I've had a great experience living in this apartment over the past two years. The space itself has…read morebeen comfortable, well-maintained, and a place I could truly call home. Any minor issues that came up were addressed in a timely manner, which made a big difference in my overall satisfaction.

DBO took over management of the building I lived in about 9 months after I moved in. They have…read moreonline rent payment and maintenance requests. Nancy and New Scotland Management, a middleman with DBO (?) filled out rental assistance paperwork and gave me grace periods for rent payments. My rent was not increased, possibly because I was going through cancer treatment and financial issues. Also, my studio was super tiny. I will never forget what Jennifer, Nancy and Dan did for me. Management promptly addressed smoking in the building. They also fixed a broken spring on the front door. It took a LOT of prodding over many months to get them to fix a heating problem (too hot, not too cold), but they did eventually fix it. Once DBO took over, common areas all but stopped getting cleaned. Prior to DBO coming in, the entryway, little lobby area and stairwell were vacuumed, mopped and dusted very regularly. I had to beg DBO repeatedly for the filthy common areas to be cleaned. Grime and bits of garbage remained in the vestibule after the "cleaning". The garbage disposal area went way downhill in cleanliness too. I hope DBO rises to the challenge of maintaining the integrity and character of the beautiful 1800s building I lived in. I enjoyed 7 foot high windows, 12 foot ceilings, brownstone type stairs and a chandelier. Many OOT landlords come to Albany and reap stunning profits from Albany residents but give nothing back to Albany tenants or the community. Please be respectful and fair and help protect the dignity and historical beauty of our homes, our dollars and our lives! We are counting on you! Thank you.

Disclosure: this review is from 2013…read more.. For starters - I chose not to rent with this property management company. I am leaving a review based on my experience with them while looking for a rental when I relocated from out of state. Property management companies are not a thing where I'm from. You pick an apartment and they are often pretty nice with amenities that may include gyms, w/d in unit, central air/heat, a pool, perhaps even a basketball or tennis court. Units are also reasonably priced and well-maintained. Of course, you can always rent from a landlord, but it was a bit rare to deal with an actual "management" company. So. This experience was new. Before physically locating to Albany, I looked at a variety of places online including rentals from EPM (yes you, not ERE). I thought - 'meh, they look ok'. Let me tell you all something. Albany is pretty good about a lot of things, but one of the biggest problems is that they DO NOT keep landlords and these purported "management" companies in check. Never have I seen anything like the rentals that I saw (including those from EPM) at the price points they were at. It's truly absurd. Anyway, I saw photos of the properties I was interested in before moving to Albany. I was a little skeptical, but I stopped by their office anyway. 1st sign of trouble - they kept their office locked during regular business hours and required appointments. I was spending the summer in a nearby state and decided to go house hunting in Albany for a week. I explained that to them and I was let in. The woman I interacted with seemed fairly uneasy - my initial thought was 'why - what is, so bad about your tenants that you need to keep your doors locked'. I got over it. 2nd issue - the "apartments" were basically holes in the wall of multifamily buildings that shouldn't be anything more than duplexes. The paint was caked on all the walls and trim. It just looked bad all the way around. So when I noticed (3rd problem) the x 2 month rent security deposit - I was like "wtf?" It dawned on me that they likely going to nickel and dime people for everything they can get and that they probably target folks that do not have the means to take them to court. So. That was a no go for me. I left this review because I just read a few of the responses left by EPM to some of these reviews (even those that aren't recommended). Your decision to respond with personal information about former tenants is malicious and unprofessional. It's a similar to the feeling that I had from interacting with you for a few days. I am now certain that I will not do business with you (as an owner or tenant) and will make sure to deter anyone that asks me about your company. It's beyond clear that you're in it for a paycheck.

I caught them trying to blame my bank for over charging me and my bank disproved it and now they…read morewont answer their phone cause they got caught trying to steal money. dont take their rating lightly they are the WORST most unprofessional company and people are sick of it and been moving out like crazy. I'm counting my days down myself.

I rented a wonderful apartment from Jerusalem Management for the year that I was in Graduate…read moreSchool. The people that work there are very nice and very responsive to the needs of their tenants. They even wrote me a letter of recommendation to help me secure my next apartment in a different city. I absolutely recommend for anyone (college student or otherwise) to rent from this company. A++

Their attitudes their maintenance not the people but just the fact that they don't have enough of…read morethem and they ask them to do cheap repairs instead of fixes.

When I needed a new apartment in Saratoga Springs I went threw Burns Management. They answered all…read moremy questions and went above and beyond to help me get into my new apartment. The studio I rent is a good price for the area and close to my job. I have a feeling I will be here for many many many years to come. Thank you Burns Management .

