Adam Meyers is a very understandable and simple person to work with, as a property manager. He made our stay in Newport News, VA worthwhile. Both our move-in and move-out was exceptional and we encountered no issues dealing with him. He was responsive to our requests and took his time to take care of our needs. As a military family, he made us feel at home and completely understood us. I will recommend this property management, especially Adam as a property manager to anyone who wants complete peace of mind when it comes to dealing with realtors. Thank you Adam, from Sulemana s family.
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Unprofessional to say the least. Berkeley served as an intermediary between my friends/me and our landlord to rent an off-campus house. Realtor was downright rude, and tried to explain their behavior as "just playing hardball." Apparently renting off-campus shanty homes to college students necessitates absolutely boorish behavior. Would rate zero stars if possible.
They are very discriminate towards military families will not allow sub-leasing of property. One family in particular is going overseas and they are not allowing them to sublease. If you are a military family, be very careful when living in this community
First off I would like to say that James Moore was very professional and went above and beyond to find out more information as to why my application got denied. I think some of their criteria for renting is a little unfair. I was renting a house with my ex husband and was a stay home mom so I did not have income, but he struggled to pay rent between the years 2013-2016 so their were many judgments but all satisfied immediately. My application was denied due to the judgments from that long ago. I have been privately renting for the past 2 years and never have made one late payment and my credit went from the 500's to the upper 700's. Everyone's situation is different and I think someone who has gotten out of a bad situation and has built their own life from scratch should get recognized for those things rather than situations from over 4 years ago. Now looking at all the reviews, maybe it is a blessing in disguise that I did not get approved.
Firstly, the property we toured (in Spring East) was a little dirty - but I will give this one to them because they still had tenants living there when we toured (unbeknownst to us, they were present on the day that we scheduled to tour.. and we were not told that they would be present.. We got there before the agent and were very confused as to what was going on. The current tenants were foreign and did not say much accept: "are you touring the house?") Also during our tour, my boyfriend opened a closet door, only to have it fall off the hinges.. the agent just chuckled and said "oh dear" to which my boyfriend looked at her kind of funny and said will this be fixed before move in? She responded "oh of course!" Upon finishing our walk through with the agent, Ann, I asked if the owner was allowing dogs and if there were any weight limits. I wanted to verify this was okay with the owner prior to spend $100 on application fees. I was VERY upfront about how much our dog weighed (about 55lbs.) She said that she would double check when she returned to the office. She called us later that day and said that dogs were permissible at this location. I again asked if the owner of the property had any weight restrictions, to which she replied that there was no issue with the weight of our pet. So, we went ahead and applied later that evening. We received a call the next day saying our application was perfect and that they had conferred with the owner and that he was ready to rent to us, until they said that "after telling the owner that we have a 55lb dog, he said that he would no longer accept us as tenants, because he did not want a dog over 35lbs maximum".. SO of course, the agent did NOT follow up with the owner before telling us "oh no, the weight is not an issue at all." The following day, we toured another condo. This time, Catherine helped us. After touring this condo, we began talking about the previous location. Catherine told us that she thought it was sort of odd and surprising that the owner "all of a sudden" decided to put up a max weight limit. She confirmed to me that Ann did not verify the weight limit with the owner before calling us back. She said she would talk to the owner of the home in Season's Trace on Monday and see if he would reconsider us and our dog. We also told her that if it made the owner feel better, we would be more than willing to sign something saying that we would be responsible to any (unlikely) damages caused by our dog, and in that case we would be liable to replace/fix any damages. I emailed her on Tuesday after not hearing from her, just to follow up. I have yet to hear back from her and it is now Friday. In conclusion, don't waste your money. Use another property management team. I do NOT care if it was "as much of a surprise to them as it was to us" about the pet weight limit, WHEN I ASK YOU TO VERIFY WITH THE OWNER BEFORE I SPEND MY MONEY ON FEES, YOU BETTER VERIFY WITH THE OWNER! ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE AND LAZY ON THEIR PART. They did say that our application & fees are good for 60 days and that they have new postings every 1st of the month.. but honestly at this point the thousands of reviews and horrible communication we have received from them to this point have turned us off of ever wanting to rent a property managed by them. So, thanks for nothing but costing us $100 for an application we never would have even submitted had the CORRECT information been passed along to us.
Wish I could give them 0 stars!! Called them to ask a question and the receptionist transferred me to a lady that was very RUDE! Surprised they are still in business with crappy customer service. They need to re-evaluate their staff!!
Berkeley Realty Property Management has threaded our neighborhood through the new frontier of virtual meetings and absentee voting. We are very appreciative of their ability to quickly adapt, and keep us out of the ditch.
