Erickson and Associates

Rented with E&A for more than 7 years paying more than $ 80,000 through them, being a property owner, and landlord myself, I could probably write a full novel about our experiences with them, but I’ll stick to some stand out topics.
To start with, anyone you deal with at E&A is unprofessional and on some permanent superiority power trip over tenants. It’s very clear, their attitude is that tenants are a disposable commodity and are treated as a burden rather than a customer. Maintenance requests and most any correspondence are met with hostility. It’s almost impossible to have a civil conversation when the other party is so condescending about everything and any time an argument or even legitimate concern is raised they just ignore it. Their power and decision will not be questioned by the lowly tenants.
E&A makes arbitrary threats for absolutely no reason. We were moving out and literally asked where we should drop off the keys on the last day of our lease. Instead of a courteous answer to a very clear and appropriate question, we were threatened with a holdover (3x monthly rent) if we didn’t return the keys in the morning. Tactless and unnecessary when we’re asking where and how to return the keys.
Our property had no lawn, but oak trees and wild grass and flowers. There’s really no reason to «mow» this sort of property unless it gets completely out of control, which hasn’t happened in years due to the lack of rain. Regardless, we were threatened several hundred dollars fine for lawn care if we didn’t have it mowed. Fine we’ll cut down the blooming flowers, but we were given less than 1 day to take care of it in the middle of the week and didn’t even get the notice until late evening. Just unnecessary threats and unreasonable time-​frames and the epitome of the mentality they operate under.
Conversely, they aren’t accountable for anything even when it’s their responsibility. During the hottest summer in Austin history, our AC went out. How long does it take to fix an AC? More than 30 days with E&A. Inside the house it didn’t drop below 90 degrees and days were routinely over 105 inside with all windows covered and fans running. We had to move out of the house for a month. The fridge in the unit broke which conveniently wasn’t covered by E&A, so we had to buy our own. No refund or compensation for having to find housing for a month, not even an apology… We also ended up losing hundreds of dollars in aquarium fish because they basically ended up cooking in their tanks.
E&A requires tenants to care for the lawn and immediate area surrounding the building. This is reasonable, except this spring when 3 full size trees fell on our unit. Not saplings, these were 40 ft trees weighing hundreds of pounds. Upon notifying them, their only response was that we, the tenants, are responsible for all trees, conversation over… As a property owner, I absolutely wouldn’t want a tenant dealing with downed trees lying on my building, and I want to know about it so I can get them safely cleared up and assess for roof or structural damages.
October 2014 flooding, our rear door, which was unknowingly dry rotting inside, got hit with a ton of water and the wood in the middle started falling out, ending up with a half inch gap at the bottom. It wasn’t until April before it was fixed and every time it rained, half our carpeted dining room ended up being soaked which we had to wet vacuum. Again they tried to put them blame on us even though we immediately filled out a maintenance request for the door along with the AC that broke again at the same time.
The unit is allowed to be toured the final 30 days of the lease, or the renter has to pay an additional month rent. This turned out to be one of the worst experiences I’ve ever dealt with. It was extremely difficult to get packed and moved when the unit is being toured multiple times a day. Had one realtor with their clients walk in the front door while I was in the shower and didn’t hear the knock. Complete invasion of privacy. Disregarding the fact that nobody wants to tour a house with someone else’s crap in it, not to mention what a house looks like when it’s being packed up, this policy should be illegal. Just extortion.
After 7 years of renting we finally moved out and got less than 10% of our deposit back. We hired a commercial cleaner after cleaning ourselves. E&A charged us a cleaning fee. They also found what has to be the most expensive carpet cleaner in Austin. It basically cost 3 times what any other carpet cleaner would charge, and we know this because we had the carpet cleaned several times while living in the unit. Most of the carpet cleaning needed to be done was in the dining room which was repeatedly flooded due to them not fixing the aforementioned door.
7 year renters, never missed a payment, hires professional cleaners, and bi-​annually cleans the carpets in their unit on their own, and basically no deposit back. You decide…

