Foundation Rentals & Relocation

It was a total pleasure working with Mike Kass as the leasing agent from Foundation for our Tiburon home. In every interaction, Mike was professional, genuine, kind, thoughtful, patient, knowledgeable, respectful, and a good listener. Mike was creative as we worked together to resolve any challenges which arose. He exceeded our expectations in every respect. Our new tenants seem like a terrific match for our home. When we are ready to lease our home again, we will call on Mike. We will also recommend him, without hesitation, to friends looking for a leasing agent.

Very difficult to find a decent place to rent in Marin nowadays. Christopher Barrow did a great job for us. Patient and informative. We’re very happy!

We hired Foundations (specifically Michael Kass) to manage a home we purchased as a rental in Marin (but ultimately plan to live in when we retire). Since we live quite a distance away (in Minnesota), we were concerned about finding someone who would manage the property with the eyes of an owner. We have found that and more in Michael. He is excellent, always responsive, and always looking out for our best interest. Our property had a host of maintenance and repair issues which needed attention. Michael took a personal interest in making sure the work was done quickly, correctly (and to a high standard) and in the most cost effective manner possible. We would highly recommend their property management services to anyone.

Thanks Foundation Rentals for finding us a rental again. Michael Kass and Christopher Barrow are very knowledgable about the market and rental terms. The rental market has changed a lot since we rented four years ago and I was glad to have Michael and Christopher assisting us. We used their gold tier service. Darcy quickly worked out the kinks with the website not seeing our subscription to the service. Nancy Lowry arranged a lot of showings which we appreciate, yet I really had to keep the process organized. Nancy had a family emergency during the critical week of our search and lease negotiation. Christopher stepped in quickly, willingly and successfully. We will use Foundation Rentals again.

For the 2.5 years we rented, we had an excellent experience with Mike Kass as our property manager. Anytime there was a problem, Mike responded immediately — even if it was at night or on a weekend. Mike was always professional, made himself available to us when needed, and exceeded all of our expectations. We felt very taken care of. Highly recommended!

So far now all my dealings and interactions have been quite positive. Michael is very patient and responsive with answering any questions and addressing issues. They’re never rude, arrogant, or condescending like the general staff at «another» rental company in the area (which rhymes with Randy) which I’m happy to say we’ve severed ties with after many years of putting up with their crap.
Not sure yet how they’ll treat my property if/​when work has to be done for the tenants, but can’t be any worse than the previous company who use subpar handymen and never bother to ensure things are done right but still charge exorbitant fees for the shabby work.

We have worked with Foundation now twice to rent homes in San Anselmo, and they have been nothing but professional. Easy to work with, nice people.

I wish we could say we had a better experience with trying to rent a property through Foundation.
Rather than get into all the details of that, I will only say that improved communication and responsiveness would be most appreciated and more professional.

While not currently living in Marin, we needed to rent our home in Fairfax. Nancy Lowry and her team made the whole experience easy and seamless. We’ll definitely be working with Foundation Rentals again. Thanks Nancy.

My family recently moved from out of state. We only had two days to find a rental house. We are so fortunate to have found Christopher Barrow. Originally, we had not considered living in Mill Valley, but Christopher opened our eyes to this fabulous town. He even picked me up at the ferry one day to show me a property that I wanted to see before making my final decision. Christopher is very responsive, helpful, knowledgeable, friendly, and doesn’t make you feel pressured at all. My sister is looking for a rental property in Marin and I recommended working with Foundation. I am confident that Christopher can find her a great place as well!

We just found the perfect house for our family through Christopher Barrow. He worked hard to help us get a fair deal with the owners and I appreciated his calm and positive approach. I truly felt like he was trying to help us as much as the owners. He is a good, honest guy. It was a pleasure working with him.

My husband and I have lived in San Rafael for the past few years. Our last landlord was not very responsive nor helpful. We are both full-​time working parents with 2 young children, so it’s critical that our home is comfortable, safe and taken care of. Michael Kass at Foundation Rentals is an excellent property manager. He has been super responsive, professional and helpful. Our move was as seamless as it could be given his attention to detail and being a great communicator. I would highly recommend Foundation Rentals & Relocation to anyone needing to move and ensure a smooth and professional experience.

