Realty Pros of Austin

***Update:***
It’s been five years since I rented with Realty Pros of Austin. I wrote an awful review that was very warranted, back in 2010. I was contacted today by Realty Pros of Austin threatening me with a lawsuit if I didn’t remove my review. They stated that ‘Austin Manage’ is in charge of my apartment. Actually, I never once dealt with any company called ‘Austin Manage’ (I am guessing it must be a relatively new company). I dealt with Realty Pros of Austin when searching for my apartment, when signing the lease, when paying rent, and when I had complaints (like mice) — which they dealt with HORRIBLY. I think their actions (or lack of), their tone, and the audacity to threaten me speaks for itself.
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***Previous Review:***
Realty Pros is the worst apartment management company I have ever come across. I have rented apartments for several years and I have never had such a bad experience.
When I moved into my new apartment, I had called Realty Pros in advance and informed them of my move in date. I came into my apartment to find that they had just barely carpet shampooed the apartment THE MORNING OF MY MOVE IN. This meant that I had to move in all of my furniture on wet carpet. Besides that, the carpet is grungy and dirty and it looks like its been in that apartment for about twenty years. No joke. Besides that, the apartment in general is in terrible condition — the cabinets in the bathroom and kitchen are geing held by nothing but GLUE. So if you expect to move into a clean refreshing apartment, think again.
Realty Pros also seems very lax about their apartment maintenance. In our apartment complex, we have three washers and three dryers. There came a point, where for WEEKS two of the washing machines and one of the dryers were broken. Not only were they broken, but they still had the gunky water left in there from the previous washes, and the entire laundry room reaked. They were very aware of the situation, but it was not until I had to send them an email that they finally started taking some action.
Several months after I moved in, I heard what sounded like mice coming from the AC vent. I contacted Realty Pros and they came in and put in two mouse traps — in obscure locations that the mice could not even reach. Several months later, I find out that this apartment complex has had a mouse problem for MONTHS and Realty Pros did not even bother to inform us. It was only when I found my food was being eaten at night, that I realized there was most definitely a MOUSE INFESTATION. Realty Pros came in and sealed up some holes. When I asked them how long I can expect until the mice living in the walls will be gone, how I’m going to find them, etc., they tell me that they do not know how long it will take to get rid of the mice. They also told me that if a mouse DIES in the walls, I will «smell it.» I’ve spoken to other apartment managers who have had mouse issues and they were so proactive about it, that they dealt with the issue in three months flat. This has been an issue that has not been resolved for at least a year. Now when I walk into my bathroom or closet, I hear mice running up and down the walls and squeaking all day long. I am embarrassed to have guests.
I emailed Realty Pros about the situation, and instead of understanding that there is a problem, they send me an exacerbated email telling me that they have taken care of the problem. They also LIED telling me that they send maintenance out to my apartment TWICE a week. A FLAT OUT LIE. Unbelievable.
They have not resolved my situation. The people at the office are incredibly rude and have no tact in dealing with situations or understanding what BAD LIVING CONDITIONS are (cause apparently having mice in your apartment is perfectly normal).
My suggestion is not to lease or rent with anything that has Realty Pros of Austin’s name on it.

These guys managed my place at 311 E. 31^st street. Throughout the year everything was fine, the apartment was a little run down but maintenance was responsive. However, I did not appreciate how they handled my security deposit.
I was charged for «heavy touch up paint» which could have only been for the work their own maintenance staff had left unfinished and I was also charged $ 175 for a professional cleaning even though I cleaned the apartment before I left. When I asked about the cleaning charge I was told it was a condition in some document I signed. I don’t remember signing anything but the lease and there was nothing about this cleaning charge in the lease.
When I asked for a copy of that document and an explanation of the paint charge, I was ignored.

be very wary! i rented an apartment for my daughter and realty pros has been a nightmare to deal with. no mail key, no maintenance, no communication. they even misrepresented what they were collecting deposits for. not an ethical place to do business. i even went so far to call the real estate association to get to the bottom of the problems i’ve had with them.

UPDATE:
Realty Pros of Austin still sucks! No surprise there. I didn’t think it was possible but they’ve actually gotten worse. First, the owner responds to my previous review trying to claim that I didn’t live in one of his properties… wrong. I definitely did live in one of his properties. Trust me, I was there for 12 months and spent many lovely hours talking to Realty Pros on the phone. When I tried to reach out to Steve (the owner) to set up a time to talk about my experience he didn’t respond – still no response (it’s been 3 months since I first reached out and he has made zero efforts to resolve this).
But the most disturbing part of all of this is that Steve doesn’t even know how to spell the word LLAMA. Come on.
Seriously you people need to get it together. I don’t know how you sleep at night.

