Four Star Realty and Property Management

An awesome company that really puts their tenants needs first. I have had multiple property managers from Four Star and they are all very professional and respectful. Also the front desk babe, Carley, is smoking hot.

**first review I’ve ever written, but felt compelled***This is the worst property management company I have ever dealt with. They are sneaky, and solely want your money. I strongly advise not to sign a lease, or do any business with them. They are horrible, and at the end of the day don’t care whatsoever about your lease once you’ve signed. Money is the priority, tenant care is NOT. DONT SIGN WITH THEM. Don’t even think your lease you’ve signed will be honored, as they save their own ass. They hush college students away when issues arise, and laugh them off when you’re laying 1000 bucks for a shitty company a month, be smart and stay the hell away

My roommates and I needed a new house to rent and looked at a lot of houses and couldn’t find the right one. We were very frustrated and worried we would find what we needed. Then Scott Otis from four star step in a saved the day! He found us a great rental and made the entire process of seeing the home, filling out applications, and signing the lease so easy and stress-​free. He answered all of our questions very quickly and made us feel so comfortable working with four star. We are very excited to move in to our new place and confident that we will be well taken care of as we start a new adventure in an awesome home!

Great company to work with. Mel was very helpful and knowledgeable! She made everything fast and easy. Applied and got back to me two days later. No run around and no problems. She worked around my busy work schedule and made the process stress free for me! The place is in great shape and she took time to make sure everything was perfect for me! I will definitely be working with her the next time I move!

Scott made the home buying process less stressful by doing all that he could to schedule showings and view homes during the crazy spring season. We chose a very difficult time to buy a home and with his help we were able to purchase one. He is an honest, punctual, and friendly agent who will do all he can to help.

Infamously known as the worst rental company in Boulder, and for a good reason. I was warned about renting with them and should have listened. Overpriced, garbage dumps of properties riddled with problems. Be especially wary of Benny Swan, he is an O.G. property manager who has been screwing over students for the better half of the decade. From what I understand Four Star just acquired another rental company’s properties and are close to having a monopoly on student housing in Boulder. If you want awful service from property managers who really don’t care at all, this place is for you.
Update — 10.16.15
Just got my security deposit back. I left the place in a mess with a couple holes in the drywall as well so I wasn’t expecting much. However, it seems that from the reports that they used a portion of my deposit to fix up issues that were never there i.e. purchasing screens and blinds for the windows and paying to have them installed. My disdain for this company and my property manager is so strong that I don’t even feel like disputing the charges. I’ll see you in hell, Fourstar.

We set up multiple appointments with this company to see houses on the hill in Boulder. Their employees don’t know what’s going on, they have canceled on us without notice multiple times, we waited at a house for 20 minutes for a showing and no one showed up. Extremely disappointed.

I don’t usually write reviews however in the limited dealings I have had with FourStar my experience with my son’s rental has been so bad I felt I had to say something.
You should really avoid living in any rental property managed by them. I mentioned the issues with my son’s rental to a friend and they explained that they had to take this company to court to get back their daughter’s damage deposit for damage that was there when she moved in (she had the pictures to document and did win a court judgment).
Water pooling in the entryway,
Significant damage to walls, trim and fixtures noted during move in.
Stains on walls.
Old and dirty appliances.
Poor response to no heat.
Overall poor condition of property at ~$ 3,000/month.
Dirty walls.
Extra monthly fee for paying rent through the required service «convenience» fee of $ 5.50/month (like ticketmaster)
Required video training for parent and tenant prior to move in
Insufficient parking
If it’s Fourstar you should run.

The company is worst when it comes to refunding the deposit. I have leased apartments in various cities across the states but when it came to refund of the deposit, Fourstar took over 45 Days and also, there were very unfair deductions from the deposit. They have a hold on some of the good properties in Boulder and I, even though I read the bad reviews, leased the property from them. You will have no issues when you are on the lease, the problems start when you see the deductions from your deposit. My entire unit was repainted, and I dont know why. They even deducted $ 50 for Garbage Disposal Cleaning, which is insane. They charged $ 40 for remounting a shower curtain hanger, which was always broken. My advice would be to take pictures of the unit when you move in, mark every damage, every scratch. Take pictures again when you move out, because the next tenant moves in immediately after you move out and all you get are invoices showing deductions, but no explanation.

