Medora Barkley allowed her office to give out my personal information off my lease to a stranger. When I told her I would be reporting her business for privacy infringement, she got hysterical, accusing me of threats. Medora, telling you the complaints I'm filing is not a threat. You need professional help. Being a Karen and a fake victim will not help you in court. read more

Best landlord and apartment I've ever lived in. Love the Austin charm! I'm never moving.

I LOVED my time and home in Cherrywood. Full of character and charm, it was the best home I ever had. While I would whole heartedly recommend renting in darling duplex nation I would highly recommend NOT renting from Barkley. This review is directed solely at ownership and their choices, as I had nothing but wonderful interactions with the staff. In the 2 years I lived there my rent was raised over 35%. Despite overall rising market prices in Austin, this is egregious. Especially in a home where 50% of the windows don't open and the rest don't fully close. More importantly, I know of several instances where this means that Barkely is charging nearly $500-$600 more than your neighbor in an identical apartment down the block. Our good friends currently pay $1650 while Barkley wants to charge $2300. While maintenance was mostly timely, "fixes" we requested nearly always left us worse off than we were before. Towards the end of our stay my partner was performing all maintenance requests to avoid the inevitable frustration it would cause. Here are a few examples: 1. Asked for locks on the the front door when we first moved in (mandated by Texas law). This took several weeks to complete and when it was finally finished, I was informed by our downstairs neighbors (both young men) they had gotten copy of our house key. This was later remedied, but the oversight was astounding. 2. Asked for our broken screen doors to be repaired. When I came home they had taken them away entirely. It took several months to finally get replacements. 3. They literally taped our refrigerator shut for two weeks until they could "fix it." They repeatedly told us the door would not close because we had "too many condiments in the door." With the fridge empty as we moved out, the door still refused to close. 4. We informed them that the ceiling had several ceiling leaks and visiblea damage leaving the ceiling soft to the touch. They fixed this by spray painting over water marks with a different color paint. 5. Don't get me started on the time a possum died in our attic and they said there weren't any holes in the roof 6. ...this list goes on. While annoying, this poor "handy-work" became mostly a running joke amongst friends and family. Ultimately, it is the ownership that sealed my impression of Barkely. As you can see from other reviews, we were not the only tenants that suffered from callous, greedy, and frustratingly inconsistent communication from Medora Barkely. From trying to bully me into moving in early when I first signed (another complaint depicted elsewhere) to horribly inconsistent and often entirely contradictory communication over the course of moving out, the impression I was left with was that of an incredibly greedy, callous and manipulative person. Business is business, but humanity is humanity. Despite what their marketing might suggest, it is clear what ownership's priorities lie. Now that I am no longer a tenant and subject to the consistent abuse of power, I am happy to share my experience read more

I lived in a duplex for four years. True to Austin, they were reasonably tolerant of me and my occasionally messy gardening and experimenting. Whenever I had an issue they were on it, within an hour if need be. They didn't raise my rent, even though area property prices and values and taxes rose a lot just in these past 4 years. And when I moved away, they forwarded my mail and even a very tardy package - and refunded my full deposit and pet deposit even though I hadn't finished cleaning as much as I'd intended. And they asked my advice about how to improve the unit for the next tenant. I think their balance of tolerance / fastidiousness is great. If you want an HOA uptight landlord with perfect lawns, (A) you don't want to live in Austin, and (B) find another rental company. If you moved to Austin to be in Austin, Barkley Houses is where you want to rent from. A lot of these cheaply built shiny-for-5-years new developments are funded by companies out of town, with no long-term interest in our state's capitol; Barkley isn't dozing, they're keeping the classics alive, without making them unaffordably remodeled. read more

Barkley Houses - original steel cabinets and aquamarine shelves, checkered tile floor kitchen = homely mid-century Austin (wood flooring throughout the rest) - Property Management Near Me - Austin, Texas

