Home Realty

Have been in a Home Realty apartment for over four years now and am continually impressed at the responsiveness of the company. For any questions or anytime something needs to be checked on, Brian and Lorenzo are right there. Had a feeling we had lucked out when we landed the place in 2011, and that’s only been confirmed since then!

We just moved into our apartment last week in NOPA, but so far I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Home Realty and Brain Wolk.
During move-​in, Brian was extremely accommodating and even gave us the keys to our place a few days early. The apartment is in impeccable condition after a recent remodel. We feel very lucky to have found it!
There were a few minor things that needed attention (drainage in the shower and a leaky shower head). We emailed Brian on Sunday, and heard back almost immediately that the repairman would be there Monday morning.
The service has been extremely professional and Brian has been very communicative and responsive. I would highly highly recommend Home Realty to a friend!

I’ve recently moved to Los Angeles after living in an apartment in San Francisco that was managed by Brian Wolk over at Home Realty. My husband and I lived there for 5 years and in that time had some very unusual situations arise — a fire in the apartment above, an exploding hot water heater in another apartment, etc. It was kind of crazy — but… just…stuff happens. What counted for us was that in every instance we had great help from Brian and Lorenzo and the rest of Home Realty. They were always on top of it, very professional, super nice and always easy to deal with. I’ve been renting apartments in major cities for 26+ years, so I definitely have experience in this realm of landlord/​tenant relationships. Maybe it’s because I’ve always focused on paying rent on time, being reasonable and treating their property well that I’ve mostly had solid experiences with all my landlords. And in the case of Home Realty — they were probably the most professional, yet flexible that I’ve rented from. Even when we received our deposit back, it was accompanied by an invoice outlining the percentages of interest my deposit had earned over the past years. I’ve never gotten THAT before. If we move back to San Francisco — I will definitely check in with them first to see what units they have available. In that crazy rental market up there — I’d prefer to be dealing with them.

I have been living in one of the home realty properties now for almost a year. I have never had anything but square dealings with Brian and Nancy and all the other Home Realty reps. Granted they could spend a bit more on fixtures and the final touches but let’s face it when’s the last time you moved into a fully remodeled and painted unit? I have NEVER seen any company take such care of their buildings or tenants. I have called Brian personally on quite a few occasions and have always had maintenance issues solved within 24 – 48 hours. Now there’s a lot of slander being tossed around about these guys which makes it easy to see why their job is so hard: UNREASONABLE tenants will always sling mud and be unhappy. As far as Home Realty being «slum lords»…the word «slum» is insulting to be used by 1^st world trust fund kids. Bottom line is I’d recommend their services and the leasing fees for what you get are well worth it.

Finding the perfect spot in SF is challenging… rent is crazy, apartments may disasters and landlords and can be nightmares. We were so very fortunate to have found a great spot in a well maintained building and to have a reliable professional property management group. Brian Wolk was more than helpful through out our move in process, and is always available for any questions or needs that come up. The maintenance crew arrives when expected and they do excellent handy work.

I lived at a HR studio in Laurel Heights when I first moved to SF from the Midwest. I mostly interacted directly with the owners, and found them to be friendly, considerate, and most importantly earnest in their real estate business.
The place itself was beautiful, it had retained all the Victorian quaintness with some beneficial upgrades not typically found in SF (i.e. a dishwasher, score!). The interior hallways and entryway were always neatly maintained and secure. I could tell they really cared about their properties.
Sure, things took time to fix (sometimes requiring more than one visit or a reminder) but I never encountered any malicious intent or nefarious plotting to nickel and dime me. To this day I miss that studio!

