Reviews of American Property Management (Real Estate Agency)

Peter Spencer-McElhatton

Roy is definitely the worst landlord there and let me tell you...dont even bother getting anything fixed. It's cheap, it's in a trendy neighborhood but the quality of living is low. We got the classic black mold that made us sick for 3 months and his solution? Fan it every single day.

Liana Aburto

Have lived in two of their locations in 5 years. The first place I left due the presence of mold, and an agressively rude manager. Just sent in my notice to leave the second location due to slow wearing down by "notes" from the manager who care how I tie back my curtain and doesn't like plants on the balcony. Yes, cheap, but also worn out apartments and nit-picky manager.

Kelldicott Dockham

Cockroaches? Check. Rats? Check. Water leakage? Check. Moths? Check. Inexplicable whining noises from the plumbing at all hours of the day? Check. Dim-witted and unhelpful managers? Check. Ugly buildings? Check. Rent increases? Check. Screw you, American Property Management.

morgan misener

I have lived in my apartment for over 5 years. It's an older style brick apartment with older appliances but it's really charming. I've mostly had the same neighbors for the whole time I've been here which is really cool. Everyone is pretty considerate of each other. They maintain the location at least once a month and then the summer they are here more often. My one and only complaint is that the washer and dryers go out frequently. It would be almost br easier to just buy a brand new washers and dryers considering how often they have to come out to maintain them. Especially when it's often that the lint traps just need to be cleaned. If this is something that we had access to as tenants we would just clean them ourselves. The rent only goes up once a year in April. It's usually $20 to $40 and the price of the apartments are great. I will continue to live here until I decide I'm ready to buy a house of my own. If you're looking for brand new apartments with really nice Furnishings then you're going to end up paying a lot more which is why it's so expensive to live in Portland. If you are okay with something that's older and you're looking for a great price I highly recommend renting an apartment through American Property Management.

Kylie McMinn

STAY AWAY!!!! I have lived in an apm apartment for almost a year now: ANTS EVERYWHERE! DRYERS DONT WORK NO GLASS RECYCLING BINS and if you try to contact them to fix anything, they give you the run around and say someone else is responsible, you call them and they say the other person was responsible. no one there wants to work, who knows where all my rent money goes to, because it definitely doesn't go back into the building. STAY AWAY!!!

fx dx

HORRIBLE! You will instantly regret renting from these CROOKS! Expect broken down, moldy, badly in need of upgrades apartments, extremely incompetent staff, rude, LOVE TO SEND THREATENING LETTERS over the slightest things!! Please! Do not rent from these folks! Spend a little more and enjoy where you live, I'm out of here as soon as my 6-month lease is up. I've heard stories that your deposit is as good as gone, regardless of the state you leave your place. So, I'm passing the info along.

Lucas

They are scam artists, plain and simple. They'll try to convince you at move in to not document preexisting damage and they won't fix it once you're in. Don't deal with them.

b j woodworth

Mid income range properties with very low move-in fees, and minimal background checks. To rent an apartment you only need to have first month's rent and a $500 security deposit. While they advertise a no-pet policy, you can have an emotional support animal with a doctor's letter. This is important to know and they asked no questions about it when you present that important slip of paper.

Alix Benedict

Horrific SLUM LORDS. Never ever do any maintenance or upkeep, their washing machines are from the 80s. Always quick to raise the rent the maximum they can. The several properties I’ve seen are dilapidated and sad. They take advantage of section 8..Never rent from them, you won’t get your deposit back no matter what. Crooked bunch !

