Our house flooded and a certain Realtor at Total Realty in DeLand did not help us or tell the owner about our situation even after we'd been renters at this home on the river for almost 2 years. We had to BEG HIM to come to the house and see how bad it was. We could no longer live there due to the continuous water coming in, the mold, and the gators in the front yard, etc. The Realtor requested I give him a phone call the next day to "wake him up" in time to come visit our flooded home. I thought this was VERY unprofessional. The next day, I called him anyway and he didn't answer my call and he was VERY LATE meeting me. When he FINALLY got to my house 45 MINUTES AFTER he was supposed to meet me, he wouldn't even get out of his truck when he got there. He just treated it like it was no big deal. WE COULDN'T EVEN WALK TO OUR HOUSE IN RAIN BOOTS ANYMORE because the water was SO HIGH. He was so uncaring and treated us badly right from the start. I won't even go into what he did to try to keep us on his "roster" as renters and the crappy places he tried to get us to move into after that. He was always late again meeting up with us at potential new homes. We decided to rent ONLY from owners from then on. We will NEVER rent from any property managers EVER AGAIN because of this wretched experience. I advise you do the same! In my experience, owners are more concerned for the care of the house and about the people in their houses and they like to make sure everything is taken care of quickly and with quality. I hope this helps in your search. But DO STEER CLEAR of Total Realty! Updated response, after reading the comment from Cynthia: I saw the comment that Cynthia, the president of Total Realty, added to my review in 2012. I don't get on Yelp much anymore but, I thought I should come back to add a few things, in response to the comment. I do not blame Total Realty at all for the actual flood happening. Yes, things like that happen. It was not the fact that it happened... it was how it was handled. Jerry should not have asked me to give him a "wake up call" in the morning to wake him up and remind him to meet me at my flooded home and then ignore my wake up calls and show up 45 minutes LATE at the house and then not even get out of the vehicle to talk to me. He is supposed to be a business professional here. He didn't even want to deal with me in the first place because he thought the flooding probably wasn't "that bad". I literally had to BEG HIM to come and see the house, so that I could show him how bad it was and be able get our deposit back. The water was up to our knees and gators were starting to come into the yard from the river. We couldn't even take all of our belongings with us because we couldn't risk going into the water where the gators were anymore. We had to leave things behind. The house was condemned and was bulldozed not long after we left. That's how bad it was. He kept trying to find excuses as to why we shouldn't have gotten our deposits back. It was horrible. I'm truly in shock it was even returned to us after how he kept trying to find a way out of returning it. He also kept trying to get us to move into other properties that he managed, to get out of having to give us the deposit back. At the time, we were so desperate to get into a new place quickly, that we allowed him to show us some other rentals. However, his continued lack of respect and his perpetual tardiness at meeting us at potential new rental homes at the designated meeting times, made us want the deposits so that we could rent elsewhere. It was only returned after we demanded it back. This should not have been how it was handled. Also, there should not have been an issue returning our deposits because THAT MONEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN ESCROW. Simple. This is a HUGE red flag! Saying you strive for full satisfaction and then not taking any actual responsibility for how you handled our situation is like a slap in the face. I should have never have had to beg someone to come and see the property to prove that we couldn't live there anymore. You can't "save face" here for how we were treated by saying that you're sorry you "didn't achieve satisfaction within [your] capability". You were absolutely capable... of showing respect for us and our horrible situation, for showing up on time, and for putting that money in escrow when we first gave you our deposit. You have only proven my point that your company does not care, doesn't behave professionally, doesn't show general respect, and doesn't take responsibility. By the way, I'd like to add, since any readers don't know... The president, Cynthia DeLuca, is married to the property manager, Jerry DeLuca, who was the one who behaved so unprofessionally during this mess. So, it's likely that he still works there. However, it is also Cynthia's responsibility to take ownership of how her husband treats tenants, since he is employed by her. As I strongly suggested before, steer clear, people. read more

