Edit: Oh Janene. I was prepared to just leave you the blank 1-star review you deserved for your illegal business practices and just move on with my life. But see, now I have to share my story because your response reminded me how terrible you are. Long story short - don't apply to rent with Christy Living. Janene will add surprise fees to try to increase the rent AFTER you apply and she's given access to all your financial records. Then she will tell you that you only have 24 hours to sign the lease agreement in an effort to get away with it quickly. Minnesota Statute 82.78 prohibits rental services from advertising in a misleading way about fees, services, unit availability, or terms and conditions. Janene tried to sneakily add an extra $105 to our monthly rent for "pet rent" after we applied and were approved by her personally. Note - the application stated the rent for the property, and pet rent was not mentioned on her website, on any of her listings, or in the rental application I assume she drafted herself, given it's her business. I inquired about a property on July 15th via your website's contact form. Your leasing agent Heidi responded the next day via email. I informed her in my first email to her we were interested in touring the unit and that we had 3 pets. She listed the fees and utilities/fees for the unit as follows: "$1850 a month-you are responsible for all utilities, snow removal and lawn care. Pets need approval." We emailed back and forth all week with Heidi and toured the unit on the 19th and applied that same night. The instructions you're referring to on your website stated the following: "Before submitting your application, it is strongly recommended that you verify the property you desire is currently available (or has a unit meeting your needs, e.g. # of bedrooms, and amenities) by calling Christy Living at (612) 889-5100." Using basic human logic and common sense, most people would assume that they in fact do not need to call your rental office to confirm the unit's availability and amenities given they have toured the unit, are aware it's available, and have been corresponding with your own leasing agent for over a week. We're not the ones who made a mistake. We did everything we were supposed to do to confirm the property met all our needs. We told Heidi we applied to the property that Monday morning after we applied. Once again I mentioned my pets and offered to provide additional information about them. Once again, there was no mention of your pet rent policy. How strange! It seems like this policy only exists in your head. You strung us along another week and then emailed us at 6:00PM on Friday the 26th informing us we were approved and that we had 24 hours to sign the lease you attached, which included the pet rent you and Heidi conveniently forgot to mention for two weeks. You got mad when I pointed out all of this and refused to respond to my requests for more time with the lease so I could review it with an attorney. You just kept repeating over and over again it was our fault for not calling the office first to ask about a policy we weren't aware existed. You claim you decided not to rent to us because we were "aggressive", but we all know you just didn't want to deal with someone who pointed out to you what you were doing was illegal and a result of your own ineptitude. Like a child, you stopped responding to my emails because my partner left you a 1-star review that explained this situation truthfully. It's funny how you interpret anyone criticizing your unethical practices as threatening. I tried to smooth things over with you because you strung us along for two weeks and wasted valuable time we needed to find a new residence. Fortunately, we found a better place to live the very next day, and they actually were upfront about all their fees My request for you to drop the surprise fees was reasonable and is backed by the law. Like a true professional you stopped responding because you'd rather find a tenant you can scam than one who makes you adhere to the law. read more

