Property management can unfortunately be a contentious business. However, from my first-hand experience, American Realty always does their best to be fair in every situation. My friends and I recently moved into a like-new fully renovated house. We were actually able to move in a month early because of all the hard work American Realty did in preparing the house. Throughout our move-in process we came across a couple issues. Thankfully, the staff at American Realty was there to let us voice our concern and help us resolve these two issues we came across. Jordan Whelan in the maintenance department was helpful in replacing a few of our appliances. There was some miscommunication in the process but he was quick to apologize and make up for it by accelerating the installation process for a new appliance we had on order.Jared Behrens was my main point of contact in assisting me with another issue I came across. Without going into much detail I received an unexpected service fee invoice that was charged to my property, and Jared was there right away to help me out. Throughout the entire process Jared was extremely helpful, personal, and professional. He was very understanding and attentive to my mindset regarding this issue- and we were able to reach an agreement that satisfied both parties- which was a nice welcoming reprieve!Overall, I would recommend leasing through American Realty. Yes I have experienced some ups and downs and have felt a sense of disconnect from a communication standpoint at times when trying to have an issue or maintenance request resolved, but the entire staff was always quick to apologize and help resolve any issue to the best of their ability. People make mistakes- and they'll be the first to admit their own- which is a nice thing to know. I think more people need to recognize this because no person or business is perfect. The front office and receptionist staff are always very helpful and friendly whenever I call or go into the office as well. I have been very pleased with American Realty Property Management and I will continue to rent from American Realty while living in Grand Rapids, as I feel they are the best rental company with good prices and great customer service.
July 7 2018The sounds of mice running in the attic above your head, the feeling of urine soaked tile grout crunching under your feet, a garage door you can see but can't open, window screens that somehow take over a year to install... These are just a few of the pleasures I've experienced and maybe you can too if you rent from American Realty! Honestly not sure if they aim to treat their properties or their tenants worse, it's embarrassing. Do yourself a genuine favor and rent through anyone else. Also, American Realty, please don't comment below asking me how you can, "make my experience better," cause it seems like the only people capable of doing that are the renters of your properties when they move out. Do better.Edit: July 25 2018Garage has been fixed and all window screens installed! Best advice is to call and call and remind them of repairs regularly until you get a scheduled repair date so it doesn't get lost!Edit: October 5 2018After three months of calling regularly and constantly reminding American Realty of the necessary repairs my bathroom so desperately needed they finally sent someone today! The water damage is far worse than it would have been in July and I am eager to no longer have to wear shoes in my bathroom. **Hold American Realty accountable! Call until they schedule a firm date for repairs or risk being forgotten and dismissed!**
I will never suggest American realty to anyone. Horrible maintenance. Mice and ant problems. Mice crawling in the walls and in the rooms. They never gave one of our roommates a key to their room. So when they did the yearly showings they locked that door when they left. Which had their pet in it. So when that person came home from work at midnight they came home to their bedroom being locked. And American realty not answering. Unless we wanted to be charged to call their emergency maintenance line. For something they did wrong. Out of $2000 security deposit they only gave us back $30. There is no way our house was damaged that much. They were going off of the inventory list back from 2012 even though none of those original roommates have lived there since 2015. Showings. Every single year they show your house around to a group of people. Sometimes with no notice! They will just tell you oh someone was supposed to email you. Well were gunna show your house anyway. And they breach personal privacy. Unlocking locked bedroom doors. Waking the roommates up by just unlocking the door and walking right in. Showing the group the closet and every possession of ours. Making judgmental comments as they do the tour. Very unprofessional. We all paid our final months rent. And they still double charged us by taking the last months rent out of our security deposit even though we all paid and they cashed our final checks. The list could go on and on. What I never understood was. Why does the rent keep rising every year if the quality of the house kept going down? The floors, you could literally roll a ball down them because the foundation was horrible. The doors needed to be re adjusted because the house was slanted so the doors after 6 months or so stopped being able to shut. I had to put clear tape on the wood floor because the holes between the wood were so wide you would loose things between them.
As far as maintenance goes we were very happy. Maintenance was always prompt and when we accidentally broke a window they were quick to respond and charged a reasonable price. However, they take no responsibility for pests. Ants, mice, etc. This is clearly stated in the lease and somewhat reasonable since they cant control the cleanliness of tenants, but less reasonable when you consider that the mice were getting in through small holes in the house and the ants were getting in through a poorly caulked bathtub. They were quick to deny responsibility, but they were helpful enough to spray a little for ants and attempt to fill the holes. My main complaint is for damages. We had some damages, but the amount they took was beyond reasonable. They will be quick to point to the lease where you agreed to pay the fines, but that hardly makes them reasonable. We were charged $225 for an overgrown lawn. I would love to see how they arrived at that price. To their credit, this was made clear in the lease. But our lawn was not overgrown. Furthermore, I struggle to arrive at their criteria for what constitutes overgrown. We were told 12 inches. Try to find that in the lease. Essentially they can just say anything is overgrown. Which they did in our case. They claimed they were not fined by the city, which sees more than adequate proof that the lawn was not overgrown. In addition many items we were charged for were clearly outlined in our inventory checklist, which they disregarded. We had to fight to get them excluded from the deposit, which they graciously did, all the while acting as if they did it out of benevolence.We also had an incident where they showed the apartment without any notice and acted somewhat rude when I did not want them to show off my bedroom. To be honest it was in an embarrassingly messy state at the moment and I was not comfortable giving a tour. This was a minor issue, but just another thing that comes to kind when thinking of American realty. Perhaps this is all to be expected. They are renting homes to mostly college students. They will try to get as much money as they can. But it is still fairly unpleasant to have to deal with and they certainly lost my respect. Be cautious, take pictures, and dont expect to see your security deposit again.
American Realty was nothing but a disappointment. The house was extremely dirty upon moving in, tours were given without proper notice, and the office was unbelievably unorganized. Being someone who works in property management, I can honestly say that I was shocked by the treatment we receieved. I highly recommend looking into The Fulton Group if you are interested in renting a house in Grand Rapids.
American Realty Property Management is a Canadian Real Estate Agency based in Grand Rapids, Manitoba. American Realty Property Management is located at 838 Cherry St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506, USA, Grand Rapids, Manitoba 49506, Canada.
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