I've been waiting for my lease to end to write this review - DO NOT RENT WITH THESE PEOPLE. I so regret not reading the reviews first. They do not communicate, and man do they not care about the renter. We had problems from the get go - from the person showing us a home not calling to let us know she was running late, a broken microwave that came with the house and didn't get fixed for over a year, an A/C that broke in the dead of summer that took almost two months to fix (that's illegal, btw - it was over 80F), a leaky roof that, instead of being fixed on the exterior, had the interior stain painted over. Some of the staff were pretty rude and condescending; the only one that was nice and actually tried (or at least it seemed that way) was Adam, and he's no longer with the company.
That said, in a bizarre twist, we got our deposit back (based on the other reviews, we weren't expecting that), so I guess that's a nice little plus. But, in conclusion, I am very glad to never have to deal with this company again. 0/10 do not recommend.
Avoid this garbage tier company! They will refuse to repair their properties till your lease is up. Then they will try to do anything to get your security deposit. They tried to tell me that I didn't clean the gutters (with guards on) and that they would use my deposit for the roof that leaked. After legal threats I got my deposit, don't let these scam artists get away with it!
I'm going to wager a guess that any review over 1 star is not a real review but padded by Berkley themselves. Here is a real account.
The area I lived in was and is in severe economic depression and jobs were non-existent. I applied to many jobs and finally got the one I had hoped for but bad news was I had a week to move 300 miles. So I started searching and applying for pretty much any place I could get. Finally I got a call back from Berkeley about 3 different places. Well we decided on one and the agent assured me it was a sure thing and just had to draw up the paper work. Well only 4 days left to move and it all seemed to be going well. I waited for the call back. And waited. And waited. So I emailed and called and left voice mails. Finally I got a second hand message that she hadn't got to speak with the owner in person yet only over the phone but it was a sure thing and she would be taking care of it that evening.
Well the big day finally arrived. I had called several times to no avail but I was packed and ready to haul 4 kids to our new home. Well we arrive and check into a hotel on Friday at 11:00 pm and I start work on Monday. Saturday I decide to forgo calling after leaving several voice mails stating the fact we had arrived and go to the office in person. Well after the initial shock of me being there in person she decides to tell me that the house didnt go through a full 4 days after she knew so. Needless to say I was more then a little upset. So after a brief discussion of why I was not informed before I drove the 300 odd miles she tells me to hang tight and leaves. Well 15 minutes later she comes back and tells me they have a 3 bedroom apartment I can have on a month to month lease and that's the only thing they have. Well at this point I'm up a particularly smelly creek without a paddle so having no other options I capitulate.
Well let's just say the apartments last residents were heavy smokers judging by the burns in everything and yellow film on the walls, also they must have been pet lovers. Extremely loving to the point they could not bear to have their fur babies go outside in the cold to go pee so they made the whole carpet a piddle pad. The range was straight out of the Brady Bunch with only 3 functioning burners and the 1st AC unit unloaded from the Santa Maria. Best part of all we learned after the 3rd day living there that the apartment wasn't even for rent. It was up for sale and when ever someone wanted to view it we would just get a random knock at the door for the pleasure of walking through my space like the King of England without a word of notice and if sold no if's ands or buts I had to leave.
Well after these few months I finally found another place and jump on it yet Berkley wants 60 days notice and a professional steam cleaner. To hell with that I say.
Terrible communication, they respond to questions days later with an automated email that reads schedule a showing via showjo, if you can book a showing it is still available except that s not true and you ll waste your time filling out their 20 page long application. Took me three emails to get an actual human response! I couldn t call, we don t live in America, so email was my only option and they completely failed me.
Berkely Property Management is incompetent. My Neighbors house at 1102 London Company Way has three foot tall weeds growing inside the townhouse. My other neighbor at 1104 has not cut her yard in three years since I did it last. Numerous attempts to have it addressed have failed. Please use Century 21 or Williamsburg Property Management. Berkely has a lot of turnover in managers and are not accountable. They will not get you the best market value for your rental because they are incapable of managing the HOA s. Save yourself the trouble of moving into a Berkely managed home or HOA property you will be disappointed.
