M Squared Real Estate

We worked with Eric Nicholson to find a rental unit in DC. We found Eric and M squared real estate based on Unilocal reviews. My fiancé and I are relocating to DC in a few months and had only 48 hours in the city to find an apartment. Eric was diligent and effective, sending us multiple listings which fit our criteria to review. He was faithful to our target price range and to our preferred location, as well. Furthermore, Eric was flexible and cooperative, willing to reschedule viewings for us when we accidentally double booked ourselves (we had also been setting up some showings on our own). Eric went above and beyond to negotiate with the property owner of our favorite unit to bring the rent down and to address some of our concerns with the unit. Although we ultimately did not end up renting a unit that we found via Eric, this was no reflection on Eric or M-​squared. Eric did a fantastic job and we would recommend him without reservation!

Since our son rented his condo in April of 2015, sadly my first review was very late. This one is much more prompt.
Our son was a buyer this time and closed less than two weeks ago. Eric Nicholson was on point with the emails of available properties. At first our son did not know if was going to rent again, or look at buying. Once he started looking at the numbers, buying made a lot more sense. Eric was again very professional, and he had very good advice. After one deal did not come together on price, our son was outbid on a full price offer, then he was ready to make an offer on a third property. With Eric’s guidance, our son made an offer that was lower than full ask, but hit the sweet spot so the offer was accepted later that day without any additional negotiations. Plus, they were able to pull off a three week closing, which was essential for our son and his crazy work/​travel schedule.

Disappointing experience. I worked with an agent for about a year to find a condo in DC. For the few months, the agent took interest and sent me listings and was available to show me condos. After that, I received no listings. The only time I heard from the agent was when I contacted the agent with a listing I was interested in. I understand that considering my budget, I may not be the top priority. Which is fine.
The main reason for the 1-​star rating (I would give less if I could), was that when my offer was accepted by the seller, and I was ready to sign the documents, I realized that the agent had misrepresented the terms to me, as they were not reflected in the contract. So, if I hadn’t actually read the full contract again before signing, I would have unknowingly signed on to a deal that I didn’t agree too. When I pointed this out, the agent tried to convince me to sign saying that my concerns were without reason and I should just sign the contract.
As a first time home buyer, I understand that I may be unreasonable or overly concerned. However, this is completely unacceptable and unethical. I walked away from the deal right away and I was glad i did.

Amber Gould at M Squared did a great job for us, finding a great home on a cul de sac in Alexandria in a short period of time and working through some of the inevitable complications that come up in any move. Thanks Amber!

I’ve had excellent experience with M Squared — I’ve used their property management services for the last 1.5 years, and work with Kelly Willis. When I was looking for a property management company, I researched several and interviewed 2, and M Squared was clearly the best there was for the DC market. I am happy to report that so far, the relationship with them has been great — they have managed two rental processes, and screened renters for me, twice already. The whole processes is very smooth and they are good at attracting responsible renters. Their marketing is fantastic as well, and they are very responsive. They also deal with the small tenant-​related issues themselves, so the landlord doesn’t have to. Great overall experience!

Eric was great!!! Love M Squared and their quality of service in helping me to find my second home.

Just sold a property through them and they were fantastic! The staging they did really helped with the sale and it sold over the list price. Both agents were available whenever I needed them and worked hard to manage several offers so that I got the best offer. I would highly recommend them!

