Acorn + Oak Property Management — Attraction in Durham

From move-in to move-out, my experience with Acorn + Oak (specifically Anna Bloodworth) was horrible. Anna is incredibly rude and unprofessional and seems to take pride in disrespecting tenants and their belongings. The house was not move-in ready when I arrived - the grass was knee height, one of the toilets was running constantly which inflated my water bill so I had to contact the city to be reimbursed for a problem Acorn + Oak should've solved before my lease started, water was leaking out of the shower door creating puddles, the dishwasher was leaking, the kitchen tile was stained with previous tenants' dog urine, and there were spiders and roaches everywhere.

Within my first couple weeks as a tenant, a vendor who came to fix the shower leak (unsuccessfully - this issue ultimately remained throughout my entire tenancy) sent Anna pictures of caulking that had been applied along the entire perimeter of the primary bathroom. This caulking was there before I moved in, as documented by videos I took during my move-in inspection and pointed out by Anna herself when she initially came to check out the water leaking from the shower (which occurred within the 10-day window I had to point out problems that existed prior to my move-in anyway). Despite this, Anna sent me a very rude text accusing me of applying the caulking and threatening me with charges for removing it. When I presented her with the evidence above, she claimed that the caulking wasn't present in pictures she took DURING my move-in (which she interrupted my movers to take because she failed to take them beforehand) and therefore I must be lying. I went to the other bathrooms to see if caulking had been applied there and noticed it had, so I took pictures to let her know it was in the other bathroom as well, and since the caulking is clear, it took me multiple attempts to get it to show up in pictures, so its absence in the photos she took in a rush as I was moving into the house do not prove I applied it. I had to make multiple calls to the Acorn + Oak office and spend hours on the phone explaining the situation to get her boss to agree that I didn't apply the caulking and would not be charged for its removal. I couldn't resolve the situation with Anna because after accusing me of applying it despite my evidence to the contrary, she stated she "would no longer be responding about this issue." Imagine renting from a company that threatens you with charges for things you didn't do and refuses to respond to your attempts to prove your innocence. You do not treat people like this, especially people who are paying thousands of dollars to live somewhere they're supposed to be able to call home.

Anna also SAT ON MY BED when she was at the house to check out a maintenance request. In addition, every time I asked a simple question to make sure I understood their policies, she either acted like it was a huge inconvenience or refused to answer altogether, including walking away when I was in the middle of asking.

During the last two months of my tenancy when the house was listed for rent, MULTIPLE people came to my house outside of scheduled showings, walked around my yard, and peered in my windows. This is incredibly unsettling and a huge invasion of privacy. While I realize they cannot completely prevent this from occurring, when I brought it to Anna’s attention, I at least expected her to express that this was not something Acorn + Oak encouraged and to instruct prospective tenants they could only come to my house during scheduled showings. She refused to do this and blamed me for being bothered by strangers randomly showing up to my house.

There are multiple posts on r/bullcity detailing similar experiences with this company, and I wish I had seen those before I made the decision to rent with them. Stay far away from Acorn + Oak, especially properties managed by Anna Bloodworth, unless you enjoy being threatened with charges for things you didn’t do, property managers sitting on your bed, and strangers showing up to your house at all...

Friendly reminder to avoid giving this predatory, pro-gentrification business your time energy and money.

PLEASE DO NOT RENT OR LEASE FROM THESE PROPERTIES MANAGERS!

If you are a tenant, especially one with a larger budget, they will lure you in with contrived kindness and assurances, but please do not take the bait.

Simply look up their BBB rating and look closer, they are only in it for the landlords / property owners. Those are to whom a majority of these "glowing" reviews belong.

They are NOTORIOUS for inventions and machinations designed to steal your security deposit. I consider myself one of the lucky ones, I do not have children, and though I work full time, was able to eke out enough time to take them to smalls claims court. It was then and only then, that the leasing agents and the managers became responsive. And after having to spend more money.

It truly doesn't matter to name any individual agent; the entire operation is oriented towards stealing from tenants. Theft with a cold side of an undercurrent anti-blackness. Please spare yourself the drain of your precious time, energy, and effort.

At a time when houselessness and income disparity continues to wreak material and psychological havoc, particularly in cities like Durham that are undergoing massive gentrification nudges, you can look to companies like this one to thank for the inevitable increase in housing insecurity and houselessness in your town. CHOOSE WISELY, LOOK ELSEWHERE

For homeowners considering using Acorn + Oak to manage your property, look elsewhere.

The company is no longer the same company it was years ago. Michelle, the owner, is no longer hands on and doesn't care about customer concerns. The property manager Daniel is terrible and negligent, and their customer service rep, Jeffrey is unable to resolve client concerns.

We did business with Acorn + Oak from 2014-2020 and everything had been positive and quiet for many years. There were a few hiccups here and there but things really escalated when we had a tenant turnover in 2020. When the new tenant moved in they promptly reported a "mold issue" in our bathroom. While initially being described as minor issue by Acorn + Oak it ended up being significant enough and we were looking at a $10k repair.

After an unexpected bathroom remodel, an unhappy new tenant, and complete negligence on Acorn + Oak's side, we terminated our relationship with them. To be clear, per our lease agreement and rental contract, Acorn + Oak were responsible for routine inspections and specifically move out inspections. If the new tenant was able to identify it immediately, why the issue was not caught earlier is beyond me especially after looking at photos of the mold that had been growing for several months?

I had to get involved directly and contact the tenant to apologize and to understand what exactly was going on and also coordinate with the company doing the repairs -- so what exactly am I paying a property manager for? When trying to escalate our concerns to Michelle, she flat out refused to answer or return our calls and punted us over to the brand new customer service rep who was not helpful. Zero accountability or empathy was given by anyone from Acorn + Oak through this issue.

When trying to close out our account Daniel continued to fumble with silly mistakes like -- who has the tenant's security deposit? who had keys to the basement? I thought this was all dead and done, yet today I get an email from Daniel saying we have an unpaid invoice from July 2020 (over 2 years ago after we terminated business with them!). After a few minutes of flipping through invoices I was able to confirm this was paid from our account reserves for repairs under $300 -- something easily verifiable on their side.

Acorn + Oak continue to be mismanaged and have outgrown their ability to provide adequate support for their clients. Its clear they no longer care about their clients or their properties and sadly Michelle has become an absentee company owner.

There's plenty of other property managers to use in the triangle area, so don't bother giving Acorn + Oak...