The Property Management Connection - Signal Hill, California

Iisha A.

I'm new to this company managing our property. We have been struck with plumbing issues and Greg their handyman has been so helpful. I was dealing with the owners directly before they took over and my first interactions with PMC were not the best.

Honestly Greg turned that around for me and the office has started to be more responsive to my requests. I'm a pretty patient person and understand there are processes and as much as I'd like thingsdone asap I know they can't really move until the owners give the okay on different costs.

Great thanks to Greg and his time.

Ali M.

I don’t normally like to leave negative reviews, but this company was just so bad. I was dealing with Justin, the owner, and he was unable to get my property rented after 3 months! I finally had to fire him.

I take responsibility for initially starting at a high rent, and in the first month, Justin called a couple of times and let me know that he recommended dropping the rent $50-$100, and I did so. But after that I no longer heard from him with any market rent updates, advice on rent-drop, feedback from the over 30 parties they showed my property to. He seemed to drop the ball, and let my property sit on Zillow and other sites accumulating days-listed, which I subsequently found out is something you never want to do.

I eventually met up with Linda, who was the one actually showing my property to get feedback myself as to why it wasn’t getting rented after so many showings. I had found out that there were a couple of issues, including giving incorrect information regarding parking (which I had previously explained to Justin). None of them seemed to communicate with one another. When I sent an email to Justin, Linda, and the other ladies in the office about this, no one responded.

Another thing that happened at the outset was that we had initially agreed that he would advertise my property on a particular date, only to find out days later he hadn’t. After we agreed on another date, it didn’t happen for a week after that. He didn’t seem to understand that for a landlord time is money; he was just so nonchalant.

There were other little things, like asking me to run around and get an extra copy of a key that I had already given him, only to find out he never even used the new key.

Bottom line is that Justin just wasn’t on top of things. I think he may have viewed his role as more of a marketing company than an actual property management company. I subsequently found out that when you hire a property management company to do a lease-up, it comes with other services such as market rent updates, feedback, communication, and CARING about your client!

It took me three months to realize he wasn’t doing much of anything and would’ve just let my property sit there forever. I cannot recommend him and his company at all.

Marshall S.

Oh boy, buckle up because I have been holding this in for 2 years as I lived in a condo managed by this joke of a company.

First off, it took us several days to even get someone to answer about the unit they ended up renting us. They gave my wife and I one set of keys all marked with “do not duplicate”. When we asked about a second set of the keys since we couldn’t get them copied, they flat out told us to figure it out ourselves (which is illegal). Nobody ever did a walk through of the unit with us which is understandable because it was at the height of covid - we’ll circle back to this below.

Next, our microwave went out and it took them 3 months to get around to replacing it. When we’d call about it, they generally don’t answer the phone, they’d tell us “oh it’s on back order” when very clearly the lady handling it for us had just forgotten to order the microwave.

At one point a toilet broke and after not hearing from anyone for a month I just fixed it myself.

The best part of my dealings with this business is that we caught them straight up lying to us. When it came time to renew our lease after a year, my wife and I wanted a specific clause put into our new lease before we’d sign it. They tried telling us that the condo owner specifically would not allow that clause in the lease. Well unbeknownst to the property management connection, we had direct communication with the condo owner who told us that the property management connection never even spoke with her. We ended up getting the clause written into our lease. I have zero tolerance for lazy liars.

Our oven broke in January. When we moved out in July, it had still not been fixed. 6 months with no oven.

We just received our security deposit back (which they charged us $15 to ship it to us). And of course they’re charging us for things that were broken or missing before we even moved in but because nobody did a walkthrough with us when we moved in or out, I can’t really do anything about it.

It is literally a Christmas miracle if you can get someone from this company to answer the phone on your first attempt.

Milton P.

I rented a property through The Property Management Company in Jan 2019; I renewed the lease a year later. When I moved in I noted damages and sent them pics (via the apartment app & emailed their rental agent Gil). Additionally, after moving in I used the apartment app to make several maintenance requests associated with the damages. No one ever responded. However, when I moved out, they deducted the costs of repairing the damages from my security deposit.

I occupied the apartment 1 week per month (I offered them proof of my travel). This was an apartment used when I worked in the LA area (I live in another state). In addition to charging me for pre-existing damages, they also charged me to paint the apartment. Lastly, they violated CA Code Section 1950.5 by not returning my security deposit within the legally allowed 21 days after vacating the property (and it being occupied by another tenant).

I've called them several times to voice my concerns and no one returns calls. Very poor service. I guess they are doing what they are hired to do - collect money; They are very good at that. Warning: Make sure you take pics of all damages and not only email them (if you can find their email address), but also send a list itemized damages (and photos) via registered mail (signature required), as well as using the apartment app.

IsBella F.

