Golden State

To whom it may concern,
They’re payment processing for checks stink in a way that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, month after month. I think this reflects the company’s culture to getting things done. I am a current tenant at one of there properties they «manage» and feel compelled to write a review, so feel free to reply back to this. For future «buyers» or «tenants» consider this: If your preferred method of payment is check because a) it’s easier and convenient to drop off or b) fear a payment via online through their third party portal services may not go through — EXPECT the UNEXPECTED. Your money will not be pulled from your bank, from the time of submission (granted it is on the 3^rd day), for a cool two weeks (14 days). I don’t know ANY other business who works like this. Calls have been made to the accountants office inquiring why the processing takes so long, but the usual response is they’re «busy». It’s difficult to manage money and budget accordingly when you still see money in the bank. I love to see my money but not others while it’s processing for 14 days.
P. S. — our apartment complex has a computer callbox for guests to chime in tenants and my name wasn’t inputed into the name directory for 4months.
I hope this review helps in your decision making. Cheers.

Hired them to manage my property for 1.5 years. Would not recommend due to lack of attention to detail and unresponsiveness. More often than not, emails did not get any responses. I frequently had to call them to follow-​up. Also, fyi, per the contract, payments are «sent by» the 15^th, not received by the 15^th.

The majority of people rating this business are the landlords. My rating is from a renters perspective for 3 years:
I signed a lease for one year. Sean was helpful and reassuring. After the lease was up, they completely changed for the worst. I went month to month and maintenance requests were not taken care of.
I lived at a townhouse on Colony Green Dr. It had rats… BIG RATS. The house has nooks and cranny everywhere. Owners were aware of this existing issue prior to renting it.
Sean turned into a ghost. Even when i asked to speak to him directly. No longer was the Golden State that actually cared. Yolanda was awesome til she also disappeared. They hired people with no concept of customer service. You can get better customer service at Walmart or In-​n-​Out but not this company that you pay rent to «manage.» Michelle made the exit terrible. She never answered call replied to emails.
I rate it 2 stars because initially they showed their best then consistently progressively went downhill. Rent was paid on time since first month.

We rented an apartment in San Mateo from Golden State for just over a year. I believe the owner of the units hired them to manage the apartments, as they are down in San Jose. The unit was recently remodeled and nearly everything was new. Anyway they were very attentive and timely to maintenance requests and the like. The on-​site manager, John, was great in resolving little issues here and there with the unit.
My main concern was getting my full deposit back, as this seems an endemic problem in the bay area. Lots of management companies will keep your deposit (or most of it) claiming the unit wasn’t cleaned or such, and since most people won’t go to small claims court, they all get away with it. (I personally had a TERRIBLE experience with Avalon properties and won’t rent from them ever again. Check their reviews and you’ll see why)
I hired the same cleaning service that they use ($ 300 including carpets), so there would be no question that the unit wasn’t clean. I specifically mentioned this and told them I was expecting my full deposit back. And today (3 weeks out) I got my full deposit back. So my personal experience with them has been great. Very unusual and refreshing for the bay area.

As an absentee landlord, I wanted a complete turnkey package because I never knew what country I’d be in from one week to the next. Sean provides this and more. This is my 6^th year using GSM to manage my property. Tenants are happy, neighbors are happy, so I’m happy. I don’t think it gets any better than this.

I live out of state, and Sean and his staff have made managing my property a total breeze. From keeping me updated, to excellent reports for my CPA to file my taxes. I didnt intend to have a rental property but I moved out of state, and kept it so I can move back again at some point.
would recommend if you are looking for professional, hassle– free property management. I wish they would open an office where I am now !!!
Sean… are you listening? :-))

Let me start off by saying that the staff at Golden State is extremely friendly and made me feel at home anytime I talked to any of them. The online application was very easy to navigate, the lease signing was easy and the numerous ways they have to collect payments is very easy and convenient. I recommend dealing with this property management company because they make renting simple and they are on top of everything! Perfect combination of professional work and caring property management!

I just finished closing a deal with GSPM today. I worked with Yolanda, who was extremely courteous, responsive, professional, and patient with me. Having not moved very often in my life, I was paranoid about having everything ready prior to signing the lease; I called the office no less than 6 times and each time Yolanda was very kind in going out of her way to make sure we were all set to go forward.
Diane and Pam are no longer there. Yolanda handles the interfacing with potential renters. During our closing I actually brought up GSPM’s negative Unilocal reviews, to which Yolanda replied that she brought a new focus on customer service when she came in. I can agree: I’m nothing but elated with how they handled our search and application process.
You will have to be proactive in reaching out to GSPM, but once you contact them, they’ll get back to you quickly.
Will update if things change now that I’m a renter.

