Vanguard Properties

Their telemarketers are cold calling property owners with «free evaluations»… should be reported to authorities for do-​not-​call list abuses.

Paul Garvey do not let him sale your house, if you decide you don’t want to sell for the price, he will sell it, to make a long story short I trusted him to sell my house, He told me just sign if you don’t like we won’t take the deal, I trusted him signed and told him I don’t like this deal he say to late, there is nothing I can do about if you don’t like it go see attorney. If you can’t trust the person who is working for you which was Paul who can you trust? I wouldn’t recommend Paul Garvey to anyone. All I know is what comes around goes around Paul someone will do you in too eventually!

Great company gave me a great house and did everything for me didn’t have to lift a finger

John Stevenson is a thief. I moved into a property he was leasing and there was a gas leak in the apartment. Before moving in, John demanded that I pay 6 months rent up front. Which is illegal. When I moved in, there was a strong smell of gas in the house and I repeatedly called John to explain that he needed to get to the house to take care of it. Long story short, John never surfaced. I saw him at the Bart station running to catch a flight and him telling me it wasn’t my problem. He also left all his belongings in his dirty disgusting property that he promised would be cleaned before I moved in. I have won my case in small claims court against him but his company, Vanguard refuses to garnish his wages claiming he is «a contract» worker. However, he represents himself as working for Vanguard. Do yourself a favor and avoid contact with this mentally unstable person. He is a thief and will try to convince you that your the crazy one. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. He is insane.

Horrible customer service, specifically John Stevenson. I was actually interested in buying a home and visited a property he was showing. I pursued this for a bit, was a strange sale opportunity. Upon visiting the property we walked outside and then got locked out as his keys didn’t work, very odd, especially since he’s been showing the property for a long time. I had left my one of a kind sunglasses in the unit which he promised he would return. 5 months later and dozens of calls, offering any part of my day to meet him there and he has done nothing but lead me on to now ignoring my calls. I called the office manager and she is now doing the same thing, her name is Sandy. You would think maybe I’m an asshole, I’ll let you be the judge, the property is still on the market and has been for a very long time, its 1071 Mississippi. Needless to say the sour taste left in my mouth prompted me to stop pursuing the property or any relationship with them. I would advise you to take into consideration how that sort of selfishness reflects on them and if you would want to go into business with someone who by no means has your best interest in mind. All they care about is money, sink or swim, they get paid at the end of the day, but where does that leave you. There are lots of agents out there, do yourself a favor and find someone with a smile you can trust and honest opinions.

It’s been a few years since I bought or sold a house in San Francisco, and my previous go-​to Realtor had retired. So I was a bit apprehensive about finding a new agent. I met Andrew Warren and we clicked immediately. He and his team (Frank Nolan and Massimo) were the perfect match for marketing and selling my Alamo Square Victorian.
And they move fast — it was 7 weeks from the date we signed the listing papers to the date we closed the sale. The preparations they did prior to listing the house, the marketing, the brochures, the advice on staging, open houses, etc., was spot-​on. We listed at a price we would have been happy with and ended up with two offers over asking price.
Throughout the whole process, Andrew was always available on the phone, always one step ahead of me, and always had answers to my questions. All around an amazing transaction with a great team. I would recommend Andrew to all my friends.

Ball 1: Make a mistake on our lease.
Ball 2: Made another mistake on our lease, apparently they can’t do math.
Strike 3: Craig Waddle was very rude to us, and apparently this is a pattern with him if you look at the other reviews. What a douche.
Also, isn’t a huge part of their job writing leases? Isn’t most of it just copy and paste? If I was that bad at a basic part of my job, I would expect to be fired. If you as a landlord or tenant want to be happy and treated like a person, avoid at all costs.
If you look at the filtered reviews, there are a quite a few more negative reviews. Most of them are probably people annoyed enough to post once on Unilocal due to Vanguard’s unprofessionalism and not actually fake reviews.

John Stevenson is a mad man commercial real estate wizard. Back in 2008 John sold me a building that has since earned a yearly increasing cash flow as the market has improved… John knew brick and timber property would appreciate and cash flow better… here we are in 2013 and I own a 9% cap rate property in a hot market. Knowing what the rents are, how to rent the building after purchase and what a building is fundamentally worth, both from a replacement cost standpoint and a capitalisation approach, Stevenson has been able to bring me and my buddies great commercial real estate deals.
A+ on knowing the market and the buildings better than the other guys who call me on the horn.

We rented a (very expensive) apartment through Vanguard. I had a few terrible experiences with them, mostly dealing with Craig Waddle.
In a meeting we had with him, he was incredibly disrespectful and referred to our female friends as «tricks.» I was immediately disgusted with him.
On move out, we were charged $ 330 for a few times we were slightly late with the rent. No warning when it happened — they just wanted to bilk us on the way out.
We were also cheated out of a large part of damage deposit. Half of the claims were bogus (pre-​existing damage, cleaning costs when we left it clean, etc.)
I see from the review from Seni S. that Craig Waddle does this regularly.