Artsykat2003

After first year's lease, rent raised almost 5%, and then 9% after that. If you don't need any service in your apartment, maybe you'll be OK. If you do, however..... ~Adding a photo of what a stove looks like, which they consider rust and peeling not to be a problem and the stove to be "working"! What they see as a problem & ordered to be removed are flowers / herbs on window sills, "welcome" sign on the door, wind chimes, sun catchers...oh, and dark drapes in the bedroom window - because all these things don't make their property appealing to potential renters... Do yourself a favor & spare extra expenses of moving.... This is what the oven looks like. ~ Also, the faucet in the kitchen was replaced because rust actually ate 2 holes through, from the inside! ~ Fridge makes an awful noise as it's gearing up, but it is not dead Yet so the service decided that's not a problem (they actually didn't even open the back panel to see if it needed cooling agent or something like that.) ~The service, when it comes in, shows little respect for Your home, i.e. You. They'll use your bathroom and might forget to wipe the seat....then do it again next time they're in. Yes, it's all true. There are pics and sound bites recorded of it all. And does management care? Sadly, it sure doesn't look like it.

Emily Riley

These reviews are hysterical! I've lived in an APM property for over two years and never thought to look for reviews. I was missing out on some serious entertainment! This company rents hundreds of units throughout Portland. For every furious renter who's left a terrible review, there must be hundreds of satisfied renters like me who've never bothered to thank Joe & Co. for offering what may be the last affordable apartments in Portland. Make no mistake, these are not luxury apartments. Visiting friends will not be impressed by our state-of-the-art stainless steel appliances -- fortunately, I love stuff from the seventies and eighties. You will probably have to do a lot of cleaning when you first move in -- we did. And it's quite possible the mold in the windows is slowly killing us. I'm also extremely disappointed by the recent decision to dis-invite cats from joining the apartment party, but I can only assume this was instigated by people failing to declare pets honestly and pay the pet deposits necessary to cover the damage caused by their pets. So it goes; at least we are allowed to keep our well-behaved, non-apartment-ruining, deposit-paid kitty. That said, I freaking love this apartment. We pay $850 to live in a one-bedroom apartment in close-in Southeast. I get to walk to my job every day. Walk! And go to the Laurelhurst Theater and great shops and restaurants whenever we want! We sleep soundly every night, have dedicated parking in a lot and abundant street parking, and enjoy friendly -- if odd -- neighbors. Our original manager, Roy, was cranky and unhelpful, but retired long ago. Our current manager, Penny, is the bee's knees, and whenever we've needed help with something -- the critters in the attic, the broiling element in the stove burning out, or a weird toilet leak -- she's responded straightaway, and the fix-it men have been universally delightful. Yes, you will have a hard time getting an apartment. We rented ours sight unseen; if we'd insisted on a viewing, it would have been snapped up by someone more flexible. No, you may not be as lucky as us in the Great-Apartment-Manager Lottery. But it's worth taking the chance. You won't find many deals like this left in Portland, so you may as well enjoy it until Joe decides to cash out, sells all his properties, and moves to Cancun.

Tamara Anne Fowler

They do offer cheaper rent but I have not suffered any cheapness in service. As far as hearing people through the walls IT IS AN APARTMENT!! Other people live on the other sides of you. That being said I have not had a noise problem since the neighbors below me played loud music at 7:30am. I told the manager. They have never done it again. I am happy with my apartment. It is cute with a cool layout. --UPDATE-- January 2013 I feel so foolish giving them such a great review. I still stand behind my words .. until I have had a maintenance request. My oven broke two weeks ago!! I went to my property manager immediately and he filled out the form he needed to and sent it right in. Since then I call him every day to find out when maintenance will be here. He tells me that there are other priorities. I ask him how many weeks does it take before I am priority? It's like asking the owl how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootise pop .... I do not get a realistic answer. I called APM a number of times but all the broken record gatekeeper who answers the phone says, "You have to talk to your property manager." They will not even give me the number to maintenance. "If we gave it out the phone would be ringing off the hook." Uh .... bad sign. Do you understand that, gatekeeper? Spoke to CAT (Community Alliance of Tenants) and they said I need to start the letter writing mess: ".. this is my expectation since I have always paid rent on time ... etc," "This is an essential service and could be a possible building code violation," "The expectation would be the oven would be fixed within 72 hours." Until they respond (always give a deadline for them to respond in writing by) I sit here not able to eat like a normal human. I dare say (though this is sexist) the maintenance "men" do not see this as a priority as when they come home their wife is putting their oven-cooked dinner on the table. They do not see what must go on behind the scenes. I am also stuck at my apartment as I do not want to keep shutting my fighting cats away in the hopes the oven idiots will show up while I am gone. Another fear: these jerks who are only used to painting and carpeting available apartments are going to try to fix my oven .. something they have little or no experience in. AND they will show up but say, "Uh .. we need to order a part" making my wait for fresh baked bread even longer. I think my property manager, Richard, is great. It is the rest of the company that really, really sucks.

