Knowing that Paradise manages around 150 buildings covering literally tens of thousands of units, the handful of negative reviews found here from anonymous individual owners probably isn't as bad as it seems. Serving on the board of one of their buildings I know first hand how people who get answers they don't like tend to interpret that as not getting answers, and then as an issue is pressed people will then complain that ongoing attempts to explain an answer are interpreted as getting different answers. It's been an eye-opening experience how so many people don't understand the differences involved between renting and owning in a multi-unit complex with a governing document of rules and regulations. From my experiences talking to and working with other associations who use different management companies, I'm guessing that most of the complainants here have never owned in a building managed by one of the other major property management companies in town (that parking fee you're upset about won't compare to other management companies insisting you use contractors under their direct control and costing you $100,000's more). As to the importance of different projects, the first responsibility of the board and management is to protect the value of your asset, which is your building. An individual home owner has the luxury of putting off maintenance or hiring any Johnny-come-lately or hairdresser's cousin's in-law to do contract work on the cheap and hoping for the best, but this is not a good idea for larger multi-unit buildings where small problems can quickly become much larger/expensive problems. When we've had issues, as any building will have, Paradise has always required multiple outside bidders, made recommendations based on years of experience with different vendors, been open to anyone making suggestions for other vendors to include in the bid process (provided they're minimally qualified for the task at hand), and then it's up to your board to make the final decision. If there's a problem with a vendor it's much more likely your board decided to go with the cheapest bid than it is that Paradise recommended a sub-par vendor. I would also point out that Paradise has gone far and above what other management companies would do when insurance claims are in play. Our HOA has been saved literally millions of dollars through their battling insurance companies who either limited or refuse to pay on various claims - and in one instance they fought a flatly denied claim for more than two years before winning a 7-digit victory for the HOA. From what I understand of the other management companies in town none of them would have put in this much above and beyond time and effort to protect their client's interests in the face of repeated denials. If anyone is considering basing where they buy a condo based on the management company, don't look here, interview the HOA boards of all the different buildings you're considering and see what they think of management options. I think you'll find what we found when we did this, that Paradise Management comes out on top.
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