Alma Smith Realtor doesn't act and treat her tennants like they should be treated. She doesn't follow the lease she created, she sends you nasty notes in the mail, and treats you unprofessionally. If my name was up on the building, I'd care about my reputation and want to provide a fantastic service with a smile. Apparently her reputation isn't taken that seriously... My recommendation is to find someone else that rents/leases homes. Once you sign the lease, you're in for a bunch of added stress you don't need. It's just not worth it people... Best of luck to everyone and sign a lease with someone that truly cares. I want to go picket... read more

Alma Smith Realtor - Alma Smith Realtor - Foothill Blvd & Alta Vista Ave - Real Estate Services Near Me - Monrovia, California

She leases the house next to me and tenants always complain about how poorly she manages and takes care of them. She's left them with no heater during the winter and won't fix anything that is broken in general. Expect to have dead grass because there are no sprinklers or gardeners. Once I called her to complain about our previous neighbors (we have had a lot since they all eventually leave the second the lease is up) they were parking over 8 cars in our driveway and would constantly block us out and I've been been late to work and scratched my car twice because of how close they would park. I told her it was a fire hazard and that legally she cannot have more that one family living in that home (I guess the neighbor would rent out rooms to her sons friends). I would knock on their door constantly and leave notes and even went to City Hall to see what I can do but thankfully I woke up one morning to see a moving truck and it was the best day of my life. They left and now our new neighbors only have 2 cars no more than 3. When I contacted Alma herself on the phone she told me "I don't give a crap, call the cops for all I care I don't have time for this" and hung up on my face. That's Alma Smith for you, I would stay away until she finally forks up this house and sells it because obviously she's doing a terrible job because at one point the house was on the market for a long time before someone even leased it and when someone signs a lease with her they always end up regretting it. read more

HA, FYI I think John below on here is a friend of Alma's who used to pop into her office and is not a tenant of hers! Anyways, all seems lovely when people sign a lease with Alma. It is AFTER you move in when you experience the nightmare. I have rented 6 different apartments in multiple states over the years and I have NEVER encountered anything like I did at this place. I have also always been considered an outstanding tenant and have always gotten my deposit back in full (except from Alma) and had referrals from land lords. The same negative experiences by different people paints the picture. John, nice try with pretending you are a tenant! :) I leased a duplex from her and it was the worst landlord situation that I have ever had. I was so excited to have found this adorable, sweet, vintage duplex. When i rented it, it was a little wear for tear but nothing that was a deal breaker, after all it was an old house and so the scuffed up wood floors and old tile just added a bit of charm. When I 1st moved in, there was some miscommunication about putting the utilities in my name. I thought Alma was doing that but that wasn't the case and boy was that a blessing in disguise. Since the utilities got turned off, it required someone to come out & manually turn on the gas. The technician noticed that the laundry room had been mickey moused together (which is how she has things done, cheapest way possible). There were metal & plastic parts touching which is a hazard so that had to be fixed before he would turn the gas on. Also, the vent was not done correctly and so CARBON MONOXIDE was staying IN the laundry room! That "miscommunication" probably saved my life. However, right after that she took out one of the washer/dryers so we had to "share" the other which wasn't the agreement when I signed the lease. Alma would leave these nasty notes on our doors about once a month. The tenant next to me was awful. She was running a day care operation to get some extra $ and although i didn't like the noise I understood her situation. then she had her adult son & his girlfriend move in (keep in mind these are 1 bedroom units!). He would party late at night & they would be rearranging furniture (to create a sleeping space?). Alma could've cared less. Finally they moved out and a very sweet nurse moved in. The side of the house had an area along the walk way for flowers but there was just dirt there when I moved in. I spent 8 long hours manually switching out the dirt for better soil and then planted a bunch of flowers and put down mulch. It looked great. Alma said flowers are ugly and when I moved out she had it all ripped out. There was also this gorgeous large tree in the back that provided shade. One day, i came home to find men in the back yard and I realized they had cut the tree down. 1st of all, as a young female, I want notice when people will be at the property which Alma didn't do and is required by law. So that was really uncomfortable. When I called her to ask why she had it removed she said it was a nuisance. That made no sense whatsoever. I think she cut it down because we used the backyard a lot and she didn't want us to. She just wants your money but she doesn't want you using and enjoying the property that you are paying for. She also would have the sprinklers set to go off 7 days a week, TWICE a day. The grass was then always wet and so you couldn't go out to the lawn in the back yard. The tenants PAY ALL UTILITIES including water. I knew I had agreed to pay for water when I signed the lease but I did not know that she had the sprinklers go off that much. I raised hell about that when she refused to change it b/c I was not willing to pay for that much water and I wanted to use the yards that i was paying RENT for. otherwise, what is the point of a duplex? I would've just rented an apartment. Randomly, she informed me that one unit would start paying all the gas and the other unit paying all the electric. i refused & there was NO reason to be doing that when the units have separate utility boxes. Alma is an older lady that seems sad and bitter and doesn't have family that she talks to so I would take her flowers, bake cookies, and I would leave my rent check in a nice card trying to do something to be nice and maybe make her feel better. EVERY week after I would do something nice she would do something mean. It was like clockwork. The last being that she randomly out of the blue raised my rent $100. I was already maxed at my budget paying a pretty high rent amount PLUS all utilities (including garbage) so I couldn't do another $100/month in rent. I moved out. Clearly, she doesn't want long term tenants which for an investment property doesn't make sense. She also kept a lot of my deposit to repaint which is considered normal wear and tear so is illegal to do so but it wasn't worth the cost of taking off from work to go fight it in small claims court. The sweet nurse also moved out after her lease was up. read more

