Scout Properties strikes again! If only I had seen Susan L.'s review earlier, I could have saved myself from the mess that is Scout Properties. But if you're reading this - Get out now, while you still can!!!
First of all, if I could give them 0 stars I would. But since I have to give them 1 star, let that 1 star represent the fact that they did indeed find me tenants, eventually, and they did make some fixes to my condo to get it ready for renting, although really poorly. In hindsight, had I done both those things myself, I would have saved money, time, stress and likely, may have even gotten better rent.
There were so many things wrong with this Property Management company that I almost just copied and pasted a whole email exchange that I had with Sergio that lists a bunch of them, but, in the interest of time, let me just point out the major ones:
1. I can't speak for all the property managers but I can honestly say that the person they assigned to me (John K.) was terrible. He seemed to listen intently when we were walking through my apartment and I was telling him the things that needed fixing, or to pay attention when I explained what my criteria were for renters, but he clearly wasn't. As evidenced by the fact that I had to go back multiple times to point out things that I had asked to be fixed that weren't, the things that he claimed had been fixed - but I had never asked for them to be fixed in the first place, the tenants he was recommending I rent my place to - who had lower credit requirements than I had asked for, and lastly, the collapse of my kitchen sink just days after my tenants moved in because John K. had never asked for that problem to be fixed at all. Even though I had pointed it out to him.
2. Some of the above might have been avoided if Sergio had paid attention to the service, or lack thereof, being provided by his property manager instead of making a habit of responding rudely to his client. When I think back on it, I was literally paying this company to be rude to me for 4 months. Luckily I came to my senses and thought, 'What the ....?' and terminated my agreement with them.
But in so doing, had to deal with a surprise bill (related to said fallen sink) and even more Sergio gems. When I said I wouldn't pay for a service I had been told I had already paid another contractor for (because either the property manager had f'ed up and not actually told the contractor what to fix, or the contractor had f'ed up, not fixed what they had supposed to and the property manager informed me that all was fixed) we had a prolonged email exchange about it, with Sergio finally oh-so-generously offering "I'll give you $100 to make the issue go away and never mentioned again anywhere." When I declined, he offered to "double the refund to $250" (100 x 2 = $250??? Fancy math Sergio, but I'll go with it), with the following caveat - "I only ask that all parties keep any mention of this experience private. Forgive and forget, my mother says." Oh really? My mother told me to forgive, but not forget, lest you make more stupid mistakes later. No thank you Sergio. And I want to help other people 'Not Forget' by writing this review.
Because Scout Properties is the terrible gift that just keeps on giving. 5 months after the service and 3 months after terminating my agreement with Scout Properties, I received an outstanding invoice for cleaning services. Apparently Scout Properties had never paid the company for the work they performed at my condo. Besides the fact that the cost was ridiculous (probably because Scout Properties - or maybe it was just John K.- doesn't bother to get quotes for service), it should have been included in my final invoice from Scout. Instead, it just demonstrates one more time how unprofessional this management company is.
If you're still thinking about it, don't do it, just don't. read more