Real Property Associates

RPA has managed our rental properties in Seattle for several years. Nothing but positive things to say about Megan Weinberg, our property manager and her ability to keep us informed. I would definitely recommend RPA to others. The peace of mind that a good property management company provides is invaluable.

Our previous management company, GFK, could learn a lot from RPA. Our property has gone through so many upgrades since RPA came on board. They offer great advice and can guide us through any issue. Thank you RPA.

Excellent property management company, both from standpoint of (prospective) renters as well as property owners. Victoria, our property manager, provides outstanding service both to renters as well as to owners. She is friendly, responsible, and makes sure that renters have a nice place to live, with repairs addressed in a timely manner. From standpoint of owners, she helps coordinate remodeling and improvements to property, drawing upon her network of repair people, handymen, and contracting firms as needed. I would highly recommend Real Property Associates to other (prospective) renters looking for a well-​maintained place to live in the Seattle metro area, as well as to property owners/​landlords who are looking for a management company.

Every person I’ve met at Real Property Associates is P-​R-​O-​fessional! Very client-​focused intent. I would recommend their services with confidence.

RPA has managed our Seattle properties since 1994. During that time, we have sold/​purchased several properties site unseen. Our input has been minimal and RPA has managed virtually everything. For each transaction and our current managed property RPA has been proactive and professional to the point that we have little need to think about our investments. I would highly recommend Gordon, Jay and the rest of the RPA team for your real estate transactions.

Love my property manager Megan, she reduced my stress level of having a rental home to zero, takes care all the things I don’t want to deal with. Love her so much. Great company with great employees

Terrible terrible terrible, bordering on slumlord status. My apartment has flooded several times and every time I call in the maintenance issue my manager is out of the office. When she finally returns my calls she is rude and unwilling to help. Very disappointed .
So happy to have moved out.

Have been renting my home via RPA for over a year now. Victoria has been fantastic and the tenants have been great as well. No complaints at all, everything is easy and hands-​off and the tenants seem happy too. Would definitely recommend.

I have been having bad experience since I signed the lease. I rent an unit in University District which was renovated, but I have never seen so many issues and poor remodelling in a rental. Closet doors that were installed incorrectly and didn’t close, towel rack on the bathroom that couldn’t hold even a wash cloth, front door seal was falling on the floor, heating was not working in one of the rooms and the list continues.
Every time there is an issue it is a chore to get it fixed, multiple calls and emails are needed to get a resolution I would avoid any property managed by them, the one star is for the manager Tina friendliness but is not enough to be worth the frustration and the cost of rent.
Don’t rent with them unless you want headaches.

After a bad experience with this company which followed a bad review, one of the owner of the company contacted me and offered to refund me the money for the background investigation they had me spent.
Despite I am not happy with the stuff I feel the owner is really making an effort to improve the company.
I was pleasantly surprise to receive his E-​mail and i would give them another shoot in the future whenever I will plan to move.

Tina Lerch at RPA was a pleasure to work with from day one and continues to be 3 years later! She found an excellent tenant for my small Seattle condo right away and has kept him and me both happy with her friendly and responsive actions. Thanks Tina!

My girlfriend and I have rented a condo in Shoreline and been working with Tina and Darlene. The rental process was super easy and they are very helpful. We moved into a spotless place with nothing left uncleaned. A few things have come up since we moved in like the carpet separating from a threshold and a cracked tile but they have been johny-​on-​the-​spot taking care of everything very quickly.
In addition they have been extremely prompt, responsive, and professional in all their correspondence. We are super happy to have such attentive property managers here. Much better than we have experiences at places like the BRE and Harbor Steps. Thanks ladies!

This review is specifically for Tina Lerch at RPA. I see there are some very unhappy reviews here– but I couldn’t disagree with the reviewers more. Of course, everyone has their own personal experience, but mine has been smooth so far. I found a great property in Shoreline in June. Tina was prompt at returning my emails and has always responded to my requests. My boyfriend and I moved in this past July. We found a couple of things around the unit that we wanted repaired. Seriously, within a week these things were taken care of. I can’t speak for everyone at RPA, but if you are lucky enough to have your property handled by Tina, I’d be surprised if your experience is anything less than stellar.

My roommates and I had a great experience with RPA, specifically the agents Rick and Kathy. They were professional and responsive whenever we had an issue. I’m not sure why there are so many bad reviews on here, probably from irresponsible tenants. Pay your rent on time, take care of things, communicate well, and you’ll be in great shape with this company. Thanks Rick!