We lived in a property managed by Erickson for over two years. There are a few things that really ticked me off about this company and in retrospect, it all started from the application phase. The MLS listing for the house stated that they would accept a one– or two-​year lease; we wanted a two-​year lease and noted as such on our application. We got accepted for the house right away, but they then came back and told us that the first year would be at the rent listed on the MLS and the second year would be at a higher rate (an extra $ 75/​mo). I was p*ssed because I felt that they had reviewed our financial information and then decided that they would increase the rent on us because we could afford it instead of seeing that we were interested in a two-​year lease, then notifying us of increased rent for the second year BEFORE they pulled our credit to ensure that we were still interested. I don’t know for sure that this is what they were thinking, but it seemed a bit disingenuous to me to list a property as available for a two-​year lease, only to then come back AFTER looking at our financial information and increasing the rent for the second year at the outset. Regardless, we loved the property and the neighborhood so we decided to sign a lease, albeit with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.
When arranging the particulars of our move-​in, I spoke with Dean Erickson directly to ask him if we could get the carpet cleaned without chemicals as I have a child with special needs who is chemically-​sensitive. He has an indirect and vague communication style and I ended the conversation very confused, but understood that he was going to ask one of his administrative people to find out what the existing tenants’ plans were for carpet cleaning and if they were receptive to a more «green» carpet clean, that we would take it from there. I finally heard back from Erickson about 4 – 5 days before our scheduled move-​in date that we would have to hire and schedule our own people to come clean, which left me very little time to get this done. I spoke on the phone with Debbie about their miscommunication and she was very snippy with me over the phone. I then spoke with Kathy and we went back and forth and finally she apologized in an insincere manner and only after much aggravation. At that point she asked if we could «start over,» and I agreed.
When we got to the property with our keys and envelope, I could not understand the instructions as it referred to a lock box on the front door of the house. I tried using the keys provided to us to open the house but they did not work (frankly, I can’t even remember the point of having those keys). I called Erickson and spoke with Kathy and told her that the key they provided didn’t work. She asked me in a very condescending manner, «Well, did you read the instructions on the envelope?» When I told here there was NO lock box on the front door, her tone changed. She then went on to say that she was having a busy day and things were crazy and she is getting confused with everything.
When we accessed the property, it had not yet been professionally cleaned. The cleaners were running very late, which frustrated me because I had to be at the property to let them in. I tried calling the company three times with no response, so I finally called Kathy to see if she happened to know what time they committed to come to the house and she said, verbatim: «Well, let me just get out my crystal ball…» in a condescending tone. At this point I completely lost it and told her that I did not deserve to be spoken to in that manner and that her sarcasm was unnecessary. She asked what I expected from her and I told her that a more appropriate response would have been that the cleaners did not provider her with that information, plain and simple. Kathy then told me that she would like to «start over again» and I told her that we already did that! Only then did she contact the cleaners and then provide me with additional information about their anticipated arrival time.
I have never been treated as blatantly rude by a group of individuals in my life — and they all work in the same place! I called Dean Erickson to discuss my frustrations with him but he was disinterested and equally as rude and unhelpful as his staff, so I dropped the issue to save myself the aggravation. I will say that they were responsive and timely for service requests, for the most part, but otherwise this company is full of disrespectful individuals who don’t know anything about customer service or effective communication.

I was interested in viewing a property Erickson and Associates has for lease.
I called the number listed on the yard sign several times and left a message. No response. I called again the next day. It took a whole second day to get a response. The person I spoke with over the phone did not have information, they said I need to talk to «them» ??? I did not give up and after several phone calls with different people, I finally was successful in getting an appointment to view the property. The nice person who showed me the property did not know how much the house rented for. I felt like I was trying to solve a riddle just to get basic information for the property.
Their website is also problematic. Either you allow cookies or forget about getting any information.
This company is not user friendly or interested in renting property.

Rental property on Creedmoor in Austin infested with bugs and smelled of animal urine. They sent a company to clean the carpet after we were moved in and they soaked the carpet so much that it took three days to dry and it still stunk. Eventually Erickson and Associates replaced the carpet which was good, but took several phone calls to rude people at their company. The lady that answers the phone for them is just plain rude. She seems like she is in a bad mood before I even say anything.
The place had bugs when we moved in and they didn’t spray them until several months after we were in. They bugs continued, my guess since we were connected to another unit that didn’t get sprayed and the holes in the closet to the outside where a plastic pipe runs through it as well as holes where any cable enters the building… none of these were sealed off. Also when we complained again we were told it wasnt their problem and that it was our responsibility to contact and pay for the exterminator, which we did, two more times before moving out.
There were light bulbs out and filthy, I mean filthy air filters in the property, and then I saw on the move out instructions that we have to have working light bulbs when we leave and a new a/​c filter, and new batteries in the smoke detector.
The property has zero landscaping appeal. Bushes are overgrown and the plant beds are just dirt that becomes mud when it rains.
We told them we had two car and still they sent us warning notices about parking a second car. Then our neighbor connected to us had trash, including a stack of old tires, and kids playing in our part of the carport the whole time we lived there.
Overall the first three months were horrible, which is not a good thing for moving in, then any communication we had to make with the property after that was just as bad. I have told our realtor not to recommend this companies rental property and I CAN’T believe this company has an A+ rating with the better business bureau.
Overall this left a bad taste in my mouth and made my first year living in Austin a bad experience.

