Bob Schmitz Properties

I’ve never personally lived in a Bob Schmitz property, but my best friends have. This review is for my personal experience trying to get an appointment to see a Bob property.
It’s ROUGH. The woman who does property showings only shows homes/​apartments during business hours and I didn’t find her easy to get a hold of. I called in, wanting to see a place, and she was out seeing another one. So I left a message. She calls back, I missed the call, I call back, she’s not there, she calls back, we coordinate. The back and forth phone tag was infuriating. And taking off work to go see a place is also frustrating.
Here’s the thing. Bob owns hundreds of properties in this city. He’s got a near-​monopoly in slum-​lording. So if you’re renting in Durham, you’ll probably have to deal with him at some point. Just be ready to take time off work to do so.

I would love to receive a reply from Bob as he has replied to the 5 star reviews… Not sure how he can claim his tenants are his company’s number one priority. The 6 of us living in our house certainly never saw that.

We ended up suing Bob Schmitz when they tried to steal our deposit after we moved out, and I am happy to report that we won. Everyone should read the NC Tenant Security Deposit Act of 1977.
While our victory over the Schmitz Slum
Empire was sweet, the whole experience of living in their properties was a nightmare. We lived in a Schmitz property near Duke’s East Campus for two years. The problems started immediately: BS late fees on our rent when their automated payment system was down, a broken window that fell and crushed my finger, an unsafe front door against fire code that would have trapped us if there had been a fire.
We decided to move out early because when there was a shooting across the street (at another one of their properties) and the police department came around with suggestions for improving our home’s safety, Susan just insulted us and told us there would be no improvements made to the property. Her disrespectful demeanor was the final straw. She is nice when she is luring you in but then turns into a miserable person to work with.
We won on our case on what amounts to a technicality. Schmitz policy is to return whatever remains of your deposit thirty days after the end of the lease. But according to the Tenant Security Deposit Act, landlords must return the deposit within thirty days of when you move out. Since we had moved out early to get them out of our lives, they were several weeks late in returning the deposit and had to pay it to us in full (plus court fees).
Their apartments are cheapish and well located but renting from them was one of the worst choices I have made in my adult life. But wherever you live, read the law and know your rights.

Contrary to basically every other review here, we’ve had a pretty good experience with Bob Schmitz so far (although note: we haven’t moved out yet, so I can’t touch on the dreaded «deposit» issue but I promise to update when we do). We’ve been living in the same house for 2 years, and we’ve had pretty good experiences. I’ll go through major points chronologically:
PICKING OUT A RENTAL:
–my husband was out of the state at the time, so I picked out the rental myself. Susan was pretty accommodating with my work schedule, and drove around with me over the weekend to see everything. I’m pretty sure I could only meet at like 4pm on a Saturday, and she was available.
INITIAL STUFF:
–we were able to negotiate our rental rate a little bit (we aren’t college students, and probably don’t come with the same risks). So maybe the rates are higher than comparable houses, but we talked ours down.
–The apartment was perfectly clean when we moved in.
OVER THE YEARS
–The company (we mainly communication through Susan) has been pretty amenable to all the work orders and repairs we’ve put in. I would say we are on the «needier» side of work-​order people, and they always get filled the same day. After our fridge wasn’t working, we requested a new one and they put it in the same day.
–Our HVAC wasn’t working this weekend (and its 96 out today, yikes). They came over to look at it, and once they realized whatever is broken wasn’t going to be an easy fix, they installed window units throughout the house. Yes, I freaked out a little bit, but they definitely went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable.
–We’ve definitely asked for things over the years that are a mix between necessary and definitely not necessary (for instance, we wanted the front bushes re-​mulched). Bob Schmitz has been pretty good about these things, within reason. They wouldn’t bend to our request for a garbage disposal though!
–I would also like to note that I’ve always been super comfortable with the maintenance staff that they send over. No complaints as a woman having strange men in her house.
–We always pay our rent on time, but we are horrible about some of the other details (re-​signing our lease, cutting our grass). Once again, they’ve been pretty lenient about this.
I’m not sure what the big Unilocal issue with Susan is. She’s always been super helpful for us, whether we’ve called or stopped by in person. I don’t think we’ve ever had a maintenance request that wasn’t handled same day. Though I don’t know the rental demographic of Bob Schmitz, I will say that we are out of college (late 20s), and super into our «home», so that may have caused the Bob Schmitz staff to interact more endearingly with us? We aren’t renters that run the risk of throwing a rager (unless you count brunch as a rager).
So overall I had pretty positive things to say about Bob Schmitz (maybe they are working on these things more?), and I will definitely update after we deal with move-​out deposit issues!