I’m actually the former roommate of Isabel C, who wrote a scathing review of RPA a few years ago. I haven’t lived in their property since 2009, so why am I writing a review of them now, six years later, from my gorgeous three-​bedroom apartment in Guangzhou, China’s CBD? Lord knows, I have better things to do with my time, like, do my job, spend time with my girlfriend, etc.
Because yesterday, my little sister, a student in San Francisco, got a call from someone claiming to be a Snohomish County court officer, saying that there was an «APB» out for my arrest, telling her that if she didn’t disclose my location, he’d contact my (disabled Iraq veteran) father and get it out of him.
I figured that someone must have stolen my ID and done something heinous; my (Chinese) girlfriend is freaking out; I’m thinking I’m going to have to go to the consulate and show them my stamped-​up passport to show that I haven’t been anywhere close to Snohomish County in years. What if they have to retain me in a cell there while this is cleared up? How does this stuff even work when you live overseas? When my sister sent me the contact info and charges the «court officer» gave her, it turned out that the 1 – 800 number went to a debt collection agency based alternately out of NJ or FL (as they’ve had to shut down a few times because of FTC complaints) whose MO is to do this: pretend to be cops or court officers, contact coworkers and family members and tell them there are cops out there busting down doors looking for you for an unnamed offense.
This stems from a dispute over the condition of the apartment when we left; after months of trying to get Tony to repair the broken pipe in the wall, which was a building maintenance problem and not damage we’d inflicted on the place. They retained the entire deposit to repair damage inside the wall that they had chosen to ignore despite emails and calls for months. My cat had damaged the carpet in my room and I offered to have it replaced before I left, but Tony very politely and nicely told me not to worry, that it’d just cost a couple hundred bucks out of my deposit since they had staff to do such things. Instead, the charge was over a thousand dollars, for a room that was probably about 100 square feet. So, when you retain an entire deposit and then smack on over a grand to repair cheap polyester carpet that already had cigarette stains from the previous tenant, what do you end up with? A claim that you owe over a grand to RPA.
Whenever I got a message from him, he was condescending and scathing; when I talked to him on the phone, he would change his tune and act apologetic and conciliatory, evidently unable to keep up the aggressive tone that his bosses paid him to keep when he was actually facing a person he was tasked with screwing over. I don’t know whether it was guilt, complicity, or just plain ineptitude that caused him to avoid talking to me whenever I tried to get these issues solved — I’d prefer to think it was guilt — but, one way or the other, they decided that I needed to pay *them* for their lack of service.
I was never served with papers for this dispute, never sent a formal, notarized bill of what I owed — the amount kept changing in conversations and I never got an email from them on it, even though they certainly had my email address. The debt never appeared on my credit report. My ex-​roommate is a paralegal and checked: there are no pending or closed judgments on me in any court anywhere in America. Beyond that, the WA statute of limitations for which they *could* file a case against me or attempt to collect on this debt passed three years ago. As far as the law is concerned, there is no debt; there’s not even any dispute. Considering that Tony and the other agents at RPA were so completely inept at doing their jobs in the first place, I wonder if they simply forgot or were too lazy to go about this whole issue through the proper means, lied to their bosses to cover their butts, and «handled» it by sending it straight to a debt collector who realized that they couldn’t actually pursue me for it, so they pawned it off on another, much more predatory debt collector.
Or, again, maybe it was guilt because they knew what a crock the whole affair was.
So, prospective tenants (victims), if you dispute their inattentive, absentee money-​trap style of managerial responsibility, be warned that they will hire a bunch of knuckle-​dragging thugs in New Jersey to harass your family and threaten to throw you in jail after over a half a decade after you severed your completely one-​sided relationship with them and had no further contact. They truly are the gift that keeps giving. I’ve never been so incensed at the practices of a business in my entire life, and the fact that this anger is coming six years after the fact makes it all the more absurd.
I’ve written many words here, but I have absolutely no words for the contempt, disgust, and spite I have for RPA.