UPDATE: Pam no loss of Feedback or missed communication just a company not doing there job. Please get the issues resolved. This is a list of items that have not been taken care of in the last two months since originally posting... Instead of putting up a confusing response about major issues in our neighborhood why don't you own them and correct them. Just a thought. Please update your response when the items are corrected please. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
AVOID. Please avoid at all cost. The level of disorganization and outright lack of professionalism is astounding. Berkeley is the epitome of bad business. I am thankful my lease ends in 3 months. We have had an issue of mold in our rental property's bathroom since the day we moved in. I and my housemates received an ultimatum email to either clean the bathroom or risk out of pocket payment to a third party that we had no voice in choosing. At no time did they initiate actual communication between us, as the tenets, and the landlord. Every interaction with Berkeley has been a nightmare. Please do not support this business.
Read these reviews, believe them and run. You may find a house that you love but believe me you won't love living there if Berkeley is the management company. Don't do it!!! They are horrible in every way and I don't know how they're still in business. Look elsewhere.
The absolute worst. The only thing they're good at is collecting payment. Nothing in Riverwalk Townes works as it should. The lawn sprinklers haven't worked since 2013 and the lawn service makes the area look worse than most abandoned lots in Philly. I often wonder what it is they do. Manage whatever it is yourself, I'm sure you can't do any worse.
As a homeowner who lives out of state and used Berkeley to manage my home in Williamsburg, let me say they are ripping off people on both ends. I hope they didn't treat my tenants as badly as I read the reviews for, but I know they did to me.
With my first tenants, Berkeley charged me ridiculous amounts of money for trivial things. For example, the tenants wanted a piece of furniture that I left in the house removed, and Berkeley charged me $149 for "trash removal" without my permission. When the flag on the mailbox got broken, I sent them a link to the piece at Home Depot, which cost $3.75. They still charged me $189 to repair the flag on the mailbox!!
Between tenants, they failed to pay the electric bill, even though it was in my contract with them to do so, and then charge me for the bill. Since they were getting the bills and I was not, I did not know the bills were not being paid. Dominion came after me and reported the failure to pay to all three credit reporting agencies, a move that took me 5 months to clear up.
I fired Berkeley after my most recent tenants moved out, and I have found that the property needs significant repair, even though Pam assured me that all repairs would be charged to the tenants and repaired. Frankly, I suspect they charged the tenants and did not do the repair. Now I am stuck having to pay hundreds in repairs that the tenants should be responsible for.
I would never work with this company again. I honestly think they are doing fraudulent business.
I have been working with Berkeley Realty Property Management and their property managers for almost a year now and I have nothing but great things to say about them! They are very responsive when communicating and everyone is very friendly (in a industry where that is not always the case). It is a joy helping them do great work for their tenants and home owner clients.
We can't speak highly enough of our experience with Elizabeth at Berkeley Reality. My wife and I were first-time homebuyers with very little knowledge about how to find the right place. We met with a couple of realtors before Elizabeth, but we knew instantly that she was the one for us. She is honest and hands-on (she even crawled into creepy attics to check insulation levels) who actually does that?. She really helped to take the pressure off of us.
We never felt forced to make an offer and when we finally found the "one" and ended up in a bidding war, Elizabeth walked us through every step of the negotiations. We have several friends looking for homes and thinking about selling, and we always recommend Elizabeth and Berkeley Realty to them
Have read the negative reviews and my experience with Berkeley obtaining HOA info on a property I own in Williamsburg has been outstanding. Stephanie was incredibly helpful --- many thanks to her for her superb, professional support.
Berkeley has managed our Chisel Run HOA for many years. The service is superb professional, responsive, budget-conscious, a pleasure to work with. Our board relies on the advice and expertise of our management representative to keep us on track, on budget, and out of trouble. She has never failed us.
After renting for several years through another property management company Berkeley Realty took over management of the unit I was renting. Unfortunately they took on a headache because the unit had many issues in need of attention. Elizabeth tried her best to have the property issues addressed but it really needed to be thoroughly renovated. She managed to make the best of a hard situation. She had what repairs the owner would agree to completed and worked to make my relocation out of state a little easier. In spite of a less than idea situation she helped make it a little easier.
Rude staff, perfectly okay with their tenants living in moldy units, and Megan Costa is the most worst rude person there. She s unbelievable. I can t believe she s still employed there. If I could give Zero stars I would. Will post a more detailed review later. Oh and the 5 star reviews that ARE here are fake and made up.
April 2017 Sorry to say, I had to drop my rating based on some dishonest practices. Here is an update: The property I was trying to rent, and in fact did get a lease approve by the homeowner, was listed with ALL major appliances included. This was part of the narrative: "All major appliances, including refrigerator, washer, dryer...) but when we went to sign the lease, no washer and dryer were included, only the hookups.
I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this company. Too many issues with listing inaccuracies, lack of responsible management, and agents who make renting a miserable experience for tenants and landlords alike. I would avoid them if at all possible. My original comments appear below.