***UPDATE*** The owner is even more unreasonable and irascible than I understood. Cut and pasted from an email she is threatening to sue me over this review. This review is accurate in my opinion and my comments are similar to others in one star reviews. After I first moved in I noticed other negative reviews that have since been taken down and I imagine it's because she threatened the renter. "I have never turned an erroneous, unscrupulous , defamatory yelp review over to our attorney but I am inclined to do so now. Further, I will respond to your attack on our management and me personally and let the readers know that every single review you have put on line has a star of ONE. " Last sentence is not true :-) Most of my reviews are very positive! My Review: Unfortunately, I found Barkley Houses to be the most unprofessional and unreasonable landlords I've ever dealt with. I found them to be very greedy and petty in a "used car salesman" type of way. What you are getting for paying shockingly high rent: 1. Infestation of cockroaches. Barkley Houses does zero pest control. 2. Zero maintenance in general. The place I lived in is deteriorating: stairs to entrance are rotting and falling apart, faucets leak, heat and AC breaks, windows do not shut, there are holes in all of the screens, and an illegally placed boiler sending carbon monoxide up to a window you can never open. 3. A few tiny ("charming") closets with no storage; 4. Noisy units where you can hear your neighbors every move 5. Non stop harassment five months in advance of your lease ending asking you to renew with a sharp increase in rent or to move out I was a compliant tenant and always paid in full on the first of the month. With all of the new housing being built in Austin you can find a much nicer place for much less, with working amenities. read more

We lived in a unit near UT campus for almost 4 years and loved it. It was a great property overlooking Waller creek. The property manager Ryan was super easy to work with and always came to the property promptly for routine maintenance. It was nice to rent with a family owned business. read more

A move to Austin for a new job put us in the market for a rental. Found a place in a neighborhood we like with a decent commute so we started the process to rent. Just as soon as they got our app the sale pushes began. Push 1 - Price was listed wrong we want $300 more than listed. Push 2 - The price was low so we want you to move in early (2weeks early). Push 3 - Your app is approved but b/c price we want you to move in tmr. Push 4 - Feel you'll be buying a house in a year please extend term. STAY AWAY read more

We lived in a Barkley House for two years. The location was good, but the house was overpriced and our experience moving out left a lot to be desired. 1. The lease says that if you do not remind them to change your air filter monthly they will charge you for air conditioning servicing when you move out. 2. Our lawn was "maintained" by the owner which meant it was never mowed unless we called or emailed and said the grass was two feet high - only once in the two years we lived there did they mow it without us asking them to. 3. Things were fixed when we asked, but not well. For instance, while fixing our upstairs neighbor's fridge, they glued the drawers permanently closed. When our neighbors brought this up, they asked it they really needed the drawers. Our overhead light was installed in a way that it shorted out and almost electrocuted John when he tried to fix it. I would never live in a Barkley Property again or recommend him to any of my friends. read more

John and Medora are great landlords. They're quick with repairs, honest, and very professional. We rented from them for 7 years and it was a great experience. Since they adopted online payments and maintenance requests, things went very smoothly. Ryan in the office and Daniel the maintenance manager were a pleasure to work with as well. We'd still be renting from them if we hadn't relocated. They really care about their tenants and their properties. read more

One of the saddest parts of leaving Austin, was leaving my landlord and their staff. I've rented in cities around the world and have never been treated so kind. We had a few tiny problems with the apartment from time to time (clogged sinks and such), and they always came out promptly to repair whatever needed fixing - this included repairing a very expensive air conditioning unit after the old one broke down. It was nice dealing with Barkley, which was more like a mom and pop business, than a huge company who rents out generic apartments in massive complexes. Over a nearly 2 year stay, I have only great things to say about this business. They are very fair and reasonable. If I ever move back to Austin, I would call them first if I was planning to rent. I'd also highly recommend them to friends who are looking to rent. read more

I'm a bit surprised to see the negative reviews of Barkley Houses. We just moved out of one of their duplexes and had a pretty much ideal experience. The house was built in the early 1950's and over the year we were there, we had one issue with the air conditioner and another with a stopped sink. I think I have fairly realistic expectations of a landlord, and when the AC died, I assumed we were in for a couple of days of living in a sauna. I emailed that morning, within an hour the Barkley handyman was in the attic checking it out, and when he couldn't find a solution, Peggy, one of the property managers called a pro-AC repair company and by 3pm our AC had returned to dispensing it's frosty mid-summer consolation. Again, our plumbing issue occurred around 8pm, and I called Barkley to leave a message. The office number went directly to John Barkley's (the actual property owner's) cell phone and by 9:30pm Barkley himself was under our kitchen sink fixing the clog?!! In my 14 years of renting various apartments in Austin and the SF Bay Area, I've never had service experiences that compared to these. Repair experiences aside, the house was wonderful, pest free, and Peggy, John Daniel and Medora were always extremely friendly and kind. The properties seem to be rented on the higher side of market value, but if you can afford it, the ease of dealing with the managers, and the speedy response to maintenance requests makes the cost entirely worth it. It was really the only perfect landlord experience I've ever had. read more

