leasing agent

portfolio manager

community manager

maintenance person

property accountant

Cardinal Group Companies

My cell was very turbulent and toxic.

Training is quick. If you don't catch it, too bad, you'll never have the chance again. If you even get trained in the first place.

Organization is awful. Imagine trying to put together a novel that's 1000 pages and has no page numbers. All while it's shuffled around in different piles and moved every two months. That's what trying to find any resource is like. Some things are in the SOP site, some are on this Google page, but another portion is on the solar winds website? Everything is everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.

Reaching out for help from higher ups on occasion for no answer or their answer to be a "Look in SOP". Which as explained is not helpful.

Priorities was always leasing, of course. And anything I said to avoid a problematic renewal such as not renewing someone with a poor payment history would go out the window. The numbers mattered the most. But then when my AR was bad, I'm the problem.

I was regularly a scapegoat, and had to fill in holes where I shouldn't have had to. The company also turned face on us on some of our most severe problems, leaving us to to the wolves, even though they created the problems. Worse yet- if anyone wants to talk to corporate it just circles back to the office. They forward the office the voice messages or the email for us to take care of anyway.

Stress effected my staff and I so badly that some of us couldn't keep food down while on shift. Additionally most of my staff, including myself, have cried or had a mental breakdown while on shift.

Work/life balance is something you must enforce. Regularly emails, calls, and texts from work come through after hours or on weekends for last minute report requests from corporate or emergencies. Early on I stopped answering work report requests after a certain time, as my work time was cutting heavily into my life.

I understand this may be an isolated experience, but it was what happened regardless.

Our property and staff was abandoned by this company and I'll never forget that. 

I worked for Cardinal Group for about a year and a half at one of their properties Carolina Creek and I can say that this is the worst experience I’ve had working for any company.  During a terrible time In my life , (having to euthanize my fur baby due to a long drawn out battle with cancer) their concern was to provide the euthanasia documentation.  No joke, I got a call while I was in the vet office! The vet had just put the papers in an evenlope for me so I didn’t have to look at them because she was being sympathetic because she saw what I was going through! But my work made me open them and take a picture right when I walked out of the vet office.  I was in tears!  I was using my PTO that day too! My paid time off that I earned! That shows you they do not care about their employees!  I use to always get calls and texts from my boss 7pm, 10pm, 11pm, asking questions about work! They didn’t care!!  It was so annoying to the point my family was like do not answer, your off the clock!  Also any concerns I had were dismissed. I reached out so many times for help from them to discuss stuff that was happening and they never listened or cared! Ideas for improvement were shot down and not taken seriously. I received a write up for an issue out of my control and when I discussed it with corporate, they apologized and agreed that the issue was out of my control but still refused to remove the write up from my file. It really bothered me to have a write up in my file that was for something I did not do! 

There also wasn’t a proper delegation of job duties. I ended up having to do my duties as well as the community managers duties.  They were asking for work to be done on strict deadlines but not allowing the necessary time to complete the tasks.  I finally quit and now have a job where I go in and do my job and I go home. I don’t hear drama all day and the new company I work for  has already told me they appreciate how hard I am working.  

During the time I worked at Carolina Creek, I felt like I worked in a hostile work environment. Take careful consideration before working for this company.

If I could give this company a 4.5 stars overall that would be preferred.  I have worked for other big players within the Student Housing space and some small players. I cannot speak on the advancement opportunities just yet but they give you access to trainings that are not necessarily required. So you can acquire knowledge about other roles which is nice. Trainings are available weekly. Having worked at both large and small Student Housing corporations there are the standard pros of a large corporation: Systems have been tested and processes/procedures usually make sense.  There are some things that get introduced every once in awhile that are discovered to be less efficient than what was previously done but this company isn't afraid to try something new. I do wish that they were able to transition through systems faster but it is one of those things that slows down as you work for a large corporation. New procedures and systems get rolled out in phases that may take a quarter or two to completely roll out.  They have plans to grow, and from where I am within their business it appears that they aren't growing so rapidly that it is worrisome. Rapid growth can burn people out, lead to disorganization, etc. I also really like the fact that they use Entrata (Property Management Software) which is my favorite software, so if your community is using another software, I'm sorry.  Having done this for years there is something I have to say about large corporations; Your perception of the Company and access to the Company culture are directly correlated to the middle management team between the site team and the home office; My Portfolio Manager & Assistant Portfolio Manager are easy to work with and do not micromanage. They know when to assist and when to leave us alone, so I am able to keep a good work-life balance. 

I would not recommend working for cardinal group unless you get a position in upper management. I work a skilled labor job, and have done so at the same property without interruption through the entirety of covid 19. I can get a better paying job working as a cashier for harbor freight selling the cheap tools that I have to buy out of my own pocket so that I can do my job now. Everyone I talk to in cardinal is always talking about how cardinal offers better pay and better benefits, but that must be for people higher up the food chain. Cardinal took over my property two months ago and I have received no less than 2 notices that I will not be receiving any increase in pay for this year, even though I have witnessed office staff get raises from minimum wage to more than I make after cardinal took over. There is so much hypocrisy and hostility that I don't even want to come to work anymore when I used to enjoy my job. It has been 2 months, and paychecks are STILL messed up from the transition, with no apparent effort to correct the issue from those with the ability to do so.

I used to enjoy my job. I looked forward to facing new challenges and learning new skills. Now I feel as though I've been hung out to dry and forgotten. I am packing my tools and filling out resumes for retail positions that offer better pay for less stress. Let that sink in for a moment.

I've worked at Cardinal since 2017 and I couldn't be happier. 

