Complaint Review: Donna Cornell - Rochester New York

In her website, she states: Nothing but the BEST, Professional & Knowledgeable!. And As a Real estate professional I take pride in finding the right home or investment for my clients. And Let my team help you make all the right choices. And As a life long Rochester resident, I know many of the Rochester and surrounding area's. If she is so focused on the benefits of her clients, then why did she knowingly let me pay more for properties than they were worth, and buy in really bad neighborhoods (even in inner-city Rochester, some neighborhoods are worse than others). I understand that she is trying to maximize her commissions, and it is my responsibility to verify the value of a property and the quality of the location. Understandable. But the fact remains that she is not truly looking out for the investors best interests. This fact has been confirmed by other investors who had the same experience, and was further confirmed by another Realtor by the name of Andy Miller who said Donna is great! She helps me get more for the properties than they are worth quite often, and she really knows how to close.

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To clarify, she did deliver expense reports, but they did not specify the detail that I needed, such as line item entries of each income and expense for each unit. I tried to make it as easy as possible for her several times by providing pre-formatted excel spreadsheets to fill-in. In the end, she was barely able to complete a single income and expense report herself. I ultimately had to spend 15 minutes to call her each month to review her receipts and her notes to get the financial information and put it in excel myself.

First of all, how could I get rich off of 5 rental properties bringing in a net total of less $2000 a month? Get rich, no. Supplement my income, yes. The only fantasy I had was that the people that I was paying market rate for the responsible management of my properties would manage them properly and as we had agreed. Without a doubt, the single biggest problem in maintaining and occupying the properties has been the managers. Secondly, if Donnas experience managing my properties made me (her) swear off property management as a service and stick only with sales then why did she offer the same management service to other investors that called me for recommendations more than 6 months later? Donna accepted the responsibility of managing my properties on her own free will with full understanding of what was required. If My husband has nothing to do with my real estate business then why did he get involved in the contractual dispute I had with Donna by sending me an email? I never attacked him. Read the details above. Whether he looks after my safety and best interest as any husband would is irrelevant to the fact that it is inappropriate and unethical for him to get involved. He is not on the contract, and is not a part of the relationship. It really irritates me that Donna states: This person constantly pressed myself and my husband into attempting to make investments with him and not wanting to offend a client or the person we simply brushed it off and tried to be polite about it hoping that the person would stop bringing up the subject. It was her idea from the start. She introduced me to the idea of investing in foreclosures near the Lake Ontario. I had never even considered it until she mentioned it. She stated quite clearly that both she and her husband wanted to make investments together, start an LLC, take company vacations, etc. She said this in several forms several times all the way until I signed for the properties 3 month later. She also stated that she and her husband were going to visit me in San Francisco when they came out for a convention he had to attend. That also never happened. Donnas lack of common sense as a manager is clearly indicated by the following statement: send his wife into unsafe situations in the dead of night How could I send her in to unsafe situations? I wasnt there. No one made her do it, she did it on her own free will. Obviously I cant be responsible for the unsafe decisions she makes concerning her own safety. It is her responsibility to assess every situation and make the best decision for everyone involved. She should have called the police. I find her statement of shift balme for their own failures to be disturbing. To summarize, she: 1. Let a tenant into a unit without a contract and after a month he abandoned it 2. Would not deliver a must pay notice to a tenant to that abandoned a unit (the brother of the above tenant who did have a contract) 3. Would not supply the name and location of store of brothers above so I could try to collect rent (how do I know what really happened?) 4. Had to be threatened with legal action in order to supply receipts for maintenance work 5. Did not voluntarily expedite the return of an earnest money deposit for a property that was not purchased 6. Took 6 weeks to complete a 1 week max job 7. Would not complete other maintenance issues in a timely manner 8. Says that I am the reason why she quit property management, but still offers the service to other investors more than 9 months later 9. Accuses me of attacking her husband when the facts clearly show otherwise 10. Let her husband write me a 5 page email disputing everything except what really happened 11. States that I constantly pressed her to make other investments together when in fact it was her idea and communicated interest from the start through when I signed for the properties 12. Accuses me of sending her into unsafe situations when that is physically impossible Who is shifting the blame and not taking responsibility for their actions?

I find the report and accusations that this person makes offensive. This is an example of a person who just really thought that he was going to make it rich by buying property 3000 miles away and sit back while the money just rolled in. He clearly stated that he thought investing was a money game like Monopoly, he called it "the investing game". He came to Rochester and walked through and viewed every single property he purchased multiple times never once buying anything unseen. He clearly saw each property and the areas where they are located. He clearly wanted to buy homes that were low cost so that he could buy as many of them as possible. It's not like the areas where he bought these properties suddenly changed when he left the area and went home or at night when he was asleep. He clearly thought that being a landlord was a game and that he would just make money by doing nothing. He attacks my family (Husband) who did nothing but what any husband would do in protecting his wife from someone who was trying to shift balme for their own failures, send his wife into unsafe situations in the dead of night and then attack his wife's character. My husband has nothing to do with my real estate business and only looks after my safety and best interest as any husband would. This person constantly pressed myself and my husband into attempting to make investments with him and not wanting to offend a client or the person we simply brushed it off and tried to be polite about it hoping that the person would stop bringing up the subject. I'm guessing that "Dlabs" has apparently not done well with his investments even now long after leaving his relationship with me. In fact it was this experience with him that made me swear off property management as a service and stick only with sales. He begged me to do this for him even though I told him several times I had never done it for any other client before. This whole thing is nothing more than someone who was living in a fantasy world thinking that invesments were easy and he would get rich quick and when it did not work for him he wants to blame everyone but himself. I would suggest he stop watching late night "get rich" infomercials.

6 weeks for 2 day repair (equals lost rent) not getting contract for new tenant that moves out a month later (no contract = no way to collect) collecting rent of the 15th of the month to discover that the tenant moved out without notice (she should have been there on the 1st) having her husband reply to disputes instead of herself (he is not on the contract) despite her claim that she was an accountant, she NEVER turned in monthly statements. i literally had to call her to go through the income and expenses for each property each month. this process took about 10 minutes. is excel really that hard? she only delivered receipts at the very end when i had to threaten her with legal action.

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