I have rented all over the country and this is hands down the best landlord I've ever had. Honest and professional, great communication. The office is great about responding to repair requests, often same day. Everyone from the owner to the landscape guys are courteous, polite and decent. If you find a place you like with these folks, go for it. read more

My boyfriend and I lived in a Barkley Houses property for a year and a half. The location was good and Daniel, the handyman was friendly but my experience was not great and I would not recommend anyone I know to rent from them. 1) Roaches. Nonstop roaches, and although they did come spray, it just never got better. Eventually I pulled all the drawers out of the kitchen cabinets and found dozens of dead roaches, roach eggs, and large gaps in the cabinetry where they were apparently crawling in and out. Even when Daniel sealed the gaps and sprayed the roaches kept coming. I don't know why because I am obsessively clean and did not store food in the cabinets. This was obviously an issue before as there were several old roach motels behind the drawers, but nobody had bothered to seal the gaps until I requested it. 2) Garage where the (probably) 20+ year old washer/dryer was located. Relatively large gaps in the walls that were never fixed meant stray cats and rodents wandered in and out. We cleaned it out as best we could when we moved in (it was definitely not "made ready" for us beforehand), but weeks later the washer/dryer and water heater were covered with rodent and cockroach feces again, so we just stopped trying. We got them to spray in there too, but it did not help much. 3) Grass rarely mowed unless it was requested. Once when it was requested, we were informed that they had other business to attend to and couldn't get to it. 4) Demanded to know whether or not we were going to renew our lease (at an increased price) four months before the end of our lease agreement. We told them what the lease agreement stated (30 days notice), and that we needed more time to make up our mind about renewal. Peggy agreed to give us a 75 day deadline instead of the 30 days stated in the lease. Shortly after the dispute below we were abruptly sent a notice to vacate at end of lease term (i.e., kicked out at the end of the lease period without option to renew)- about 90 days before the notice deadline as specified in the lease, and 2 weeks before Peggy's agreed upon deadline. They then raised the rent for the new tenants by over $200 per month. 5) Repair dispute. One Saturday morning our kitchen sink clogged. I called the repair line and Medora answered. She said they couldn't get to it for awhile (other business to attend to again). But then- and I swear she said this- she said I could hire a plumber and "as a courtesy, because we're such good landlords" she would refund us. So I hired the plumber, and I asked him what the problem was, and he said it was "grease and food particles built up over the years." Sent the $160 bill to Medora. She responded she would not pay the bill, and that she never said she would, and that the clog was due to our neglect of the plumbing (it was not). Then on the phone she went into a long lecture about how they've pulled tampons and condoms out of tenants' toilets all the time- I interrupted and asked what that had to do with us since that was not our issue, and she said "I'm just giving examples about what good landlords we are." So I called the plumber and got basically the same story he'd told me earlier, and I asked her to call him to verify the clog wasn't our fault. She called me back and told me the plumber told her that it was our fault, which was really strange because he'd just told me it seemed unlikely that we directly caused it (he did include the caveat "it's not possible to be 100% sure of fault"). After I protested this difference in reports she said "because we're such good landlords, we'll pay you half, even though I never agreed to pay it at all." I started to argue that yes she had, and she said something like "I don't have time to talk to you anymore, I just expect a thank you and then I'm done." I couldn't prove that she'd agreed to pay since it was a verbal agreement, so I decided to drop it, and take the $80. An hour later she sent us an "advance notice to vacate." 6) After she sent us the advance notice to vacate, the Barkleys had the nerve to send out an email asking for donations to what I'm assuming was their child's private school. Two stars are for Daniel, who was always nice to us, and that we got our full deposit back (we worked our asses off to leave the place flawless when we left). read more