I have bought a few houses from Terry Bailey at Total Realty, a hard working realtor who I would recommend. I am writing this review based on their placement services. aka they run a background and credit check, as well as advertise your property, and place a qualified tenant to rent your house. Total Realty charges the owner the first month's rent as a finder's fee. As it turns out, having only moved in for a month, the tenant filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I was informed of this news by a notice I received from the bankruptcy court in Orlando. It was very puzzling to me because I thought Total Realty did their homework on this guy. Needless to say, Total Realty got their first month's rent and couldn't care less that the tenant turned out to be someone who was on the verge of bankruptcy when he moved into the house. It was quite obvious to me that Total Realty made a mistake in approving this individual's rental application. So I asked Terry regarding his financial situation, and she me told that "everything looked good." In an email I received from Terry, someone in Total Realty said "anyone can file for bankruptcy." This may be true but not all filings are approved by the court. In fact, most courts in the U.S use a means test to see whether an individual is truly in financial distress before deeming you eligible for bankruptcy. It's not a free for all. The statement that "anyone can file for bankruptcy" is a fallacy. Although I do not have access to my former tenant's credit report, I'm quite sure that not everything good. As a loan officer, I've seen many credit reports from all ends of the spectrum. Those who ended up in bankruptcy are individuals who have been in a downward spiral for quite a while. I'm quite confident that Total Realty did not fulfill their duties in vetting this individual. Had they done so, nobody in their right mind would've allowed this guy to move in. Aside from the fact that Total Realty failed to place a qualified tenant into my house, they wanted to charge me again to find someone else. It's unconscionable, and outright ridiculous for them to do that. I was told that they would have to charge me for at least a half month's rent, because of the work that goes behind finding a tenant. Since it'll probably be the same procedure (if any) they used to find this deadbeat tenant, I decided to part ways with Total Realty. I refuse to pay for their mistakes again. It's really a shame because they've lost me as a client over a measly $400. Between me and my husband, we own four rental homes and Total Realty could've made thousands more down the road. read more

My wife and I have bought and sold well over a dozen properties in various areas of the US, so we have had considerable experience with the process. Bill Mancinik, Total Realty's Broker/Sales Agent in DeLand, is the best sales agent we have ever worked with anywhere. He is obviously drawing from quite a few years of experience in the DeLand area. His local knowledge proved to be invaluable in a case we just encountered which (unfortunately) did not result in a sale for him or a purchase by us. Thankfully, Bill knew much more than the selling agent (from another firm) about some zoning problems in our case. He was able to keep us from making a potentially big mistake. More than just his level of expertise, he has been a delight to work with. Patient, never pushy, always accommodating and lightning fast on the followup--it was Bill's attention to details that really made the difference. But he has always been enthusiastic and seemed happy to serve us in any way possible. You'd have a hard time finding a better agent in the greater DeLand area than Bill. read more

I contacted terry bailey a little over a year ago. I was looking to relocate to deland and be closer to my job. She sounded like she was trying to deter me from seeing a property by telling me the rental process. I don't know if she was profiling me over the phone...but needless to say it put me off. So..here we are a year later and I saw a rental property I was interested in. I contacted the office and the secretary was super nice. She was on the ball. Polite and professional. She gave me Terry's cell phone number and transferred my call. I identified myself and expressed interest in the property. Terry said, "oh we already have an application on that" I assume that when applications are accepted...more than one can be taken as you never know if it will be approved...or the applicant may change their mind. If I was a realtor/property manager I would not discount that. I didn't like her attitude over the phone. She was gruff and treated me like I was bothering her. And although the property I was interested in was not available...in her opinion...a good realtor would have still tried to get me as a client and suggested the several other listings on their site. I will not try or offer this company again. Poor rating for a property manager/realtor that never even did her job let alone tried to go the extra mile. read more

Ms. Deluca..Not sure how you are unaware of what happened..I spoke to you directly...I even asked you if you had another client in that office bidding on the same property...you informed me that it was illegal for you to tell me... I informed you that there is no such law..I wasn't asking you to disclose the names or offer..Just wanted to know if I was placing bids against another agent in your office...Which to me would be serious conflict of interest.. Since your office gets a percentage of the sales price...Regardless the fact that you don't remember our conversation leads me to believe you either have selective memory or field so many question from unhappy clients you don't remember... Either way shame on you... read more

Total Realty Corp. in Sanford Fl office through the services of Ms. Barb Girtman has given me and my family the best customer service by finding us our first home. Ms.Barb guided us all the way since day one until we got our house key. She made sure everything was done right for us. She helped us with price negotiations and proper documentations in all parties. She is always ready to serve you and is fast with follow up and getting the work done. She is very professional and very pleasant. When you need excellent realty services, expertise in first time homebuyers, and best customer service, you should get Ms. Barbara Girtman a call and make an appointment with her today! read more