I had a great renting experience with FourStar, no problems in 2 years, went through 2 different property managers, both easy going and helpful. Not much to say except I would definitely recommend FourStar to anyone looking to rent an apartment in Denver. Thank you FourStar, and thank you Shekinah Ward for being an awesome property manager! Cheers.

My experience renting form Four Star was nothing short of traumatic. When we moving in the house stunk of dogs and cats from the previous owners. We cleaned the carpets ourselves because it was so bad. The situation improved greatly while we lived there and they still had the audacity to charge us for replacing the carpets when we moved out as well as many other things they claimed where our fault. Many friends of mine have had similar experiences with this company as well. Rent from Four Star and you WILL get milked for every cent upon moving out. Avoid at all costs!

The building I lived in was sold, and changed management to Four Star. They were horrible property managers. They did not take care of the building, were VERY slow with maintenance requests, and never did lawn care. The staff are less than helpful and then we had issues with our security deposit return.
If you have any other choice — Do NOT rent from Four Star.

Four Star is the worst property manager I have ever had in my 11 years of renting. Everything was a constant struggle. They would charge us for things like Snow removal or yard cleanup, even though no one would have ever come by to do any work! They once sent people out to clean the gutters– the workers threw all the gutter mess into the yard, and then Four Star charged us to clean up the mess! I had 3 different property managers while I lived in their property– Kelly Corbin was horrible and rude every chance she got, Stacey Stambaugh was even MORE awful and rude, and Shekinah Ward was only our PM for a few months (she seemed to be the best one by far). Every time I questioned Kelly or Stacey’s judgment on anything, they would respond with very rude answers or just completely ignore me.
One of the main managers once told my boyfriend that they didn’t really care about keeping renters happy, because the owner’s are their customers and they could care less about the renters. I understand that the property managers are their customers, but the renters are the ones who keep them in business. Oh, and those renters will become owners one day…
This company is founded on horrible principles and run mostly by rude and inexperienced property managers.
I now own my own home, which I plan to rent out in the next few years. I would never even consider giving Four Star my business, because of how horribly I was treated as a renter.

Four Star’s property management was bumped from one star to three because they replaced our previous property manager with Shekinah Ward. Shekinah is very helpful and honest, and she’s very polite even if she doesn’t immediately have an answer to a question.
We’re very glad to have Shekinah as we were getting fed up with our previous property manager, Stacey Stambaugh. Stacey was extremely rude and negligent of our Denver rental home in Five Points. Repairs took months because there was little oversight on whether they were getting done. Stacey also never bothered to help finalize the transfer of our utilities after we moved in, resulting in a week of headaches over a possible electricity shut-​off. We’ve complained, as did several other tenants. I believe she was fired and has moved onto another real estate agency in Denver (Stay away from her!)
To end this review on a positive note, Shekinah has redeemed this company’s property management service. I hope more people like her are hired.

While the Property Managers are very friendly and nice at Four Star, the company itself is a total mess.
I’ve rented from them for the past two years. There is no personal relationship between the PMs and the tenants. Management is computer-​based, so you’re out of luck if you don’t have access to a computer. I called my PM to make a service request at my new place and was told that i had to log in to my «tenant portal» to make the request — even though i just verbally told them what needed fixed.
On multiple occasions, I have received alarming emails saying they have not received my rent payment, even though i had personally dropped it off days prior. It is obvious that there is no communication within the office.
It took 2 months to get my deposit back from my old place, despite the fact that Four Star is one of the largest realty companies in Denver and i knew a new tenant had moved in immediately after me. I couldn’t even get an answer on how much to expect back from my deposit during that time — they would just respond with a standard boiler-​plate email that didn’t address any of my questions.
Bottom line: Four Star is run by unorganized robots.

