UDR Reviews

Pros

Pay and benefits good. Middle management good to work for.

Cons

The upper management are overpaid and extremely dysfunctional. Back stabbing was the norm at the Denver HQ. Outside of Denver was fine, as long as you didn't have to interact too much. Looking at Denver? Stay away!

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your people outside of Denver. Listen and work with each other. Get rid of the hidden agendas in upper management. Why do you have an HR director who is proud of her ability to fire people???

Pros

Good pay, and the ability to work around and with family time. Above average benefits but they are a but pricey.

Cons

Lack of vision or planning by IT management. Got big to fast, feeling growing pains. Bad managers at multiple levels.

Pros

Great Benefits and profit sharing. At certain properties the ability to make great commissions is a great possibility. Also most onsite property managment managers are flexible for school and personal time off.

Cons

Poor communication from Upper management. Advancement with this company is near to impossible. And if you do not have a degree you are waisting your time trying to advance. Also this company is very poor at giving recognition for a job well done.

Advice to Senior Management

Change your mentality. You need to listen to your employees instead of brushing them off at every encounter. Treat all employees at every level with respect.

Pros

UDR has a good training plan implemented through the corporate office. You will probably attend 2-3 of these classes a year which helps keep your daily duties relevant. They are pretty flexible in getting time off, good benefits, and overall, everyone knows how to have a good time at work as well as outside of work.

Cons

There is a lack of communication from upper management regarding what works on a property and what they want to see implemented. The Denver office is really good at creating new business practices for everyone to follow, but horrible at researching what will actually be effective on a property. UDR will tell you what you want to hear to get you in the door and then forget about you.

During the interview process, I was told that I would move up in the company within 6 months and have another big promotion most likely within a year. Needless to say, this has not happened and I was considered "lucky" to receive only a 1% raise...far from the several different types of bonuses that I was promised. I guess this raise was meritted after my job duties increased tenfold and I was not being compensated for these new dutiesI did not sign up for. When explaining my job role, I tell people I do just about everything, as that is what I do

The level of professionalism at UDR is below subpar. Employees are not treated the same or with respect. HR does a horrible job addressing serious complaints, which in the end, could cost them. Everything revloves around the bottom dollar and what is best for the company, not its employees. UDR would rather hire new employees at a cheaper rate than address the issues of its hard working employees that have been with the company for years. Considering the industry, they should know that in retrospect, it is cheaper to keep a current employee than to hire a new one.

Working for UDR will give you relevant industry experience and build your resume, but that is about it.

Advice to Senior Management

UDR needs to take a look at how things actually function at the properties. Upper management should spend more time digging into the serious issues and searching for solutions for problems, not just bandaids.

Pros

Great leadership, great bonus program, super benefits!! Loved the Company!!

Cons

Sometimes the direction of Denver was off base

Advice to Senior Management

It was my pleasure working for UDR. I have been looking for another Company to call home since leaving UDR.

Pros

Opportunities to telecommute. The people below upper management are easy to work with. Business casual dress code. Convenient office locations.

Cons

No promotion structure. Incompetent senior and executive management. Poor requirement definitions. Sub par pay. Hi attrition rate with no replacement of employees that have left.

Advice to Senior Management

While the company is doing well in tough economic times, it would be wise for the company to take better care of its employees to avoid losing talented resources to more progressive companies.

