This company has no idea how to treat their tenants. Between broken elevators, random sirens, and broken air conditioning units the problems with the properties should sufficiently prove my point. However, the way this company has handled these issues puts them higher and higher on my hate list. There is apparently an emergency "maintenance line" that is never answered and my phone calls were never returned. I also sent numerous emails which were never replied to. Additionally, the mass emails I was sent were extremely rude. They address their tenants as children or incompetent. Mail is not secure, I have had mail delivered to the wrong units on a regular basis. I have also had important bills stuffed in my door frame instead of in my assigned, secure mailbox. The list goes on and on. Honestly, their rates are great for west campus, and the property I live in, Texan 26, is actually nice, but the management company has solidified my decision in never renting from this company again. read more

Ely Properties took away my daughter's parking pass at her apartment after she had been paying $50 a month for it for 9 months. As she stood crying in their office, they told her they had assigned her space to another tenant and would tow her at 5:00 pm that evening if she parked in a parking space where she lived. I called them and pleaded with them to reconsider, and was told there was nothing they would do, because her parking pass agreement was with the previous property manager, not them. These people are despicable, heartless monsters. The ONLY reason we rented the unit was because the unit came with two parking passes. Do not rent from these awful people. Oh, and the apartment is damp and disgusting. read more

Old and over priced. Constantly had to call service multiple times to fix refrigerator 3-4 times in a 2 month span. Elevator was out for weeks at a time! they will take your deposit. Claimed we caused damages but had not proof. admitted in email that they overcharged us but refused to repay. Jeremy will not return calls or emails for weeks. Matt has never returned one phone call or email after months of requests! Stay away! Trust me! read more

My roommate and I feel Ely Properties is abusing their position as a landlord in order to take advantage of us and other tenants being charged the same fees. When thirty days after our move-out, we received less than half of our deposit back. We disputed each charge by providing a detailed summary of each fee and why we felt it was invalid. Over the next two weeks our multiple attempts at contact met with zero response from anyone at Ely Properties. Finally we were forced to give Ely Properties 30 days to respond and resolve this matter, otherwise we would proceed to small claims court. This was immediately met with a slapped together email from the owner, Matt Ely, again providing a partial counter-offer. No reasoning given on why some charges stand and why others suddenly are refunded. We have disputed each fee and with each successive, teeth-pulling email to the owner, Matt Ely, we are met with one or two reversals of fees and refutation of the others. The electricity fee, AC filter fee, and various maid and cleaning service fees seem, by Ely Properties policy, a standard practice to charge the tenant whether or not it is valid. We urge other tenants that they watch what this company charges you and not allow them to get away with breaking Texas Renter laws. Better yet, do not sign a lease with any properties that is managed by Ely Properties and save yourself the headache of that we, like many others, have gone through (and continue to go through) read more

Although my experience with Ely Properties was not quite at the level of other reviews, I felt the need to write a review. I lived in Ely's Gazebo property in West Campus for two years, and experienced the following: 1. The key broke in the lock on a weekend night, and I called a locksmith to let me into my apartment/replace the lock. Ely refused to pay for it, saying that I should have called the in-house maintenance. While I eventually accepted that I would have to swallow the cost of the labor, I brought in the broken lock, along with my receipt, and asked if they could reimburse the $50 for the lock itself, considering a lock from the Ely maintenance would also be $50 (as stated by them), and because their lock malfunctioned. They would not reimburse me. Additionally, at one point my property manager tried to get out of the conversation saying that her husband had broken his foot the day before, which had nothing to do with what we were talking about, the situation, or her ability to talk to me about the lock. 2. My roommate emailed Ely when our dishwasher broke, asking them to fix it. They did not. We emailed again, and it was only months later that the dishwasher was repaired. 3. My closet doors were mirrors that slid to open the closet. One mirror came off of it's frame, which stopped it from opening. When I notified Ely, they sent maintenance, who used my own duct tape to tape the mirror to the frame, and then took the duct tape with them upon completing the fix. 4. We recently moved out, and had not received our deposit 20 days after they claimed to have sent it. After multiple emails, they sent us a ledger and informed us we would not be receiving any of our deposit back. While some of the charges made sense, one did not: they bought a new refrigerator and took it out of our deposit, with no explanation and no damage done to the refrigerator in our two years occupying the apartment. Bottom line: they are not considerate of their tenants. Emails occasionally received no reply, there was very little transparency, and often an unfriendly tone. I would avoid working with Ely if you can. read more