If you’re looking to get nickel and dimed at every corner, this company is for you. They require four months of pay before they will even allow you to move in (the price of 2 months of rent for a security deposit plus the first and last month of your lease). Sub-​letting is a hassle and they are not helpful in assisting you. There is a «convenience» fee for utilizing the online-​pay for EVERY month for EVERY tenant.
You can be confident that your entire security deposit will taken from you.
Maintenance is extremely poor, with Four Star often allowing several days to a week to repair essential utilities (showers, sinks, electricity).
Communication between Four Star and tenants is minimal, so violations are often swept under the rug and you find yourself with a $ 100 fee the next month simply for having cups outside.
The positive reviews for this company are undoubtedly fake, or not from students, for I haven’t met a single group of renters who were satisfied with Four Star.
I can not stress it to students enough that this is not a company that you want to rent from and I wish that I had this same knowledge prior to perpetuating the existence of such a morally bankrupt realty company.

By far the most outlandish and money minded company i have ever had the displeasure of working with. I was a renter for 1 year. i lived in a beautiful apartment which i absolutely adored and took very good care of. Upon move out my entire security deposit of $ 1850 was kept, except for a measly $ 180. The entire apartment was repainted for god knows what reason and i footed the bill. After a 2 month battle i was finally returned $ 400 and told that i trashed the apartment and was a disrespectful tenant. As a young college graduate i rarely had company at the apartment and kept it spotlessly clean. All of the claims made against me were false or grossly exaggerated. I will never again rent with this company.

The worst experience I have had with a relator company so far. I couldn’t find the property they were supposed to show me and was put on hold for 10 minutes just for someone to tell me in 10 seconds where to go. Then once I found the property no one was there to show it to me. I called the company again and the girl I spoke to was rude and in the middle of my sentence put me on hold. I would not suggest using this company. I hadn’t heard of them and thought I would give them a shot but no more.

I have been a client of Rich Dana since 1998 and have bought, sold and referred several clients to him. We started our relationship off when I was living in Tokyo and Rich — we had never met — started sending me listings via email. He treated me like a client he’s known for years, even when we eventually met several months later and made him show us 32 houses — we bought the 31^st.
Since that original introduction, Rich and I have continued to be friends and a client. He has personally represented me 4 times and has represented my referrals an additional 3 times. I have complete trust and respect for Rich. You can’t find a better agent in Boulder.

This review is concerning the Property Management part of the business, so please don’t judge the companies ability to sell your home or find you a new one by this review. Look at David’s review for the Realty part.
Four Star is getting One Star-​ed because my two year long experience with them was nothing but a headache for me.
First of all, everything that could break, broke. At one point we had no heat for 24 hours in the middle of the winter. The lights all around the building started going out one by one and it took my roommate being startled by a homeless guy sleeping in our dark laundry room for them to fix them all. Then the washing machine started to smoke and screech, with my wet laundry still in it. It was the first night of Spring Break and of course, seeing as this is a «national holiday» nothing was done about this problem until 2 weeks later, even though I left several messages (getting progressively angrier) on the maintenance line. There was only one washing machine, by the way.
Then our bathroom ceiling started to leak in the spring, after a big snowfall. When I called to let them know about it (expecting that they would actually *want* to take care of their property), they treated the situation with extreme skepticism. (E.I. «Really??? Are you suuure the roof is leaking? That’s never happened before… I don’t know…») They then alluded that I had just mistaken some hot-​shower steam for a leaky roof.
When they DO send someone to fix your broken apartment, they usually have no respect for your property or privacy. When they finally came to take a look at our leaky bathroom ceiling, the guy grabbed my roommates hairbrush and poked a hole in the ceiling to see if it was rotten (which it was), but eeeew! C’mon!!! We threw that brush away. When they came to fix our shaky shower head, the worker wiped Spackle on my roommates towel. Had to throw that one away too.
The point is, I’m NEVER renting from Four Star again.