I contacted Real Property Associates about a house they listed for rent on Craigslist. After two emails with zero response, I was going to give up, until I noticed the house was still being advertised. I sent one last email and viola! Immediate response! Sadly, it was an auto reply as the person was out of the office. But I held out hope that they would feel compelled to respond after the autoreply went out.
The next morning I get a poorly formatted and worded email, asking when I would like to see the house and how many pets we have. Keep in mind, I send a full introduction letter to each house we inquire about, including photos of ourselves and our animals. I had sent this email to this specific person three separate times.
I politely took the time to format a nice response, thanking the person for their email and giving information about the pets that I had already provided, as well as pointing out that my housemates and I are all animal care professionals, so they are well taken care of. I also politely told the person to email me if they had any further questions.
This is a copy/​paste of the response that I got: «To many pets, sorry»
No punctuation, salutations, or any other redeeming or professional qualities that would make me want to do business with this company. They couldn’t even manage to use the right «too»! I replied asking if the pet policy was a blanket policy or if it varied by property; I do not expect a response. Then I checked them out on Unilocal and the reviews made me feel much better! Definitely looks like I dodged a bullet with this company, all thanks to my pets!

RPA is an absolute nightmare. They are TERRIBLE. They take forever to respond, they are incredibly unfair, they are not forthcoming with information at all. Essentially they are sharks. TINA LERCH, one of the managers, is the ABSOLUTE WORST. She is unprofessional, rude, and annoying. We moved out end of August, it’s not the end of January, and we are STILL waiting to receive the refundable portion of our deposit back. Dealing with them is a nightmare. Run away in the opposite direction.

RPA took over the management of our old building a couple years after we moved in. The Unilocal reviews did not ease our minds at all. Our agent was Meaghan Weinberg and she was always responsive. When the rent was raised 30% in June we moved out with much trepidation as the majority of the reviews here concerned deposits and refunds.
From the start we documented everything and when we left we put a little extra effort into cleaning and patching. Last month we received the majority of our deposit back. Today the remainder of the non refundable portion minus the carpet cleaning cost was returned to us.
Despite all their negative reviews we had a good experience with them. Perhaps it was all Meghan Weinberg, maybe a new office manager or policy change.

Update — Aug 1, 2014
Well, I did hear from RPA. First was an email 5 days after my initial web message from someone on ⁰⁷⁄₃₀ — forwarded from Meghan — asking if I wanted to arrange an inspection. Then, at 2:43pm on ⁰⁸⁄₀₁ a call from Meghan herself asking to speak to the person who called about a photo in the advertising, immediately follwed by and a call from «Shelby» at 2:43pm wanting to schedule a viewing for the property! I informed Meghan I had no interest in speaking with her, and had let Shelby’s message go to VM. I definitely got a chuckle when I heard it. Have they NO internal communication at RPA? Surely the property owners wouldn’t be happy to know it takes 5+ days for RPA to contact potential tenants.

I came into contact with the agent GOL Hoghoogli because I wanted to buy a house the agent was listing. Things were never done in a quick or efficient manner. The agent took days to respond, all the while, other offers flooded in. At one point she told our agent the sellers accepted our above price offer and we were so happy. But the happiness was short lived because again she didn’t lock it in and another, higher, offer came in. The agents verbal contract meant nothing. So even though we were the first non-​contingent offer above asking price the agent procrastinated for so long that a fourth offer came in above ours and we lost the house she had said we’d won. I will never recommend GOL Hoghoogli or real estate associates and I will never purchase a house this agent is listing. The agent was unreliable, difficult to get a hold of and just plain unfair.

This can’t possibly be a real business, I’m personally shocked they exist at all. Agents, especially Meghan Weinberg, are completely unresponsive to any and all means of attempted communication. Generally when I contact an individual working on commission via voice mail and e-​mail, they are chomping at the bit to return my correspondence and take advantage of a motivated leaser willing to write a check. In this instance, there was nothing but complete radio silence. I even began to wonder whether this was a legitimate operation, but than they appeared on Unilocal much to my dismay. Very disappointing that in a service oriented society that a firm with agents like Meghan are allowed to maintain their licenses. For shame…

RPA agents are nice and respectful and responsive while trying to get you into one of their rental properties. After that, good riddance.
This is THE WORST RENTAL/​MANAGEMENT I have ever worked with in my entire life. They take multiple inquiries and multiple days sometimes weeks to get a response. When they do respond, they are not helpful or just plain rude.
Your washing machine floods your basement every time you use it? We’ll get someone out to fix it… eventually. No you can’t have a rent adjustment because even though we advertised a washing machine and it’s in the lease agreement, we don’t actually have to provide it. Sorry we’re not sorry your POS washing machine floods your basement and ruins all your clothes.
Black mold in the ceiling of the bathroom? That’s no big deal, just use some mildew cleaner. You can’t reach the mold because it’s in the actual ceiling? NO RESPONSE.
Fire alarm is IN THE WALLS (i.e. not accessible) and going off at all hours of the night? Sorry, not our problem.
Your house isn’t wired for internet? Not our problem.
House wasn’t vacuumed prior to moving in? Sorry about that, not our problem.
You found hypodermic needles in the wall? Move in cleaners must have missed those. (Seriously, that happened)
These people are just awful. I CANNOT WAIT until the lease is up so I never have to send another email @rpa.com again.
I feel very very very sorry for anyone living in a rental property managed by RPA. I wish I would have checked out Unilocal before moving in, as I’m clearly not the only one with total horror stories.

