Dean Brinton is the owner of this company that has been around since before 2012. They originally operated in Puyallup WA and manage properties in and around the Tacoma area in WA. It is also known as Principal Property Services and recently moved to Tacoma. They primarily manage hundreds of homes in the area. Considering the size of the business (only a few employees from my knowledge and experience), Dean's company is way in over its head with work, which significantly reduces their ability to handle problems. IN cases where problems do occur, Dean is a pro at shifting the blame to another party. Because I am out of state, it is very difficult because I can only take peoples words for this, and Dean knows and exploits this from his clients - renter and owner alike. The reason for this rating is primarily based on the poor customer service and dishonesty that the company has engaged in while renting out my rental home in Roy, WA. I am the first one to add this company to Yelp so if anyone else had a bad experience with Dean please list it here!
Although the tenants in my home had some problems while under the management of Principal Properties, the 5 years of the rental went relatively smooth despite the poor management. The family was very frequently late on their rent payments but when asked to inspect the home, which was ONLY done on request, Dean would always send pictures and assure me that the home was immaculate or in great shape. It is when I tried to sell the property that the real problems occurred.
First, in late 2015 I asked Dean for an honest assessment of the home's sale potential and value. Dean misled me to believe that I would lose money if I sold, so I waited for about 6 months to a year, trusting the information I had. Considering that the market was in great shape and values were at near record highs, it really didn't make sense from my standpoint. From Dean's standpoint, it made sense for him to attempt to continue to keep the renter. Also, it appeared throughout my tenure with him that, despite being my agent, he was acting as the agent of the tenant. This is extremely problematic as an owner, and it always required threats to move Dean to action. He will not act until you make it quite clear there will be a problem if he doesn't. As a distant owner this is difficult. So, I began my own research online some months later and found that the home could sell, and I could at least make a little money back in the process. I told Dean I was considering selling, he offered his realtor services, and despite my hesitance because of trust issues with him I said go ahead and signed a realty agreement.
Well, it turned out he didn't even put up a sign on the house, add new pictures online (he used pictures from when I bought in 2009!), and then after about 30-60 days (not sure exactly), I start getting calls from realtors asking me why I took my house off the MLS listing service. I never told him to do that! When I called him he made excuses about expiration of the listing and tried to shift blame. He also said the tenant was resisting showing the house. I said okay, got my own realtor, and informed him that the house would be sold with a different realtor and that his cooperation would be needed as the property manager. He feigned cooperation but since then he attempted at every turn to stop the sale. First, the tenant was completely uncooperative and he did nothing to help fix this besides, once I told him to do, beginning the eviction process when a rent payment was late. Second, he told me completely different realtor, who said the property was in horrible shape, even sending me pictures throughout the ordeal that contradicted all of Dean's statements. Third, after having a buyer quite quickly and getting the property under contract, Dean's company waited over 20 days to even begin the cleanout, quite close to when the closing would occur, and causing me to need an extension. It turns out that the tenant, having to leave so quickly, left approximately 3-4 30 yard dumpsters full of her belongings on the property. After using up the security deposit to order two dumpsters no large enough from LeMay despite my realtor telling him to order 30 yard (he ordered 20), he then tells me he will need $2000 to finish the cleanup. At this point, the sale is about to conclude, the buyers are threatening to back out, and Dean is saying he won't even clean the inside without that much money. In the meantime, there is a huge dumpster full of garbage in front of the property, garbage all over the outside, and Dean is refusing to finish his job. The biggest problem here is that all of this garbage was apparently outside the house during Dean's tenure. Dean allowed a pool and huge playset to be installed, ruining the outside grass without my knowledge.
Overall, the house sold, but only because me and my realtor could bull the sale through. Dean resisted at every point. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY. read more
