Rachel was responsive and concerned about what was important to us. She was the first realtor we…read morecalled that asked what was important to us in a realtor (our response - easy going, sense of humor, working on our schedule not hers). She assigned someone who ticked the boxes

How often have you heard these statements: "Buying our home was a delightful experience. I would…read moredo it again in a heartbeat! Our realtor was the best!" Um, probably never. Home buying/selling consistently rates as one of the most stressful experiences in a lifetime behind #1 losing a loved one and #2 being diagnosed with a terrible disease. Well, I am not sure exactly where it falls on the top 10 of most stressful experiences, but it is certainly up there. And I am convinced this is due to the lack of Rachel Schaden's in the world, because if there were more Rachels around, home buying/selling would be a delight. Or at least as delightful as the banks would allow it to be. :) Rachel is a gem, pure and simple. She was our realtor in Portland when we recently bought a house in SW. I moved a lot growing up, so I already had a lot of experiences with realtors (read: mostly bad experiences). My husband and I continued the moving tradition recently, and Rachel was the one bright spot in the whole mess of selling our old home and buying our new one. And when I say mess, I do mean an all caps M-E-S-S. The realtor selling our home (NOT Rachel) could have taken notes from Rachel (I wish she had!)...no follow through, no professionalism, flaking out at inappropriate moments. (!) But despite the unevenness of the professionals that we paid to sit around while my poor husband and I were forced to do their jobs for them, Rachel was the one person who we knew we could count on. We knew if there was a deadline, she would be all over it. Not on vacation. Not pawning it off on her assistant. Not out to lunch on the inspection report, buyers addendum, or counteroffer documents. Our poor buyers were made to wait (and stress!) about the outcome, while we waited and stressed, and the sellers in Portland that we were trying to buy from waited and stressed. Lots of waiting and stressing. I wish Rachel had been our realtor for the whole process. It would have eliminated a lot of waiting and stressing. Rachel was the one person who followed through exactly as she promised she would. I am convinced we never would have gotten our current home without her professionalism and attention to detail. She went above and beyond in every respect, even helping the realtor selling our house (!) manage that aspect of the deal. She never once dropped the ball during the entire process of trying to buy our house in Portland (and we had a pretty convoluted journey). And she ALWAYS did what she said she would do. Even the sellers of our current home were impressed with her (and they had their own agent!). I am sure when word gets out about how good Rachel is, she will be inundated with clients, and she certainly deserves the recognition. She is uncommonly good at her job. Probably because she actually cares about her clients. I don't get that feeling from most realtors, but I felt it the minute I met Rachel. I regard Rachel as a friend, and I would recommend her in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a reliable realtor (believe me, this is NOT an oxymoron). Based on my experiences I believe Rachel is a diamond among a lot of carbon copies out there. She is the real deal and deserves to be celebrated for her impeccable level of professionalism, kindness, concern, and service. Buying/selling homes will probably always be stressful to some degree. However, if everyone were as committed, professional, trustworthy, and reliable as Rachel, I think people would have fewer horror stories about the misadventures they had on the sale/purchase of their home and more stories about how streamlined and easy the process was because they had a Rachel in their corner.

