Property management company recommendation?
I am helping my senior father rent out his property and would like to hire a property management company to keep things simple, safe and professional for him. This is a single family home located in El Cerrito. Thanks in advance for your recommendations!
Jul 28, 2024
Parent Replies
I do not recommend Premium Properties of Berkeley. While it was many years ago, I found Sam Sorokin and Craig Beckerman to cut a lot of corners (yes, I talked with them directly). I would rather have my renters happy and well-treated than get the most rent possible, which means practices like having cheaply done repairs. Even if your objective is the most money possible, I can't recommend a company whose leaders have a history and act the way they had.
I have been in a rental house in El Cerrito for five years now, that is managed by Castle Rock. Keith has been an absolute dream to work with from a tenants perspective. Any issue has been responded to quickly and with top notch professionals. I have been a renter in the Bay Area for 12 years now, this is my sixth rental and I have seen it all! At this point I would be hard pressed to ever rent from a property owner again.
We have been using the Cal Agents for the past 5 years and have been happy with them. I recommend working with Charlotte.
As a long-time renter, I do not recommend Lapham Property Management. While there are some nice employees, many of them have been rude to myself and other tenants, the company does as little upkeep and maintenance as possible on their managed properties, and they've tried to illegally pass along fees to renters. They have a large presence in the east bay, but savvy renters do their best to stay away from Lapham.
Unfortunately, as an owner I had a different experience with Castle Rock than the previous poster. While at times Keith could be helpful, when I stopped using their services I found that my property had not been adequately maintained and I had to have several repairs done for things that should not have been neglected. I also learned that many repair and maintenance requests by tenants had not been performed or properly responded to, which I had no knowledge of at the time. Additionally, some repairs that were handled by their own crew were substandard and seemed hacked together (yet were still expensive). Overall, I cannot recommend.