The absolute worst. I used them to find an apt and actually ended up renting an apt at a location that they manage. Their staff is rude, unhelpful, and unprofessional.
Their maintenance staff came in several times while I was not home and without my permission and would leave a mess all over my apt. One time I walked in my apt and a maintenance man (who they did not tell me would be there) was there with his small child who was playing with my cat in my closet!
They have terrible policies and do not abide by their leases. I signed a lease in feb of 2013 and moved in that August. The day I moved in they made me sign another piece of paper which was «non-​negotiable» and essentially altered some terms of my lease. It’s questionable whether this is legal. But it is certainly unethical. Never had a worse experience with a management company. Would absolutely never work with them again and with all of the available housing in Austin, there is no reason you should settle with this company.
There is a clear reason why their favorable reviews were posted over a year ago. Their owner emailed me back after I brought him many concerns and he was condescending and rude.
Avoid if you can!!!

My husband and I worked with Anthony at RealtyPros to find our new apartment (our first place together). Anthony gave us access to a rental database, where we could look at available properties and choose which ones we might want to see. I found this very helpful. We got a good feel for what we might want and be able to afford before we looked at anything in person.
Anthony drove us around Austin to look at properties three times. At one point we thought we had found a place we liked, and he worked with the owners to allow us to sign a lease with a guarantor. When we changed our minds, he went right back to searching for another property for us. When we finally settled on something, he kept us in contact with the owners and the property manager, and walked us through every stage of the leasing process. He was knowledgeable and friendly, and there was never any pressure on us to make a choice quickly or to go outside of our price range.
My only complaint about RealtyPros was that a second agent called Dana continued to email me almost every day about setting up an appointment long after we finished looking for a rental. Anthony was amazing!

Man oh man. Where to start? I had an appointment with Dana and she had poor customer/​realtor skills. I walked into our appointment with my stuff more together than hers. To put this in perspective I’m a teenager who literally just googled places to live via online realtor listings.
The issues that I ran into:
I had several places that I wanted to look at. When asked about these places the realtor came up with some jibberish and had no definite reason as to why we couldn’t view them. (FUN FACT: I switched to another realtor, and it turns out 3 of the 4 places that I had requested were available viewing.) o
A good 15 – 20 minutes was spent trying to get the keys or even find the where abouts of the apartments. Keep in mind the realtor had A WEEK to get this done.
I had a reasonable limit set and she kept veering toward higher places of living. Not cool, yo.
If I had one hour left to spend on this earth I’d spend it with Austin Realty pros because that hour would feel never ending. They take forever to get stuff done, if ya know what I mean?

I don’t understand what’s so ‘pro’ about them when instead the property manager has been nothing but rude and unprofessional.
First, we had a realtor randomly called my roommate unannounced to view the unit. My roommate had to call Realty ‘Pros’ to find out, as tenants, what our viewing rights were, versus having that explained upfront. During that conversation we established we wanted sufficient notice, preferably 24 hours, the next time an agent who promised «not to touch anything» showed the unit.
Instead, a couple weeks later my roommate gets a call that an agent is on their way. I have not received a call at all, and my roommate from the road asks that I call. I call the property manager to discuss how I am uncomfortable with this after the other roommate’s prior agreement, not to mention that I’ve never even been notified at all. She begins telling me ‘the longer I stay on the phone with you, the less time I have to call the agent.” She was condescending, rude and highly unprofessional. She threatened me by saying «the landlord is going to be unhappy to hear that tenants are declining agents» after she already knew we had been more than agreeable, with prior notice. She was immediately on the defense, and spoke ill of other tenants in the fourplex. Again, what kind of professional gossips about tenants to other tenants? She sends a passive aggressive apology email after telling me for the third time the longer she waits on the phone with me, the less time she has to call the realtor. iPhones have call logs — the call took a total of 6 minutes. She didn’t care about calling the realtor. Instead she didn’t want to give courtesy to a respectable tenant who pays on time and takes care of the place. I reiterated I wanted 24 hours notice in my response email.
Then today, I get another notice from a realtor telling me he’s an hour from showing the unit. I guess once again Realty Pro has proven they don’t care about existing tenants. I’ve had a maintenance request in for weeks about fixing the front porch, yet they expect me to open my door in a few minutes to an hour’s notice.
Stay away from this company. They’re unprofessional, poorly managed and plain rude. I bet the landlord would be unhappier to hear that their management company can’t keep existing, professional tenants.