18 months ago, both my wife and I landed jobs in San Francisco. We ended up «lucking out» (we thought) with this place on Franklin. A 2 bed 1 bath top floor unit, 3 story walk up, that allowed dogs. For 18 months we were model tenants.
Fast forward to Dec. 1, 2014. We gave our 30 day notice because we just bought a house, so our move out date would be Jan. 1, 2015. I had emailed Brian and he said that we should email back our forwarding address and that he included Nancy, who would be sending our deposit check back, after he did final walk through. I emailed our new address but didn’t hear a thing back from Brian or Nancy. We left the unit in the same or better condition than when we moved in. Keep in mind, we never did a walk through with anyone from Home Realty.
Now its Jan. 9^th, 2015 (8 days after move out). I get an email from Brian. He goes on to explain that in his walk through he found a number of damages to the apartment (destroyed carpet, jammed window, destroyed shades) all that needed to be replaced. He gave me a total of $ 785 of damages that he was going to deduct from our security deposit. I did not agree and proceeded to insist that the carpet wasn’t damaged, there is no way the 100 year old jammed window is our fault, and the brittle cheap blinds that had old scotch tape repairs was certainly not our fault. I also proceeded to say that Home Realty NEVER did a walk through with us (the tenants) and that per California Civil Code 1950, the landlord is required to do a walkthrough «no less than 14 days prior to move out date» and «if there are damages, the landlord shall provide adequate time for the tenant to repair». Needless to say they did not provide these two requirements, therefore in violation of the Civil Code. So we agreed to a $ 270 «cleaning fee» that would be deducted from our security deposit.
On Jan. 24^th (23 days after move out) no check, so I decide to call the SF Rent Board and messaged Mr. Levin of the situation. I also proceed to email Nancy and Brian from Home Realty that we have not received our refund check for our Security Deposit, and certainly they did not want to the Owner to lose out of the cleaning fee that we agreed to on Jan. 9^th. Cal. Civil code 1950 states that if the Security Deposit is not returned to the Tenant within 21 days after move out date, the Landlord (in other words) forfeits the privileges of withholding any amount from the security deposit, and therefore shall pay the tenant 100% of Security Deposit paid.
Monday, Jan. 26, 8:30 am, I call Nancy, she proceeds to tell me that she sent out the check, however she could not confirm to what address it was sent to, because in her system, she had the old address on Franklin St. as our address for mailing… Remember when I told you I emailed the new mailing address? Yes she knew about the new address but mailed it to the old address… THE ADDRESS I JUST MOVED OUT OF… Unbelievable. So when I asked for proof of the date she sent it out (return receipt) she says that she «has never needed to provide proof of sending out a check» and couldn’t believe why I didn’t believe her. She goes on to say that «God knows I sent the check» that she was «getting frustrated with me» and that she «could lose her job over this», all the while sounding very distraught and insistent that she sent out the check.
The bottom line is, after I finally ended the phone conversation, I emailed Nancy and Brian to provide some documentation of the phone conversation. We agreed that they would put a stop payment on the old check, and send a new check to us next day mail. Also, we did win the argument of getting refunded the ENTIRE security deposit… remember originally they tried to get almost $ 800. We did receive the check the next day, and it did clear the bank. However, remember that original mystery check that «was sent to the old address»? I have mail forwarding from the old address to the new one, and have since mid December 2014. We have NOT received the old check at our new address, which means, that check was never sent!
The moral of this long story, and I hope it is helpful to you:
1. Do Not Trust anybody from Home Realty.
2. Know your rights as a tenant, or landlord, and read Cal. Civil Code 1950
3. Stand up for what you believe in.
4. Contact the SF Rent Board
5. Be a good tenant!
I knew that Home Realty was attempting to pull a fast one on us. It started with the original deduction request of $ 785 for a bunch of nonsense. You need to be vigilant and realize red flags when they arise. The SF Rent Board is there for you if you run into trouble and don’t know how to handle it. But like I said before, knowledge is power, read the Civil Code, and know your rights. Or else you could find yourself out hundreds or thousands of dollars because of some unintelligent, lying opportunist scum that will undoubtedly attempt to steal your money.
Thanks,
Jeremy

Property we’re renting is nice, but the property manager, Brian Wolk, is totally unprofessional.
They are uncooperative, unresponsive, cheap, and combative.
He has repeatedly lied to us, switching his story as to why he can or cannot do something once we disprove or try to verify his earlier lies.
We strongly do not recommend him for anything, and his actions raise grave ethical concerns about his business practices.

I lived in a Home Realty place for a while and just recently moved to Seattle. While I was there, the maintenance staff and property manager were always both highly responsive and courteous. Old buildings in SF have endless odds and ends to attend to and they were always there within a day of calling. The property manager takes his job very seriously, so you know he will always get back to you right away with a thorough and fair response. I am sure if I built myself an illegal addition to my property that wouldn’t fly, but with just about anything I needed, they were always helpful.
I don’t usually write reviews, but now that I am in Seattle with my crappy landlord I am appreciating how good I had it. That said, the rent is much cheaper up here!

I have never experienced a more insulting, inconsiderate, poorly put together realty company. Their «manager» whose name starts with B is a liar and treats us like we peasants compared to him. We have had multiple maintenance issues with the house and they always take the cheapest way out even if it means that the issue is not completely fixed. They refuse to fix the things that they ruined «fixing» other issues insisting they it is not their fault. They do not respond to emails, phone calls and if you have an emergency don’t bother calling their emergency number because they won’t answer that either. If you have a choice, don’t choose this horrendous company.

We lived in a Home Realty property for a little over four years and they were a great property management company. They were very easy to communicate with and were easy to reach by email, which was very convenient. They were also extremely flexible with any painting and modifications we wanted to make to the apartment. Any repairs we needed were fixed right away and to our satisfaction. The only problems we had with them were related to the automatic rent withdrawal we’d set up, and the two incidents were a bit of a hassle but not a big deal. We would absolutely rent from them again and would recommend them to anyone.

Lived at a Home Realty property for almost 2 years. Home Realty is awful at fixing issues in the apt. We had two big problems and they didn’t respond to the emergency number and never really fixed the other problem.
Also they charge a cleaning fee $ 175 cleaning fee, which they only tell you about at move out, regardless of how clean the unit is. They lied and were rude to us at move out. If you rent from them make sure you have all documents in writing.