A friend and I tried to rent a 2 bedroom 2 bath specifically from Peggy and Medora and because it was such a killer price from the get-go wanted to push us into the apartment. We worked with her as best as we could. I was at first a little put off when I was lectured by Medora that they would never normally rent one of their places to someone with my credit score which has two minor things on it, and a perfect rental history, and my roommate didn't have enough credit. After telling her we would pay six months in advance she agreed to let us lease the place but wanted us to pay all the money the next day and have us move right in. We weren't ready for that but were willing to deal with it because it was a killer price. So after Medora barely decides to let us rent the apartment she sends us the paperwork and looked it over "wait, I have to pay for utilities 5 days after I move out? Isn't that what the deposit is for if you need to make repairs and clean a lot? Will I get reimbursed" "well it just doesn't make sense for us to turn it back on just for a few days" was the answer I received. Medora comes storming out when she hears me asking questions and goes "you've been unhappy with this situation the whole time, you weren't happy with the price, you have terrible credit and no credit" at this point I was trying to explain that I was told by my roommate the price was $95 dollars less than it actually was which is no big deal and I told her it's still a great price. She wouldn't hear of this. At this point I asked her to stop being rude to me, that I had never been treated this way by someone I was about to rent from and hand over a lot of money to, and she ran into her office brought out the application fee and slammed it down on the table and left us there with Peggy. Peggy, as sweet as she was, tried to seem apologetic by saying "she's the boss" and that was that. I would never let anyone I know near that woman much less do business with her. read more

Are you looking for your standard, cookie cutter leasing agency bogged down in bureaucracy and paperwork with emotionless responses to problems and requests? You won't find it here. The whole team at Barkley Houses has been incredible for us from the get-go! We first found our place on Craigslist, though it turned out Barkely hadn't listed it. The current tenant was trying to illegally sublet under the guise of owning the property. We had already dropped her half a security deposit and gave our previous place notice of move out by the time we found out about the shenanigans. We contacted Barkley immediately and received a response just as immediately. They were able to recover our money from the thief and properly secure us a lease. It should also be noted, the person in question turned out to be in a disturbed mental state. Did Barkley just throw her out in the street? No. They took the time to contact her parents and get her somewhere safe. That's good people! When we got the house it was in great condition for being from the 1930s. Being from New Orleans previously, I simply love old houses. Barkley does a fabulous job keeping them in living condition with the small maintenance staff he has. Daniel is super friendly and honest. I never have reservations about Barkley maintenance in my house as I know they respect my privacy. Once, our fan went out in the front room in the heat of summer. As Daniel was busy, Mr. Barkley himself came to fix it and even chatted with me about what he was doing. What an awesome, laid back dude! I of course can't forget to mention Peggy and Medora, the sweetest, most caring office staff you could hope to encounter. During the crazy move in, Medora and Peggy did their best to make things as smooth as possible for us. Medora even offered to get us a nice little table for the kitchen! Peggy really cares about the tenants she is helping and is even takes an interest in your personal well being, but not in an intrusive manner. She always asks how our puppy is doing, and has been interested and supportive as we have pursued our teacher certification. It's so wonderful to have a realty team that realizes they are renting to people, not just SS #s. All this being said, I've noticed a couple of negative reviews here that sharply contrast my incredibly positive experience. I'm thinking maybe these reviewers may have been fairly new to renting and did not really understand what they were renting and who they were renting from. These are OLD houses that Barkley and the team work really hard to restore. If you've lived in an old house before, you know that expecting every single thing to be shiny clean like a swanky apartment complex is unrealistic. Cracks in walls are going to happen. Clogged sinks are going to happen. Bugs are going to happen. If you flip out and approach the Barkley team like an incensed maniac screaming that these things are unacceptable, you're unrealistic. I would not be surprised if you get a notice to vacate at the end of lease for this kind of behavior. They are an exceptional management team and are probably not interested in wasting their time renting to those types of people. If, however, you make requests with politeness, kindness, and patience, you'll find your relationship with the Barkley team to be a very special one in your rental history. As I stated in the beginning of this review, it is getting harder and harder to find awesome small scale landlords like the Barkley team. read more

I have lived in my rental property for almost 5 years, and for 3.5 of those years Barkley was the managing owner. I have to say that they have been the most pleasurable property manager to work with. The previous owners were very dismissive of any issues the unit was having and were very very slow to fix them. When Barkley came on board it was such a relief! They were very attentive to my needs, and made me feel like "family". Even if you had issues late in the eveing the owner would respond to you as quickly as possible. Also, Peggy always went above and beyond what was requested of her. I have recently bought a house and will no longer be in the apartment, but I will miss all of the staff at Barkley! Thank you for making apartment living so enjoyable! read more