First of all, everything the other reviewer wrote about Megan Costa is absolutely true. A year ago, she gave me a hard time with every showing I tried to schedule. She would refuse to meet at the property, even though I had rented through them before. She'd complain about whether I could prove my income. She's just a rude person with no sense of professionalism whatsoever. This past week, she cancelled one showing because I had put an incorrect move-in date. She called and left a message that she was cancelling, but never asked if I was flexible with the move-in, or if she could help me find a place that would work for that date--nothing. Just outright cancelled. No help whatsoever. Really horrible business sense.
Then, when I asked to reschedule, she gave me a hard time about my income again. I told her that I planned to pay the rent in cash, up front (the whole year.) She snapped back, "I don't care HOW you are paying! We have requirements you must meet!"
I would ask for literally ANY other agent to work with me. Some suggestions: Elizabeth is wonderful. She is patient and understanding. She goes out of her way to be helpful, and really seems to care about the family she is working with. We have also been in touch with Vicky, who is difficult to reach and does not communicate well. Update: She seems a lot like Megan in how she deals with people--inflexible and uncaring.
For folks looking to place their property for rent using Berkeley, I can tell you that they are not cheap--I've heard it's one month rent in fees just to find a tenant and 10% of rental price to "manage the property", which seems minimal, at best. (Rent collection.) When I moved into the first home they were managing, they were supposed to inspect it before instructing the out of town landlord to release the deposit for the prior tenants. They clearly didn't--the place was a mess, (cracked, broken appliances, cat urine everywhere,) and unfortunately, it ended up being on the landlord to pay for a cleaning service. So, stay on top of them with your expectations.
My Realtor with Berkeley is the best realtor I have ever dealt with Very personable, patient, and I never feel negativity from no matter what concern or request I may ask THANKS SO MUCH!!!
A truly dishonest organization, especially when it comes to move out inspections. Make sure you take thorough photos, and get EVERYTHING in writing. They also love to take advantage of college students, WM Students beware. Parents, be particularly cautious with this company. Would be happy to share more regarding my personal experience if anyone's interested.
Absolutely the worst rental company I've dealt with. I had a leaking roof for 9 months, after telling them numerous times they didn't do anything. Only once I moved out did they send contractors to fix the issues, despicable. Mold was a constant issue throughout my lease, with no help from Berkeley. Truthfully all they cared about was their rent money, they don't care about their tenants whatsoever. I suggest you steer clear of this company.
Every moment I have to acknowledge the existence of this unprofessional and rude company is psychological torture. I would rather spend years living in a 1 star motel than be involved with them again. If I could give a 0 star review I would.
I would give them 0 stars if I could. We had problems with them from the start until our rental homeowner finally fired them. First they told us we got a house, and we turned in a security deposit only for them to inform us the next day that someone else had been promised the house in an "unofficial agreement." Next we got to deal with ignored maintenance requests and phone calls about owner visits less than 2 hours before he would show up. We used their online payment system to pay rent and they "didn't have any record" of over $500 worth of rent. Luckily we kept receipts, but throughout all these problems, the company kept acting like things were our fault. The level of incompetence displayed by the people who work at Berkeley is unbelievable. Avoid doing business with these people at all costs.
Really bad i try to comunicated with the Office cause the laundry here all machines are in a very bad condition like fo real they Rise up the price but never never change the machines omg i Keep calling and this machines are to old if i could just put the video i been recording . Awful!!!
Total scammers. And unprofessional ones at that. They never bothered to let us know that the home we applied for wasn't going to be rented out after all. And apparently our applications were 'denied' anyways, not that we were informed of that either. $100 dollars completely wasted, which by the way, $50 for one application that not even a husband and wife can be on together is ridiculous. This is how they get their money. Even if you are the first to apply and your application is approved, they continue to take others just for the profit. STAY AWAY!
I'm a renter and this company is horrible to deal with...2 requests and follow up call to get air conditioning fixed. No hot water, sent a request at 7AM with no response. Called and was told it was sent out to a third party (never informed me) and can't give me an estimated time for it to be fixed...no hot water with 2 little kids....no baths, no clean clothes or clean dishes and they don't really seem to care. If you're an owner or a renter do yourself a favor and look elsewhere!
When we moved in there where holes and mold in the condo. They got fixed after we requested it but I had to take care of the mold myself. When we moved out we cleaned it spotless and shampooed the carpet and got charged a $300+ cleaning fee even though the place was under 1000 square feet. They aren t helpful and I d never rent from them again.
I define it as a SCAM. Where to begin, I reside at Patriot Condominiums, unfortunately.
