Bill Harkins Brokerage Inc

When hunting apartment in city which was way more tough than I thought. Bill Helped me to find the right one and the best service for moving in too. I would recommend Bill anytime. Thank You Bill.

Bill might be my favorite realtor ever. He works hard to find you a home and despite how stressful and uncertain SF real estate is, I felt extremely comfortable throughout the whole process and in the end he found us an amazing unit at a great price. I will be dealing with him the next time I need an apartment, no question! Highly recommended.

Bill has been nothing short of amazing to work with.
I’ve worked in the property management industry for over 8 years doing everything from leasing apartments to working in Trulia’s rental division. I’ve come across just about every leasing agent in San Francisco and Bill is by far one of my favorites to deal with. He is passionate about getting his owners the best online representation they can, and is willing to put in the extra work where others won’t.
In another respect, I recently rented an apartment from Bill. He was upfront about ALL the pros and cons of the apartment, and he was exceptionally responsive whenever I had questions about anything.
Bill only represents property owners, but unlike many brokers, charges no fees to tenants. If you are looking to rent one of the properties he represents, you can’t go wrong. It seems tenants actually get better, honest and fair representation leasing from him rather than hiring a broker to represent them.

Bill is a great guy, I would rent an appt through him again! Real straight shooter, looking out for the best interest of the tenants. He worked with us to fill a large appt and communicated openly throughout the entire process.
We viewed a large appt complex with a bunch of other groups there and he was nice enough to waive the application fees for everyone. Really helpful for a group of recent college grads looking desperately for a place! I would fully recommend him to anyone out there looking to rent!

In late 2012 I came across an apartment that was listed by Mr. Harkins, a 7 bedroom in The Mission. I noticed that he had a website, with YouTube videos for all of his listings. After watching the YouTube video, I called up Bill and scheduled a viewing. The place looked just as it did in the video, albeit a few renovations. Bill was straight and to the point, and answered the questions I asked him honestly and without any BS. I asked him how many people had put offers on the property, and how long it was on the market and he honestly told me 0, and a couple months. This was telling, as it is not the best negotiating strategy to share this information, yet he told me anyways – instead of saying that there was ‘some interest’ or some other less direct answer.
Anyways, I was able to negotiate the price a little (but not much, he’s good) before getting down to the application. This was a 7 bedroom and I was signing with 4 other people, mostly people I had met on Craigslist. Bill warned me that arrangements that are patched together often don’t turn out well, but I pushed on – confident that I had a solid crew. One of my signers was Irish on a visa, and another didn’t have a job. I was actually living in a hostel at the time, and was planning on moving things down from Canada. He was able to answer tricky questions such as roommate switching mid-​lease and other things, letting us know that under SF law this was allowed, etc.
So Bill’s lease signing system is all online, which is great. I was in Canada while I signed it, and other people were in Boston, SLO, etc for the holidays. In 2 weeks we had a lot of shuffling of people on and off the lease (people are flakey), and I think we sent in like 5 different applications to him. He was patient, albeit probably getting a little skeptical or concerned with how many times we had to re-​write the applications.
Finally, 4^th or 5^th time around, all the applications are in. By this time its Dec. 27^th and we all are banking on moving in for the Jan. 1 start date. We all signed the lease digitally over the course of a nail-​biting day, and the document was executed. Bill was also nice enough to let us move in on the 5^th, and we signed an addendum to pay less for the month of January. We just had to get him all the money to get the keys. He was easy to get the money too, I overnighted a cashiers check from Canada in $USD to him. We just met him at another showing (with several different couples competing for his attention) and picked up that coveted set of keys.
Bill also gave me some very valuable legal advice about managing month-​to-​month roommates that has proven to be a lifesaver. What people sign and don’t sign when the move in as a sub-​tenant can make your life a living hell if you’re not careful (due to SF rental laws). It’s important to ensure people sign a just cause eviction waiver, otherwise you actually can not evict them unless they don’t pay. So this means if you get a roommate from hell, they actually don’t have to move out if you tell them to… be careful.
Thank you Bill for being patient with a bunch of twenty-​somethings who wanted to put together a fun place to live in a very competitive and fast-​paced market!

In my opinion this guy is awful at his job. one star is too many. i asked him to find an apartment close to downtown San Francisco for under 1400 a month, you would figure a guy with twenty years experience shouldn’t be a problem. he had one suggestion only for1375. just one apartment in a big city with apartments on every square inch of the city. i know under1400 is low, but only one? so i agreed on that one he suggested and started the paper work. he said credit was excellent and everything was fine, then out of nowhere he starts coming up with excuse after excuse, first it was you need a cosigner. OK not a problem , cosigner had excellent credit also. then he was questioning if i could afford it and why would i move out there, and he kept warning me it’s a twelve month lease. I know how apts work it’s not my first time. it was like he was trying to talk me out of it. i got the feeling he wasn’t being truthful. i was doing everything i could to get this apt.
i offered to paying an additional 1375 on the deposit because I was running out of time and needed this apt. He said he had to talk to the manager. He calls me back 3 days later and says the apt is not going to be available. Thanks dude for stringing me along for 2 weeks then pulling the plug. Now I only had one week left, I asked for other suggestions he emailed me three other choices all twice as much as I wanted. When I said they were too high anything else? He said that’s it the market is tough right now. Oh really is it tough or are you lazy and don’t want to work? If you don’t want to help me just tell me that day one. Don’t string me along for two weeks, and have me fill out credit reports, get cosigners have them fill out credit reports. When I made it clear in the 1^st minute of our conversation that I didn’t have much time to get this done. So I only had one week to find a place. I fly to San Francisco for 1 day worried that there aren’t any apts available, because «the markets tough right now ». In the 1^st couple of hours I find numerous apts available at the price I wanted. At the end of the day I had signed a lease to an apt. One block away from the one he suggested. Oh yeah it was only $ 1100 a month. I have been there now for over a year.

