Harbor Bay Realty Rentals

They are happy to show you a house, and encourage you to apply and pay the application fee, all while knowing that they had a number of applications already in on that property! Save the 30% (what they call industry standard rental fee, seems like a lot for 7 minutes if work) and find your next home on Craigslist.

recently had the pleasure of working with Guy Blume with harbor bay realty. I was very impressed with him. The entire time he was professional and attentive. I highly recommend working with him because moving is so stressful and he helped alleviate that. Five stars!

I’m a renter, so Harbor Bay is the company the owner has hired to do business on his behalf. They are proficient when it comes to sending the standard, legal documents that they are required to send tenants. They are professionally pleasant. Haven’t had issues with the reception desk, and they do answer promptly during regular business hours. If I leave a message for a specific person, I have felt that there is lag time in getting calls returned. I have the expectation that my call will be returned within 48 hours, so maybe the office has a different policy. I’ve been told at times that they’re short staffed, or someone is covering for another person when they’re out… Overall I think they strive to find a balance between serving the tenant and the owner. When I do eventually get to talk to someone, I usually get my issue dealt with timely and courteously.

If I could give Harbor Bay Realty Rentals zero stars I would. I have never been treated so poorly in my life. We have a rental property that was once managed by an independent firm and he decided to join Harbor Bay and thus we inherited them as our property manager. And WOW is all I can say. This has been the WORST experience ever.
My husband and I are super easy going. I work from home, so I am very accessible and I am on my emails all the time. Getting a hold of me is easy. And we don’t waste a lot of time making decisions or anything.
So, when there were unexpected costs totalling well over $ 2k on our rental property and they «couldn’t get a hold of us» I found this totally unacceptable. The issue ended up being that they didn’t know how to send an email to the right address. And when we figured this out, they NEVER apologized and never once took the blame for the fact that they didn’t spell our names correctly in sending us emails.
There is no one point of contact for us and even when we have requested it, they just ignore us. I They run around with their heads chopped off and nobody communicates with us and I can only imagine how awful they treat our renters. I left a voicemail expressing how upset I was and how I couldn’t understand why it is so difficult to reach out and communicate to us. And yet, still NO one reached out to us.
If you can find someone else who can remotely treat you like a human being, be respectful to you and manage your property then I would highly suggest you run to them. We live in NZ now and it is a bit more challenging to find another alternative property manger, but trust me we are on the hunt. This isn’t acceptable to us or our renters or anybody for that matter.
Someone needs to go in there and teach them about customer service and how to treat people with dignity and respect.

I had the same experience as a reviewer below and around the same time (April 2015). The person answering the phones spoke down to me, had a rude tone, and I felt like I was bothering her by simply asking her questions and trying to find out about rentals. HBR rentals are not flexible and I was told I’d have to attend open houses. They were not willing to have me see the rentals with an agent when I was able to come — at least that’s what the receptionist told me. Ultimately, my husband and I decided to go with Gallagher and Lindsey where we were able to see rentals when it worked for our schedule and the agent was really nice.

Don’t waste your time… you apply to one place at a time only to find out the place they listed as pet friendly doesn’t want a pet. Was actually told by Sherrie my big sweet dog who goes to doggie daycare daily was holding me back — really? It appears her focus is to present a stack of applications to an owner so II’m not sure why then I was potentially going to pay $ 1000 agency fee as it felt like it was going to be luck if I found a place through them not work on their end. Found THREE places on my own through Craigslist and accepted one even in this tough market. Once the owners met my dog and read my pet resume it was no problem (same pet resume Sherrie had). As I switched my search I found the other Alameda rental agents knew more about the properties they listed, what that owner wanted and seemed willing to work harder for me and return calls. Wish I had tried these other agents earlier as I wasted months trying to make a move from Tiburon to Alameda and thought an agency would be a great way for me to cover more ground, learn more about the property before driving over and be well represented to the owner. I just picked the wrong one.

A review for Tammy Sorenson at Harbor Bay Realty:
This is my first review for Unilocal so be patient with me. I was in a terrible position this past winter when my landlord passed away and the extended family gave me the sickening 60 day notice taped to the front door. Being an established Alameda resident with children immersed in the public schools and after school activities it came as a huge emotional shock. I turned to Tammy Sorensen who works at Harbor Bay Realty. She was so patient and amazing. The new rental property was found in Alameda just days before my deadline to move. Tammy Sorensen worked way over and above what most people should have done. She tirelessly negotiated and fielded multiple phone conversations on both mine and the new landlords behalf for a solid contract between us (they had never been landlords before and kept changing their minds about various issues.) Tammy is an exceptional negotiator and worked many hours to get us in our rental! Moving can be very traumatic and Tammy helped ease the stress somewhat by all she did for our family AND for the new landlords. She is very trustworthy and honest– helping both sides in this process. I commend her on her knowledge of all the workings for both managing rentals for the landlords and assisting the tenants. Bravo for Tammy Sorensen at Harbor Bay Realty!