Middle of the past summer, front of the home got set fire because of my husband s cigarette. It damaged side walls. It was our fault, accept it but still it is a accident. Of course We will pay the damage but did not know that I ll be scam of it.
My landlord told me Managment(Berkley Realtor) found licence company to fix it. It was 1.750 dolars.( I searched the material cost mostly 200 dolars, and this was 1 hour work with 2 people )
I talk with the representative or let say manager about the price. He told me I talked with the company they reduce the price to 1.500, so I will find him another work Appreciate for that favor, but really you will arrange him another work, so you are already working with that company. Are you making money out of that arranging work? Is it the reason you (Border+Managment) obligate me to pay that money? Is it the reason you (Border/Managment) did not let me to find, compromised licenced constructor who I find?
I am asking those questions because your realtor refuse talking to me for no reason. And of course I ll ask those questions I am the one who pays that money...
P.S.: I kept searching, first constructor priced me 1.450 $ ( that s is the reason they reduced the price, which this is outrage too ), second consructor priced me 600$+Materials.
Stay far away from Berkeley properties. Besides the bad service, they blatantly rip off people. They don't even deserve one star! How can they even stay in business with so many horrible reviews?
Any problems with getting maintenance done are strictly the fault of the homeowner, so I don't blame them for that. They send reminders for inclement weather (drip your faucets, hurricane preparedness tips, etc) which I appreciate. Sometimes it's hard to get in touch with them, but I haven't had to call them often enough to say for sure.
Working at Berkeley Realty property Management has been such a pleasure. I have had many opportunities to both manage my clients' investment properties while simultaneously responding to tenants' needs. I take pride in making sure that both parties are satisfied through extensive care, top-notch professionalism, and extreme diligence. I look forward to coming to work each day and being apart of a team that knows how to provide the highest level of customer service.
Berkeley realty has been the worst company I have ever worked with. I was military, so I've moved at least 4 times within 5 years to different locations and I have never experienced anything like what I did at Berkeley.
They will try and take every bit of your security deposit. Word of advice take pictures of everything and keep copies of everything. If you put in a work order, don't expect them to fix it either.
Oh and make sure to document every discrepancy in your move-in inspection. To include dust and cleanliness. Because if you don't, when you move out, even if that place is spotless they will charge you for cleaners. For a place you may have left in better condition than when you received it.
If I could give this company ZERO stars, it would still be too many. Let me begin by saying that we were very good renters - always paid on time, improved the property while we lived there (it was a single family home - we did extra yard work, etc beyond normal upkeep to make the property look nice), gave them access whenever they needed and followed the clauses of the lease to the letter. Even so, I cannot begin to express how TERRIBLE our experience was renting from this company. They took every opportunity to charge us incorrectly (always in their favor and always straight out of our bank account because we made the mistake of using auto-pay for our monthly rent payment) and getting someone to pay attention to or even acknowledge our maintenance requests just about required setting the place on fire. Even the employees who seemed to try to be helpful ended up causing us to be nickel and dimed right up until our very last day as renters. I would NEVER rent one of their properties again because it's not worth the hassle and stress of dealing with this awful company. Future renters beware!!! Even if you don't take this warning as truth, do yourself a favor and read the leasing agreement word for word, consider what will happen if you have to break the lease early and ask them for a copy of their "moving out" checklist BEFORE you sign a lease with them (this is good info not only for what you will have to do before moving out, but it will also tell you how the place was left by the previous renters because I don't believe Berkeley does much more). And then, if you still rent from them... good luck!
When I first rented I had Megan Costa as the property manager. She addressed my issues but like others have said she always seemed a little rude. The property I rented from got switched to Adam as the property manager and he was awesome he is really nice and helped with anything I needed. We left the home in very good condition and I did receive my deposit back completely and was thanked for leaving the home in good condition by Adam. I plan on using this rental company again until buying a home.
The people at Berkeley are a great group of people to work with. The receptionist greeted me in a friendly and timely manner. The agent quickly assisted me with what i was looking for in a home. The application process was fast and I was able to move into my new home the following week. I was very pleased with Berkeley's entire move in process. ***** Very Happy Tenant*****
Atrocious management company. House was not cleaned before move in. Moldy couches left in the house when I got the keys. Slow response when making maintenance requests. apathetic and even rude property manager. If you are moving into the Williamsburg area avoid Berkeley management
I've seen first hand how they discriminate against military members - if you're a military member, avoid at all cost. If you PCS to a new location, you will most likely be unable to rent out your house due to archaic HOA rules and you'll be forced to sell at a significant loss or keep the house empty and pay double mortgages. Look elsewhere - or push to have HOA rules changed prior to purchasing. Berkeley Realty is to be avoided like the most dangerous semi-circle during a hurricane sortie.