M Squared managed my property roughly for 18 months. Their strength is advertising and marketing your units.
Otherwise, actually managing and taking care of your property — did not meet my expectations.
1. During my tenants stay my unit HVAC leaked causing major damage to the tenant downstairs. I had a contract to have my HVAC serviced twice a year in place before I signed with Msquared. When I signed up with Msquared, I specifically communicated this to Mark. He shared that they have their own contractors who do this service and that I should cancel my existing contract. The HVAC leaked because they had not serviced the HVAC regularly 2x a year. When I contacted Msquared about the maintenance as outlined in the contract, They initially told they do not provide this service. Which means the unit was not serviced in over a year. Because of this, I was liable for the damage in the below unit.
I found the contractor they did employ was not at any significant discount or cost savings for me either. Nothing against the contractor, but more so a reflection that even as property management company, my expectation was passing on of some sort of relationship based or volume pricing.
2. After my tenants moved out, they wrote me that the unit was left in perfect condition. Admittedly I let our contract lapse before checking for myself. Nonetheless when I arrived. This was not my definition of perfect. I wrote immediately sharing photos of scuffed and dirty walls, walls that needed patching, a kitchen cabinet off the hinge, and my deadbolt into the apartment was completely loose (you could literally rotate the lock 360 degrees.) Knowing we were out of contract. I contacted Msquared prefaced the email sharing, «I know were are out of contract.» I did not expect any recourse from them, but felt it fair to share feedback. I also shared that I plan to share my feedback with others.
Their response: «The kitchen cabinet and door lock are items that are the landlords responsibility to maintain. The tenants are not responsible for them.
If you would like us to fix this for you I’m happy to do so if you would like to pay for it.»
–I will give on the wear and tear. He is right. It is outlined as so.
–My question is if those things are my responsibility, then what was your purpose? And if your knew those things were off base, why not just list in the closing email? Would have been much better to say «The unit has these things currently not in place.»
My advice — be clear on all expectations of what it means to be a property manager and maintenance of your property.

I have both lived in a property managed by M Squared and purchased a house through the company (with the assistance of Mark Mlakar). Both my experiences were positive. On the management side, my concerns were promptly addressed by the company and they were always communicative about site visits and processes. In terms of real estate, I also successfully purchased a house with Mark’s guidance in just over 5 weeks, start to finish. Mark is very knowledgeable about the DC housing market and helped me keep my expectations and options realistic yet with an investment focus. Mark was generous with his time and quick to respond to comments, questions, or concerns. I am very satisfied with my overall experience with M Squared!

After living and renting in DC for almost 8 years, I decided to finally take the plunge and buy a condo inside the District. Having met Mark previously through a former coworker, I could not have asked for a better first time home buying experience. He was able to very clearly identify the types of properties that met all of my criteria and that I described to him on our first meeting. He was also extremely patient and responsive with all of my concerns about the property and other options on the market at the time. Due to his guidance and realty expertise in so many DC neighborhoods, I was able to confidently close on property that I am more than happy with in less than 2 months of beginning the entire process.

1. Justin handles everything and focuses on the details.
After going through the process with Justin, I’m not quite sure why people say buying a house is so hard! Sure, there were papers to be sent in to the lender, etc., but overall, I felt like I had to do very little work other than show up, look at houses/​condos and pick the one I wanted. During the last week before closing, we hit a snag and it looked like it might push things back a few weeks. I was sick and traveling and didn’t have the energy in me to put up a fight. Thankfully, Justin got on top of it immediately and had the situation resolved within 24 hours. If I’d been left to deal with it myself, I’m pretty sure I would not be a homeowner yet.
2. Justin works through the process at the client’s preferred pace.
Justin knew I didn’t want to speed through the process (I am hugely commitment-​phobic) and allowed us to go at a pace that eased me into things so I could get comfortable with home-​ownership. Previous agents had tried pushing on me the thinking that I could find a place, get approved and close within 6 weeks of our initial meeting (way too fast for me!!) and I had bailed on them a few weeks into looking. The end result this time was that the process took four months but I was 100% into the purchase and could not wait to sign the closing docs. That said, I know that Justin would be gotten me into a place much more quickly if that’s what I had wanted.
3. Having worked on the Hill for so many years, Justin understands how quickly schedules change and that many of us don’t have the ability to jet out for an hour at lunch. I found Justin was extremely flexible and never unavailable, except for when he had previously scheduled commitments with other clients. For me, it meant either very early morning visits or weekends, never during the day and rarely in the evening.
4. When I first started out, I was convinced I wanted a rowhouse. I refused to look at condos for at least the first 2 – 3 weeks, even though Justin initially suggested that I consider both types of homes. Eventually I did agree to start looking at condos and I think it took two trips out before I fell in love with the one I purchased. I really appreciated, though, that Justin let me work towards the condo on my own and didn’t push me in a direction I wasn’t keen on yet.