Kowanta Mashadda

This is the best rental company that I have rented from thus far!

anna london

I don't see how people have even gotten the chance to rent from APM since they DON'T ANSWER CALLS OR RETURN THEM. Seriously, I've called the manager at Kimberly Court Apts for 2 weeks and left 2 messages to ask about an available unit. Then finally I called the office to complain - no help. I was put through to a supervisor and of course he didn't answer the phone or return the message I left. Then TODAY the manager puts up another ad to advertise the unit. Seriously? What is with these people. They get an F in customer service.

Robert Downing

I never really write reviews or anything, but I just had to say renting from APM was the WORST experience I have ever had. From seeing a unit completely different than the one I moved into, constant lack of communication from the Landlord & office, taking weeks to complete repairs even when there are RATS involved, not to mention how aggressively rude everyone in the office is. I don't know if it's because of the way I look, but regardless, I would never recommend this property management group to anyone.

Melanie Coburn Elliott

Note! The glowing review left by Mark Miller from about a year ago is a sham. Mark Miller is a manager at APM and apparently not smart enough to log in with a pseudonym. I wish it was possible to give this company negative stars. I could write a very lengthy review on all of the poor management and bad experiences I have had with everyone at this company int he 3 years I rented from them...but I will only share a taste of it. People be warned: take pictures of move-in and move-out as well as document your interactions with APM. Examples of my experience have been: substandard cleaning upon move-in (black mold still caked on windows from previous tenants), waiting 6 weeks to have my kitchen faucet hot water to be fixed, and shabby repairs every time. Our landlord would always "forget" that I called for a repair and I would have to call more than once every time we needed something done. She isn't the smartest bulb in the bunch. They actually forgot to post that they would be repaving the parking lot until the night before. Naturally, most people did not see the notice and many had their cars moved into the grass without permission while they were at work or out. If APM spent half as much money on their lawyers and used that to actually treat their tenants with respect and dignity they would go a long way. Instead they prey on people navigating the tough housing market in Portland. Our last foray with them is now they are trying to charge us for supposed damages to the apartment. As per usual, they failed to send any notice of repairs to begin with and the first correspondence we received from them was in the form of a demanding threatening letter. Of course they say they did, but they have said many things in three years were almost always untrue. If you wish to have a job where it is your goal to be incompetent, rude, and have no problem sleeping at night while screwing people over all day...you should apply for a job at American Property Management. You'll fit right in.

Anna

Slum lord. I lived in one of their complexes for several years. Saw them rip people off over and over. Take away their deposits to pay for maintenance on their buildings. Blinds that were acknowledged in my rental agreement were damaged when I MOVED IN they tried to charge me hundreds of dollars for. Basically all the blinds in the place were old and needed to be replaced and I was supposed to pay for them. I went around and around with them. No one would talk to me. Finally I got them to take off the charges because the property manager intervened on my behalf. This guy is a SCUMBAG.

Margaret Dayton

A one star review is too good for this appallingly inconsiderate company, which desperately needs to improve its customer service and operational respect for its clients and employees, who receive neither the corporate support or the salary they deserve. I would highly recommend taking the time to find another company that will respect your needs without compromise. The grass is certainly greener elsewhere!