I’ve been with Berro Management for three years now. What can I say,? Well I do like that I can easily pay my rent online but what most definitely don’t like is that the pricing went up but the apartments are still old. The quality is bad. Old paint keeps chipping. The bathroom is old everything is old. For as much as I’m paying & each year the rent goes up? I understand the no parking but come on. The manager could at least put some effort in these buildings. & roaches that I have to fix myself... I’m comfortable with the area I love it but the way the apartments I am living at.

Ray M.

I have been working with The Property Management Connection for almost 2 yeas now. They have been handling all 3 of our properties. The office and staff is courteous to our tenants and we have had absolutely no issues whatsoever. We finally found a company that is efficient, affordable and has become a true asset to our property ownership. We highly recommend The Property Management Connection and look forward to using their service fro years to come.

Erin S.

After living in the property that we rent through this company for almost two years now, we have continued to have issues with timely communication, unprofessionalism and failure to adequately address maintenance issues that impact the health and safety of our family with any sense of urgency. We’ve dealt with two leaks that resulted in us walking on concrete for weeks while awaiting the repair, a hot water heater that the gas company issued a written danger notice about after we contacted them to send someone out because we smelled gas in our garage and they found an active leak which they still haven’t repaired, as well as rats entering the home through uncovered pipes in the backyard that took weeks for them to repair (after we sent pictures of a large rat that we caught in our guest bathroom that is used by our children). Additionally, we went two weeks without hot water in the home after the water heater broke, which meant that our children, including a 11 month old could not bathe because the only bathtub in the home was inoperable and would not hold water in the bathtub. Their written response to that particular maintenance request was ‘not having hot water in an inconvenience, not a code violation.’ It was an unnerving situation to deal with when our sons school called because he went to school and shared that we didn’t have hot water in the home. The city also disagreed with their assertion that it wasn’t a code violation and were horrified when they came to the property, reviewed our written correspondence with the company, and found out that we were without hot water for two weeks. They issued a citation to the homeowners as a result of this. As an educator, wife, mother, and property owner and landlord in another state, I’ve never in my life dealt with the issues that have occurred in the almost two years of dealing with this company. One would think that when you pay rent on the first of the month or before and have never been late or made a partial payment for the duration of our time in the home, they would be more responsive in addressing issues as they arise. As a homeowner or tenant, I would definitely warn against dealing with this company, as you can see from years of reviews that things haven’t changed or improved. Lastly, Justin, whom responds to these reviews and indicates that he has a desire to assist the reviewers with issues that have been reported has never contacted us to address any issue that we’ve reported and has certainly not made any shifts in the way this company operates.

Jeff J.

As tenants whose landlord used TPMC from 2016-2018, my wife and I had consistently negative interactions with every representative. We began having serious reservations after our first conversation with an agent, but we were very interested in the property and location.

These are the problems we had that immediately come to mind, 3 years later:
- *Every* email from any agent over 2 years contained at least one typo or grammatical error, including all-tenant memos and official lease-term changes. I reviewed my email to ensure I am not exaggerating.
- When applying for the property, we asked to see a blank lease agreement so we could review the terms before sending a deposit. This led to threats from one agent to stop dealing with us and find other tenants.
- Another agent then sent A DIFFERENT PROPERTY'S TENANT'S lease agreement, complete with name, address, and birth date.
- The property was not cleaned before we inspected it. We were promised it would be cleaned before move-in. It was not.
- The experience of visiting the office to review and sign the lease was unpleasant. The lease had material errors in it (including property address), and all of our questions were met with annoyance.
- We were charged a "key deposit," which is illegal in CA.
- We paid our first month's rent prior to the 1st of the first month, and were then charged a late fee on the 3rd. We were charged a fee for rent that had already been paid and had to have them manually remove the fee and apply the balance to the rent properly for at least 2 more months.
- We asked for the renewal lease 2-3 months in advance, due to concerns that the rent or terms would be changed and we would want to move. Even with multiple requests, we received nothing until 4 days prior to the lease expiration, when we got a new form with a demand that it be in the office the day before lease expiration. We were forced to hand-deliver the lease due to insufficient time to mail it and the promised consequences for being late. (Fortunately, the landlord had opted not to increase our rent.)
- The only repair or service request that was responded to was a plumbing issue, presumably because property damage is more costly than tenant inconvenience.

Our landlord switched to self-management after 2 years. They reviewed the state of the property with us and asked about outstanding issues. They immediately had a few contractors do trivial repairs. We had no problems after that. We received 100% of our initial deposit back upon move-out.
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After 3 years, the business responded to my text-free review to tell me that they had addressed all my concerns. I had never complained directly to TPMC for fear of retribution, either as ongoing policy or at time of move-out. A public statement to *appear* responsible is the behavior I would expect from the company I dealt with, as well as every effort being made for property owners since they have choice in using TPMC or not.

It's entirely possible that the company has new staff and policies by this time and that I'm being confused with another tenant, but it's up to their new reviews to fix their rating.