They act in bad faith - think twice about renting with them. I submitted an application with $120…read morefor one complex and never heard back after multiple attempts at communication. Thought that would be resolved in time as I applied at another complex and paid another $120. That application was accepted as probably the first one was. I paid $2000 for a security deposit and one week later asked to break the lease - based on information I was given by them. They let me out of the lease but kept all the application and security deposit money. Very bad form. probably worth losing that money not to have to deal with them as a tenant. BE CAREFUL

I rented from Albany Commons in 2010. I HAVE STILL NOT RECEIVED MY SECURITY DEPOSIT BACK!!! Also…read morewe had numerous violations posted up on the doors from the county concerning construction that was going on without a permit. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM. They will be great in contacting you when you're renting but once I was done and tried getting my security deposit back, my phone calls were ignored and so were my emails. I had to take them to court and they still haven't paid me yet.

Albany Commons is a property management that manages properties in Albany, New York; specifically…read more508 Madison, 572 Madison, and 304 Washington Ave. The owners name is Michael Fischman. I came across this property in spring of 2011 when I had to move to Albany temporarily for a work project that would have lasted anywhere between 6-12 months. I was referred to Mr. Fischman because he rents out furnished, short term apartments, mostly for professionals and grad students. I informed Mr. Fischman that I would might be there for a year, but maybe less, and that I was not looking for a lease. He said no problem, all his tenants were by month to month basis. I moved in June 2011, and the problems with the so called luxury apartment started and never stopped. I've had leaking ceilings (several times), mold that came back twice, leaking toilets, broken faucets, insect infestation that never went away, a break-in, the mailbox and intercom weren't available for me for weeks if not months after I moved in, heat that Mr. Fischman stated he would pay that I had to pay for, and many times he or his workers that would come in the apartment without 24 hour notice. There was also a time when I went home to Michigan for 5 weeks, and made sure that everything was turned off and unplugged, and came back to a $120 electric bill during that time. A month before I finally said I've had enough, the stove/oven broke and he never returned my calls or emails, which was the norm for Mr. Fischman. I gave him over 30 days notice that I was leaving by end of February 2012, and till this day I have not received my $1200 deposit. I've tried calling him and emailing him several times and he finally answered after many attempts, stating that since I was leaving before I said I was (supposedly June 2012), that I don't get my deposit back. We never had a year lease, only a guest agreement stating some of the rules of living there. I am still fighting this and will be taking him to small claims court. I've also filed a complaint to BBB, and also saw that he's had similar complaints filed against him. DO NOT RENT FROM ALBANY COMMONS. DO NOT BE FOOLED INTO THINKING THIS IS LUXURY APARTMENTS, THIS IS A DUMP! Albany Commons and Michael Fischman made my life a living hell, and I would not wish my worst enemy to live in his apartments!

Fantastic! I hired this company for snow plowing in Delmar…read more- absolutely excellent...I couldn't be more pleased. They came with a REAL snow plowing vehicle. Not just a truck that pushes snow, but a large, heavy duty machine that cleared a beautifully wide path for our wide driveway. AND, they are reasonably priced. And Adam, who did the work, has wonderful social skills, polite, and a pleasure to do business with. And, they actually came when they said they would (unlike some past companies I tried to hire). Yes, yes, and yes! I would easily hire them again and again. And will. Thank you, Adam!! A++++

dont rent from these peopleit took them a month and a half to get someone to fix my leaking roof…read moreafter calling daily and constantly getting the runaround by lordus. was constantly complaining about the toxic mold. then my hot water went out it took two weeks to get it fixed. the worst of them all is patrick chiou who claims he is this easy-going landlord he is the biggest joke because there is a broken sewer pipe under the house he is taken the time to throw me out of my house and since i refused to leave got the city to throw me out. supposedly there is a foot of feces in the basement but knowing i have no access to the basement i cannot verify he got us into another apartment but magically when the city showed up to get us out the apartment went away so now me and my mother who is 70 with a disability and cancer are out on the street i mean for now we are in a hotel but in the meantime we have lost everything beds furniture electronics everything so if you are thinking about renting with these losers dont do it. these positive reviews are definitely paid by the company. either by lordus or christian cuevas who was all sweetness and light when i went to see 159 madison ave like his butt buddy patrick he is a wolf in sheeps clothing namely when he thought my mom would not be able to get up the stairs and came up with with and i quote with your mothers disability we dont think she would make it up the stairs last time i knew that was illegal. and like patrick ghosted me when the city kicked us out

terrible communication, refused to renew my lease then ghosted me, tried to gaslight me about my…read morerights as a tenant. in albany, landlords are required by law to either return your security deposit or provide an itemized list of damages within 14 days of end of lease & they have failed to do this. i've had to call united tenants association for help and still can't get my deposit back. never been more disrespected by a landlord.