I would highly recommend moving into a Home Realty building. I’ve been living in a Home Realty building for 1.5 years and the service is excellent. The buildings themselves are very nice and updated but the service is what really stands out. If we have a problem, Brian is so quick to answer emails and help. Lorenzo comes immediately to our apartment to fix anything that’s not working. He is such a nice and honest guy.

I can’t say enough about Home Realty and their management team. I have been living in one of their buildings for almost 2 years now and they have been extremely responsive, attentive to issues that come up, and accommodating to their Tenants needs throughout. Obviously, in San Francisco, many buildings are extremely old and things come up so it is nice to have an ownership and a management company that keeps you informed as to what they are going to do to remedy each problem.
I refer people to Home Realty for beautiful apartment rentals in the Marina, Cow Hollow, Russian Hill and Pacific Heights on a regular basis and will gladly continue to do so.

I have lived in my apartment since mid-​late 2005. I can be honest and agree with the old low starred comments and say that yes, before, the management had problems and was not the most responsive. But even then, it definitely was not the worst experience I’ve had with previous landlords I’ve had to deal with, but then again, I feel like I might have had to deal with worse landlords than most people experience. Anyhow, I have never felt that they were the greedy kind, just maybe a bit aloof at times. When the previous lease holders wanted to move out and take their names off the month to month lease i thought there would be some problems with having it signed over to me. But instead, it was easily transferred to me. They did not pull off some moves that others do like have us all move out in order to renovate and then jack up the price. They preferred the lease to just get transferred to me since I said I had been living there for a couple years and never asked for any credit checks.
Then, I’d say probably about a few years ago, I noticed a shift in management. There might have been some people that came and left but as of right now, I feel like they have a good team. Brian, who I usually communicate with these days has been excellent. When we experienced a bed bug scare, he jumped on that right away by sending an exterminator and a bed bug dog. Luckily we were in the clear! When I asked to get new smoke detectors installed, that was taken care of within a few days. I can not say that I have any complaints as of now and so far, it has been the best rental management I have had living in the bay area!

I lived at an apartment run by home realty happily for 2 years, and I have to say they were truly a pleasure to work with. Very friendly, always quick to take care of any maintenance issues, and they nexver charged me a late fee when i was a few days late on rent. Great! Don’t listen to these complainers on here who violate city building codes and then are upset with home realty for bringing their property to legality. what choice do they have there. i got to know many of the people at home realty over the years and i can tell you they are great friendly people!

I don’t know what the reviews below are all about. I absolutely LOVE home realty. I have been living in one of their apartments for the last four years. Any time I have an issues whether it’s a clogged bath-​tub, broken dishwasher, anything… they have sent someone over within a day. They are VERY responsive. Have been incredibly accommodating with rent prices. We did have minor issues with rodent 3 years ago, but that has been completely resolved. I have been super happy living there. I can call them anytime and they are always accommodating.
No complaints here!

I firstly have to agree with the previous reviews of the old management who were completely unprofessional. I’ve lived at my current location for about 3 years and up until now I’ve always had to deal with the same terrible management who were always slow and unresponsive.
Over the past year I started noticing that there was some black mold growing on the ceiling of the bathroom and it kept growing more and more. I tried very hard to get the previous management to send somebody in to clean it, and after several attempts, I just couldn’t get them to fix it. I ended up trying to clean some of it myself but couldn’t reach the ceiling so the job was unfinished.
Then it recently came to my attention that the Home Realty management had changed so I thought I’d give it another shot and sent in an email regarding the mold and other issues in the apartment. Seriously within an hour I got a response from the manager telling me that someone would be there in the next 2 days. The very next day, the repair man was at my door with all his equipment, and took care of the situation in about and hour. I was extremely impressed by the timeliness of everything and the professionalism, which I had never experienced with the previous management. I’m actually so happy with the quality of service that I’m taking time to write my first Unilocal review because I think it’s very well deserved!

I have had a pretty good experience with Home Realty in the last year.
Finding and renting the apartment was easy and painless enough and luckily, now that I am vacating at the end of our lease term, it seems to be a similar experience.
Maintenance has been attentive enough and I believe they even had some changes in that department earlier this year.
Getting in touch is easy enough, but can require a little bit of persistence. Not the worst by any means.
I just have to say that it is incredibly refreshing to not have to deal with a giant, monopoly property company that knows nothing about you or your apartment.
I like these guys. Just be sure you ask a lot of questions up front and go through any maintenance with your technician to make sure it actually works :)

If it was possible to give less than one star, I would. Home Realty is one of the worst property management operators in the city. Granted, it is difficult to find a place that has some of the amazing things my apartment has, but that is of no effort or doing of HR. It was only after my roommate and I dragged them to the Rent Board that repairs to the serious mold issues were address in our apartment. And then at the meeting the representative from Home Realty almost started crying as if we were personally attacking her. Seriously? If your performance as a manager is any reflection upon your character as a person, I feel very sorry for you.
Worse is that they have very little respect or communication skills. They destroyed a deck we built (out of our own money) in order to fix some violations found by the building inspectors, but over three months have not made a single move to replace it.
If possible avoid renting from them. They are absentee property managers for absentee owners. I’d rather live in the TL.