Connected Property Management - Chicago, Illinois

Jim C.

I've lived in medium - small condo associations (15 - 30 units per building) in Chicago for over 20 years, and Connected is the best company that I've found to work with. They aren't perfect, but their 'imperfections' often align with setting boundaries that they need to keep in order to keep their work load and involvement sane. They will give the board resources to do the work that a board needs to do as a board, but they will not do the work that a board is supposed to do. They help us to ensure that we're complying with condo laws and regulations.

What I appreciate most about them is that they say that they will respond to emails within a business day, and they repeatedly do that. Also, we've had the same main contact for our building for several years - something that is rare in this industry.

As a board, we have felt like their vendor recommendations are not as helpful as we would have liked, and they won't fully manage a super huge project for you, but they get the fundamentals right.

No property management company is going to be perfect. It's a difficult business. But Connected has been reliable, reasonable and fair. I recommend them and give particular kudos to Team Echo.

Kln W.

The website is functional but this management company is pretty adverbial with tenants. Like they go out of their way to try to not tell you anything and collect on fees.

Have a unaware balance due but is talking to them about something else. Nope agents won't inform you. Have autopay and they take it off.... too bad, here's a late fee. I have never met a more rude, your bothering us agency then this place. They act like you need them more then the other way around.

Emps R.

You will struggle to find a worse company.

Edit: this is a negative review. As are the majority of reviews for this company from the last ~3 years (as of Jan 2025). This is an important factor as it indicates the decline in this organization.

There are numerous problems within this organization, the issues stem top down. To call management incompetent would be a compliment. The company structure involves ensuring that minimal workload is allocated to higher positions and greater workload issued to those below. This isn't uncommon, but what is uncommon is the incapability of monitoring staff performance and where staff do make genuine mistakes, the inability of those above them to take responsibility or assist with those mistakes, instead resorting to borderline belittling and berating people for making them instead of ensuring smooth running in future or providing retraining.

The company has an internal feel of a MLM structure. For the lower end of the company, your success is effectively determined not by merit or ability but by the success (or failure) of those senior to you as you will move up when others move up or vacate the business.

This is not mentioning the unprofessional behavior of some staff which can make clients and other staff feel uneasy. I can't give full descriptions, but "sleezy" and "untrustworthy" are good adjectives for the matter. Consider, at best, the least trustworthy budget used car salesfolk, their tactics and methods, and you've a rough idea of what many people within this company are like.

Then it comes onto addressing the company from a client perspective. Your mileage may vary if you're lumbered with this organization. During quiet periods, they can address properties fairly effectively, but issues during busy periods or times when there are limited staff and you'll find yourself bordering on having no support. Depending on the issue involved, this will range from inconvenient to hazardous. Make sure the building is in good order for December and January if these cowboys are your point of assistance.

Given this is a group which is contracted for property management, I wouldn't trust them with a child's pocket money, let alone building funds. The company has slowly started to cut a market segment out by catering to medium sized buildings, ones too small for dedicated on site management but too large to leave matters within the building residents. A relatively innovative segment with some demand, it's seriously disappointing that the actual business acumen, competency and people skills are not just lacking but completely vacant within this company. Frankly, this should be a 0 star review, but I'm limited by Google on that front.

Gabriela B.

Connected Management has been with our condo building for a little over a year. They have been truly amazing and very helpful in turning things around for our building. They are consistent in their communication with this Board. They reply to our emails quickly and have been very helpful in solving problems big or small. We found them in the Better Business Bureau and they really live up to their A+ rating! HIGHLY recommend them to any condo building that’s looking to bring in a new management company.

Thao N.

The worst management company ever. They manage my condo and have literally done NOTHING since I moved in. There has been snow on the ground and our common areas were not cleaned. The parking gates are constantly broken. My packages get stolen all the time and they have not set up front cameras. I was not receiving mail because they never updated the name on my mailbox. And they erroneously sent out board emails listing someone else was the owner of my unit. Ok then go collect your HOA fee from that owner then since you think it’s clearly not me. So clearly they have no attention to detail in their bookkeeping nor their property management. This company does nothing for the owners but are just here to collect a check. I can’t wait to sell this place and move. I would never buy property that has an HOA ever again. Please new homeowners do not buy any property with an HOA!!! And especially this one. If you read all the newer reviews you can see it’s all negative. Maybe they used to be good but not recently. All the employees working at this company reading this can go STFU.

Janasha E.

They consistently fail to address building issues in a timely manner, leaving tenants to deal with unresolved problems for far too long. Whether it's maintenance requests or more serious concerns, the lack of urgency and communication is unacceptable. Moreover, their handling of legal matters, such as coordinating with attorneys, is just as unprofessional. They lack the reliability and professionalism you would expect from a competent management team.

jeremy O.

Refused to address or investigate life threatening incidents that occurred on the property and consistently failed to inform tenants about highly disruptive building activities and maintenance. Avoid if you can!

Ron A.

I am a board member for a condo association in Lakeview, Chicago that is now self managed (no longer uses a property management company). Our building used Connected from 2018-2022. All of the awful reviews are true: They are unprofessional, unresponsive, unhelpful. But also they are secretive and sketchy too! They would not let current board members have access to our HOA bank account. For months, the only signers on our bank account were Paul Houlihan of Connected Management, and a former owner/board member who had sold and left. Connected ignored repeated requests from current board members to get access to our bank account over the course of about five months. Then, when we finally got access to our bank accounts and were reviewing statements to file taxes, we saw all kinds of charges going in and out of our account to Connected’s account. Definitely looks like some kind of money laundering or embezzlement activities. Next, they were completely unhelpful with any maintenance request. Anytime we asked for guidance or help we were always either 1) ignored or 2) told it was the board’s responsibility to do everything. You would think that they would at least: 1) make sure that proper procedures were being followed, or 2) have helpful recommendations of vetted contractors… But they did none of that. They did a very bare minimum of paperwork, mostly involving collecting money. The only thing these people do is collect assessments and charge fees. A bunch of lazy, lousy, middleman, money-grubbing leeches.