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This is by no means a complete list of lack of professionalism displayed by property manager Christy Living - owned by Janene Christy. All documented and saved in my emails because psje cannot be bothered to pick up the phone or return phone calls, and communicated by email 100% after initial phone call. - Janene does not perform move out or move in inspections. She will not provide insight on property condition, just instruct you to return security deposit. I received a surprise bill later due to the action of tenant. I paid their handyman to redo work a master carpenter initially performed. Manager said there was a tenant complaint about the work and is forcing me to pay for the bandaid fix. - Janene sent me the background report for someone not applying for my property. Report contains sensitive personal information (salary, addresses, last 4 of SSN). It was also a bit of a bait and switch. She sent us the background check for someone she claimed was an applicant. Once we approved, she sent the rental agreement with the name of a different person, that was not nearly as qualified. - Janene lost my keys (or did not ensure proper return of all keys by tenants, hard to tell due to her lack of communication. Either way a set was missing) Ended up finding them. Billed me for new copies of keys anyway. - Janene scheduled repair without authorization. Notice on repairs lack sufficient detail. Will not pick up the phone or send detailed email. (most notices are about 2 sentences). Janene approved reimbursement of supplies we did not approve. She stated she will deduct supply from rental payment when we stated we would not pay for something we did not approve. - Janene threatened me - see screenshot - following posting of my review. She claims that she will have our rental license cancelled. - Janene sent an expensive appliance repairman who charged $150-200 for a service call, just to tell me the appliance was broken. There was no attempt at repair as far as I can tell. There was no warning on how much the repair call would be. Had I known service call would be so expensive I would not have bothered and just scheduled replacement. Repair company sent quote for replacement was 25-33% higher than big box sites for obscure brand, not high end. - Janene never informed us that a tenant moved out. Relisted property on Zillow without informing us, at a rate several hundred below what others are paying for units that are not renovated. Our unit is well maintained and has brand new kitchen and bathroom. - Janene pushed us for concessions to tenant such as early move in. Stated this is fair exchange in 'lieu of cleaning,' despite the fact that THEIR cleaner cleaned the property (paid for by previous tenant). - Janene lacked knowledge on housing rules regarding ESAs. She did not let me know that Minneapolis treats ESAs similar to service animals (applicant can't be denied on this basis and can't be charged pet fee). I had to do my own research, which I shared with her - Based on latest contract Janene wanted us to sign, it is clear she primarily wants to do the easy work. namely listing the property on Zillow and background check, which we can do ourselves. We had to fight for move out inspection to be included. Viewings seemed to be via lockbox rather than showing the property in person, and we say this because she was super vague about the condition of the property. ----------------- Edit: I saw Janene's response here. She claims we can't afford her and we don't believe in maintaining our property. The first claim is presumptuous on her part and the second is an outright lie. We chose her based on her reviews though we now realize that she probably has all good reviews because she threatens people who post critical reviews. 2nd - We literally spent $30K on updates and repairs on our property in the last 5 years which she knows about, and in the nearly 5 years she 'managed' our property, we only refused 2 requests. The first is new kitchen window treatments. The second is a cheap workaround due to shoddy work performed by her own handyman, that she refused to explain to us. Let me repeat, she expected us to pay for the bandaid fix for the shoddy work of her own contractor. She said she would do it anyway and take it off our rent payment. (The nerve of this woman.) If anyone is interested in talking to me about working with Janene, I would be happy to talk to you. Obviously you can make your own assessment. You might also want to read the hidden reviews here and consider that she likely threatened others into taking down bad reviews of her. Obviously her attempt to bully us did not work. (As for the different account names I have used on google review and here - I have used various email addresses over the years (yahoo, gmail, protonmail) using maiden name or nicknames. And I match website username to the email address). read more

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Janene at Christy living! She has no communication skills, and the lack of respect. She does not solve problems only create them. I would not be in the situation if Janene was it, narcissistic, and stopped playing the blame game. She's kicking me out because her maintenance took too much to fix my toilet, so I ended up fixing myself. Blamed me for having the water bill high told me I have to pay the water bill when I never knew that anything in the house was running water. She had her maintenance come out to fix the toilet, but it took two months for him to even do that. Let me correct myself he never came out. He said he was not going to come out to fix the toilet over the phone with me. I asked Janene to hire somebody else or if I could get somebody else to fix the toilet. She told me I could turn my water off to prevent the bill going up. (we all know we have to use the water every day. Hence why it's billed every three months.) on the other hand, I seek professional attention from a maintenance technician. The technician told me that the toilet was already out of commission and should have been changed before I moved in since it was already split and broken. I also contacted a property manager to see if the landlords property manager is being legit. The property manager I contacted rightfully agrees that Janene is being a bully and suggested, I contact Minneapolis passing housing authority. The property manager also said that all companies should be checking their meters. If not at the end of the week at the end of the month to see how much their tenants water usage. They considered it a utility emergency. So the fact that it wasn't fixed and that she waited for my Bill, to be outstanding to contact me. Janine has expressed that I am responsible for the full bill even though her maintenance never came out even if I wasn't going to be there. And since she contacted me first, and I opened my mail a day later, she is in the right, and I am in the wrong in her eyes. I spoke with her and said I will respectively pay my half of the water bill, but nonetheless everything else after that is not my responsibility. Threw in and threw out with her, making imaginary bills for me paying rent in the past her making accusations of responsibility, but not taking responsibility and now forcing me out. To anybody wanting to move into 2806 Aldrich don't!! And or any other of their properties!! She is very rude. And I already contacted the appropriate authorities. And I definitely have all the receipts so if she wants to try it and I know she's gonna see it. Instead of corrected me or acknowledging my confusion, you laugh at me that's unprofessional. Especially when I said that I am confused and you don't wanna answer your phone and only send text messages or emails and just to me not my partner that also lives here so I feel personally attacked every time you text JUST ME read more