The people who run Barkley Houses are as responsible and responsive as anyone could wish. Our daughter, who is disabled, rented a beautiful apartment from them for two years in Austin, and Medora and John and Peggy went out of their way to help with adjustments to the property to make it easier for her, and were unfailingly kind (including John coming over in the middle of the night once -- quite cheerfully -- to turn off a malfunctioning fire alarm that our daughter wasn't able to reach to fix). They were more than landlords; they are deeply good people, and they became our friends, too. If you're looking for an apartment in Austin, you could't do better than to rent from Barkley Houses. read more

These are horrible landlords that have left my daughter with a non working and possibly dangerous washing machine for weeks. They seem to be on some kind of medication that makes you not care too much about anything. They keep breaking their promises to repair the thing, I will keep you posted. read more

Unfortunately I had a bad experience leasing with Barkley Houses before I even moved into any of their properties due to awful organization & communication on the side of management. Why? Because they presented us with a contract to sign, and four days later informed us that our credit wasn't up to "their leasing standards," after all. Completely unethical and unprofessional according to the real estate professionals I've spoken to about it. In a nutshell, here's what happened: my friend was already living in one of their properties and when the lease was coming to an end, we decided to renew there for another year (I would have been moving into the 2nd bedroom). After several positive correspondence between BH, my friend, and myself, one of their representatives emailed us the lease agreement, the move-in checklist, and other pertinent paperwork. We signed and sent it back to her. That same day, I submitted my notice to vacate to my current housing manager. Four days later, on a Friday, the second representative from BH emails my friend and I, saying that after checking our credit (which they are supposed to do BEFORE sending any sort of rental agreement), we were not "up to their leasing standards"... When we immediately responded with WTF, the second representative wrote back that she was not aware that we had already been presented with the lease, and that the first representative, who was the owner of the house, would be out of town through the weekend and that she could not communicate further until her return. We freaked out. They went back on their word, they presented us with a contract, and then they took it back. We used that weekend to look around, and we did end up finding something bigger, better, and more affordable, however, the experience with BH surely left a bad taste in my mouth and I would not recommend working with this property management group. read more

I lived in one of the Barkley's properties for a year and a half and have no complaints! They were always readily available and very prompt on maintenance requests. After office hours the office phone is forwarded to the cell phone of the owners, so someone is available 24/7 in case of emergency. I once lost my key and Peggy, the office manager, came over within 15 minutes to let me in and lend me the master key to make a copy. Overall, the Barkley's were caring, responsive landlords and I would recommend living in one of their properties to any of my friends! read more

My daughter rented a property located at 3117 Guadalupe St. #B for about 6 months and I can say only great things about the place and how the owner, the office, and the maintenance treated my daughter who was a student at UT Austin. The place itself is in great location, close to everything including nice restaurants and 2 grocery stores that sell natural and organic food. One of the stores is right next to the house, and my daughter did not have to walk more than just a couple of steps with heavy bags home. It is a great place for those who do not drive a car, as the bus stop is right next to the house. The house itself is in great shape, very well maintained and very clean. No cockroaches, not even one was ever seen. The office was very easy to reach via the phone or email (Medora, Peggy, John). My daughter had to contact them with questions and favors a few times and got the help she needed right away. The maintenance was contacted once for a miner issue and the fix was done an hour after she contacted them. The office itself is extremely friendly and easy to deal with, and my daughter felt very comfortable living at the property. read more

we applied for a house through barkley houses (worked specifically with peggy and medora) and it was not a good experience. obviously, we didn't get the house, but what sucked is that they gave us a lot of expectations when we applied; since we were the first people to apply to the house, they told us it was very likely we would get the house. we wouldn't have bothered spending money on the application fee if they had been more realistic with us, as we've gone through this process before and try to be realistic about our expectations. then we didn't hear one way or the other for four days. finally, I had to call the office to find out that we didn't get the house. not sure how long they would have waited to let us know, not like we're trying to plan our lives or anything. the reason we didn't get the house was that our income was not enough, despite the fact that we earn three times what the rent was, also that we hadn't held our jobs in austin long enough (we are moving here from another city, what do you expect?) Again, these restrictions would have been good to know before we wasted our time and money on an application. And peggy even reassured us that a co-signer would be fine, not that we needed one. If they knew we didn't make enough, why bother? true, these are decisions that the landlord made and Barkley couldn't control that decision (supposedly). but they gave us false hopes, wasted our time, didn't get back to us for days, and then denied our application (which was the first application) on the grounds that we don't make enough money when we clearly did. don't work with these people if you can avoid it. read more