Diane is extremely unprofessional! I saw an ad that this company posted on
, on a Thursday afternoon, for an apartment in SAN MATEO. The ad had an anonymous email address and a direct phone number, to call Diane. I immediately sent over my credit report and my rental application. This is where the Diane’s BS begins:
1. I called Diane on Thursday and left her a voice mail so we could discuss my rental application and any additional information that she might need from me to process my rental application. Diane did not return my call.
2. So, I called Diane on Friday and left her a voice mail. Diane did not return my call.
3. So, I called Diane on Saturday and left her a voice mail. Diane did not return my call.
4. So, I called Diane on Sunday and left her a voice mail. Diane did not return my call.
5. On Monday morning, I was just about to caulk this rental up as a fraud when I received an email from the person who responds to their Craigslist ad. The email suggested that I call the property manager, for a different apartment, in SANTA CLARA. Confused because the SAN MATEO apartment was still being advertised, I called Diane and she managed to finally answer her phone.
6. On Monday, I told Diane that I had submitted a rental application on Thursday afternoon and I had been waiting the past few days for her to respond to my multiple voice mails. After a 5 minute conversation, Diane put me on hold for 5 minutes. When Diane returned to the phone, she told me that she was very busy and could not speak with me at that time. Diane took down my phone number and told me that she would call me back. Because the apartment was so affordable, we decided to submit our application AGAIN on the website.
7. Diane did not call me back until Wednesday. At which point, she RUDELY told me that she had another application for the rental unit.
8. A week later, we were working with Yolanda (i.e. the leasing manager) who was processing our rental application. Yolanda told us that we were there only rental application. While we were under the impression that this company only process one rental application at a time and our application was being reviewed for this apartment, theses jerk offs gave our apartment away!!!
9. According to Yolanda she ran our credit, compared our profile to other tenants and then gave the owner the choice to choose his tenant. We would have NEVER AGREED to have this company run our credit, waste our time on the rental market, and present us in a file to the owner! I am PISSED!!!

I make really good money and I have darn near perfect credit but this company still somehow refused to rent to me their $ 1700 apartment?
While trying to rent an apartment from this company, they made me:
(1) provide current AND past employment verification documentation, directly from my employer
(2) provide proof of my CURRENT (and up-​to-​date) mortgage payments.
The worst part is that their staff drew out the rental process for two weeks and didn’t give me any clue that they were considering other potential tenants, until the rental was given to someone else.

Sean was very nice and patient with all my questions, I didn’t end up needing a property manager at this time but I will use Sean when the need arises.

I really had bad experience with them.
I was a tenant and I live there over 2 years.
I moved out because the owner wanted to sell the house.
They were slow in answering my calls nor emails.
They did Not do Pre-​Move In Inspection neither Pre-​Move Out Inspection.
At the end, they charged exorbitant for Repainting Walls over $ 1000 (even though there’s only normal wear and tear for living there over 2 years, 1 – 2 adults, no kids), House Cleaning was $ 325 and Carpet Cleaning was $ 225.
I dont recommend any body to use their service.

Sean and his staff have always been helpful. They’re attentive to issues that arrise when renting. The vendors they send over have been professional and thorough with any repairs.

Sean is by far the best property manager I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with as a renter. If I ever had an issue, he would respond quickly and decisively. The vendors he used for repairs were top notch, professional, and courteous.

I really enjoyed working with Sean and America when I was looking at one of their rental properties.
They are very friendly and professional.
I love America (the person and the country)! Every time I left a message for her (which I did A LOT), she was always very responsive. She is also very informative and made sure I sent in all my paperwork promptly.
Sean is really great. He is very easy to talk to and wanted to make sure I am totally taken care of. he even called me back on a Friday night before I even moved in to get me help with fixing the plumbing right away.
I really appreciated all that they did for me, I highly recommend them to anyone looking to rent or needs some one to manage their property.

It’s interesting that all of these other people have had only nice things to say about Sean. I guess he really goes the extra mile for property owners but we came along as potential tenants and weren’t even given the time of day. My boyfriend and I arranged to see a property with him but when we got there, in his place was a woman who didn’t seem to know much. We weren’t too put off by this because things sometimes come up. We submitted our application and were told we should hear something in 5 or 6 business days. Following this, my boyfriend tried calling Sean with a couple of questions but he got transferred right to voicemail. He left two messages on different days and no one ever called him back. Not only that, but they got enough information from us to steal our identities and didn’t even have the courtesy to tell us we didn’t get the property; they just left us hanging. How’s that for customer service?

Sean has been my property manager for about 6 months and I’ve been nothing but pleased with my experience. He has great rates, knows what he’s doing, communicates well, and is very responsive to email and phone calls. He was able to help me fix up and rent out my property very quickly and I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking for a great property manager!

I’m sure all of these great reviews for Sean are all accurate, but Pam doesn’t deserve the 5 stars.
I was the first to see a property and continued to email and touch base with her about the application process, but she never replied to my emails, nor remember who I was. I feel that when you are in this type of management field, it’d be nice to remember, or at least acknowledge your clients. When I called to tell her I was sending my application over, she didn’t remember who I was, and said she gave the property to another applicant.
Next time remember who your clients are (especially the first people you show the property to), reply to your emails, and be more professional. I feel bad for this one-​star review, but this was honestly a horrible experience.

Sean McCarthy is a terrific property manager. He carefully screens tenants, relentlessly collects rents, supervises repairs and maintenance, and keeps the property owners informed.
I’ve referred several property owners to Sean and will continue to do so since the feedback is overwhelmingly positive.

I have been working with Sean McCarthy for the past three years as my property manager. I had a tenet that damaged my property before leaving. I am really happy to have Sean on my side. His help has put my mind to rest that everything will be taken care of. He was able to get the damage repaired quickly. Thanks to Sean I don’t have to worry about what is happening with my property. I highly recommend him.