My wife and I moved to Williamsburg last year and really lucked out. We rented a home being managed by Berkeley Realty Property Management. They were great to deal with and always responsive to our requests. If I were renting property, I definitely would use them.
However, the main reason for our 5 star rating has a lot to do with Michelle Maciel our residential property manager. Michelle could not have done a better job for us. Any request we had was dealt with immediately and always with a follow up call or email. My wife and I told her "do you ever have time off?" It seemed as if Michelle worked 24/7. She always made us feel she was genuinely concerned and cared for us.
We believe she represents all Berkeley employees and that is why they are a 5 star rating with us.
Having the hardest time getting Pierre HOA management POC to respond to my emails or phone calls. I realize everyone is busy but come on! HOA dues are paid on time and a return call would be appreciated. May need to call the Boss!
Poor management of properties plus trying to charge us for issues that aren't even our fault. And trying to reach anyone is nearly impossible. These people are a joke
Very incompetent staff, never responds to maintenance requests unless you place them a dozen times. They NEVER stay consistent with anything, if you try to get anything fixed from previous tenants they will NOT fix them (tried for 3 years to get some drawers replaced in the kitchen and they did not fo it). Even things they would have to replace after we movednout they simply refused to fix like the windows that hadn't been replaced since the early 1980s was too much for them to do. Please do everything you can to avoid these people, they give you mothing but a house for your money, there is no service to be found here just a ton of lies and false promises.
True to other reviewers....my experience with this group has been disappointing and frustrating at best. My guess is they manage in excess of 1000 properties and feel as if they do not need to provide exceptional customer service to fuel continued success. Have been calling the office for months requesting rental information. Each time I am sent to another Associate's voice mail. Not only do I NEVER get a return call from the voice messages left, but when I actually speak with an individual promises are made but follow through NEVER occurs. STEER CLEAR this Company clearly already has all of the clients they desire.
I rented with Berkley for 6 months and then had to move out of state. The property they offered us was a beautiful townhouse in Grove. Other then the property Berkley is awful. My wife and I would put in request and it would take weeks to months to get responses. All I can say is if you rent with Berkley RECORD AND TAKE PICTURES OF EVERYTHING!!!!!!! Make sure you do a very thorough job of your before and after. Berkley will try to nickle and dime you for everything to keep as much as your deposit as possible. And good luck getting in contact with them once your lease ends they will hold on to your money until the law requires them to give it to you.
I have worked for Berkeley Realty Property Management, Inc. for over 17 years as a property manager for residential rentals and am now the Director of Residential Property Management. It is apparent by the reviews below that there are some misconceptions about the role we play in the landlord/tenant and homeowner's association/owner relationship. We are agents for the landlord. We work in the landlord's best interest and act on the landlord's directions.
I know that every employee of Berkeley Realty is committed to resolving disputes between parties by enforcing the lease and following all real estate laws.
I hope that this review will help those interested in my company understand that this is a complex business full of human interaction so it is often times unpredictable. I am saddened that all the positive work I do will likely never get posted.
I will continue to grow this company by utilizing new technology, staying in compliance with the ever changing real estate laws, and giving the best service to my clients even if that means some will not understand why I couldn't give them what they wanted!
I look forward to working with you, please call me if you have any question!
I would like to recognize Matthew Walthal for all his help and kindness, much greater than others that I had to encounter. He was very thorough and professional. Good luck Matthew!
WM Students Beware: This is an absolutely terrible property management company. They charge ridiculously high prices for derelict properties. You will be treated like a child in your communications and your safety concerns will be ignored. I lived in a house managed by Berkeley in 2017 and routinely complained about mold which would grow visibly along the walls and rodents that would spend all night loudly scurrying around in the attic. Berkeley refused to address either of these issues. Three years later the current tenants are dealing with the same problems.
That rude old lady at the reception desk was awful! She is soooo rude! I don't know why a company would have someone who lacks all customer service skills work at the front desk! However, Megan Costa was nice to work with.
I tried really hard to ignore all of these terrible reviews about this company, but my experience today just reinforced everything all of these other people have said about Berkeley Realty.
First, you can't just call the listing agent and schedule an appointment. They force you to use their electronic scheduling through shomojo. OK. Irritating, but not a deal breaker. I scheduled an appointment for today at 2pm. Megan Costa sent me an automated email detailing the appointment. In that email it says, "Unless otherwise discussed, I meet all appointments at our office address:..."