-0 Stars- Fraud*- Lack of privacy- Making up fake laws- Rude/Yelling & Screaming- Alma smith is anything but a professional. I had the displeasure of a lifetime when I leased a small duplex home in San Dimas, CA from Alma Smith Realty. Less than 1 month in my unit I started to receive messy hand-written, vague and threatening letters from Alma Smith addressed to me/my family threatening to "...call the police/Sheriffs ..." "...eviction & immediate lease termination letters..." as well as threatening to ..."open the front door and let herself/her "maintenance guys" in at anytime without notice. -Luckily I imminently installed a security camera. That caught her team walking around the home and looking through a gate for some time. Only to leave a messy hand written letter on the front door. "Alma Smith Realty" I guess they saw my security cameras. -Invasion of privacy. Apparently a long-time tenant (old women & her boyfriend) living in the unit next door (who can be found drinking beer all day/all night in her garage with 2 very loud birds) takes photos* and sends them to Alma Smith herself as well as calls Alma Smith on the phone regularly* to inform her of: too many visitors, who is coming and going from the house, what the visitors are carrying in with them as well as what kind of cars are parked in the drive way and for how long. What kind of cleaning and laundry machines are being used. What activities are being held in the back yard and at what times. What times at night/in the morning people leave or come home. The only complaint we ever heard from Alma Smith was we had 1 friend come visit regularly and that created a battle. Alma Smith started saying that we were not allowed to have visitors stay any length of time past "a few hours"...? This was the issue that lead to Alma Smith sending dozens of letters and phone calls. -Lack of professionalism. Alma Smith would call literally yelling* threatening to evict me/my family and when we quickly informed this "ethical real-estate sales person" that her claims were unlawful and would prefer if she communicated directly with our family attorney Vs. calling she started to send messy hand written letters addressed to the home nearly once a month for our 12 month agreement. Alma Smith believes she can claim fake frivolous "laws" and her tenants will believe her- almost as if she used it before & it used to work in the past for her. Alma Smith clearly has a poor understanding of California rights for tenants. Alma did apologize for screaming a few times after being asked to lower her voice she said she was struggling with family issues and that is why she is yelling.? -Rude, abrasive, and nasty when writing letters and speaking on the phone with clients. She sent us a letter saying a family member is going to move into the unit and we must move out. Then she called back telling us a family member is not moving into the unit and we can stay - if we wanted. However, by this time our lease was up and we all were extremely excited to move forward from Alma Smith realty. -Security Deposit Theft & Fraud by Alma Smith- Once we moved out Alma Smith / Alma Smith Realty Monrovia CA started to demand to be taken to court and would not hold a conversation regarding the security deposit even though the home was returned in the same or better condition than it was when we first took it 12 months previously. We took photos/video before moving in & after but she would not stand to listen to it. At this point I had already moved and did not have time to take this old incompetent thief -Alma Smith Realty of Monrovia CA and her company to court. My advise: If you can, avoid this company: Alma Smith Realty- Monrovia, CA) read more

If only I read these before I rented from her. I lasted 15 months but knew before I moved that I was going to have trouble because she immediately started taking away things. actually didn't unpack a box for 3 days wondering if I should just count my losses and put everything in storage and keep looking. The oven didn't work and I was told I couldn't use the storage area in laundry room for storage. There were too many things to list here. 3 months after I moved in the bathroom wall collapsed and she never fixed it. When I moved out she deducted the cost to fix it. She is the only one that never gave me my deposit back. She appears sweet but she is a cobra. I think she does this on purpose. Flips the rentals and keeps the deposits. Why else would such darling places in prime area never keep renters. Anyway my suggestion is keep looking read more