Horrible property management company. They were recommended to me by my previous property manager for my 4 rental houses. They never kept their promised delivery date for rent deposits - promised by the 15th of each month. The rents were due on the 1st, and 7 out of 9 months I didn't receive financial statement or deposits until the 20th or later. I never had a problem with previous property manager providing this service by the 10th of each month. # of those months the incorrect deposit amount was made. When I changed property management companies, the broker Deacon Shields - managed to always be out of the office or forgot to sign a check to transfer the deposits held to my new management company. It took the threat of reporting to the Real Estate Commission to get him to complete the transfer. The final rents paid to me is still incorrect and short of what they show on the financial statement. Still no response after many months of emails. Don't trust this company to manage your properties if you expect professional results. read more

I didn't have any problems with Ely Properties. I loved my apartment and we had great maintenance service. Everyone seemed very nice and caring. However, I give them 1 star b/c of the charges to my roommate and I after we moved out. They charged us for cleaning the carpet, which apparently didn't work so they decided to replace all of the carpet when there was nothing wrong with our carpet in the first place... I could continue with the details about the charges to our apartment, but there are too many to list. I will just tell you it totaled out to $1400 meaning we lost our $1000 deposit and owed $400. I hope from writing this review I can stop at least 1 person from deciding to lease from these people. It's sad to say that a week ago (before I got the charges) I would have probably given this place 4-5 stars. It's just ridiculous that they are running away with peoples' money. If you do decide to live here, don't expect to get your deposit back. It seems like my roommate and I were not the only ones who owed money after they moved out.... I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOUR MONEY/DEPOSIT!!!! PLEASE LISTEN!!!! D: PS I made this yelp account just so I could warn you about this place.... read more

Matthew nearly ruined my entire home buying experience and for that I wish I could give him 0 stars. We purchased a home and he nearly ruined our move in day by providing us with a bag of keys that didn't even work. We had spent over thousand dollar for movers the next day. We tried contacting him and did not receive any response. He finally responded to our title company. He NEVER even checked to see if the keys his sellers sent worked. Thank goodness for the title company for making everything work out otherwise we would have been out a $1000+. If a you are a seller or a buyer BEWARE of this company! read more

If I could give Ely Properties, half a star or less than that, I would. The customer service here is unacceptable. If you call them and ask for something, they say they will get it done or help you out and but never carry it out. The only time they'll effectively communicate with you is when they need money from you. Other than that, Ely is a pain in the ass to work with, and they are not helpful at all. After reading the reviews, I'm sensing the same thing from other tenants. People looking to reside in West Campus, DO NOT USE ELY PROPERTIES. read more

This leasing company was the first (and only) one I've dealt with in Austin. I spent my junior year at UT living at their Texan North Campus location on 51st and Lamar. First off, let me say the apartment itself was pretty awesome. It's a 4 bedroom/2 bath, and I split it with 3 friends very comfortably. The kitchen and living room are spacious, and we never have noise issues from our neighbors. That being said, the rent is also reasonable (for this location...but some others we considered were NOT nearly as good of a deal!). We paid $600 every month for our bedrooms ($2400 total), and bills were also relatively nice, since we had to set up our own electricity and cable systems. The company itself is not very helpful or accommodating to work with. They took forever for us to get our lease set up, and I even got towed once from within our underground garage! When we decided to renew for next year, it took over 2 months of having my emails ignored before I finally stormed into the office to demand they answer us. They simply replied, "yeah you can renew, but you have to relocate downstairs." They leased our unit to some girls without even alerting us it was on the market (but claimed they sent out warning emails...sure). Anyway: you CAN indeed find some nice places through this company, but you have to be prepared to be unhappy with their customer service and ignoring you once you're trapped in a contract. I won't say not to lease with them, but please get all the information and check out other options before committing. Actually, just don't lease from them. Really. I'm still worried we won't get our deposit back this summer when we transfer downstairs because they'll just be jerks about scratches and dings that we reported on move-in... read more

Worst management company ever.... you will not only be conned out of your entire safety deposit, but they will tack on another $1500 to "fix" everything wrong with their poorly maintained apartments, and will never actually put that money to work making repairs... they will simply keep it and do it to the next tenants the following year. They attempt to keep you away from affordable conflict management on every turn. Solely profit focused management and they do not care about you. read more