John Stevenson, and his arrogant/​disrespectful nature in which he «represents» property owners and talks to potential tenants (me) is the sole reason for this review, asking me «can i even afford this??» «why does your company need such a nice building?» A little high on your horse there buddy. Ive been a tenant at my current location for 10+ years. This is not my first rodeo. No wonder he has his name on so many buildings in SF! Nobody wants to rent from him!!! I hope his superiors see this and address the situation. Very Rude, Horrible attitude, would never consider ever calling back.

I thought well of vanguard until after I moved in to 550 18^th street in San Francisco, at a unit costing thousands of dollars per month for rent.
1) When we moved in, they promised they would fix a few things ahead of our move — a stain on one of the bathroom mirrors, a broken piece on the microwave, etc. This never happened. We even moved in to a unit with a dirty fridge and had to get them to bring someone in to clean it.
2) We started receiving e-​mails from Craig and Stanley that were very poorly worded and extremely rude. This applied to e-​mails about ANYTHING. On one occasion I had to write them back asking them to just treat us with a little bit of respect in their e-​mails. I’ve never done this before and I have lived in 5 cities in the past 10 years.
3) When we moved out, they somehow decided that only $ 2,000 of our ~$ 8,000 security deposit should be refunded to us. They STILL have not provided an adequate explanation, and often ignore e-​mails we send them asking for clarification, then reply with one liners saying the computer did this and they can’t explain any further. I just got notified by another old tenant that this is common practice.
4) I just received an e-​mail from the tenant distribution list about how Craig sent a personal reply ON FACEBOOK to a post about issues with vanguard that the tenant had written on the tenant’s own personal facebook wall. Is this even legal?
I am preparing to take further action against Craig, whether it be reaching the owner and having him/​her take care of this, or Vanguard as a whole via the judiciary system. The third point above especially is a breach of trust and an abuse of power akin to bullying.
If I could do this again, I definitely would not rent from these guys. And I hope to spread that message so that others can avoid this.

I am having a heck of a time firing my agent. He doesn’t want to cooperate with the returning of my keys. I’m having a hard time trusting his professionalism when he has kept me waiting or not showing for various things to do. I don’t want to do any name calling, I just want out!!!

Absolutely adored working with Suzy Reily. Her work for us helped us lock the condo of our dreams. Without her assistance with a short sale, we would have walked away from the property and would have spent another year in our 500 sq ft. rental. She’s great at listening for your wants and needs and will keep in contact with you through the whole process. I would love to work with her again in the future.

We were property virgins, and Suzy Reily at Vanguard held our hands throughout the entire process. From the very first walk through of the house until we received our closing documents, she was there with us every step of the way. We bought a bank-​owned property which is no easy task. The process is really like no other, and because it’s bank-​owned, there is no realtor representing the bank, which as you can imagine leaves a lot of things on the seller’s side unaccounted for. Suzy was great throughout the entire process and we really felt like she was our advocate making countless phone calls into the deep black hole of the bank’s representatives. She worked hand in hand with the mortgage broker, making sure he had what he needed to get us the best rate possible. She also was there to answer every question we had, no matter what time of day or night, and she took the time to review ALL the documents with us to make sure we completely understood everything we were signing. We never once felt like we were asking «dumb» questions or that she was casting us off for another client. Her expertise when it came to negotiations was very helpful and she really understood the market, the area we were buying in and the very specific dynamics that come with buying a house in San Francisco. I have to admit, my husband and I were both very nervous as well as excited about buying a house, and Suzy made the whole experience much better than I ever would have imagined. I highly recommend her if you’re looking to buy a house in San Francisco.

I have recently been working with Nunemacher Group Real Estate Agent Ed Deleski. Ed has been extremely helpful in helping me look for property to buy in the city of San Francisco. He has a keen knowledge of all the various neighborhoods in San Francisco and can help you narrow down which one is right for you. He is a true gentleman and i look forward to his continued assistance in my search for a property. If you need an agent, and we know this town has more than it should, you need to pick Ed and his team. You can’t go wrong with that decision.