While apartment hunting, I came across a listing that was being shown by Mr. Harkins. He was very quick to respond via e-​mail, but after asking him twice for more information about the rental (specifically, the initial deposit) and Mr. Harkins blatantly ignoring the question with attempts to get me to come see the place, I decided to pass on even a showing.
As a renter in San Francisco, I am continually concerned with large (3x+ of rent) deposits, as I have lost it upon move-​out to greedy and subversive landlords. I have learned that if I cannot get a straight and immediate answer on the rental information, it’s much more safe to avoid.
*****
UPDATE: After Mr. Harkin’s comment, and an e-​mail to me falsely stating that I was slandering him, I’d like to point out that I did _​not_​say or imply that he was asking for 3x rent; I simply explained my uneasiness because of past experiences renting in San Francisco. Furthermore, his response included an e-​mail chain about another property _​after_​this review was written. Below is the actual e-​mail chain in question. Overlooking my question once is absolutely understandable – twice is not. «Paperwork is all online…» does not mean «Hey, click on my website, and you’ll find all the information you need,» or «it’s $ 2,300.» I stand by my rating, and at this point, feel quite threatened.
E-​mail chain in question (thread is newest to oldest):
—–
Thanks, Bill. I’m going to pass on this one.
Regards,
Jason
On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 12:13 PM, Bill wrote:
Just come and look — paperwork is all online now.
Thanks
Bill Harkins
Realtor
415−305−5311
Looking to buy in the city? I negotiate the best possible deal & rebate 50% of the commission for self-​shopping buyers
On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 10:49 AM, Jason wrote:
Thanks, Bill. Tuesday should work.
What is the deposit? What info should I bring with me?
On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 2:10 AM, Bill wrote:
The address is 10 Brooklyn Place, Lovely seems to be mismapping, anyway it’s available, would 5:30 PM Tuesday work? I can’t do anything sooner — sorry.
Thanks
Bill Harkins
Realtor
415−305−5311
Looking to buy in the city? I negotiate the best possible deal & rebate 50% of the commission for self-​shopping buyers.
On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 1:22 AM, Jason wrote:
Hello,
I found your listing for 875 Sacramento Street on Lovely for iPhone.
I am interested in the apartment, and would love to schedule a viewing. When are you available to show the unit? How much is the deposit? Additionally, what application materials should I prepare?
Thank you,
Jason

Bill is a rare find and consummate professional. He has helped our family rent out our property on Alamo Square and helped with tenants on another property. On more than one occasion Bill has gone beyond the call of duty to provide EXCELLENT client service. In addition he is a good guy and someone our family will trust with any matters pertaining to the rental business.

In the past month, I worked closely with Bill on two rental properties in The Mission and Noe Valley. Even though the negotiations and lease signing didn’t work out in the end for external reasons, Bill was professional throughout the process, and he gave me good advice while I was looking for additional co-​signers and roommates. I enjoyed working with Bill, and if I happen to come across another property that he is leasing and /​or selling in the future that I would personally be interested in, I would gladly work closely with Bill again. He’s a nice guy and is willing to answer most questions by e-​mail, by phone and in-​person. I would recommend working with Bill because his client first attitude does shine through in his work ethic in representing both property owner and prospective tenants whenever possible, in trying to make deals work to the best of his efforts. Lastly, Bill makes good videos on YouTube showing real estate that he is representing; I found his videos useful in helping prospective co-​signers and roommates get a good approximate idea what the properties are like, before seeing them in person.

Bill Harkins is EXCELLENT! He helped me place a fabulous tenant in my condo! He has great judgment and is very professional! He knows exactly what is fair and puts the whole package together. You’ll not have to worry about anything when you work with Bill Harkins!
THANK YOU BILL!!!

I don’t like makeup sex because I can never find a foundation to match my fair skin.
I do, however, like renting apartments from Bill Harkins.
Here’s why:
When I moved here from Minneapolis I had a few problems with my apartment. Even though it wasn’t his responsibility, Bill made sure they were fixed immediately. He faxed, emailed and called the people that had to be contacted to fix the problem. He even went out of his way on a Sunday.
Rent your next apartment from Bill; he’s a customer service ninja!