JD Management Group, Inc

For the past couple years we have used, to our great satisfaction, JD Management to represent our rental units to prospective tenants. John and Mario have done an excellent job in not only advertising the units but also quickly renting them out to excellent tenants. They are punctual, professional and aim to please. We definitely recommend using them to rent out your units, they will make an otherwise stressful process run smooth at a reasonable cost.

Since my original review Jonathan has made sure all the repairs were made, including having the bath tub professionally refinished. The landlord also made sure I was reimbursed the cost of my damaged items. I’m once again a happy tenant!

I love JD Management!
I rented a studio on the top floor of Treehaven 2325 Ridge Rd, Berkeley, CA and from viewing the property to moving out, everything was easy and enjoyable.
Mario Perez showed up half an hour early to show me the apartment. He responds to almost all my phone calls and if he doesn’t pick up, he returns them within the hour. Punctuality and reliability, I mean how more professional can you get? When I couldn’t meet with him to sign the paperwork, he let me sign everything electronically and email them to him. Jonathan Davis even picked up his phone when his wife was in labor at the hospital. God, I love these people. They really care about their work and their tenants.
Maintenance is awesome! JD Management has an online system that lets you request maintenance work and pay rent. When I poured too much bacon grease down my sink, maintenance came the next day when I was in class to clear my drains and calcium build up in my faucets. When my light burned out, maintenance came on that Saturday to change it.
The building is about 90 years old, but still maintained well. Every weekend maintenance vacuums the carpet and a gardener tends to the bushes. The building is secure and the tenants are trustworthy enough to leave packages for weeks outside your door. Most of the tenants are generally quiet. The neighboring co-​ops have some wild parties, but they’re friendly enough to give notice and provide us with their phone numbers if they get too loud.
My only complaint is the water bill. They use an independent company called Northwestern Utility Billing Services to charge the tenants for sewage and water usage. My water bill ranges from $ 50-​$ 60/​month even when I was on vacation. I guess it’s understandable because electricity, gas, and garbage is included in rent.
Rent is a little steep, but worth it. The rooftop has a view of the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. I would rather rent from JD Management than deal with the Berkeley slum landlords that give you nonstop headaches.

Jon Davis is a great property manager. The apartment I leased from him was new, clean, and well maintained. He worked with our financial situation and got us into a great apartment at the time. I do not have any complaints, and I am happy to have had him as a property manager at the time… hopefully we can work together in the future.

I’m not sure what the problem is. I leased an apt from JD in west Oakland for a year. I never had a problem. I paid my rent on time and Jon Davis was always reachable for me. I didn’t have a long credit history and when I moved in I had to pay an extra deposit. When I moved out I received the entire deposit back within 2 weeks. Jon Davis was one of the best property managers I have ever had. I even invited him to my superbowl party.

I saw a listing for a studio, called, and scheduled a time to view it. Since I live outside of the Berkeley area, Mario Perez said to call him when I got to the building. I told him I would be there at 5:30. When I got there (exactly on time) and called him, he said someone had come earlier and rented the unit. Since he knew I was driving from quite a ways away and we had an appointment, I think this was very rude of him. I won’t waste my time with these inconsiderate folks again!

Do NOT even consider living in a place «managed» by this company. We used to love our apartment when it was managed by North Berkeley Properties. Then, JD Management purchased it, and it went downhill fast. They are completely unprofessional, unresponsive, unpleasant, and seemingly uninformed about any of the Berkeley Rent Board laws.
Our experience echoed a lot of other commenters. The wiring was in such a state of disrepair, that the power would go out for seemingly no reason and completely short out the circuit breaker panel. It would take JD a day or more to get back to us about it, and then we would wait several more days for an electrician because he «didn’t want to pay extra for him to come out sooner».
The best part was that the woman upstairs would shove all of her food waste down the garbage disposal, so that it would clog, and we would come home to find our kitchen flooded with her dirty water and food remnants all over the floor. Sometimes, it even backed up into our bathtub, filling it with foul-​smelling sludge and leaving us without use of our kitchen sink or bathtub. And since they didn’t want to pay for a plumber to come out right away, we would be left for DAYS in this mess. Out of the NUMEROUS times this happened, they never once told the woman upstairs to stop throwing all of her food down the drain.
These people will not return your phone calls in a timely manner (if at all) about noise complaints, health and safety issues, leaking ceilings or other repairs, but if they lose your check one month you will be harassed until you send them a replacement. There were so many other problems with this company that we eventually moved because we couldn’t handle it anymore. In summary, this is the sleaziest management company I have ever dealt with, and I wish I could give them negative stars.