I immediately responded to that email and said, "Thank you for the appointment. Unfortunately I do not have time today to go to your office and then go back to Fords Colony. I currently live in [neighborhood omitted] and I will just meet you at the property at 2pm, if that's ok. ...."
Megan responded, "Good Morning Justin, Are you interested in renting or buying 109 Concord? This home is on both the sales and rental market."
I thought that was weird because that fact shouldn't matter, but I simply responded, "Renting".
I then got another automated email to confirm my appointment. I clicked on the link that says, "Confirmed! I'll see you there."
After all this is decided I should go ahead and reserve the 12pm spot they had to view the property on Saturday too because I was pretty sure my mother was going to want to see it as well. I knew that scheduling a 2nd appointment could confuse matters so I put notes into the appointment under the section of the form that asks what your gross monthly income is (because they don't leave you a place to leave notes). I said, "Reserving this time as a 2nd viewing. If I find that this home does not meet our needs during the first viewing today, I will cancel this appointment for Saturday."
I got to the property a couple minutes before 2pm. At 2:02pm, I sent an email to Megan and said "Megan, I am here at the property."
At 2:12pm I called the only number Megan provided in her email. I left a voicemail on her extension.
At 2:20pm I called their office and spoke with the operator explaining that I was at the property waiting for Megan to arrive.
Megan called me while I was on hold with the operator. She said, "I'm sorry sir, but I'm a little confused. I have you down for an appointment at 12pm on Saturday, but you said you didn't have time to meet me at my office today"
This really pissed me off, but I tried to remain calm. I explained that I made 2 appointmentso and that I clearly detailed in my email that I would meet her at the property instead of her office address. She insisted that I did not make that clear. I exhausted myself trying to understand why this wasn't clear to her. E-mail is written text and as you can see above, I spelled it out.
Regardless, she asked what I wanted her to do. I told her I wanted her to meet me at the property because I had been waiting for 30 minutes for her to arrive. She refused, stating she had another appointment to be at. She asked if I wanted to keep my appointment for Saturday, I took a deep breath and she said "hello?" I responded that I wanted her to keep the appointment for 12pm, but to note that we would be meeting at the property, not at her office. She said she can not do that. I asked why and she said because she had another appointment next to her office just before mine. I said ok, just meet us at the property at 12:15 instead. She said, "No. We meet all of our clients for the first time at our office". I said, "That doesn't work for me. Would you please just meet us at the property at 12:15?" She said, "No. I can't do that". I said, "You obviously don't want our business. You may cancel the 12pm appointment. Thank you."
It's been an hour and I'm still steamed. This is absolutely the worst experience I have ever had with a "realtor". I will never do business with this company. It's a shame too because I think this house really could have worked for us, but no house would be worth dealing with this level of incompetence on a regular basis.
I could write a book on the poor treatment I've experienced from Berkeley Realty Property Management. Read all the bad reviews here from renters -- I don't doubt them, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. I'm an owner, and Berkeley Realty Property Management handles our association via a managing agent. I'm sure there are good people at this company, but I can only speak of my own experience over 10+ years. My experience of their level of service has been consistently AWFUL. If you're seeking honesty, fairness, respect, and a commitment to doing the right thing, RUN!
Ed Robbins is the VP My wife called about a broken front porch he ever returned her call and then lied to me that he did There would be a record Ed HOA charges are very expensive
If I could give it less than a one star review I would. My husband and I moved in little did we know there were multiple problems with the property we asked for them to be fixed only to wait months for a response every time we called they didn t answer! When we moved out we cleaned the house spotless way cleaner than when we moved in. The house was only 1000 square feet and they took all of our deposit and said 300 of it went to a cleaning service. Don t know what they had to clean we even shampood the carpets. Do not waste your time, please find someone else to rent from!! Rent from them and you ll lose money and regret it. This is only a couple things that went wrong there were so many more problems.
My review is based on my experiences prior to our move in date which is scheduled for August 1st. Very impressed with how well Elizabeth Walthall took care of myself and family and her willingness to commit to finding us the right home. She was professional and responsive. She approved us for the condo we really wanted literally 2 days after our showings. When it was time to go through the lease contract we literally sat down with her and went through the contract PAGE BY PAGE and she addressed any questions or concerns myself or husband had. I am not going to lie seeing the reviews below made me nervous and was a red flag for me. However, it's almost as if Berkeley Realty has a monopoly in our area because many, if not all, of the listings we were interested in was through Berkeley Realty so they were hard to avoid. Hopefully we don't have issues with any repairs that may need to be made in the future or no issues with receiving our deposit back when it reaches that time we decide to move out (if we ever move out) later down the road. I will make sure to take photos/videos of the unit prior to us moving in. The only reason I rated 4 stars versus 5 was because the property manager who we were suppose to go through in the beginning (Tia Pagues) stood my family up at our showing. However, the way I see it everything happens for a reason. It is a good thing we went through Elizabeth because I truly feel no one would've taken better care of us as much as she has. I can't say enough about Elizabeth and how grateful I am of her. I can't wait to hosts dinners and play dates at our new home when that time comes. Also, it warms my heart to know that my son has ample room to play in our condo and I can't help but think how the holidays will be near that beautiful fireplace. Hopefully their will be no issues later down the line that would cause me to edit my review. So far so good though..