The only «nice» thing about this company is Don, the maintenance man. However, I do not believe he is licensed or certified. I think he is just a nice, handy-​man that has experience fixing things. Had we had more time to move (we were rushed due to a work transfer) I would have found these reviews very helpful and steered way clear of this place. We are only one month into our lease and have already experienced many of the issues already listed on this Unilocal page. I high question the validity of the 5-​star ratings. Issues abound in this place… if you are looking to rent, I would highly recommend looking elsewhere.
1) place was FILTHY when we moved in. I’m talking REAL dirty… at least ¼ inch of dust on the ceiling fans, bugs all around the blinds, turning on the heater caused an allergy attack b/​c of all of the dust around the vents. the place smelled like pet urine and shower was covered in comet (I guess their attempt at cleaning). My guess is the previous tenant was not given back the deposit for the cleaning that was needed… however it was not cleaned. So they got the whole deposit, our month’s rent, and we still had to cleaned the place. The place still has a slight smell of pet urine that we can’t seem to get rid of… and i’m sure we’ll be charged for that as well.
2) Can’t say enough how bad the paint job is… when we moved in there were scratches all over the doors, paint chipping off of the wall, etc etc. I assumed this was b/​c the previous tenant moved out in a hurry and scratched paint off the walls/​doors. However, one month later, after we are completely unpacked and moved in, i’m still seeing paint chips fall off the walls and doors. Very poor paint job. Opening the door the other day and some paint blew off the kitchen wall. Just small chips of 1/​8inch or so… but one year of 1/​8inch chips blowing off the wall on a windy day when i go out to the yard or come back in… it adds up to a patch that will appear. I’m sure we’ll be charged for the paint… they’ll get the deposit and pocket it and the next tenant will move into paint falling off the wall without any evidence of new paint.
3) Washing machine connections were completely shot. I hooked up the washing machine and turned the valve and water came up out of the handle… not even out of the connection gap (as if there was a faulty washer there). So that prevented us from doing any laundry for about 2 weeks until Don was able to come out and fix it.
4) No access to the attic. that’s not really a big huge deal. But, if you do decided to ignore the horrible reviews and rent from this property management company, be sure to have a ladder.
5) When we were looking at places there was no fridge. So we planned on getting a fridge. However, when we moved in, a month ago, the fridge was provided… yay! However, the fridge was not connected to the water supply line for ice and water. Again, not a huge ordeal… first world problems, I know. However, there’s kind of an expectation that if the fridge is provided and has the capability of being connected to the water supply, the water supply should be connected. Alas, it was not. It was crimped so it COULDN’T be connected and then Don found out it was the wrong size.
Those are just the main problems… I could go on and on. My wife and I were smart enough to photograph everything mentioned above (and more) so I’m anxious to see if everyone else’s negative reviews/​comments come true and we end up in a fight about the deposit.
In short, if you are looking for a place to rent, look elsewhere. There are plenty of property management companies out there. And i’m sure at least ONE of them is better than Erickson and Associates. I’m optimistic that they are not the leader of the pack!

All I can say is do not do business with them. They’re unresponsive, unprofessional, and just plain rude. You’ll get a better experience with just about any other property management company, so go with them instead.

I’m in the process of reporting Dean Erickson of Erickson and Associates to the Texas Real Estate Commission. This was recommended to me as a course of action by three other real estate agents because of the unethical dealings by Dean Erickson.
I terminated two contracts with Erickson and Associates because they were unable to conduct business in a professional manner:
— He overpriced my house and was unable to lease it in a 60-​day time frame in north Austin. That’s absolutely ridiculous give how nice my house was, the location, and the fact that occupancy was at 98% in the summer.
— They lie about the background of tenants and try to pressure you into taking people with questionable credit histories or who are from out of the country and thus have no credit history to speak of.
— They do not use certified and licensed repair people. There were so many repairs that either never got started or never got finished.
— They overcharged for a painting job and then refused to provide a detailed invoice via the painter. And, the painter was sloppy with his work. At least half of the outlets, he didn’t remove and tried to paint around them. Those that he did remove, he didn’t put back all the screws. I have photos of paint drippings on tile in the bathroom. None of this was every taken care of by Erickson and Associates.
Dean Erickson became threatening and tried to bully his way through things. He comes across as being this really nice guy, but if you don’t go along with him, he becomes very mean and ugly and disgustingly greedy. It’s quite a transformation. And trying to get his staff to follow-​up or even to have 1 point of contact instead of 3 — which is why they are in constant miscommunication not only with clients but with themselves — is impossible. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was their strategy so that they didn’t actually have to do any work.
My biggest regret was not coming out to Unilocal to see the reviews because there are so many that had the same experience. Generally speaking, it is difficult to find a reputable property management company in Austin mainly because most of them say yes to every property but may not have the manpower in place to manage the volume.
With Deann Erickson and Associates, it wouldn’t matter their volume. It’s Dean Erickson and his lack of ethics and the team he has put in place practice what he practices.