Absolutely one of the worst places to live in West Campus, the leasing office is terrible, incompetent, and unresponsive. Problems with the unit the entire time and bogus, insulting charges upon move out. Almost had to take them to small claims court due to false $1200 charge that was utter bullshit and a downright lie after which they didn't respond for a month. Don't move here! GO ANYWHERE ELSE read more

If i could give 0 stars, I would. Matt Ely was a broker for the owners who sold their home to us. At closing, we received a bag of keys without labels. Later, we decided to bring a few things over ahead of the movers the next morning. Turns out it was a good thing we didn't wait until the morning of the move! When we arrived, NONE OF THE KEYS WORKED. (There were about 20 to sort through.) We were locked out of the home which we had just purchased! Matt was completely unavailable and did not return any calls from our real estate agent or the title company. (In fact, many months later, he has still never responded to an email I sent about the whole situation.) After several hours, we were able to get in using the ONE key that the real estate agent had left in a lock box. read more

Ive been with ely properties over the last couple years, over a couple of different apartments and i continue to stay with them. Communication is key. I stay with them because When i had problems with rent they worked with me. When i had a maintenance problem, Oscar is the man. He always comes in a day of emailing him and is the master of fixing things. read more

Terrible maintenance, they keep most if not all of your security deposit for whatever they want. Stay far away, and tell everyone you know never to rent an apartment from Ely Properties. They take advantage of college students who don't know any better. read more

It's as bad as you've heard. We had read the horror stories beforehand about people losing their whole security deposits, and so when we moved out, we hired our own cleaners, replaced light bulbs and AC filters (which we kept all the receipts for) and generally left the place in impeccable condition. We also took pictures of every perfectly clean nook and cranny before we turned in the keys and emailed the manager to tell her we had done all that. They still charged us for all the things we had already done, (Light bulbs, $70, A/C filter, $20, etc. etc.) Which added up to nearly $400 of our $1400 (ridiculous!) security deposit. We emailed them to contest it, but even though we could prove we had left everything better than when we moved in, they didn't give us back one cent. This is a company set up specifically to scam college students, and they're very good at it. Even though there's no doubt we could have taken them to small claims court and won, they drag it out so long and dealing with them is so painful that $400 starts to seem like a fair price to pay to never have to talk to them again. Avoid like the plague. read more

Just listed and sold my condo through Ely Properties. Tony and Eric were great throughout the entire process. They made sure everything went smooth not only for me but my tenants. This is the 3rd property I have sold this year. The others were in San Antonio and Houston and I couldn't be happier with the service and professionalism of Ely. read more

When I decided to lease my apartment from Ely Properties there were 4 of us girls going in together, two of whom were still in high school and weren't even in the city of Austin..so needless to say we had a hard time coordinating ourselves. However, Ely Properties was SO flexible and willing to work with us to help get all of our paperwork in that quite frankly I think we wouldn't have been able to lease this place if they hadn't been so understanding and wonderful to work with. The 4 of us have now been living here for 8 months and were so happy with Ely that we signed a release agreement after only 2 months! I have only the best things to say about Ely Properties, and would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to anyone looking to buy or lease in the Austin area. If you're looking for pleasant, available, and helpful representatives who truly care about each and every one of their clients, give Ely Properties a call! read more

I have been living a nightmare since August. I live at Texan Tower. Initially, we were managed by Campus Central Properties. When we moved in, everything was filthy. The floors were sticky and turned your feet black. My bathroom had a water leak and the wall behind the water closet was becoming entirely covered with mildew. The cabinet next to the water closet was buckling and was also infested with mildew. The bathroom drawers had been ripped out (by the previous tenant) and the drawer faces had simply been glued back on. The owner of my unit fired Campus Central (rightfully so) and hired Ely. Things have not gotten any better. They have gotten worse. My unit went on the market in October and just sold (late February). I have been dealing with realtors showing up whenever they please and scheduling appointments only to not show up. There have been two instances in which I was in the shower and an unscheduled realtor and their clients have just shown up. Ely has not cared. The unit just sold and the maintenance man (who is very nice) has been showing up unannounced. Has trashed my unit and ruined my rug. I am a student. I am 20 years old, but I am not stupid. It infuriates me that these people will always make a profit off of us because we have nowhere else to live. read more

If I could give a zero, I would. They are so terrible. Please save yourself some time. They kept our $1000 deposit and were trying to charge us $1000 more. We were emailing for about 3 months, and I had to get legal services involved in order for them to even reply to my email. I cannot emphasize how horrible this management company is. There's plenty of other options in Austin, so please make this your last choice. Feel free to check FB where others have experienced the same thing. read more