Stay away from Susan at Bob Schmitz Properties. This is probably the worst experience I’ve had with any business.
When I expressed concern about a clause in the lease allowing them to enter our home at any time without prior notice, Susan promptly emailed my roommates telling them they needed to find a replacement even though my name was already on the lease, which Susan had previously said was unchangeable because it was a «legal document.» (It was still an unsigned legal document!)
We finally gave up and signed the lease anyway because there were very few three bedrooms on the market when we needed to move in.
However, in February (3 months before the end of our lease), we received an email from Susan’s email address (that she now says was sent by someone else) saying there would be some exterior work to our house over the next week.
Basically, our lease allows B.S. to do maintenance on our property while we live there in a reasonable time. However, applying plastic siding over wood siding on ¾ of the house is really more of a renovation than maintenance. Especially, when you wake up to pounding on the outside of your bedroom wall at 7:45 every morning for two and a half weeks. The contractor continually set up his equipment over our path to the car despite the ample yard space to set up and frequently left his drill on the step outside our door.
After the siding was done, workers showed up regularly for two more weeks to do «yard work.» I’m not sure why it takes two weeks to rake leaves and why you didn’t do it until you were getting ready to list the property. After all the leaves have been there since before Thanksgiving. It’s so great to finally be able to see the dirt under the leaves, especially now that’s it’s started raining and turned the dirt to mud.
Last week, painters showed up without notice. (Thanks for warning us that people in an unmarked car without uniforms would be showing up at our house less than two weeks after a woman in our neighborhood
Additionally, she was culturally insensitive, refusing to pronounce my name correctly. (Sorry I’m not white enough for you Susan.)
Also, they kept half of our security deposit claiming that they had to paint the interior after we moved out despite the fact that we didn’t paint anything in the place. You might think that we trashed the place or that this was an anomaly but they accidentally sent us someone else’s refund, so we know they did it to them as well. If you must rent from them, take pictures when you move in and move out so you can fight them in small claims court.

I have rented from Bob Schmitz Properties since 2009 so I obviously like the service they provide. Having lived in different apartments in Durham and Greensboro prior to finding Bob Schmitz, I can say their staff feels more hands-​on than others. Anytime I’ve needed assistance, I’m comfortable with contacting them with my concerns or questions knowing that Susan Cole is going to jump on it. Going into the office, Marrilyn always smiles and warmly greets me and provides whatever help and support she can give. Maintenance is courteous and attentive; anything that I’ve needed done or worked on is usually handled within 24 hours. Since I’m still renting from Bob Schmitz, I can’t review or speak of the security deposit issue that others have mentioned in their reviews.
What appeals to me about my rental from Bob Schmitz is that his is more of a «home» rather than an apartment. The lease clearly defines what Bob Schmitz will take care of and what you’re expected to do on your end, which I think a lot of people tend to overlook when signing the lease. Since this is more of a home rather than an apartment, there are things you have to do on your end to upkeep your unit. That being said, I like the feel of the apartment and that it’s «my space» rather than a small, cramped apartment. The rental rate, at least in my case, is reasonable and competitive for Durham and the area of the city that I’m located in. Since renting from them I’ve completed a few customer satisfaction surveys and always see Bob Schmitz Properties actually take the feedback and make changes toward things they have control over. I’ve found from interacting with my neighbors who also rent from them that most of the negative vibes and feelings come from not communicating with Bob Schmitz. They have been good about addressing issues and even improving my unit over the years, from installing a better door with weather stripping to recently installing a ceiling fan in my bedroom after a comment I made on one of the customer service surveys.
I’d definitely suggest looking at Bob Schmitz Properties if you’re looking to move to Durham. As with any apartment, don’t buy without checking out the unit first (which is what one of my past neighbors did which lead to some dissatisfaction upon arrival), tell the rental rep what you’re looking for and what you like (they have a lot of units so there’s probably something for you) and once you have moved in, continue to talk to and work with the people in the main office. You’ll be surprised how being polite and respectful will make your renting experience better.

My worst rental experience, by far, was with Bob Schmitz Properties.
It seems that it is the company’s goal to keep as much of a tenant’s security deposit as possible. Indeed, the company charged me for things like replacement parts for the stove that I hardly used, and which I certainly did not ruin in the short time I rented from this company.
I would never again rent from BSP and would certainly never recommend them to anyone I know.