Harbor Bay Realty has been the property manager for our Alameda property since 2001. Their service has literally been as good as it gets and I can’t imagine a more professional or well run management service. They handle all aspects of management and we very rarely receive calls from them. Given the extremely low turnover rate of our tenants I can only surmise that the tenants have an equally high opinion of their service. We have other property management companies in other areas and none of them come close to providing the service provided by Harbor Bay Realty. I would give them my highest possible recommendation as a property management service and would also recommend anyone looking to rent a property to check with Harbor Bay Realty.

My experience with HBR (Rentals)
1. Whomever is answering the phones (when they were answered) needs to speak in a more respectful manner. She comes across as rude and cut me off numerous times.
2. You would expect a realty company too be better about answering their phones, because potential clients are calling. It was very rare that someone answered.
3. My wife’s appointment was cancelled 1 hour prior, because the property had been rented. My complaint is that when I was told this the secretary didn’t even ask me if I was interested in other properties. She simply relayed the message and hung up. Considering my wife and I had filled out two rental applications equalling $ 50, we expected to be shown at least one other property.
4. My wife left messages on their phones and I sent an email inquiry both went unanswered.
5. Sherry one of the realtors is a gem. She was very sweet and kind over the phone (the two times I spoke with her) sadly she was out of the office during the time my wife and I were looking for an apartment. I have no doubt if she was in she would have provided excellent service. Insure she is your realtor.
My wife and I found an apartment thru Cerda Zein Real Estate. They answered their phones warmly and communication was excellent. Kelly was our realtor.

I had a scheduled appt to view a rental property with Jennifer and the day of the showing no one was at the property to show us the house. It turns out that the house was taken, but the rep never contacted me that the house was off the market. The way the company handled this situation felt very unprofessional since all they had to do was call me the morning of or when the house was officially under a contract with a new renter. I felt thay they didn’t consider my time and i wasted my Saturday since my appointment was ub thr middle of the day.

After looking for a place to live in Alameda for over 60 days through Craigslist, Trulia and Gallagher & Lindsay we had with no luck. Harbor Bay Realty Rentals gave us a such a positive experience that we had never known the rental procedure to be so swift and painless.
Real estate rentals in the Bay Area have become extremely competitive and it is even more difficult it is to find a house that allows pets.
Gallagher and Lindsay offer many pet friendly properties & affordable options but they really paled in comparison to the friendliness and service of Harbor Bay Realty. HBR offered a much more personal experience with impeccable timing and this made a huge difference for us with getting the property we wanted. While Gallagher and Lindsay seemed «inconvenienced» by us and our specific needs, Harbor Bay Reality Rentals acted like they were on our side and treated us like an actual client.
Sherrie Pagones’ professionalism and friendly persona was refreshing and encouraging. She told me, «My job is to make you look as good as possible on paper» and from that moment I felt a sense of relief and reassurance that she was an ally.
Sherrie was prompt in showing me the properties available, (the same day I inquired), she moved the application process along without pressure and followed up as soon as she had an update. When things fell into place and our application was accepted, I was very impressed at how Sherrie kept business light and playful without loosing any professionalism.
I did not give five stars because during the 60 days of looking for a rental, the available listings on Harbor Bay Reality Rentals rarely had «Pet Friendly» options and the listed properties lacked variety, focusing more on upscale rentals. We were very fortunate to have found a pet friendly rental that was within our budget. I couldn’t have asked for a better agent… well worth the finders fee!

Sherrie Pagones in the rental office was a pleasure to deal with. She offered advice on what to do as a tenant. The rental process was thorough and easy. I received an nice house warming gift consisting of Alameda area information and a nice shopping bag. I wasn’t expecting that but I appreciated it. I would highly recommend giving her the opportunity to find your rental.

⁶⁄₂₁
Ongoing frustration as an owner… HBR has very friendly people and they try to be helpful, but they «drop the ball» frequently. Case and point, the Home Owners Association determined that new balconies were needed for some of the homes. I was notified by HBR who was relaying the message from the association very late into the window for a contractor’s «discount rate» based on volume. I don’t know if the delay was from HBR or the association. The price of the repair seemed way out out of line (typical of most repair quotes from HBR) so I asked HBR for a breakdown of the costs. They acknowledged the request and said they would get the breakdown, and then nothing for 2 months. The option to have the contractor who was onsite had ended. After asking them what was happening they told me to call the office of the association to work it out with them. Isn’t that what I’m paying BHR to do? If I had the time to chase these things down I wouldn’t need HBR. Sigh.
HBR is fine when there’s nothing wrong, they take my money for management and send me, but they aren’t very good at following up on things like this. It’s very frustrating. I only hope they look after the tenants better.

I have interacted with both the Harbor Bay Realty property management team and rental team on numerous occasions, and they never fail to provide outstanding service. The staff is friendly, professional, and extremely knowledgeable. Transactions are handled in a timely fashion and their process is streamlined yet thorough. As a property owner I know I will have thoroughly screened, well qualified tenants living in my home. Being as busy as they are, they are always accommodating and always greet me with a smile. It gives me peace of mind knowing my property is being managed by the staff of this reputable company that takes pride in what they do.

