were actually shocked when I tried to part ways with them and that is when they refused to return the security deposit.

I have had interactions with Urbane on various levels for roughly the past 6 years. I give leeway on something’s because I live in the real world. On Earth. Where there is only 24 hours in a day. And the guys and gals over there do a great job. Now it’s easy to say they didn’t get the work done in a prompt manner or something similar but folks need to realize they do not do that. They manage the property. They call a vendor or service company to do that work at your property. And that’s what they do and take care of very well. Among other things of course. Frankly these bad reviews I’ve read about them based on changing a light bulb are rather nuts, but what can I say. For my money, my level of interaction and my overall opinion, they do a damn good job.

Two stars because they are nice guys sometimes. Two stars because they are incompetent.
Emails were answered only slightly more often than not, and calls were rarely returned. It took about a month for the smallest maintenance. We went well over a month without a working washer-​dryer after they first acknowledged it was broken (which took a week in of itself). Other examples are comical: once one of our air conditioning units broke, and when they finally came to fix it, they replaced every unit in the house except the broken one.
A final note to potential clients: while Urbane Results was showing our house during the last month of our lease, I came home from work three separate times to find groups of people on our stoop that our residence manager had promised showings. In all three times the groups were stood up, the guy never showed, and they were left understandably furious.

I never thought I would have to write such a review, but I honestly was shocked at the unprofessional treatment I received on the phone today from Jeremy at Urbane. I called to follow up on a Craigslist ad that was posted a week ago. The title of the ad was «Sunny Two Bedroom Condo with Huge Kitchen! PARKING INCLUDED!». The body of the ad repeated «Parking included!!!». It certainly was not ambiguous, parking was «included!!!». When my daughter was shown the apartment yesterday, she was told that «parking would be included» if she «signed right away». She promised to get back to Urbane this morning, which she did, ready to sign the lease. She was told that parking was NOT included. When she questioned Angie, she was simply told «that’s the way it is», no explanation offered. Take it or leave, no parking.
I called and asked to speak to a manager, because this obviously did not make any sense. I was put on with Jeremy. He said that the ad was «old» and that he has the right to change prices at any time and the ad, essentially, means nothing. I pointed out that in fact, this was a classic «bait and switch», that the ad was STILL posted, AS OF THIS MORNING, and had they changed the offering conditions, they had every opportunity to change the ad. He provided a poor analogy (I could offer to rent it for 4 million dollars but I don’t have to!) which made no business sense, and I politely pointed out that this was not a very good way to do business, that I had just read the Unilocal reviews and maybe he should, too. Here is how professional he was: He responded F*** Off!” and hung up on me. Nothing I said, nor the tone in which it was delivered, deserved that rude and horrifying response.
I do not know who the principals of Urbane are, and for all I know this Jeremy could be one of them, but I would suggest that they look long and hard at the way their employees deal with customers and maybe provide some customer service training and a class or two in creating accurate advertisements for their properties. Unless they are totally ok with being in the bait and switch business.

I had a thoroughly negative experience renting from this company. Avoid them at all costs.
Robert from Urbane was our primary contact. First debacle: a pipe froze and burst. We’d told him some pipes were frozen, did they want to come and help unfreeze to avoid damage? No. Burst pipe = immediate flood into living areas, frantically filling buckets and Urbane was slow to call back, then had no idea where water shut off was. THEN — said they’d need to wait for someone from a property warrantee company to respond to a voice mail in order to help us! Thousands upon thousands of dollars of damage could have occurred, had we not managed to locate a shutoff valve ourselves after about 15 minutes. Then, because of waiting for the warrantee company again, they did not send out a plumber for over 24 hours. With a tiny infant less than 2 months old, we were left without water in the freezing cold for more than 24 hours. When warrantee company called back, they said, no we do not do this type of repair.
We asked them to please house us in a hotel or something during this unsanitary experience with a newborn. Request was summarily dismissed.
In fact, all he could keep saying was this was the instructions left by the owner.
All in all, the primary message we got was, tenants do not matter — the owner matters, and we won’t even pay you a modicum of respect as a tenant or care whether you come or go, live or die. I’m not really exaggerating here.
Then, we began to experience poor heat through the winter. Many, many times we requested a technician. None was sent. The electric bills climbed to double the average for our neighborhood and size. We requested space heaters. Again, no.
Some of this was the instruction of the owner, but botched operations by Urbane were a major factor in our distress. There was no mediation, no listening. We’re currently seeking damages for the cold experienced with no sympathy or action on Urbane’s part. In every single case, we were suspect, the owner was on a pedestal. They tried several times to enter our property without proper notice because of a last second request by the owner.
After three months requesting a heating repair man, they finally sent one when we said NO HEAT as a call (instead of, say, very very low, illegal levels of heat). He found several things broken and fixed them. It was already February by then.
Basically, this is a company that is inept, disrespectful, careless, and completely antagonistic toward tenants. A good company should try to serve the tenant, not only an owner who may be negligent and tend toward slumlording. They should mediate, and should advise an owner when they are not operating lawfully with regard to building codes. Urbane did none of the above and made our lives miserable.

I didn’t read the reviews here before I met with the agent. I found one of the rental ads on Craigslist, which led me to
to schedule a viewing. I thought the process was smooth and effortless. The confirmation was sent via email and there were options to change or cancel the appointment all online, which is very convenient.
When I showed up to the viewing, the agent, Alejandra Tamez, was early and saw me as I approached her but offered no acknowledgement of my presence or even a simple hello. She was so «busy» texting on her phone. It wasn’t until I asked if she was here to show the apartment that she acknowledged me, yet did not greet me as a client or shook my hand. Not professional at all.
She led me into the unit, but offered no explanations of anything the unit had to offer. When I asked her questions, she wasn’t able to address any of them fully. Her answers often contradicted what the ad had listed, such as a parking spot included with the unit. She kept saying «I’ll have to check with ‘him’», which I assumed was the current tenant/​owner. Her excuse was that she has only been to the unit once, so didn’t know too much about it. That is unacceptable, especially when you’re an agent showing a listing. She should’ve done her due diligence and research to be prepared to answer any questions. Although the apartment was nice, I will not be going through Urbane Results to rent, based on this terrible experience with Alex.