Rachel Jaques

Fortunately, I have not rented from this company and do not ever plan to. After picking up a flier for available properties, I called to inquire after an apartment and spoke to an incredibly rude manager. He curtly informed me that there was but one vacancy in the area and that it had a waiting list. When I asked about properties outside of this parameter or if there was anyone else I could contact, he told me, in the most discourteous tone, that his number was the only one listed on said flier. This individual must be delusional, as there were at least as many different numbers as there were apartment buildings, many of which were out of service.

Christine Riewer

I'm giving my APM experience 2 stars, because I'm trying to be optimistic and kind. Our manager was nice, even if I didn't see or hear from her once between the day we moved in and the day we left. And at least I had a roof over my head and didn't have to pay $1000 for a 1-bedroom apartment elsewhere in Portland. But the slew of issues makes those things nearly obsolete. First, as others have stated, the apartments are old and decrepit, with only a few double windows, most of them screen-less, that leak and attract mold constantly. Second, the water pressure in our kitchen was barely a dribble, and took at least 10 minutes to heat up. Thankfully, the bathroom was much better, but washing dishes in the kitchen sink was incredibly frustrating. Third, there was no fan in our bathroom, so we either had to shower with the door open, which set off our smoke alarm for some reason, or with our window open, which faced a used car lot. Also, the toilet seat was cheap plastic and constantly felt like it might break from under you at any moment. Not exactly what you want when you're trying to have a peaceful BM. The fourth (but not final) issue was that car lot right outside our backdoor. It didn't seem like an issue when we moved in the summer, but it became apparent that the people who owned this lot liked to have parties and work with loud music on at all hours of the day and night. On one occasion I can remember our kitchen cupboards shaking because of the music, glasses knocking together and threatening to break. Thankfully nothing did break, but I called the noise police, which quieted the car lot a little bit. That isn't really APM's issue, but it did add to our many frustrations with the living environment. My husband and I lived in Powell View apartments for 9 agonizing months and would never, ever recommend it to anyone. Fork over the extra $100 to live somewhere more modern, and for God's sake, check the water pressure before you sign the lease.

chels ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Just moved into an apartment and am already regretting my lease! less than 2 weeks in and there's a black mold growing inside the walls in our bathroom. Called landlord and was told to just scrub clean away. Um, hello. The mold is INSIDE the walls. It's only going to spread and become a bigger problem. Careful when you rent from these people, because once you sign that lease you're on your own. Don't ever feel rushed into signing anything until you inspect every corner of your unit. These rentals are cheap so watch yourself.

Justin Schlaht

Compared to the rest of the Inner Portland area, the price isn't terrible, considering. $1080/mo for a 2 bedroom. However, when the quality of the apartments are put into consideration, this place is a joke. Everything is dated to the seventies. The neighbor upstairs, other than walking around with his lead feet had his water heater broke. leaking water directly into my bedroom. No body came to fix it for three weeks. it started as a constant drip, and turned into constant FLOWING of water. I emptied a large cooler several times over the course of the week before someone turned the water off upstairs. 55 gallons of water came down, making the entire room smell like mildew, making me sick for one week. The hole was in the ceiling, 6"x9" for three weeks before being repaired. They did nothing to fix the massive amounts of mold in the closet, and offered no help regarding damaged belongings. Parking is also a little ridiculous. If you back into a parking space you'll get a notice on your car explaining how parking backwards in a spot puts emissions into peoples apartments. It really doesn't make any sense, considering parking either direction in four of the seven spaces points exhausts towards windows, so what does it matter? Landlady is rude when you talk to her. Unfortunately the low price appeals to the type of people that have special televisions that only turn on to max volume after midnight. I'm giving it two stars because my location was in a very nice area, 28th and stark. Nice meaning quick access to several nice bars and restaurants within five minute walks. but the dated buildings, and terrible maintenance are inexcusable.