This company is absolutely terrible from the landlord perspective. I have a home in Oakland that I needed to find new tenants for and I’m not local so I hired them to help me with the process. Every step of the experience was terrible and agonizing. If you say you don’t want their monthly management service and just want their help marketing and finding you a tenant, you get completely different treatment and suddenly aren’t worth their time. They charge you for every single thing and they don’t make the process easy at all. They want a fee to manage their own maintenance department and get quotes, they won’t coordinate with outside vendors for other services and will just say your people can come pick up keys. It’s hard to find vendors who will do that so it leaves you having to use their vendors, which is seriously overpriced. Then they charge you for materials, including materials you’d think they’d have since it’s a typical maintenance job with reusable tools. I had pictoral evidence that the work that’d been done was substandard and asked for it to be redone, at which point they did, but it’s sad that I had to do that. When they FINALLY get the work done and you ask them to market the house, the ad they post has no pictures and lacks any detail with the explanation that «we’ll get pictures when we show it.» With what it has now, there won’t be anyone asking to see it. The treatment for people who are paying them and requesting a service is horrendous on every level. It’s been a month and my house sits empty, the work done after I followed up frequently to make sure it was getting done, and any time you express any dissatisfaction to them, instead of being professional and addressing your concerns, they treat you even more poorly and drag their feet as much as humanly possible just to punish you for letting them know you’re dissatisfied. After calling them out on the substandard repair work to prepare the home for rental, they did the bare minimum of the job to get by until I finally gave up and found someone else. If you are a landlord looking for property management or for someone to help you market your house for rent, run FAST. There are a number of 5 star agencies in the area to go to that will make this a pain free process. These people will give you a headache and an ulcer in addition to help you lose money fast while you pay them for services and don’t have rent coming in. Then when you want to hire someone else to do the job they’re refusing to do, they won’t hand over the keys until they receive your check, won’t work with you to alter a payment method as you’re not local and urgently in need of a marketing agent, and so they refuse to work AND sit on their hands while you wait for USPS to save your life. This review can only express a fraction of what a miserable experience working with these people was. Find anybody else. Don’t go here.

So we just looking for a place in alameda Harbor Bay Realty rentals I talked to Jen Pryor she took care of us answering any questions I had a long with concerns. I would recommend Harbor Bay Realty to any of my friends and family, they get a 5 out 5 from me. & again thank you so much Jen.

Everyone working here is very professional, Vanessa is always there for you and Ellen is so sweet and accommodating.
I’ve rented a 2br apt here in Alameda through them, and they helped my friend finding a studio right next to were I live. I’m never gonna be thankful enough!
Grazie!

I moved in August 2012 from Orange County, with my cats, and Harbor Bay was very patient in helping me find a pet-​friendly home. I’m very pleased with my rental. Also, I’ve had their maintenance come out twice for some minor repairs (a window screen re-​placement, and light switch not working). From the office workers to the maintenance crew, they were all quick to respond, and very friendly.
Just knowing that they are on top of minor repairs makes me feel comfortable that if there were any major repairs, it would quickly get taken care of.
Great job guys!

THE DISCOVERY:
Craigslist
THE VIBE:
Professional willing to work with you, until…
THE EXPERIENCE:
Where do I begin?
Summer 2011
First the properties are flooded on craigslist they look great and are quite amazing! After paying 30% renters fee, first months rent and deposit of the rent equivlant + 20% of rent= 3000 for move in cost. While I suppose this is average, its not exactly what I expect to pay for service.
After calling Harbor Bay Realty several times to view there properties, I was working with Sheri, while she is pleasent and seemed very interested in finding a spot for my needs she is not very good about returing phone calls or emails.
I submited all that is required of me: references, application, credit check fee of $ 20 per applicant I have yet to hear from her! I find it rather frustrating and extremely unprofessional to conduct business in this manner. They have a no turn around time. I turned the application in 2 weeks ago and all I hear is silence.
It feels as though they accept many applicants for one unit, just to collect the application fee!
While all this drama is pending I submited my application to a private owner heard back from owner in 3 days, now I move in 30 days.
THE SERVICE:
After paying the application fee NO service, , o follow ups, no return call, no emails– crickets! I have emails to prove! Terrible service. I will not patron or promote their business practices.
THE GOOD:
Great pictures of properties, lots of information online
THE BAD:
The service. Sheri. Everything.
OVERALL:
I will not conduct business with them again. My advice seek Kelly Tran or Don from CalWest Realty. Or do what I did and keep looking on craigslist for private owners rather then greedy corporations.

Harbor Bay Realty deals mostly in the buying and selling of properties, but I was able to schedule an appointment to see one of their rentals on the island (which is kind of funny, considering their name).
While the agent came prepared with the necessary documents and answered all of our questions, none of the properties really appealed to me. A decent rental company, but the big houses are definitely their forte.