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WARNING!!!!!!!! Can I get a no star review?!?!? Janene and Christy Living was the WORST!!!!! She is non responsive and totally ineffective. We terminated the lease two months' ago and she continues to withdraw funds from our banking account for the lease. On top of that, she has charged the owner with a variety of fees that I had already paid. Double billing is also an illegal act. She should not have access to other people's properties or banking accounts. A file is currently pending with the State. read more

My wife and I lived at a Christy Living unit in Prior Lake. Christy Living wound up managing our unit after our old landlord sold it during the pandemic. Unfortunately my wife and I both got laid off due to Covid and we wound up being late on a month of rent while I transferred funds from an investment account. Following that late payment they began passive aggressively attempting to "persuade" us not to renew our lease, asking multiple times when we were going to put in our notice to vacate making us feel unwelcome in our own residence. These inquiries only stopped once we paid the remaining 6 months of our lease in full. Additionally when they do maintenance on the unit Christy Living typically schedules multiple appointments (Typically 3) over multiple days in order to price things out. We have also had instances of workers showing up without prior notice as long as they didn't need enter the unit. We even had one gentleman show up after dark on a Saturday night to work on our gutters. Finally, Christ Living shows your unit during occupancy. This leads to you having to either be home from work, or to trust that the relator is able to keep watch of your valuables during the tour. Neither option were comfortable for us, especially mid pandemic, but we didn't get a say in things. Good luck. read more

Christy Living has been managing my rental property for several years and has provided excellent service. Janene is very responsive, knowledgeable and great to work with. read more

I have used Christy Living as my rental manager for years. Janene is extremely competent. She has great interactions with both my tenants and me. I highly recommend her services to anyone read more

We asked for a 1-month extension on our lease and were denied without a reason given. Additionally, it turns out Christy Living is conducting in-person tours in the middle of a pandemic, which is just irresponsible. I am in the rental industry myself and my company has halted all-in person tours indefinitely. In 2020 there are solutions to renting an apartment that do not involve risking the health of tenants, inquiries and agents. We're now getting less than 4-hours notice before a tour. We had a nice couple of years here but it is ending extremely poorly, big surprise now that they know we are moving out. read more

It was great working with Christy Living! I rented a 4 bedroom single family home with them. They were so prompt in responding to repairs. (Ed was great!) Very pleasant to work with. Kind and understanding. Flexible when I wanted to extend my lease or needed to add a new roommate. I was sad to leave the home due to a new job. Thanks for everything, Janene! read more

Janene and Christy Living are great!!! She has been such a pleasure to work with, I highly recommend anyone who needs a manager in Southwest Minneapolis, Linden Hills, Uptown, and the surrounding Twin Cities area to give her a call!! I'd give her 6-stars if I could!! read more

Kind and quick to respond to any issues we have! Recommend them for anyone searching for a place to rent!