Kelly from Urbane is absolutely fantastic in my book. She’s responsive 7 days a week, and has been invaluable in the process of obtaining documentation related to the sale of my property. Even on Sundays she took the time to respond to e-​mails and text messages. Upon realizing that the condo board did not have complete documentation due to poor record keeping by previous management companies, she researched public records to ensure that all of the necessary documentation was available for the residents.
Her professionalism and dedication to our building was a vast improvement over the previous company. While I understand Urbane has many properties under their management, Kelly made us feel like the only property in their portfolio.
I would highly recommend them for building management services based on her performance.

I usually don’t write reviews, but felt compelled to write this one due to my negative experience with this company. I’ve been living at my apartment for three years. Once, I tried to sublet the place, and was told that I need to get the ok from my landlord. I did, and told Urbane results, and they basically said they weren’t willing to process the paper work-​. I found it really inconsiderate that they made me contact the landlord if they weren’t willing to help me anyway; it also left me footing a $ 2000 bill for months that I wasn’t at my apartment since they weren’t willing to do the extra work.
Our garbage disposal broke once, and the guy who came to fix it hardly did, since it wasn’t working again in a week. I told Urbane results and they threatened that I may have to pay for not taking care of the garbage disposal – based on what evidence? There was no inspection done. These kind of uncalled for threats made me feel worried to contact my management company when I need the fixes that I’m entitled to as a tenant.
I also had a terrible debacle with them when I was trying to find a new roommate. I purposely looked for someone long term so I wouldn’t have to worry about finding a new one for a while. After she’s all set to join me, I ask Urbane if we can do a year lease, and Urbane results tells me to contact my landlord. My landlord says he’s moving back to the apartment, and I won’t be able to sign on for a year. He told me that he had told the management company and assumed they would tell me. My roommate ended up bailing, since I had given her false information (unbeknowest to me) and I had to pay for the entire apartment that month, costing me an extra $ 900. When I met with them, personally, to voice how upset I was, they didn’t take any accountability, and said it’s possible that your landlord could have contacted us years ago, but we don’t keep track of that.
Today, I finally moved out. To be honest, one of the reasons I chose to move out when I did was because I didn’t want the stress of worrying about this management company deceiving me, like they had in the past. The company gave me no directions for where to leave the key, or for the process of returning my security deposit. I called the company today, and the person whose supposed to help me was not in. I was waiting around for hours trying to figure out what to do.
Finally, when I move out, they tell me that they’re going to do an inspection before they return the security deposit – which makes sense and would be totally fine, if it weren’t for the fact that, I’ve had multiple roommates on their own leases who have moved on and got their security deposit returned with NO inspection. So now, if there’s any issues at all with the apartment, then it’ll be on me to pay since I was the last to move out. This policy doesn’t make sense to me considering we each were on the lease, and thus, should EACH be inspected upon moveout, instead of the last tenant to leave footing the bill.
One of the reasons I’m happy to be moving out is because I won’t be working with this company any longer.

I don’t write a lot of reviews, but felt compelled to tell of my horrible experience with this company. I found them unprofessional with a lack of accountability. It an area such as DC where the competition for real-​estate is high, it is amazing this company still exists. When I had an issue, my problems were passed off as a «lack of understanding.»

This is my first time renting from an established building management company and I’ve been extremely disappointed with my experience. In the past, I’ve always had great landlords who have been super helpful and responsive and this has not been the case with this company.
I’ve been renting for about a 1.5 years at the Truman House near Logan Circle. I’m currently in school so while it’s fine for now given my busy class schedule/​demands, I absolutely intend on looking for a new home once school finishes in the Spring.
My main frustration is that they just don’t do anything. They wont help with managing the washer/​dryers in the building («Call Mac Gray directly, they’re not our machines»). We had been experiencing issues with washer/​dryers for months before Urbane Results got involved and helped get the machines fixed.
I also had issues where the lights in my kitchen went out. They were high on the ceiling and I couldn’t reach them to change them. Stephanie, the building manager, suggested I climb on counter tops and use furniture to reach the lighting fixtures. I’ve always lived in buildings where the landlords would help with those kinds of issues and actually preferred to change ceiling lights themselves so that tenants wouldn’t get hurt. When I told Stephanie that there were no countertops underneath my lights, she suggested I buy a ladder at the hardware store. Or, Urbane Results will do it if you pay them $ 60/​hour… great, thanks for your «help.»
They shirk responsibility left and right and offer very little help.
Also, you can expect your heat not to turn on unless the outdoor temperature hits a certain low. While 40 degrees might be fairly mild for January in DC, it’s still cold enough to warrant heat.
IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN AN APARTMENT MANAGED BY THIS COMPANY, LOOK ELSEWHERE UNLESS YOU WANT CONSTANT FRUSTRATION/​DISAPPOINTMENT.

I’ve rented a condo through Urbane Results for a little over a year now, and I can honestly say that it might be the best service I’ve gotten since I’ve moved to the DC metro area. My property manager, Robert Woolf, is beyond responsive– a rare quality these days– and flexible in scheduling various services and condo needs. Whenever I have a question or problem, I have no issues calling up Robert and knowing it will be addressed in a timely manner.
Pros of Urbane Results:
— Responsiveness
— Flexibility
— Polite/​helpful