Dudley Resources

Dervan Marshall _{on Google}

Oct 16th, 2020

As a property owner my experience with VIP Rentals was a nightmare. As a active duty military member and not being available at all times I trusted VIP Rentals to manage my property they did not communicate whenever things happened with the property i knew only after receiving a reduced rent payment and usually I'll have to speak with 2 or 3 persons to get an explanation. What put the nail in the coffin was when I terminated there service I was told by Timothy Dudley (tim) that if the tenant decided to stay at the property after there lease ended(even if it was a substantial amount of time after the lease ended) they would be entitled to a commission because they procured the tenant initially, which is absolutely incorrect which I found out after speaking to a lawyer. All these which is just a fraction of things that happen just confirmed my suspicions of there sketchy practices. I urge everyone especially my military personnel or spouses do your homework before choosing VIP Rentals for management or for a future rental property.

George Damianeas _{on Google}

Oct 19th, 2020

Scroll down and look at the first few reviews of VIP Rentals. I counted and flagged at least six reviews done by people that work at the company (some even show the parent company name, Dudley Resources, in their profile photos). This is misinformation. Unfortunately, this was a consistent theme in my experience using them to fill a vacancy for an investment property in Chesterfield.
I don’t write reviews but my experience with VIP Rentals / Dudley Resources was so negative that I felt the need to warn others. I truly do hope, however, that this was a one off experience.
I primarily worked with Joshua Preston and Cheryl Dudley. Among others, communication and overpromising/misinformation were the two biggest issues.
Communication:
While friendly and casual, Joshua Preston was quite difficult to get ahold of. There was never a time where I called and reached him on the first try. I developed a pattern of first trying him on his direct line first, then calling the front desk and having them transfer me. Not sure if he was ignoring me or just too busy to help a client but it always took me at least two attempts to get through (if I even got through that day). There was even a point where my prospective tenants called me and complained about VIP Rentals' communication.
In addition to being difficult to reach, VIP Rentals was not proactive. On multiple occasions, I was told something and had to reach out when it didn’t happen. The entire experience felt reactive and I felt like I needed to follow-up with them to make sure we were moving forward. If you are looking for a PM that is communicative throughout the process, I would not recommend using VIP Rentals. This is especially true if it is your first investment property and don’t know what to ask for.
Overpromising/Misinformation:
After a tenant was found, I asked Joshua if it would be smart to take pictures of the property before tenants moved in so that we could quickly turn it around later. He agreed and promised to have them completed before the tenants moved in. I gave him permission to enter the home to do this. As the date approached, I contacted him for a status update and he promised to have them edited during the weekend and back to me to review by the following Tuesday morning. They didn’t arrive. On the day my tenants moved-in, I followed my usual routine of trying to get ahold of him and finally did. He said he would have them to me by end of the week. Within the hour, Cheryl emailed me and said that they couldn’t share the photos because it was the IP of the company And that their services were done once the lease was executed. All I wanted to do is see the pictures that were taken of my home and that we’re going to be used for marketing purposes. If this was not allowed, Joshua should not have been promising to do these things. Also, I should have been notified much earlier (and not on the day tenants were moving in) that this was not able to be done. Had they informed me earlier, I could have hired my own photographers and managed that myself.
At the end of the day, they did find tenants. However, the level of professionalism towards me as the client, as well as my prospective tenants, was subpar. A reasonable expectation for a PM would be to stay communicative and provide the right information in a timely manner. VIP Rentals did not meet that reasonable expectations.

Kathryn DeFrank _{on Google}

Aug 6th, 2020

Just one of many things: It took several months for this company to believe us that we were missing half of our heating unit, we had the HVAC but no outdoor unit for the pair. When we brought this up, the dodged our questions or just let our calls go to voicemail. Instead of answering our questions, they amazon primed us two space heaters which caused problems with the electrical in the rental home. It took me calling the owner of this companies day job to get a response, and it took the property owner sending over a personal friend to get any traction on the installation going. They claimed that the owner wasn't willing to pay so there was nothing they could do, but as per VA law, you cannot rent a property without working heat. When they moved the property to a different rental company after one year, we were not told until the day of the yearly inspection was supposed to take place and our inspection time (which we had to take off work for) had passed. If you want a responsive company to oversee the property you live in - I wouldn't go with them.