If I could give zero stars I would. Vanguard Properties agent Debra Reabock is 100% unfit to manage a property, and it is beyond me how she ever got employed by this agency with her unstable character.
Avoid at all cost; your home will never feel like HOME.
(should anyone be interested in details let me know and I’ll expand on this negative review)

I would NEVER recommend Vanguard Properties to ANYONE, especially renters. My 2 roommates and I lived in a Vanguard owned building for 3 years in which we never had a late rent check and maintained the unit nicely.
When moving out of the apartment, we took all the proper precautions to have a formal walk through before move out, hire professional cleaners, and abide by all move out instructions. We were told the unit was in great condition and nothing major was to be deducted from our deposit.
Over 3 weeks after move out, we finally received our deposit with $ 1100 taken out for charges relating to painting the entire unit, cleaning, and misc charges. There is NO way as renters we should have been charged for painting costs of the entire unit! After several attempts to discuss over the phone, not one of my calls was returned by Craig at Vanguard. And after one email exchange, he said he would no longer discuss.
I am absolutely blown away by the lack of professionalism and cooperation of this property management company especially Craig and Stanley. I urge you not to rent from these people!

My experience with Vanguard Property Management for the past couple years has been nothing short of disappointing. I have had extensive experience with various management companies in San Francisco and throughout California, and I have to say that Vanguard is by far the worst and most unprofessional. I can only speak from a renter’s perspective, but for those of you considering purchasing a unit or renting — BEWARE! Seemingly attentive and professional in all handlings to start, but WATCH OUT when you plan to move-​out or sell as you will be disregarded and treated with utter disrespect. After three wonderful years living in the 1635 California Street building, my bliss turned immediately to shock and horror when I received my part of my deposit back.
SPECIFICALLY, DO NOT RENT OR BUY FROM CRAIG WADDLE OR STANLEY CHEUNG.
After scheduling a formal walk-​through a couple weeks before moving out, Stanley advised there was no major damage and I should expect my entire deposit back sans minor touch-​ups here and there, but overall the place was in great shape (after 3 years of wear and tear).
The real result post-​walkthrough:
1) I was charged over $ 1,000 for re-​painting the apartment and for patching minor holes (which were clearly stated in the move-​out rules NOT to patch or we would be fined).
2) When I asked to discuss the charges, I received ONE email response below (this is the real, unedited e-​mail directly from Stanley Cheung):
Hi *****,
I spoke with Craig and he is not willing to discuss the security deposit charges anymore.
Thanks,
Stanley Cheng
VANGUARD PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
2501 Mission Street
San Francisco, Ca 94 110
DRE Lic # 1 866 223
OFFICE: 415−321−7092
FAX: 415−321−7220
3) After two weeks of calling the office to speak directly with Craig or Stanley, my calls were never returned and I have not received a response since the email above.
This company is unprofessional and illegally robs you blind of your security deposit, so for those of you planning to spend thousands of dollars to invest in one of their properties — THINK TWICE!

Buying a new house couldn’t get any better than this! Drew listens to what you want and will make it happen. Will walk and advise you through the whole process! GREAT JOB!

It’s true that I’ve done many things in my life.
I’ve bungee jumped over a river in New Zealand. I’ve been nibbled (but not bitten) by a shark in the Bahamas. I’ve driven less than two feet behind a moving big rig truck and lived to tell the tale. BUT I have never bought a house before, which was actually as scary as anything I’ve ever done in my life.
Now, I knew a few things going into this process. I knew I really wanted to live in the SOMA/​South Beach area of San Francisco. I knew my relative price range. I knew I should probably talk to a few agents before selecting «the one». But that’s about it.
So I interviewed a few agents in the Bay Area. The thing that stood out about Chris Lim was his encyclopedic knowledge of the areas where I was looking. He knew which sides of which buildings he preferred and why. (For example, «Don’t buy on the West side of such-​and-​such building… it gets too hot there in the afternoon.») He was straightforward and not afraid to challenge you on why you like a particular place if it didn’t make sense from a resale perspective. (Which is something that I immediately respected as someone who will eventually be selling my little condo sometime in the future.)
Then he introduced me to a very interesting concept: two agents in one… He explained that he and another agent in his office, Kristen Steucher, work very closely together. To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how this arrangement would work out, but his command of every nuance of South Beach impressed me enough to give it a try.
Soon, I met with Kristen and began to understand the arrangement. Kristen handles the «hand-​holding» aspect of the agent’s job. Particularly for a first-​time buyer such as myself, there is a lot of answering of questions and explaining how the process works. There’s a lot of looking and looking and looking that Kristen is more than happy to do without any hint of frustration or boredom. She strikes me as generally a very positive person, which I must admit is helpful to have around when you’re facing the biggest financial purchase of your life.
I didn’t see much of Chris during this process, but I now understand that he is the behind-​the-​scenes guy, the Yin to Kristen’s Yang. I wouldn’t really call Chris a «nice» guy. But you don’t really need a nice guy negotiating for you. You want the guy who will fight for you and speak up if he thinks you’re being taken advantage of. There were a few «gotchas» during the process with the developer (selling the condo) and the bank. Chris went to bat for me and fixed them.
So here’s the bottom line: they guided me through this whole scary process and held my hand when I need reassurance, fought for me when it seemed like I was going to get screwed, and looked out for my best interest the whole time. I highly recommend them.