Charges for non-existent holes in wall after I patched and painted before moving out. Left apartment in better condition than when I moved in. I would not rent from this management company ever. Had to fight to get a decent a/c unit only after I was there over a year. Move-in fee of $300 plus 1-month deposit. You can find a better unit and better service. I can't give less than 1 star. My advice is keep looking. read more

We needed temp quarters for a move from New Jersey to Minnesota. What an awesome welcome to and experience with the city of Minneapolis provided by Christy Living! Janene is extremely professional, courteous, and expeditious in her responses to requests. We needed flexibility with our dates due to snags at the NJ end, and uncertainty at the MN end, and Janene understood and worked with us to meet our needs. LOVE the condo and the Linden Hills neighborhood. We are so happy to have been able to enjoy this business and this neighborhood before our move to the country : ) A++++++ read more

Janene is very good at her job and is very professional. I hired her as a property manager and she did not disappoint. She was always responsive and knowledgeable. I had some issues that had nothing really to do with her job but Janene was helpful and willing to do whatever was necessary to fix the issue. She was there to deal with the tennant when problems occurred so I did not have to get involved. I highly recommend her. read more

Poor customer service. The man working maintenance is very rude in person and on the phone. Not responsive to emails unless they need something from you. I misplaced a key and had no problem paying for one. It took them a month and a half to finally get it to me after many phone calls, emails and text messages. read more

Christy Living is a very solid, efficient property management company. Janene is a straight shooter and has a lot of knowledge and experience in the rental housing market. I used her for 3 years to rent out my house while I was out of state. I had 2 renters during that time period (one for a year; a second for 2 years). There were no major issues whatsoever. Both were excellent tenants and took great care of the house. Janene communicates swiftly and has excellent response time, functioning as an effective liaison between home owner and tenant. Also, she rented my home, which is in a high-demand residential area, in less than a week both times at a rate which more than covered my mortgage. I'd recommend Christy Living to anyone wanting to rent their home OR if you're looking to rent something. read more

Christy Living is extremely convenient for the busy property owner. Quick to respond to all situations.

My fiance and I lived in an apartment furnished by Christy Living from 10/1/12 to 5/15/13 while we built a home. Upon moving in to the unit, I paid a refundable deposit of $150 to cover damage to the unit while we occupied it. Monthly rent was $1800 or $60/day. We received a closing date on our home for May 16. I was very communicative with Janene, the owner of Christy Living, during this process, and we agreed I'd pay $900 for 1/2 a month's rent to stay in the unit through May 15. My fiance and I vacated the apartment the evening of May 15, and I emailed Janene that night to inform her. She replied it was "fine" and expressed no concern nor communicated anything about incremental charges. Twenty days after vacating, I still hadn't received my deposit back, so I emailed Janene to inquire. She mailed me an $80 check, $70 less than what I paid up front. Included with the check was a note saying I was charged $10 for an ethernet cord and $60 for staying a night beyond when we should have vacated. I immediately emailed Janene and offered to send her a brand new ethernet cord, as I had no idea what she was talking about; neither my fiance nor I knowingly removed one from the unit. I also asked Janene why we were being charged an extra night in the unit, as I paid through the 15th of the month, and we vacated the 15th. I gave Janene 16 days to respond and after I didn't hear from her, I sent the email again. She finally then responded and said the charges are "reasonable & justified". Charging $10 for a cord that costs a few dollars is not justified, nor is it reasonable to charge $60 for an extra night when we vacated the day we paid through - the day Janene agreed we would vacate when we were discussing our departure. Deposit aside, our experience living there was sub-par which is probably what the majority of readers will want to know about. Paying $1800 a month for an apartment is not cheap by any standards; one would expect a certain level of quality in the furnishings and/or service. We did not receive either. I wouldn't describe the furnishings as "outdated" - I would describe them as "past their prime". I was pregnant with our first child while living in the unit and sleeping on a queen bed that literally had a mysterious downward slope (think 45 degree angle) the last 3 feet of the bed. The shower had mold embedded in the caulking. The bath mats, shower liner and sheets were so stained, we bought our own at Target, which is disappointing when you are paying for a "furnished" unit. Another criteria we were looking for when apartment shopping was washer/dryer in unit. About 2 months after moving in, the washer/dryer combo unit broke, and it took nearly a month to get it fixed. Janene told us we could simply use the washers and dryers in the basement in the interim. I understand we have a back up solution, but we were paying a considerable amount of money for this ammenity in the unit, and I didn't want to then have to pump quarters into the public machines in the basement nor did I want to haul a laundry basket full of clothes down 4 flights of stairs when I was 7 months pregnant. Probably most appalling was when the toliet broke. The unit had 1 bathroom, and the toliet ran 24/7. The bathroom also happened to be right next to the bedroom, so you would hear it running all night long. Several weeks after emailing Janene to get it fixed, the only communication I received back was from her handyman who would give me a 15 minute lead time before wanting to come over and fix it. This was going on the same week I gave birth...don't get me started on that. I'd sum it up by saying basic necessities were not present (functioning toliet) during our time living in the unit so be wary of that and do not expect any "above & beyond" experience, service or communication from the owner. read more