My husband and I just concluded our search for a rental property in Marin after selling our Mill Valley home. During this (exciting, chaotic and occasionally stressful) process, we worked with a dozen different agents from various companies. The range of professionalism, courtesy and efficiency was broad. One agent immediately stood out from the rest as a stellar salesperson — Michael Kass.
Michael was incredibly responsive from the start and returned my initial phone call in less than 5 minutes. He efficiently and swiftly coordinated a viewing of the home we were interested in, while demonstrating sensitivity to the homeowners’ schedule and privacy. When we met Michael for the first time at the home, he was prompt, positive, outgoing and very knowledgeable about the property. As we proceeded through the application phase, he thoroughly explained the process so that we knew exactly what to expect. Through all of this, Michael provided us with objective information about the home and the surrounding area to help inform our decision, and both my husband and I felt confident that Michael was truly looking out for our best interests.
Michael went above and beyond to advocate on our behalf and demonstrated to us that he was very knowledgeable about how to structure a smart deal. My husband and I are Sales managers, and we were very impressed with Michael and appreciative of his efforts. He represents exactly the type of professional we would want to have on our team, and as homeowners we would definitely feel confident having him represent us.
Excellent service!

I had a wonderful experience with Foundation Rentals, our broker Nancy Lowry and the owner Darcy Barrow. Nancy really listened to what we needed/​wanted and worked extremely hard to find us the perfect place. She was a pleasure to work with throughout the process. It can be difficult to find a rental in Marin, but working with Foundation & Nancy specifically made the process so much easier! We definitely would not have found the house we rented without Nancy’s help. I would without hesitation recommended them, especially if you don’t have the time to dedicate to the process.

Foundation Rentals is wonderful!
We are tenants at a property they manage, and we couldn’t be happier with their customer service, and speedy responses to any issues that come up. Michael Kass works specifically with us, and always responds to any concern that comes up with the property with great professionalism and attentiveness.
Highly recommended!

My name is Craig and I run a leasing and relocation firm in San Francisco. I have been working with Darcy, Jocelyn and Christopher on and off for years since they have been agents. They always make sure residents and owners alike are kept happy. I will continue to send them tenants looking for properties and landlords looking to rent their properties in Marin County. Keep up the great work guys.

I was working for and with another management company in Marin found a listing of theirs took them forever to call me back to me the reviews are too glowing experience I had I ended up running a house from another company in San Rafael and I’m very happy too bad they can’t get it together

I have been living in San Rafael for many years and have moved several times. Each time I was confronted with either rude or careless rental agents, or even worse, actual landlords.
This time when I moved I had the pleasure of working with Christopher Barrow and his rental team in Marin. I met with three of their agents on different occasions and each time they were prompt, polite hey — get this — actually seemed like they cared that I didn’t want a dirty or dark house. They even took my calls after hours one day.
I would recommend them to anyone looking to rent in Marin.
Their website also contains a wealth of helpful information and resources for Marin residents in general.

I spent almost two years remodeling and upgrading my family home on Belvedere Island after inheriting it. I never intended to sell it because it serves me better as an asset with great revenue (and I inherited my folks’ Prop. 13 tax status). I listed it with Christopher after noting that their company [Foundation Rentals] was the most prominent for high-​end rentals in Marin via search engine on both Google and Craigslist.
Although I’ve owned income property (units) for the last 30 years, finding and handling tenants at the high-​end level was daunting to me. Christopher has found me two exceptional families so far; one who took the house furnished and the other needed it unfurnished — both for well over $ 5,000 per month. The contracts he provided had much more extensive liability coverage for me than my standard rental agreements — similar to a seller’s contract — full of disclosures and detailed assignments of responsibility. The degree of thoroughness in the background check, the negotiation of the lease stipulations and the professionalism with which Christopher finalized the deals was exceptional. I have just recommended Foundation Rentals to a close friend whose situation is similar to mine, except that her [mother’s] home has staled in the current real estate market, driving the price down to an unacceptable level. It is a great alternative to selling, especially when you have Christopher and his team watching your back.

The worst business I have ever had to deal with, DON’T BOTHER!
I wish the owners of these homes knew what these bafoons were up to. Showed up 45 minutes late the first time, didn’t return calls from 3 different people. This couple used to work for another rental agency in the city, they pulled the same crap there. I would highly recommend home owners do not work with them!!! Christopher Barrow and Darcy Alkus Barrow are con artists to the 5^th degree!