Reputable Landlords/Property Companies (Pittsburgh, Franklin: apartments, lease, home) - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

PALibrarian · 04-22-2009, 02:31 PM

I'm going to be moving back into Pittsburgh and I'm looking to get a 1BR in the Shadyside/Sq. Hill/Point Breeze are that is pet-friendly. I work at CMU and I'd love to be able to ride my bike to work most days. My fear, of course, is I'm going to fall into the clutches of one of the many slumlords that rent primarily to the college students. I've gone over landorslum.com a million times, but it seems it's all either people who had a terrible experience or the landlord posting to inflate his grade. I'm 34, so I'm not about to sign a terrible lease that a 19-year old might fall for, but I don't want to spend the next year "reminding" my landlord of my rights as a tenant--it's too damn exhausting.

Who should I absolutely, at all costs, avoid? Or, even better, who do you think is great?

Mugatu · 04-22-2009, 02:36 PM

Not too sure of who the good landords in that area are, but avoid Lobos Management at all costs. They are the well-known slum lords of the 'burgh

slamont61 · 04-22-2009, 02:40 PM

Mozart Management is one company I've dealt with. The property I was in was in Highland Park and it was a good experience.

Mozart Apartments

Kate88 · 04-22-2009, 02:58 PM

Like Mugatu said, avoid Lobos like the plague. And JJ Land Company. Franklin West, Walnut Capital, and Meyers Management are all pretty good.

shadysider · 04-22-2009, 04:04 PM

Mozart is good and they have a lot of apartments too so you may be wise to contact them 1st also franklin west and forbes management is ok definitely avoid jjland I wasn't impressed witg mj kelly either and I currently rent from preffered properties and Do not reccommend renting from them but again I think Mozart should be able to get you in something nice they have buildings all over the east end several in shadyside

PALibrarian · 04-23-2009, 06:49 AM

Mozart looks really nice--the pet thing might be an issue, but we'll see--but I'm alarmed by the number of people posting about not getting 24-hour notice before people enter their property. Anyone experience people coming into their apartment with no advance notice? My main concern here is that if he were home alone, my dog would not handle that well at all and I don't want to put him in a situation where he's tempted to bolt out the door.

slamont61 · 04-23-2009, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PALibrarian

Mozart looks really nice--the pet thing might be an issue, but we'll see--but I'm alarmed by the number of people posting about not getting 24-hour notice before people enter their property. Anyone experience people coming into their apartment with no advance notice? My main concern here is that if he were home alone, my dog would not handle that well at all and I don't want to put him in a situation where he's tempted to bolt out the door.

That never happened to me and I hadn't heard that from any of the other tenants. My experience was pretty much trouble free; there were no issues needing addressed. Maybe the reports as such came from problematic tenants or were related to poorly communicated intentions. But there surely could have been an employee of thiers that didn't play by the rules, that much is always a possibility. I left the Mozart Property due to an out of town transfer, not because I didn't like it there.

It's been a while so I can't recall the pet policy with them. Ring them up, a phone call is still cheap.

hnsq · 04-23-2009, 07:38 AM

I agree with what everyone has said.

To give you an idea what you deal with if you rent from Lobos - my girlfriend subletted one of their apartments for three months. They had to do electrical work so they let themselves in and left the job half finished for a week. There were live exposed wires sticking out of the wall, they didn't clean up at the end of the day (chunks of drywall on the bed/floor, etc. trash from their lunches lying around). To get them to finish the job and cover the exposed wired I had to threaten to report the building to the city for not being up to code.

I have also dealt with Mozart, they are a good company however there are a few annoying policies. They make you say if you are going to renew your lease six months ahead of time. It isn't that big of a deal, but I find it a LITTLE annoying.

I would check out www.landorslum.com - a landlord rating site for Pittsburgh.

slamont61 · 04-23-2009, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hnsq

I agree with what everyone has said.

To give you an idea what you deal with if you rent from Lobos - my girlfriend subletted one of their apartments for three months. They had to do electrical work so they let themselves in and left the job half finished for a week. There were live exposed wires sticking out of the wall, they didn't clean up at the end of the day (chunks of drywall on the bed/floor, etc. trash from their lunches lying around). To get them to finish the job and cover the exposed wired I had to threaten to report the building to the city for not being up to code.

I have also dealt with Mozart, they are a good company however there are a few annoying policies. They make you say if you are going to renew your lease six months ahead of time. It isn't that big of a deal, but I find it a LITTLE annoying.

I would check out www.landorslum.com - a landlord rating site for Pittsburgh.

Two things; Mozart does ask in advance if you wish to renew, but didn't hold me to it. I had been transferred out of town and so they allowed me to not renew. The move was one month ahead of the end of the current lease, they did not let me out of that last month; nor did I expect them to.

As for landorslum.com - one needs to take that with a grain of salt. One does not know the circumstance from both sides. Could be info from a resulting disagreement where the tenant is at fault or vice versa, who really knows? Take it as information - ask about it before taking it as the truth.

Kate88 · 04-23-2009, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slamont61

As for landorslum.com - one needs to take that with a grain of salt. One does not know the circumstance from both sides. Could be info from a resulting disagreement where the tenant is at fault or vice versa, who really knows? Take it as information - ask about it before taking it as the truth.

It's nice to use to get an idea about a management company, but I feel like the reviews are probably slanted to the negative side. People are quicker to rant about bad experiences than rave about good ones.