Jessica Wilkie is fantastic. Totally on her game and easy to work with. She made an otherwise intimidating and stressful process a breeze. I’d work with her again in a heartbeat.

I am someone who has always been skeptical about the value of real estate agents, but I was pleasantly surprised by the work done by M Squared. I mostly interacted with Mark, the head of the company. He is very professional, extremely competent (as someone with an investing background, I was reassured by his in-​depth knowledge of the DC real estate market) and responsive (most of my e-​mails were responded to in less than an hour).
And now, of course, what matters: M Squared was able to get me an offer above my asking price in less than four days on the market (I got the highest price for a unit w/​o parking in the history of my building). I think the staging furniture they used was one of the main reasons why it sold so fast. The interior decorator they use is awesome.
Overall, great experience, and while I’m still skeptical about real estate agents, I would go to M Squared when I’m in the market again.

Mark manages a home for me in Bloomingdale. I was forced into a last minute move to Kansas City and was 80% done with renovating the house at the time. Crisis. Panic.
After cold-​calling property managers based off Unilocal feedback, I interviewed the top 4 and MSquared was my first choice. In addition to bringing in his own general contractor to finish almost $ 10K in work on the house, Mark provided great insight into what needed done to get top dollar for the property. Charismatic, thoughtful, and direct, finding Mark and his team was an unbelievable stroke of luck. MSquared quickly got our house in order, put together a wonderful marketing brochure, and had the property rented to solid tenets in no time.

I recently sold my Dupont one bedroom condo with Mark Mlakar at M Squared Real Estate. His team was extremely professional throughout the various phases of the sale. His recommendations were spot on and he put a gorgeous marketing package together quickly. He quickly responded to phone calls and emails and was a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend M Squared and would work with his team again in an instant.

My husband and I bought a condo in Logan Circle, working with one of the agents, Joshua. He helped us make the right decisions, was extremely knowledgable about his profession, as well as the area in which we were buying. He has continued to keep us abreast of any developments that would be important to us. HIghly recommend M Squared, Mark the owner, and Joshua the vice-​president.

I just purchased a condo with Justin Paulhamus as my agent. All around fantastic experience. I have purchased a number of properties and never before felt like I really had someone on my side (paying attention to and explaining the numbers at closing, working with unresponsive seller’s agents, and meeting on short notice). He very quickly was able to get a sense of what I was looking for and was all around wonderful throughout the entire process. Couldn’t recommend him more!

Having M Squared manage the apartment I rented was among the best rental experiences I’ve had. Every part of the process, from the lease to the rental payments was electronic, paperless, and streamlined. While we didn’t have a ton of problems with the unit, when we did they were corrected within 24 hours nearly every time. Overall, the company was easy to deal with and made renting as painless as possible.

Recently I was offered a job in DC that required me to move from LA to DC in a short amount of time. I contacted M Squared as I’ve known Mark for a number of years. He was very helpful and thorough in suggesting some properties that would work within my budget and what area of the city fit my needs (i.e. Dupont Circle and Capitol Hill). He was always patient with me as I asked a great deal of questions, and was extremely knowledgeable about the different neighborhoods of DC, which I appreciated since I haven’t spent much time in DC in the last few years.
Ultimately I ended up not relocating as my current job upped the ante, but I wish that there was a real estate company in LA that is as wonderful and helpful as Mark and his team at M Squared. If I ever end up back in DC, he’s going to be my first phone call to help me find a place.

In 2011, I was offered a job out of town and needed to quickly move out of my condo. I wanted to test the rental market, but being out of town and in another time zone made it difficult to manage the property myself.
At the last minute, I was introduced to M Squared who, in less than one week, took over (at a VERY competitive management fee), cleaned up the unit, marketed it, and a lease was signed in less than 2 weeks. The best part was that the rent we got was almost twice my mortgage!!!
1.5 years later, I was ready to sell the unit. M Squared took over again and we had an offer for full-​price in less than 1 week of the listing… the sale closed soon afterwards.
Throughout the entire process, I had clear, consistent, and responsive communication from Mark Mlakar and his team. Many thanks for your assistance and stellar customer service!