I contacted two different agencies and was by far more impressed with the response I received from Chris from Realty Pros. He was very professional and responded right away. He was able to meet me quickly and show various properties I viewed from their website in a few hours on a Saturday morning. I found a place I really liked and Chris helped me with the initial application process. Chris was kind, knowledgeable and very responsive to my needs. I would totally recommend Realty Pros to anyone who asks!

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience than the one we had at Realty Pros of Austin with Dustin Stroud! My family and I wanted to move out to the country and start a little farm. As first time home buyers, we were a little overwhelmed. Dustin was so amazing at understanding our needs and finding the right options. His attention to detail is a huge plus. I never wondered if something important was being forgotten or over looked. We now have our dream home, and couldn’t be happier!

Chris Milner helped me and a roommate find the perfect apartment after a long streak of disappointing complex managers. I have had realtors drop me as a client after a few choices didn’t work out, but Chris stuck with us and was very supportive. He defended us when a complex wanted to charge us for things without reason and was very good at communicating with us. I highly recommend this hardworking realtor because those are not easy to find.

A few weeks back I was in the market for a new rental home. I used all the search engines available, but Realty Pros of Austin (RPA) caught my eye because of its map/​search interface. The website allows you to put in criteria such as rooms, single-​family, home, and much more and then view a map of current or upcoming properties. From here you can save properties you like for later reference.
Upon contacting RPA, things got better. I was transferred to Jonathan who, compared to ALL the realtors I’d contacted until then, asked the best questions concerning my expectations and was the fast (less than 30 min) to send me a list of properties that met all of my criteria: dog friendly, near UT, garage, single-​family home w/​yard.
I have to add to this, though. I believe Jon’s skills went beyond the simple criteria of how many rooms, dog friendly, etc. After visiting the options laid out, it seemed he had an intuition for finding a place that fit well with my personality. This is an odd compliment (admittedly) but Austin is famous for being very eclectic and I feel Jonathan (respectfully) recognizes this when consulting. Ultimately this make him more effective at showing you places you’ll define as charming by your own unique standards. Thanks Jonathan!
Five Stars Austin Real Pros!

I had a really great experience with Lynette Jarrell. I only briefly explained my hopes and expectations of apartment hunting in Austin, but I could tell Lynette listened to every word I said. She was extremely knowledgeable about the different places we we went to look at. If I asked her a question that she didn’t know, she would get on her phone and find it out for me. We drove around for almost an entire day looking at different apartments and condos. I really appreciate she took so much time with me to search around. By the end of the day, I had found a place to live ! I was relieved it only took me a day to find a condo.

I would highly recommend Austin Realty Pros, especially Lynette, whom I had the pleasure of meeting last weekend.
Lynette was really helpful and kind communicating by e-​mail before I came to Austin from out of town with my future roommate to look at places. She took us around on a Saturday afternoon and answered all of our questions about life in Austin while showing us different places.
The roommate and I changed our minds about living together and I’m now working with Lynette to find a one bedroom. She has been so kind, helpful, and understanding, and I really trust her.
The office is centrally located and well organized, and I bet the other folks at this company are great, too!

I worked with Jamil Spring of 2012 from Realty Pros and must say he was fantastic. We went on a total of 5 tours in about a month’s worth of time, and he was very patient with my picky standards and very accommodating with my schedule. I also had several roommate/​situation switches, which required switching my search from 2br apartments to 3br houses, back to 2br apartments– he was extremely patient with all of these last minute switches and he did a great job finding things that I asked for. He also did a great job keeping my preferences in mind when searching for properties and apartments, and was very responsive, organized, and put a decent amount of time into finding me the right place. I will definitely be contacting him again for future realty transactions! I would definitely recommend him as a realtor, as well as Realty Pros of Austin in general!
*******edit: I asked for Jamil’s help again this year (2013) on my new search, but unfortunately he has stepped back to focus on his deli business (everyone should go try out Fricano’s Deli by the way– by far the best deli sandwiches you can find in Austin!) This time, I worked with Dustin. Dustin did a great job with showing me several places in a speedy manner, however he was a tad forgetful and I had to reiterate my most major preferences over and over again. He kept showing me places that did not meet some of my top priorities/​preferences. He was very friendly but I felt like he was trying to rush our meetings and rush me through the entire process. In the end we did end up finding a place that I signed with, even though it didn’t meet the one major requirement that I had asked for. Before finalizing and signing with this new place, I asked Dustin if we could possibly go on one more tour so I can see a few more options, and he quickly cut me off and said that time was running out and there was nothing else out there, although I definitely believe that was false. It seemed more like he just wanted to be done with me, and didn’t feel like taking the time to be patient with me, my needs/​preferences, and my search in general. While I do like the place I signed with, I just feel like I could have found something that met all of my needs if he had just taken the time to do one or two more tours. He was definitely very friendly, but also a bit ingenuine at the same time. He got the job done though, maybe not in the best way possible, but we found a place that I like which is what matters most.