Pros: Good communication, organized, nice people, online…read moreowner's web-portal. Cons: High fee structure, excessive maintenance, expensive repair/maintenance fees, difficulty finding the initial tenant, long wait time for payment. I contracted with 33rd Company to manage my single-family home in Olathe, KS, in April of 2015. They had a tenant that met my parameters ready to move in on July 1st, so I had two months to pay a mortgage on an empty home. The first six-months were very challenging as maintenance requests began to pile up immediately. I thought my 20-year-old house was in very good condition (I was told it was during the walk-through), but numerous maintenance requests were made; from minor nuisances, to more complex and expensive work-orders. Early entanglements resulted in my carpet's being cleaned twice (I hired a company when I moved out, and they had another company do it at the tenant's request) and the home being professionally cleaned twice (the place was not clean to the tenant's standards upon move in, and the firm 33rd Company hired to clean it apparently did not do a satisfactory job the first time, so they had to clean it a second time). I fought the redundant charges but ended up having to pay all charges in full. It's worth conceding that no property is flawless, unexpected things can and will happen and a landlord should be expected to remedy them by whatever means necessary in order to ensure a safe and functional property. However, one month was so bad that I actually had my bank account debited instead of credited because I owed 33rd Company money for all of the fees, maintenance and services provided. One has to keep in mind as well, that 33rd Company receives a maintenance scheduling fee anytime a contractor is dispatched for a repair on the home. Therefore, they are financially incentivized by tenant's making requests. They do attempt to troubleshoot all tenant requests first, but in my experience they weren't often successful. The last six-months ran more smoothly, with considerably less maintenance requests. Although these months were not completely without nuisance. One example comes to mind where I was charged $250 to unclog (not replace) a water pump inside of a washing machine, a fee that is egregiously high, especially considering the pump was clogged by the tenants living there. I disputed it, but ultimately had to pay the full charge. Regarding income, despite having the rental amount set $509 above my mortgage payment, I had a net profit of just $840 for the 2015 tax year. Also, in terms of cash flow, be aware that even though a tenant's rent is due to 33rd Company by the 1st of the month, you will not receive your portion of the rent until the 15th of every month at the earliest. It was not uncommon for the payment to hit my bank account until the 18th of month (bank holidays). The tenant chose to vacate after the year for personal reasons, which was fortunate, because I was planning to terminate my agreement with 33rd Company at that time. My house looked great when the tenants departed and the home was returned in as good if not better condition than when I left it, which was a relief. The outdoors needed some work, but this was handled quickly. I suppose I had an erroneous assumption that this agreement between owner, renter and property management company, would be a 1/3 equal share partnership. Yet it always felt like a 50/50 partnership amongst the tenant and company, with my home being a hostage and me not having any opinion in matters. In hindsight, I wish I would have managed the property myself or sold it in the currently booming real estate market. I would not use 33rd Company for any services in the future, nor recommend them to a friend, but I wish them no ill-will and hope they continue to improve their business.

The billing department is run very well. The staff is helpful and prompt with their responses.read more

Best realtor I could ever recommend. I'm surprised that I'm the first review on Yelp but she does…read morehave a lot more reviews already on other sites. Monica is so dedicated and hard working. She is busy as hell but she always made time for us. She even at one point drove to our house at 11 pm to pick up a check that we had to re-write because the guy at the front desk advised us to write the check to the wrong group. She was a real ball buster when it came to having our back and making sure we were well looked after. When she found out that my husband and I were just starting out after he had moved here from overseas and did not have a single dish or spoon to our name, she went out of her way to collect and drop off some items to help get us started in our new home. Seriously, could not ask for a realtor with more heart, gumption and tenacity. She even came by later in the year to drop off a Christmas gift for our new home. Why wouldn't you want a realtor who works hard for you and actually cares about you? You won't regret choosing her.

I'm overjoyed at the help we are getting from Invitation Homes!…read moreMy fiance has had many medical problems, and cannot work, I am the bread winner in the family, and I don't make enough to cover the bills. They are working with us, and are showing real empathy for us. At first I admit they were hardcord, but with communications with them, I feel they realize we are trying to make payments, and wanting to stay in our home.

Low urgency with responding to safety concern related maintained issue. Our AC went out in July 7/2…read moreand their vendor told us they wouldn't be able to response until 4 days later (7/6). We have an 8 month old and family visiting from out of state with a 6 month old. Their oversees manage office was absolutely no help and just continuously read the same script regarding the appointment being set for 7/6. There appears to be no emergency maintenance technician options. Our house is 88 degrees which is hazardous and unsafe for our infants. We are having to explore hotel options to ensure no health complications arise. We called during office hours Thursday and instead of the office team responding they simply kept pushing the call to the overseas office which was no help. Invitation Homes recently underwent a huge lawsuit and from my research it looks like this is VERY common for this rental company. We will absolutely be exploring our legal options because this is wildly inappropriate. I have received better responses from college apartment landlords the from these scumlords.