Pros

I would have to say that there are no real benefits to working for UDRT specifically, however, getting into property management in general can be a good thing for some people. If you are outgoing, love working closely with people, are good in sales and customer service, then this might be right up your alley. Without a college degree, property managers can earn $40-$70k a year, and that's pretty impressive when you consider other positions and the length of time it would take to climb the corporate ladder without a BA. This is what initially attracted me to the industry, as I was in the process of finishing my degree. If you don't mind working weekends, and sometimes long, unpredictably chaotic days, this is a good job for someone fresh out of school that wants a broad range of work experience quickly. Though I've never met many recent graduates that stayed in the industry long, I have seen several of my peers (all men whom recently graduated from VA colleges) quickly rise to the ranks of upper management, seeing sizable promotions with little or no effort on their part. So I would highly recommend this line of work if you see yourself in this capacity. In addition, I would try employment with a company that is not a REIT (real estate investment trust). REITS are pretty much beholden to a group of shareholders (that most likely have never visited your property and could care less about what occurs there as long as a profit is being made year over year according to their statements). You will find better pay, better property budgets, and generally better care of the residents at your community if you seek a management company that is an LLC, fee managed, or privately owned.

Cons

Property management in general is pretty thankless most of the time. You usually only "hear" from residents if they are unhappy, so I would say that one of the best experiences you can have is turning around a community of displeased customers by consistently proving that you'll go the extra mile for them. Companies like UDRT are notoriously unconcerned about customer service until it affects their bottom-line. Don't expect the focus of your job to be anything but revenue growth in the eyes of upper management. This makes it quite difficult to satisfy the masses while you're raising their rents through the roof. But on those rare occasions where you find yourself meeting absurd financial goals-- while simultaneously sump-pumping a flooded apartment, you realize that making a positive impact in people's lives might just be enough to offset the 90% negativity you encounter on other days. Being a dedicated manager might make you a personal hero in the eyes of traumatized tenants who wake at 2am to find their possessions floating around them, but reality sets in when those same tenants arrive at your office the next day for some kind of monetary compensation for their property loss, etc and all you can offer them are excessive apologies. UDRT will do everything in their power to avoid responsibility, or in the least will expect you to diplomatically diffuse these crisis situations, offering little in the way of compensation save a few pizza coupons. I remember almost losing my job when I made arrangements for a family to relocate to a local hotel after their apartment caught fire from an electrical anomaly. How often is it that one is reprimanded for putting people first instead of the almighty dollar? This was my realization that UDRT was the company I wanted to represent.

Advice to Senior Management

I would try putting people first. Employees and customers need to feel respected, considered, and appreciated. Valuable assets to your organization and quality customers (who pay their rent on time and keep their apartment in good condition) will be the sacrifice you make to increase your NOI a measley percentage point each year.

Pros

It was a friendly and collaborative atmostphere. Plenty of work to do, but also plenty of time to bond with co-workers.

Cons

I worked in the Dallas office and at times the communication between the corporate office in Colorado and the Dallas office could have been better.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep on doing what you are doing. The $1.7MM disposition a few years ago certainly strengthened the portfolio and had UDR better prepared to weather the Great Recession.

Pros

UDR was a great place to work for because it provided me with a lot of practical knowledge of a large public REIT. I was able to speak directly to the CEO about the experience and it seemed like a very relaxed, professional place to work.

Cons

I don't have a negatives except that the internship program is still new. Compared to larger, more structured internship programs, UDR still needs work. Nevertheless, I loved every minute of it and learned quite a bit.

Advice to Senior Management

Work on structuring the program a bit more, but don't become too "corporate." If an intern has a great idea, foster it, let them grow, and give positive feedback. Let the interns interact with all of the departments, and learn about the entire organization. Set up some social functions to help them interact with all levels of the firm.

Pros

The upper management is great -- vice presidents, regional managers, etc.
Benefits package is a nice package -- big company benefit.
Potential to grow and relocate anywhere in the US.

Cons

The property managers at many of the properties from my experience are not at all professional or experienced. It all just depends on your property and the area you're in.
Onsite managers do NOT train at all -- they throw you in and expect you to do a lot of what they are supposed to be doing.
Depending on the area the pay scale is not so great.
Company is a little cheap when it comes to employees for being such a large company.

Advice to Senior Management

Closely monitor your property managers -- their fellow onsite staff will not report anything they do because they are afraid to lose their jobs so they must be monitored by upper management to weed out the week/unprofessional property managers. It is ridiculous what some of them get away with.