I wholeheartedly agree with and want to echo Miranda’s sentiment. We recently rented an apartment «managed» by JD Management. Really all they try to do is manage your expectations.
Long story short, the building was completely wrongly wired, and we found out that we were paying for electricity we weren’t using ($ 250 electricity bills per month!). JD Management was less than forthcoming about the problem and not even the slightest bit contrite.
They also did a bunch of renovation in our apartment WHILE WE WERE LIVING THERE.
If you are thinking of renting an apartment managed by JD Management… DON’T!!!

An absolute disaster and not to be trusted. I lived in an apt building ‘managed’ by J. Davis, or JD Management, that had holes in the floors, fire doors that jammed and so were propped open (meaning you could escape in a fire but also meant anyone could walk into the building, which was right off of University Ave), dogs (although the owner said dogs were not allowed in the building and one tenant let his dog run loose in the hallways), basement windows propped open, debris strewn all over the basement. The list goes on and on. Now for the apt itself: during my tenancy of less than one year, I had two serious ceiling leaks, the toilet broke, the bathroom sink pipes were so rusted they disintegrated and leaked, the phone line didn’t work (which meant the doorbell didn’t either), the lock to the front to was inoperable, and repairs that JD Management promised would be made before I moved in (that gave him over 20 days to complete them) were not completed before move-​in.
The building was a mess and the property manager disorganized at best (criminally negligent at worst). In the interest of full disclosure, I took both JD Management and the owner of the apt building to mediation with the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board. The RSB decided in my favor, but the owner is appealing, as is his right. I can whole-​heartedly say *avoid* this ‘management company’ like the plague and, if you have the misfortune to live in one of his buildings, know your rights!!! I eventually moved out with legal cause because of the second ceiling leak. They did hold my deposit and last month’s rent and I’m still fighting to get it back, but justice will prevail. It will just take a while!
Happy house-​hunting!

This property management company is so rude. I have rented at least 4 – 5 places in my time in living in Berkeley/​Oakland and have rarely met a property manager as unprofessional as the owner of this company. He gave us a hard time about making repairs on a place before we even moved into the property. Windows and doors didn’t close properly.

Do not rent an apartment from this management company. I lived in Treehaven Properties (2523 Ridge Rd) my second year at Cal, and my dealings with the landlord were a mess. Besides the fact that the prices are high for VERY old buildings with old pipes and fixings, the landlord is careless and irrational. The manager is the reason this place gets at least one star because he is very courteous and prompt, but the landlord just kills the deal.
A couple complaints. First, we’ve had troubles with our sink and draining at least twice during the school year. My roommates and I would come home from school to an overflowed kitchen or bathroom sink full of dirt, sludge, and god knows what. We would call the manager and file complaints, but no one would come to fix the pipes (unless they entered when we weren’t home), let alone help us clean it.
Secondly, our landlord was very irresponsible about Berkeley’s rent policy on interest on security deposits. He didn’t give us the interest by the deadline (some date in January), so we left him a formal note saying that we were going to deduct the 10% as stated by the law. He later said that he actually did leave a note while we were gone during winter break, which none of my roommates or I saw. Also, he technically entered without leaving a 24-​hour notice. I asked at least 7 other rooms in the building if they had received their security deposit interest, and only the tenants that had resided there for more than a year had received it (2 out of 7 rooms). That definitely is not part of the policy, and I was shocked at how irresponsible Joseph (landlord) was. All of my friends who lived in other apartments had said they had promptly received their checks or some notification from their landlord.
Lastly, the cost of the utilities we had to pay (water and sewage) irritates me. Treehaven uses some third party payment system, and I eventually figured out that our utility bill stayed the same, no matter how much we used or saved. During winter break, in which we were gone for more than half of December, our utility bill for that period INCREASED by a couple dollars. It seems that this third party billing company takes the water usage of the entire building and divides it by the number of tenants living in the apartment. What’s stupid is the idea that, assuming half the tenants are Cal students who go home for winter break, the other half of the tenants managed to consume enough water to go past twice the normal usage. Plus, I’m pretty sure most of the water and sewage utilities would come from the city of Berkeley, so I’m guessing there’s some shady business going on.
All in all, my very long rant will hopefully convince you to stay away from Treehaven, if not JD Management in general.
Oh, and to top it off, they lost the form that my roommates and I signed to split our security deposit. And then when we turned it in again, they deducted $ 125 for cleaning even though the manager had said it was amazingly spotless (definitely cleaner than the previous tenants had left it before). This place just drives me crazy thinking about it.

