HOW Properties

I do agree with Lauren B, regarding the noise and the issues with some of the younger tenants.
(Which, will happen at almost any apartment complex… so I take the noise with a grain of salt and the inconsideration of my neighbors).
However, I am writing this review based on the team at HOW Properties and not the complex.
Anytime I have had a question or concern, I have received a prompt response. Their team truly cares about each individual tenant and does their best to make sure we live in a happy community. I had the pleasure of meeting one of the employees a few months ago. Speaking to him was like taking a breath of fresh air. It was so nice to see how much he genuinely cared about his job and wanted to make this a better community for everyone.
It is extremely difficult to keep everyone happy, but they really do a great job of trying their best!
Thank you and Happy Holidays!

The walls are paper thin at 1221 Mt Vernon Street. Their newest property is essentially a party community for tenants that have recently graduated college. Expect many sleepless nights. You will hear every single sound in the above apartment if you are on a ground level apartment.
The apartment itself is newly done, It’s a shame that the sound proofing was overlooked and that a better screening of tenants is not performed.
When it comes to maintenance fixes, Paidre is the best. Ashley was very helpful when we were initially moving in, and that process was fairly smooth.
I’m hoping to improve this rating should noise issues be addressed in this complex. We would stay if not for this problem.

I’ve rented from many rental companies, and HOW Properties is, by far, the worst! Stay away and DO NOT rent from them. They ignore maintenance requests: it took over a week to respond to our stove top issue during which we could not cook; they completely ignored the mice issue we had despite multiple complaints. We also had a housemate issue and they did nothing to help evict the guy. And these were only a few of the many examples I could name.
When it was time for us to move out, and they were showing our place to potential renters, the guy even called me to say he can’t make it that evening and asked me to do his job for him and show the house! (I did, and told the potential renters not to rent from them.)
Upon moving out, they charged us for the most ridiculous normal wear and tear that other management company would not charge. I have always gotten my full security deposit back from every other place I’ve rented, but HOW charged us over $ 1000! Then we had a lawsuit situation with the problematic housemate, and we asked the office to check with us before releasing certain information to the other housemates. The idiot girl in the office, of course, sends out a mass email to everyone with all information.
Just stay away from HOW. They are toxic and it’s just not worth the hassle.

I am not even sure where to begin. There is so much wrong with How Properties that I cannot understand how they are still in business.
The management team has no regard for the privacy or safety of their tenants. On multiple occasions we have had maintenance come into our apartment without any notice and left the apartment unlocked overnight. Maintenance had also knocked stuff off shelves, tracked dirt and used the bathroom toilet without flushing (which was a great surprise to walk into).
Hopefully no one has an emergency on a Friday before five because the management team stops working early and won’t response. So you might have to go an entire weekend without the use of the only shower in your apartment.
Forget it if your heat goes in in the winter because it will take about 4 separate trips for a technician to fix anything and they will clean the filters and say everything is ok when your apartment is reading below 50 degrees.
The windows in the apartment are great too. The best is in the winter when there is enough frost on the inside of your window that it looks like the inside of the frozen food section of a supermarket. Apparently How Properties will send out a team to look at the windows and never do anything about it, because why would you need to be able to get dressed in your own bedroom or sleep in there?
If you are moving into a How Properties building BRING YOUR OWN SHOVEL because even though they claim they take care of snow it won’t be for maybe a week after it snows and everything is ice. They also don’t salt. The amount of times people have fallen down the stairs due to tracking water in from the un-​shoveled walkways in crazy.
Long story short, How Properties does not care about tenants safety, comfort, privacy or rights. Their total lack of efficacy is reason enough not to rent from them.

I have never had this many issues with an apartment in my life. Started off with roaches and mice which are finally gone. The heat is on hell always even though it was supposed to be a central air and heating system in my unit. Extra utilities were added. Its a none smoking building but mine is filled with smoke everyday. Advertised as newly renovated and my updates still have not happened. Repair after repair of my plumbing yet everything still leaks and makes loud sounds under my floor and now a visible pipe is in my bathroom. Water damaged my belongings and they have not replaced them but someone did come in my apartment wihout my knowledge and tried to glue my shelf. My floors are now warped. Entering of your unit repeatedly without your knowledge. Awful quick repairs that just fall back apart and I have been here for 8 months and still I have no doorbell. Great location very bad management and clearly tenants happiness is of no importance to How properties.

Well, I tried to rent from them. I sent my application AND deposit and was approved. Surprisingly, the listing was for an immediate move in, but wasn’t actually available for another month and a half. The only reason I found out was because the tenant called to let me know she wasn’t moving out for a while. No one from How Properties even contacted me about it. I immediately contacted the office demanding a refund. Luckily, they had something else available in the building for more money (eye roll). Still waiting to hear back about my refund after I said «no thanks» to the bait and switch bullcrap. Oh did I mention I’m moving in a week and need that money to secure a place actually available…
Update:
After threatening to report them for shady business practices, this was the response I was given:
Hi Madeline,
There must have been a huge miscommunication. Kim, a tenant of our, was trying to rent her apartment to replace herself because her lease is not ending for a few months. We are very reasonable and allowed her to list her unit for rent herself a we DID NOT list the unit, she did. If she did not communicate to you that she as in fact looking for mid August than there was obviously a mistake made, not malicious fraud.
I am unsure as to what bait and switch you are referring to as my self and staff have been very communicative with you.
L&I and the PA attorney General will disregard any claim especially since this wasn’t our ad and has nothing to do with either organization. [the author of the email is clearly listed as the person who posted the ad, along with her contact info.]
This could have been easily rectified if you had been reasonable and didn’t throw out meaningless threats. You are not worth our time and we will refund the money even though you clearly paid the $ 50 and acknowledged it was non-​refundable.
I’m not sure what she meant by «easily rectified» since the previous two emails stated under no circumstances would I get a refund.

HOW Properties purchased my building while my lease was in effect — 108 Levering St. in Manayunk. Communication about the transition was not that great (from either side), but we were willing to let it slide.
The reason for the 2 star rating is because of their respect for tenant privacy. They’ve entered the unit more times than could possibly be necessary in a 4 month period. I’ve lived in the unit since ⁹⁄₁ and have had the old landlord or HOW Properties entering regularly. They’ve also missed appointments to enter the unit on multiple occasions and then reschedule — very inconvenient when you have the ability to work at home. I’m even updating this since originally writing — surprise, they’re coming in again tomorrow.
Long story short, the apartment building feels more like a dorm since HOW has taken over. Remember having an RA coming to check on things? Yep, that’s what you might be getting at this place.
Anyway, it seems like they might be planning on renovating the building and have decided to effectively price out the current tenants (who would never pay for the same unit at the new price). I’d hope that was the case because we accepted our dingy carpet, mismatched cabinets, smelly washers and dryers, and aging windows at the old price point — not for an extra $ 250 a month.
I understand an increase (based on the location), but not with the current conditions/​amenities in the units, as well as overall cleanliness of the building — which has declined since they’ve purchased. Their explanation was weak — simple search on Trulia/​Zillow/​Craigslist shows better options in the area at or around this new price point.

Very awesome and great before you sign a lease. We had major mice issues and they weren’t willing to take care of it right away. Also they really ignore maintenance requests. Our roof kept leaking constantly damaging furniture etc and they sent people out multiple times to fix it and no one actually fixed it, it kept leaking over and over again. I complained about the roof constantly leaking destroying my personal items they said to call my renters insurance and didn’t come even look at it for over a month. Dishwasher and the washing machines they give also completely suck. Just not worth the hassle.