Great service. Better than most hotels in the city!! This was not a vacation but my space and the location made it feel like one. Comfort & Joy. Thanks! read more

We stayed with Christy Living for 7 weeks during a move transition. Apartment was fully furnished and welcoming. Any issues we had were resolved immediately. Janene is very friendly and attentive if any issues arise. She was very accommodating when we asked for extra time in the unit. Great service Christy Living offers! Thanks! read more

I stayed with Christy Living for 10 months and it was an amazing experience. I lived in a fully furnished unit in wonderful Linden Hills, which made transitioning into daily living quite easy; moreover, it was decorated beautifully. Janene Christy was professional, helpful, and understanding. Communication was fantastic. I really couldn't say a bad thing about my experience. I would recommend Christy Living to anyone! read more

Christy Living provided amazing service for our short term corporate housing needs. It was a pleasure to work with Janene. She was always very professional quick to respond. The accommodations were exemplary and very affordable. We will definitely look to Christy Living for any future housing solutions! read more

I was traveling for work and needing something quick and Janene was very helpful in finding me a place within my budget in a great area within Linden Hills. I would definitely recommend Christy Living and would rely on her again if I am ever in the area and need furnished housing. read more

We needed a short term furnished apartment this past October. That is not always easy to find. We were impressed by all of the good reviews for Christy Living. We love the Linden Hills neighborhood. So we contacted Janene, and she was so easy to work with. She is professional, considerate, and always quick to respond to our questions. We were appreciative of how extremely clean our apartment was, as well as how beautifully it was decorated. It was so nice to have a washer and dryer in the building, and a dedicated parking place. I would recommend Christy Living to anyone that needs short term furnished accomodations. read more

We stayed here for a few months when we first moved to Minneapolis. The apartment had everything anyone would need, they were incredible nice, and was super cozy. I would recommend to anyone who needs a short term furnished living situation. read more

My husband and I have enjoyed staying in two of the furnished condos for total of about 6 months. It has been a pleasure to work with Janene, always professional and quick to respond to our needs. If we come back to Minneapolis in the future she will be the first call I make. read more

I've used Christy Living on and off over the past 3 years. Janene has been great to work with and I would highly recommend Christy Living to anyone who is considering visiting the Minneapolis area. The Linden Hills neighborhood is safe and just a short distance from Lake Harriet and all the great activities it has to offer. Everything is within walking distance of the building, great restaurants, shops, even a hardware store. I can't say enough about my experience staying here and all the great people I've met while doing so. Any problems I had during my stay were treated promptly & efficiently either by Janene or her service staff. Having an indoor parking space and a washer/dryer in my unit was so much nicer than a hotel room. It truly is a home away from home, whether for a short or a long term stay. read more

My family and I stayed for 2 summer months at a Christy Living apartment in Linden Hills while we finished remodeling our home. We enjoyed the neighborhood very much, and the apartment was well-furnished for our needs. Having been a professional in the home rental industry and having had a previous bad landlord experience, I was surprised and delighted by how simple and straightforward the process and communication were, as well as how competent, professional, and responsive the service was from beginning to end. Thanks for making it easy and enjoyable! read more

I can't thank Christy enough for all she's done for me over the past 10 months. Always professional with nice properties in great locations. I will recommend her to anyone I can. read more

I had a very positive four month experience wtih Christy Living in a condo in Linden Hills. Being between houses, the flexibility of management with move in/out dates and with the notice of termination was very valuable to me. The condo was nicely furnished, and any issues I had with the property were addressed quickly and professionally. I would work with Christy Living again. read more

I've rented through Christy Living twice and had a good experience both times. Coordinating with the company was easy, the apartments were in a great location and well maintained. read more