No stars for this company. They managed my property for a year and they ran it i (the apartment) into the ground. They stole money from me — meaning they charged me for landscaping and did not do it. They left a tenant with a backed up bathroom for two days. The water ran into the hall and bedroom leaving the wood floors no longer use able. I would not suggest you use this company. It was so bad when called to give them my 30 day notice they knew they had ripped me off so much — they allowed me to terminate our contract that day. My new repair man has three other canceled clients of this company … bad, bad, bad

I just phoned this management company regarding a listing on Craiglist for an apartment for rent across the street from my building. When the person answered the phone with an unprofessional, «hello?» I had to ask whether I called the right number.
When I voiced my concern, that a prospective tenant was there and blocking my driveway, and their car had expired tags, which I felt was a double whammy of disrespect for neighbors and an indicator of potential nonpayment of rent (if they couldn’t pay the DMV), I was met with further lack of professionalism.
Let me elaborate.
The man who answered the phone ID’d himself as the real estate agent who was hired by the building owners to place the listing. But then he told me I was calling the wrong person. I should call the owners. Okay, can you tell me who they are or pass along the numbers? «No, that’s confidential information,» he replied. «You can look it up in public records.»
«So you’re telling me that it’s confidential but I can look it up in public records?»
«Yes.»
“Do you realize that what you’re telling me is a contradiction? You cannot look up confidential information in public records, sir.”
«Ma’am, I’m getting off the phone now.» Click.
Additionally, during the course of that painfully go-​nowhere conversation, we discovered a mutual acquaintance with the building’s handyman, who he advised I should speak to about it. OK, so let me get this straight: Dude is hired (paid money by the owners) to find the best possible tenants – you should see the promises made on the JD Management website! – and a direct neighbor and building owner calls with a legitimate concern, but he has no time of day for her and refers her to the handyman who is NOT hired to rent the apartment out?
Interestingly, a Unilocal search for these guys produces this much of a cached poor Unilocal review that has apparently been removed: «these guys were better at marketing than at managing. They are always late. They sent us bills for things that were agreed upon that we would not pay (the landlord would) IN THE LEASE. When showing»
Somehow (are the rumors true that biz owners can PAY Unilocal to have bad reviews removed?) that other poor review was removed. Here I am, a real person with a real review… hopefully this one will stick around.
I think that if building owners such as I are to be able to rely on Unilocal when hiring potential contractors we should be informed. Based on my experience with JD Management, I felt sorry for the owners who pay and trust him, because they are not getting what they are promised on the JD site. And I feel informed so that when the time comes, I know one company so stay far away from while I’m looking for a trusted, professional management company.
I’d like to add, too, that there’s a chronic trash problem here. That is, the owners or so-​called management BOTH do not designate a resident to wheel out (and back in) the waste management bins and do not provide enough of them.
As a result, residents such as I pick up trash from our yards constantly, trash that blows over from overstuffed garbage bins. One never knows if and when those overstuffed bins will find their way to the curb on the correct day, or back from the curb afterward (I type this on Monday; pickup day is Thursday and the bins are still an eyesore at the curb + one in the actual street). BLIGHT! Thanks, slumlords!