Kass Management Services, Inc. - Chicago, Illinois

Dominique S.

UPDATE: shortly after writing the review below, the property manager stopped responding to my emails and calls and never updated me that I was approved. I applied for the apartment on 2/13 and by 2/26, I still was getting the runaround about waiting for the owners approval for my ESA dog although I met all the screening requirements. He finally answered days later and gave me a nonchalant “oh yeah, you were approved. I’m about to send the lease over in a few minutes.” This was a huge red flag for me and I ended up canceling the application and getting an apartment with a different apartment complex within 3 DAYS!

I am moving to Chicago from out of state and have been having a really hard time securing a place via virtual tours. One of the property managers, Robert, has been incredibly helpful! He's responded to my emails in a timely manner, answered my many questions, and has updated me step by step with the application process! This has really eased my anxiety and made the search all the better!

kameron A.

One of the most unprofessional experiences I have ever had. I was spoken to very rudely by Robert who is seemingly “the boss.” I had a meeting scheduled with a leasing agent who had been very helpful over the phone/email, yet when we arrived it was almost as if they have no prior knowledge of our scheduled meeting. Upon arrival it seemed a landlord and other tennants were handling what should have been a private conversation in the lobby of the unit with lots of profanity being used by the Kass employee.

I am BEYOND disappointed by the way I and my other tenants were received today. Cleary there was a lack of preparation on THEIR end which led to a very unproductive hour of my time. Robert spoke down to us the entire time, barely bothered to introduce himself with his name let alone a simple handshake. I can understand cold hard facts, but when they are presented with an air pretentiousness…. Unbelievably uncalled for.

Avoid this management company at all costs.

Marina C.

Terrible. Iv lived in an apartment ran by kass for 2 years and have had nothing but issues. Mice and roaches all over the entire building including in the entrances. Do not get an apartment with them unless you want to live with mice and roaches. They came and had an exterminator but every month the issue began again. It wasn’t just my apartment I have met other neighbors that state the same thing. Workers are also on the most part very rude and EXTREMELY unprofessional.

Jack F.

I am a tenant in a complex managed by Kass. I will never in my life live in a building managed by them. Our property manager never answers his phone or returns voicemails, emails etc. sidewalks, and stairs are not salted in the winter. Maintenance requests go unanswered. I seem to know nothing about my landlord or my property manager. 3 days ago the apartment above us had a kitchen fire and I have yet to hear any safety updates from Kass. Legitimately one of the most unpleasant unprofessional management companies. I’m so excited for my lease to be up so i can go back to BJB. HEAD MY WARNING

alex W.

horrible company. first appointment, they cancelled. second one they cancelled, third one after rescheduling and looking at reviews, i decided to cancel myself after hearing what a horrible company this is. they will cancel on you multiple times even less than an hour of an appointment. i confirmed and they confirmed back. they sent me an automated text DAY OF saying if i need to cancel, cancel 2 hours ahead of time. as i’m on my way, they cancelled the appointment. waste of my time you can’t even get in contact with ANYONE, they don’t give their number or email , all you will get is a useless automated message that won’t understand anything. horrible horrible horrible!! SAVE YOUR TIME AND MONEY. i hope this company gets shut down.

Sherry B.

Very poor homeowners association management of funds. They completely depleted our reserves for our 50 unit building with prices ranging from $250,000-$350,000 and called for a special assessment of $1,000,000 to replenish funds and do some capitol improvements one of which is replacing our 2 elevators for a cost of nearly $700K when they are at the end of their useful life but both fully operational. The virtual meeting was last night and only about a dozen people were able to attend because the meeting link they sent out didn’t work. Yet, they passed the $1,000,000 special assessment which levies a $22,390 bill on our unit due by 03/01/25 or we can finance it over 10 years which would add $300 per month and end up costing us over $31,000. They brought in a lender they work with without getting any 2nd or 3rd quotes to finance the project and claimed that most lenders don’t work with HOA’s when that is the vast majority of what exists in Chicago.

Vanessa B.

Messy and unprofessional. Was called by the leasing agent by mistake asking to sign the lease, I stopped him mid sentence and told him we never were notified of being approved. He realized he called the wrong person and tried saving face (and not make himself look like a fool) by claiming he was calling about someone who applied for a different unit in the same building. He assured me no one else had applied for the unit we were interested in and they'd run the application same day. Few hours later we get an email saying another applicant was accepted. I'm sure it was the person he MEANT to call. The leasing agent's name was Ed. Don't waste your time.

Digital H.

This review is about Kass Management’s Condo Division

TL;DR—Kass's support from our community managers has gone downhill the past two years, costing our condo association thousands of dollars.

Kass has been our association management company since 2019. The financial side of their management has always been very good. The first several years went smoothly with Chris Bruno as our community manager. About two years ago, Chris left and we had four community managers in one year. Except for Jessica Walsh, who was wonderful, in my opinion, each community manager has been worse than the last. Here is an overview of serious issues:

Lisa Guidara, our current community manager, failed to immediately stop a handyman from working on plumbing in our boiler room and garage when a board member informed her that the person working on the plumbing wasn’t a licensed plumber. This is a CITY CODE VIOLATION, which, go figure, requires a licensed plumber to work on plumbing.

When asked about it, she said that the “claim was hearsay” and that she wasn’t going to stop work based on “rumor.” WHAT!? She also said that they don’t have the plumbing licenses of their vendors on file, which sounds like a HUGE miss and something that should be changed immediately.

This is unacceptable behavior from someone who is supposed to work on behalf of our building. I insisted that the work be reviewed by a plumber, which the board agreed to and there were a few serious issues:
The handyman did the work incorrectly which created an issue that could have caused a great deal of damage to our water heater system if it wasn’t taken care of
There was WATER dripping on a LIVE wire, which could have caused a fire!

If it weren’t for me pointing this out, there could have been serious consequences.

We also lost $3,000 as a result of Lisa incorrectly signing a contract AND her not flagging the expense before presenting it to the new board for payment approval.

She also performs at the absolute lowest level possible. When I ask for information, she typically takes the full ten days allowed under the ICPA. Every other community manager is able to provide the requested documents within a day or two max.

The most frustrating thing about Lisa is that she never wants to take accountability for any of her actions. She always states an excuse why it isn't her fault -- even when it is.

We lost over $2,000 in assessment interest from when I requested that the community manager look into moving to a higher-interest account to when Jessica came on board and finally took care of this. This was despite our board members reaching out to other community managers for the status of moving funds.

I did try, in good faith, to resolve the issues with Lisa both with the owner and Lisa. The owner never responded and Lisa never gave a meaningful response or resolution.

I do not recommend Kass, and I especially don’t recommend Lisa.