The story did not ended up well, they claimed that they had good efforts to re-​rent the duplex but ended up increasing the rent from $ 770 to $ 900, completely over the market value, this was a very ugly place. Someone took it once they took away their washer and dryer in the illegal basement and lower it to $ 800, it took them 2 months, the ones I had to pay.
They huge issue is lack of communication, every claim I made I had to prove them with public records, they don’t even know what car is mine! Completely clueless about their locations, their renters and each other. Someone call me ask me if she can do something to help, after explaining the whole situation she was not aware of anything! How can they run business like that?

These guys are a pain in the rear. The best part of dealing with them was when you didn’t have to deal with them. Once you got the maintenance guys out there they were fine but until then it was a run around. I tried to get someone else in there and suddenly there was a no pet policy in place. We ended up paying the $ 300 rental fee the owner was explicitly supposed to pay to the condo association. And I am now writing this because they asked me to write a review and they’d give me a $ 50 Starbucks gift card «if it sticks». HA!
Don’t get me wrong, I liked the rental I had with them, but have no illusions about the people you are dealing with and be prepared to deal with very passive aggressive stuff if you need them to do anything. Remember, they are just the management company, NOT the owners.

Horrible. I would never recommend anybody renting from RPA. If you ask any of them a question, they think you are stupid and should have known the answer like we are mind readers. We input maintenance requests and they delay there responses soo long to the point where you’re over it.
My RPA manager couldn’t answer any of my questions I asked and would always weave around it. I sent an email to the RPA manager that represents the house I rent at about incorrect information on the tenant portal for the house, and she responded with negative feedback towards me and said that she cannot be doing this every month in clarifying it for me. I have always been a nice person to her and I have always tried to solve things in a simple matter. I get my head bit off by this woman every time. It is pretty annoying and I regret renting from them.
I would give negative stars to RPA.

After 3 years as an RPA tenant, our family had to relocate. I appreciate our Property Manager, Tony Morales and his assistance throughout the years. During our tenancy, Tony was responsive to any issues and communicated promptly between us and the owners of the home. Tony loves his job and it shows!
Prior to move out, we were provided with an «action list» of what condition the home need to be left in and step by step instructions. We received our security deposit refund within the 14 days (minus the non-​refundable) and had no issues.
Thank you for the great home to live in for the last three years!

I was wondering why Joanna (Real Property Associates — Property Manager) was being such a bitch… and then I saw their 1.5 stars on Unilocal.
I tried many times, through phone and email, to get a hold of Joanna. It took her a week to get back and when she finally did, she was very short with me. I was interested in a house that was listed as 5+, and I had a party of 6. I emailed her some info about our party and she replied that we were too big, and nothing else. So I replied asking what the «+» meant, because I assumed it meant there was a room that could be made into a bedroom but would be on the smaller end — she replied with a nice way of saying «fuck off.»
Thanks Joanna.

I remain at one star as I never was provided with the itemized charges. I DID, however get the remainder of my deposit back when I threatened legal action.
This was the most ridiculous move out I have ever experienced.

This was an incredibly poor experience all the way around. We rented a duplex in Magnolia from RPA, and after only a few weeks regretted our choice immensely.
The wording in our lease was written backwards, intentionally ambiguous and subject to interpretation. When we attempted to contest a bill that we verbally agreed we did not have to pay, they threatened to charge us even more money. I should have gotten a lawyer.
They rarely responded to our maintenance requests — which were many.
I would write detailed emails with three or four questions for our manager and receive a two-​word response that addressed none of my concerns.
The only time I EVER got anything positive to happen during our tenancy is when I pressured our rental manager with legal action. RPA is not concerned about the renter at all. Once you’ve signed the lease, the only thing they care about is $$.
Stay away. Or if you don’t, read the lease slowly, and carefully, and force them to revise anything that’s fishy. Then be prepared to hold them to it with force.