I worked with Lynette on a tight timeframe — i was in town a couple days and I HAD to find a place in Austin for my family to land in a couple months. If I didn’t get something, we’d have settled for some generic apartment complex for a year. I got in touch with Lynette through one of her listings — ithat morning, instead of just showing me the one house and moving on, she showed up with a set of other houses around the neighborhood that might work for me — and we went right to work on touring them together. We went back a second time the next day and decided on one. We went back to her office and filled out the application paperwork. Simple as things can be. We are happy Austin campers now thanks to Lynette.

Back in 2011 I worked with Scott Fernandez at Realty Pros to help me find an apartment. New in town, I gave him the general parameters of what I was looking for, and told him how soon I was looking to move in (which was pretty quick). Scott took care of all the legwork of finding places that matched my criteria, in the area of town I was looking for, and had availability in my relatively short move-​in window. Then he drove me to each place and we took a look around each of them one-​by-​one. I made a choice and signed an apartment lease.
This year (2012), that lease came up for renewal. Seeking a change of pace and to move to a different part of town, I called Scott again. As before, he did the legwork and made several phone calls to help narrow down the list. This time, however, I planned ahead by several months, which of course made the process much easier. I’ve again signed a lease on a new place that I’m quite happy with so far.
All services were provided to me free of charge since I was seeking an apartment to lease. I believe that the apartment complexes pay a «finders fee» to the agent should a person decide to lease there, so it’s in their interest to help you find a place you’re happy with. (At least, I think that’s how it works — your mileage may vary.)
I would certainly recommend Scott and Realty Pros for anyone searching for real estate — apartment, house or otherwise. I definitely plan to call him again should I decide to move elsewhere in town at some point in the future.

We had a great experience with James Baggett at Realty Pros. He was really helpful finding us places to check out, he understood our taste and requirements, he was always on time for appointments, he drove us to each house, and (most importantly) he was just a cool guy to work with. I never felt overly pressured or uncomfortable.
Unfortunately the house we ended up putting an application in with James fell through, and we ended up taking a sublet through Craigslist instead. But he was really communicative about the issue and it wasn’t his fault that the house fell through. We will definitely be keeping him in mind for future rentals or purchase.
Ask for James!

Three words come to mind: terrible, horrible, avoid! I found some properties that I wanted to look at on their website, and I received an email from Christina at Realty Pros. We set an appointment to look at places Monday at noon. So far so good, but then it began going downhill.
Christina called me at about 10:30 on Monday (read: only an hour and half before our appointment) to ask me some more questions about my needs, and turns out none of the places I’d picked actually fit. She agreed to keep looking around and sent me some links to places she found. Every place she sent me was outside the geographical area I wanted to live in, and in really bad parts of town. I kid you not, according to google street view, one place was across the street from «Ideal Fadez & Colorz». I emailed her back and politely reiterated where I wanted to live and asked if there was anything else she could find. Her response (and this is copy/​pasted): «I am not seeing any right now. Check out our website and see if there is anything else you are interersted in and I wlll be happy to show it to you.»
Is this a joke? The whole point of getting a realtor is to cut out the legwork. A few days later she emailed me to see if I had «found anything». No, honey, that is YOUR job, and I am SO done working with you.

Steve is kind of my hero. I still haven’t met the guy but I envision him to be 8 feet tall, 350 lbs. of solid muscle, wear a cape and have incredible super hero hair.
We were moving from Phoenix to Austin and did not have time to fly out and look at places before hand. We had each only been to Austin once and the reason I was there in the past was for SXSW. (Which means I didn’t exactly look at a lot of neighborhoods.)
I found the Realty Pros online and started doing searches there. Steve contacted me and we started talking about what we were looking for. The usual shortlist of impossible to fulfill requirements. «what do you mean the place doesn’t come with a Unicorn and a genie in a bottle buried in the backyard? Keep looking»
He was eventually able to find a place that worked. Ok there are three offers on the place. Lets keep going. Already an offer. Ok, again. Keep in mind that before we put an application on all of these places we wanted to take a look at what the place looked like. So Steve was kind enough to take a video and upload it to youtube. The good news is Steve is now a top contributor on youtube sooooo… Congratulations!
We were eventually able to find a place and get moved into a place that we love and fit all of our requirements. Now I just need to figure out what unicorns and genies eat.