Adam Meyer is an awesome property manager that knows the real estate industry inside and out from working in Title, Residential Sales and Property Management. He treats others with the utmost respect, consideration and professionalism. He helps investors, tenants and vendors get what is needed to make all parties happy. If you need a Property Mgr., look no further. Call Berkeley and ask for Adam Meyer!
They just took over mgt of the property that I rent. Being a property manager I am not one bit impressed. I may even have to call legal aide to help me out with this one. They dont care I do know that much in only 2 months..They make sure they get what they need but tenants, not so much as the many reviews have stated time and time again smh. I gotta deal with this kind of customer service for a whole year! Geesh
STUDENTS AND MILITARY BEWARE!! Absolutely terrible. Find another agency to rent through even if you think you've found a great place or deal. We were lied to about multiple things and Berkley not only wouldn't help us but denied everything and were only concerned about their liability. We have also had maintenance requests for things that were broken when we moved in and none of them have been addressed even though they claim it would only take 48 hours. They will tell you anything to sign you and collect your payment. After that youre on your own.
Our experience started off rocky because the tenants before us left the townhouse a disaster, but with the help of Emma, things got much better! Everything she promised was done and now we re are happy with our new home. Thanks Emma!
Short Version: We highly recommend Adam Meyer as your property manager. Even when things get busy, he makes an honest effort to communicate and be an advocate for the renter. This would have been a 1 star review had he not taken over as our new property manager. I truly believe he is the reason we received our full deposit back at move out.
We initially had a lot of issues with the maintenance of the property, and there was pretty bad communication between the property management company, us and the owner. It took forever to get anything done, and they kept trying to charge us for things that weren't our fault. It was like pulling teeth to just get a little communication on things.
HOWEVER - when Adam became our property manager, everything turned around. He was very pleasant to work with, very understanding and cared about our issues. Even if things took longer than we would have liked sometimes, he took the time to let us know and tried to work with us on things. Once there was established communication with the owners, that resolved the issues of us being charged for things that we shouldn't have. He really made an effort to make us feel we had someone advocating for us as renters, instead of only concerned about the owner and/or the management company.
We got our full deposit back in a very timely manner. Adam did a pre move out walk through to allow us time to fix any issues beforehand so that we wouldn't get unnecessary charges on things we could fix. He worked with us and the owner on allowing us to leave the walls painted as is which saved us a lot of work. He even went out of his way to fix up some areas that were missed in the initial walk through rather than having us come back again (thank you!!)
Adam was also able to negotiate with the owner on our move out date and deposit since we were in the process of purchasing a house and needed an easier timeline. This saved us $950!
Overall, our move out went a lot more smoothly, easily and quickly and we have Adam to thank for it!
I wish I read these reviews before signing my yearlong lease. If you don t have the energy/time to consistently be fighting with your landlord, STAY AWAY. I get the sense that this company makes it bread and butter screwing over college students and veterans who don t have the time/experience to effectively deal with them. Every work order is late, properties receive the bare minimum of maintenance/upkeep to go along with the highest possible rent. The actual Berkley employees range from hapless and ineffectual at best to rude and disrespectful at worst. If you are looking to rent a property in the James City County area, choose another if possible. If berkley is your only option, beware. After you are locked into your lease, the level of service will decline sharply. There is a reason there are so many bad reviews (I also have reason to believe the 5 star reviews are left by Berkley employees or paid for by them).
RENTER BEWARE! These people nickel and dime you when you move out. They charged us to repaint the house, power wash deck, repair food disposal unit (didn't have problems while we were there) and few other items. We lived at this house for a year and they basically kept the deposit for upkeep of the house that the owner is responsible to maintain, not the renter. Just be careful when dealing with this management company. They are nice people but are lacking in integrity.
I speak highly of Ms. Emma she made sure she return all of my call quickly. She ensure my fiance and I was comfortable and was helpful throughout the process.
williamsburgrentals.com