We lived for a year in a house managed by this company. I cannot recall a single positive interaction with anyone at this company. A really bad windstorm knocked down our back fence and blew a bunch of shingles off, and it was like pulling teeth to get them to repair them. They always talked to me in a really condescending way anytime I had a problem.
Now we have moved out, and it is STILL a nightmare. When I left the house for the last time, I left the mailbox keys and garage door opener by the front door. The nasty woman on the phone told me that they weren’t there, and that I was going to be charged for those items (even though I had bought and programmed the garage door opener after moving in). I told her that the only people who have been in the house since I left were either her team, or realtors showing the house, so if they are gone, it is of no fault of my own. She told me it was and started with the condescending voice again. I just wanted to let it out that these people are horrible and so infuriating to try to work with, and I can guarantee that even if I found the world’s most amazing house, if Erickson & Associates manages it, I would pass it up.
I don’t even want to give them 1 star, but have no choice.
Seriously, this is the worst property management group I have ever dealt with.

Our family viewed and immediately put in an offer on a home managed by Erickson. We were the first to put in an offer by several days. We loved the home so much that we offered more than the asking price – very clean offer for a multi-​year lease. They held our offer for a week until they received other offers, and the tenant «selected» another application. We later learned that the other applicant didn’t have a real estate agent, so there was no one to split the commissions with. Very shady group. I will avoid them in the future.

My husband and I lived in a property owned by a small management company. In our fourth year of living there, the old management sold our building to Erickson and Associates. We were apprehensive about the change, but it turned out to be an unfounded worry. E&A started to fix up the property almost immediately, replacing the entire building’s roof (which had leaked a few times in the time we’d lived there), and when our neighbors to the next of us moved out, they were in there replacing older appliances and (it looked like) things like the AC ducts and such. It was pretty obvious that they were updating the place so that they could charge more for the rent, since everyone there was getting such a deal for that particular neighborhood, but I think that’s to be expected when a bigger company buys from a small property that may not prioritize updates and renovations.
We had them as our landlords for maybe ¾ of a year before we moved out (to be closer to my husband’s office) and in that time they were prompt to respond to any of our issues (we had a broken AC unit and at another point the new roof was not perfect in one area, so after a heavy rain we had a small leak in the kitchen. I called and within an hour someone was there to fix it up). We moved out on July 30 (taking care to clean well) and less than a month later we got our full deposit back.
The negative reviews here seem to be about moving in, and we never did a move-​in with E&A, just a move-​out, so I can’t comment on that bit. I’ll emphasize that we did communicate with the office a lot during our move-​out to make sure that we were doing everything they wanted us to do in order to get our deposit back, and they were as good as their word, so. Nice folks.

We have rented a house through Erickson and Associates for a little over a year now and I have had nothing but great experiences with the staff (Kathy and Debbie) and the maintenance. Every person that we have come in contact with through Erickson has been wonderful! When we moved in, there were a few things not completed such as minor paint and few spots on the carpet. As soon as I sent a maintenance request two days later paint (the whole house) was completed and new carpet installed. When asked to renew our lease, Mr. Erickson made the call himself to offer renewal which is almost unheard of these days. I would HIGHLY recommend using Erickson and Associates.

I had a very similar experience dealing with this company as the other reviewers. The house I rented from them was filthy when I moved in. It also smelled like a litter box. I noted all this on the move in form and just cleaned it myself. When I moved out, the place was clean and almost ready for the next tenant. All they needed to do was fix the rest of the items that I listed on my move in form. A month later I was shocked to find out that they came up with enough charges to use up most of my deposit. They charged me for the things that were wrong when I moved in even though they were listed on my move in form as existing issues. They have ignored several calls and emails since then and don’t seem to care to make this right. So, if you’re thinking of dealing with Erickson, beware.

Again, negative stars! They set our move in date. When we arrived, the previous tenants were still there moving things out! They left their trash and the house was not made ready clean at all. I had to make multiple calls to get them to send out a cleaning service which consisted of likely illegal workers who really did not care about cleaning. They did not use cleaning solutions and merely smeared the dirt around. Erickson did not care. We asked them to send someone out to collect the leftover trash. They removed part of the trash but not all of it. Moreover, Erickson was frustrating to deal with through out the course of the lease. They are incredibly rude and will gang up multiple employees on a tenant. Upon moving out we left the trash that had been abandoned by previous tenants and were CHARGED A DISPOSAL FEE FOR PROPERTY THAT WAS NOT OURS! Will never rent with them again!

This company is notorious for scamming people as my roommates and I learned a little too late. They did not inspect the house or even clean it before we moved in. Also, they manipulated numbers and charges which required an attorney to refute.
The staff there was always harsh to us and would not help us understand the charges.
If you do not feel like dealing with and paying for lawyers then do not use Erickson and Associates.