As most of the other reviews have indicated, DO NOT MOVE HERE. Extremely rude. I have never been…read moretreated so poorly like this by a property manager before. The property manager is creepy and will walk into your apartment without warning, he even went as far as looking through our stuff and commenting on what we owned. He started showing the apartment 5 months before we were supposed to move out and never notified me of when he was coming by. Multiple times I was not fully dressed and sleeping when he decided to come in. When I first moved in, the apartment was not clean and there were still construction materials all over the place which I had to place in the hallway to move in. On July 4th, our kitchen roof caved in during rain, which resulted in the rain pouring into our cabinets and flooding the kitchen. (Pictures posted) In order to fix it, they tore a huge hole in our roof, but then waited until OCTOBER to finally cover it up. Which they did with a piece of plastic and cardboard. It took them months to finally properly repair it, and even when they did it still leaked. Nancy and Arnold are the rudest people and are not even worth anyone's time. It is a shame that they own such nice brownstones in a cute area of Albany.

Extremely negligent of tenants. The list of issues my roomates and I have had just in a few months…read moreof our living here is mindblowing. Dont bother engaging with Mahar Properties or Madison Park Management. It's really not worth your time. They will tell you that your concerns and wanting to live in an apartment without mice, roaches, flies, centipedes and spiders is just plain unreasonable. Further they will tell you that pest control takes time which is true but 4 months later, not only have things gotten worse, the landlord and management refuses to address our concerns and asked us to move out instead. As students who are in the middle of a school year this is near impossible to do. They are trying to replace us with tenants who wont say anything and just live with the pests because apparently "living with pests is a lifelong struggle and we should be okay with it". They were very quick with taking down their offical Facebook page because of my negative review on there but they cant be quick about sending us proper pest control for our hugely infested apartment.Attached are just a few pictures for reference. We had to throw so many things out because mice peed and pooped all over things, which also management refused to do anything about. Please dont bother renting from Mahar Properties or Madison Park Management. It really is not worth your time.

Damaged my furniture and appliance with deep scratches and scrapes. Dated the walls on the…read moretownhouse out of which moved. Lied and said he was securing a previously dated underbed drawer when the bottom of that drawer is ony house. Kept charing more and asking for cash, after he said he accpets credit cards. Got mad when i refused to pay more for gas, which wasnt listed on the invoice which $559 more than his quote. He walked our on the job, wpuld twll le where he put the screws to my furnitire, gave his drug addict helper keys to home and the responsibility to transport things (the guy blackmailed to pay him money.) He never gave a hard copy or pdf of the invoice, only a link to it and then changed the invoice after the dispute over money. He yalks a good ae about integrity and being a good contractor nut heessed up every songle thing he did for me. He always has a million excuses (including being color.blind and hearing impaired) that je wants you to understand but never thinls him repeated and huge mistakes should ever effect him getting more money. He is a fraud!

Not exactly what I expected. Having limited experience I was expecting guidance and not to be…read moreexcluded from important paperwork. Selling a home from a death was difficult adding Covid made it much worse. What really added the final touch of dissatisfaction was zero representation at the closing, absolutely nobody showed up from Hanna for the close. Clearly only the money mattered, send the check, bye is what it felt like. On the good side they took excellent photos and marketed the house on many fronts. Many people came to view the home, then it dropped off due to covid and we the customer started showing the house as we were told cOvid restrictions prevented them from showing it. Anyway it sold and it's over and I learned a lot.

Cathy Cooley is THE BEST realtor in the capital region of New York. My wife and I were looking to…read morebuy our first new home, which was such an overwhelming experience, and we are extremely grateful we chose Cathy as our agent! She took us by the hand throughout the entire home buying process from start to finish. Cathy is a wonderful resource of information and experience in the field. She provides superior client service and we are so happy Cathy was on our team. She really has a passion for the real estate industry and loves helping people. Cathy is always willing to go the extra mile and is an honest and great person. If you are looking to buy a new home or sell your current home, Cathy Cooley is the agent to go with - you will be happy you did! My wife and I cannot say enough good things about her and the ethical manner she does business. She has a stellar reputation in the area. Cathy helped us find and purchase our dream home. My wife and I give her our highest personal recommendation.