Here’s a long-​overdue review for sucky Bob Schmitz. When my boyfriend and I rented a house from old Bob, we did so under some duress as he was about to start cancer treatment at Duke Hospital. The agent promised us that the company was going to create a safe walkway up to the house (which matter to us since my bf was on crutches/​in a wheel chair/​using a walker during treatment) but once we signed the lease, no one could remember having said that.
Of course we lost our whole deposit. When we moved in, the attic and basement were full of boxes and also repair equipment that belonged to Bob’s contractors. However, when we moved out, we were charged for removing that garbage. I was also charged a cleaning fee of $ 35 because I left a box of tissues on the back of the toilet in the bathroom (trying to be nice in case someone came to look at the house and needed to pee). We cleaned meticulously on moving out, but still had to pay outrageous cleaning fees and repair bills for damages that didn’t exist. When I went to dispute the assessment of fees and ask for receipts from their contractors, I was told that they would not even discuss it and that all communication would have to by writing. No surprise that my letter went unanswered.
Advice to the wise — take a million pictures both upon moving in and moving out. I know it seems like a huge hassle, but unless you just count on forfeiting your deposit every time you move, you must. They’ll probably still steal your deposit, but at least you can stick it to them in small claims court. Or just let them know that you have pictures of the property and quotes from repair/​cleaning services before they do their assessment and maybe it’ll scare them. Oh, or just have some fun and trash the house when you leave and at least get your money’s worth.

Yet another terrible review on Bob Schmitz Properties. I have never lost my deposit on a rental property even when I was in college. Every other place I have rented has also been much nicer so it seems if I can get my full deposit back at a nice place then it shouldn’t be a problem for a dive basement apartment (one that I did not mind living in but was just not full of amenities) We were charged for 3 damaged blinds. One I know for a fact had a problem so that is fine but the other two were over the kitchen sink. It would take work to damage those blinds – they were in just great, well dusted condition. We were also charged a cleaning fee ($ 150) even though the place was spotless and looked better than when we moved in. If I am going to go through the trouble of spending two days after work (6:00pm) until midnight cleaning and get charged a cleaning fee it shows me they believe their tenants are worthless.
Bob Schmitz was very prompt about fixing issues we had. I thought for sure they would give us our full deposit because we were good tenants and work so hard to clean the place so that it would be little effort for them to prepare it for the next tenants. I wish now I had not spend all that time and effort because it was pointless.

Bob Schmitz Properties and the employees of started out just like any other management company. They got repairs done in a relatively reasonable amount of time, and were responsive to calls.
They were quite reasonable until they found out that we would not be continuing our lease with them. Since that day it has been a nightmare. Susan Cole not willing to admit she made a mistake and gave me the wrong information. Bob Schmitz calling me to stick up for Susan, and just repeating himself.
If it was for anything more than $ 45 I would likely have a lawyer on their door tomorrow, but it’s nickel and diming, and I would have to pay more for a lawyer to correct this.
I would suggest going with another property management company in the area.
Will update with return of deposit after the end of May.

Bob Schmitz Properties is complete shit, in my experience. They have quaint old houses that are poorly cleaned and upkept, in my opinion, within the greater downtown Durham area. In my experience they will make promises to do things to improve the home but as soon as you rent none of this will happen. I felt they have no intention of ever returning ours or anybody’s security deposit regardless of how clean a house was kept. I would avoid ever doing business with Bob Schmitz Properties and would advise everyone to do the same based on my experience.

My renting experience with Bob Schmitz Properties was a big disappointment. My rental house was minimally maintained– BSP refused to install a liner in the crawl space (despite the recommendations of professional exterminators), and insulation was so poor that in the winter my house was often the only one in the neighborhood without frost on the roof. I spent an outrageous amount of money trying to keep the house reasonably warm– several hundred dollars per month more than the estimate they gave me before I signed the lease.
But the worst thing about BSP is that they completely take advantage of their tenants and squeeze as much money as possible out of the security deposit for bogus reasons. I spent several days cleaning the house and left it sparkling, but they subtracted nearly $ 200 from my deposit for a «cleaning service.» When I protested the charges, they clarified that the cleaning service was needed for things like «washer dirty inside lid» and «tiny trash on floor» (their words), which must have meant tiny specks of dust because I mopped the floors thoroughly.
Never mind that when I moved in to the house I had to spend several hours re-​cleaning it– I wiped a significant amount of grime off the floors and there was a lot of cockroach grit in the cupboards, so it is clear that BSP just pockets the «cleaning service» fee and doesn’t actually clean the house for the next tenants. I left the house in much better condition than I found it in, but that made no difference.
Out of all the charges I contested, the only one BSP reimbursed me for was the $ 20 they charged me to replace the HVAC filter. I had installed a new filter literally one day before my move-​out date. This just shows that BSP was hoping I would be too lazy or timid to bother calling them out on it.
The moral of the story is that you’re better off renting with Apple or another honest landlord agency. If you absolutely must rent from BSP, don’t even bother cleaning your house when you move out because you’ll be charged for them to «clean» it anyway.
Also, in my opinion, the numerous 5-​star reviews on CitySearch other websites are really not consistent with the experiences of other BSP tenants whom I know personally.