My coworkers are great, and upper management really cares about my growth as an employee. 

The company culture is excellent, and it seems like they truly value me as a person. They are very progressive in all aspects-- offering paid health insurance, competitive PTO, and a great bonus structure. 

They embrace people who are different and value all perspectives, and I feel like I can actually be myself at work. My ideas are always taken into account, and I never feel like my voice doesn't matter. They embody their core values from the top to the bottom and have been extremely consistent throughout my employment here. 

There is also so much potential for growth with this company. They are always taking on new projects and communities, and are very serious about promoting from within. 

Working in the housing industry can be extremely taxing, but they do their best to support everyone through turn season. They even have a feature that stops all email correspondence after 7pm, to promote a healthy work life balance. 

I have recommended 3 friends to work for this company, and all of them have been extremely pleased with their decision to work here. If you are looking for a job in student or conventional housing, I could not recommend this company enough!

Your experience onsite will largely depend on who your Portfolio Manager is. I often do not feel like I have the support I need. I've had extremely hands-off PMs who you only talk to during weekly ownership calls, and I've also had PMs who micromanage how everything is done. The culture at HQ is supposedly great, but that same culture does not trickle down to the onsite teams. It definitely feels like there is a divide between the HQ and onsite teams. Cardinal is rapidly growing. Everyone wants to make it to corporate, but I've found it extremely difficult to advance to HQ-level roles in the company. Since everyone is looking to get into a corporate role, I'm sure that every job opening has a very large amount of applicants. Cardinal also generally pays less than competitors, but they have been getting more competitive with pay recently. Last year, they started doing cost of living adjustments, and employees who did not receive a salary increase the previous year received a 3% COLA. On the plus side, there are very generous bonus and commission structures in place that at least make me feel that the pros currently outweigh the cons. As long as your property performs well, your experience will likely be positive.

Cardinal's Core Values are truly incorporated into so many areas of company-wide communication and initiatives.  

They provide so many resources and truly listen to the feedback from their team members, creating a positive environment with opportunities for growth. 

Unfortunately, I've seen some negative reviews from previous on-site team members that I believe are true because every positive aspect I mentioned isn't guaranteed to be practiced and encouraged by every Portfolio Manager/cell team. Some cell team members and on-site teams don't get the same experience as others, which can also somewhat be influenced by the ownership group and other inevitable factors. Regardless, this is something that needs to be further studied by leadership and prioritized.

Fortunately, Cardinal has already begun some positive initiatives by transitioning to a more centralized model. I believe this will help significantly with time. Plus, they've added new positions whose responsibilities seem to be helping identify these inconsistencies and in general, identifying where cell teams can improve in order to ultimately standardize and improve the experience of our on-site team members and prospects/residents.

My experience with this company was overwhelmingly negative due to what I found to be a hostile and highly toxic work environment.

From the beginning of my employment, I encountered serious leadership and workplace culture issues. This created an environment where employee safety and concerns did not appear to be taken seriously. The company demonstrated inconsistent enforcement of its policies and standards.

Work-life balance was also extremely poor. I was routinely required to work 10-hour shifts and weekends, and I was forced to miss a leadership development event that would have supported my professional growth.

Despite meeting and achieving quarterly performance goals, leadership refused to pay the bonus that employees had worked toward.  Management repeatedly claimed they were sending “the best” leasing support available, but the assistance provided produced no meaningful results.

Overall, I felt undervalued, unsupported, and exposed to unacceptable workplace behavior. I would encourage prospective employees to carefully evaluate the company’s leadership culture, accountability practices, and commitment to employee well-being before accepting a position.

At first, when interviewing with Cardinal, I was nervous about leaving my current company. I worked with a team and supervisor that I loved working with, I was working in the heart of the city that I loved and I was skeptical about leaving a company that valued me so strongly for a brand new company where I didn't know ANYONE. I did a lot of research about the company and kept hearing about the "Cardinal Culture", which was nothing but positive words. I spoke with a few people who previously worked with Cardinal and even one mentor that I had that all stated that leaving Cardinal was one of the biggest regrets of their careers. From the second I started the interview process, I felt the warm and welcoming environment that I heard so much about before interviewing. Once I was hired and brought on to the team, EVERYONE was helpful with pieces of training, and welcoming and they all had nothing, but positive things to say about Cardinal. The support that this company provides is special and I can confidently say that I made the right choice in my career by joining this team and I encourage anyone who's contemplating joining to do so. !

If you work in Multi-family, you'd be hard-pressed to find a company with more upside that Cardinal Group. The company is lead by people who are just genuinely great human beings that truly want the best for the people around them. The leadership goes above and beyond to give their team resources and freedom to succeed. It is still Property Management, so yes it is a demanding position as that comes with the territory. If you're willing to be a team player, stay humble, and do the right thing you'll always fit in at Cardinal Group. From top to bottom this organization is full of great people and tremendous leaders in Multi-family. If you look at industry comps, you'll see several high level leaders that were once apart of CGM. That's an indication on how well the company trains and prepares the team, which comps are aware and do try to steal talent. One great attribute is you'll see these individuals still interacting with the CGM leadership - which directly stems from having an open and honest relationship with those you work with. Cardinal Group is grooming the industry's best talent for tomorrow and has the best leadership for today in place. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Leasing agent 2 salaries reported	$20.13 per hour
Portfolio manager 5 salaries reported	$125,400 per year
Community manager 4 salaries reported	$74,750 per year
Maintenance person 1 salary reported	$24.00 per hour
Property accountant 4 salaries reported	$68,625 per year

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