They are terrible. They don't care about kids on west campus one bit. Jeremy is a jerk who will try to act condescending if you're a woman and like a tool if you're a man. The receptionists always think they are right and if they can save money by not helping you, they prob won't help you. Try to find another place that rents on west campus before giving them your money. Also they love to stack lame charges read more

EDIT: Ely charged me nearly $300 for a maid service and $35 for an air filter replacement (I personally replaced the air filter a week before move out after I was specifically told by management to do so). Jeremy Sanchez emailed us the deposit charges shortly after move-out, ending the email with "All questions MUST be submitted in writing either by email or letter. No phone calls will be answered, and email is the fastest way to get in touch." It has been over a month and Jeremy has not responded to my three emails. I resorted to calling the office and was told by the receptionist he would call me back. I haven't heard from anyone. Savannah Condominiums is a giant scam -- with a management team full of sleazy, unprofessional people. DO NOT LIVE HERE. ---- Do not under any circumstances sign a lease with Ely. The first night I moved into my new apartment there was a storm, and that storm caused a leak in the ceiling. A leak that has obviously happened before judging by the water damage. This leak came back several times even after they "fixed" it. Maintenance cut a hole in my ceiling the size of a door to look at the damage, and left that hole there for nearly a month before starting repairs. This apartment has been a series of disappointments since the day I moved in. Management obviously does not care. They charge ridiculous amounts for turning in rent late, half of the appliances don't work and a loud thumping noise comes from the bathtub drain. This noise is nonstop and management doesn't know how to fix it. The washer and dryer work half the time, so you'll end up paying twice as much in water and electricity if you want to do laundry at home. The doors and windows aren't insulated so bugs crawl in and my electricity is through the roof just to keep the apartment room temperature. If you want to pay huge amounts to live in an apartment that's just as bad as everywhere else in West campus sign right up, if not then look elsewhere. read more

Unprofessional, unhelpful, and awful do not even begin to describe interacting with this company. They really deserve negative stars, especially for the few, likely fake, good ratings they have. I thought my previous apartment's management company was bad, but they would at least email you back eventually. They never return emails nor voicemails, and never seem to be in the office no matter what time you call. I can count on one hand the number of times I was able to speak with someone besides the receptionist, and still have a couple fingers to spare. Also, once you tell them that the receptionist is who you spoke to about something, they'll say that then it wasn't official and you should have talked to them instead. Every interaction I have with them I now film or record in some way, and document every check or payment I make with them just in case. I have already been conned into paying at least a month's rent extra because they say we owe rent or something to that nature. The apartment itself is decent and affordable, especially for West Campus, but if it weren't for our lease I would have gladly switched to a much more expensive place just so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. Also, just cause I'm a college student doesn't mean I'm am idiot, nor does it mean I don't keep track of my accounts, so being condescending to the person paying you money is unnecessary and baseless. If this matter isn't resolved and I don't get my money back, I will most definitely be making a BBB complaint, and I recommend everyone else do the same cause this place has no real idea how to conduct responsible business practices such as replying to emails. I can't wait to tell every single person I know, and all my social media sites, that Ely Properties is the worst and do not deserve to be in operation. read more

This is the worst property management company I have ever seen. Here are the 'JOYFUL' things that I experienced as a home-owner: -They were rude and dismissive to my tenant. They never gave her a copy of the lease that she signed, after she asked them to several times. -My first rent check from them BOUNCED. I did not receive an apology from them, or a proper explanation; except that my check "must not have been scanned in correctly." Poor, obscure excuse. -They take from several days to over a week to respond to my phone calls ...and I am the owner of this home. -Their front of house staff spends more time putting on make-up than they do helping people. They are the McDonald's of property management. High quantity, zero competence. They have too many clients and they also do not handle repair requests with any skill whatsoever. You are better off managing your own property if you are an owner. If you are a renter, call a repair person on craigslist or another source, and just subtract it from your rent. Trust me, it will get done faster that way. - read more

DO NOT DO IT! I'd give no stars if possible. By far one of the worst management companies i have had to work with. The front desk is unorganized, you call to talk to someone and get past around for a good half hour. Half the time the office is closed when rent is due- which you get charged more to pay online. Everyone i have had to deal with is just rude and blunt. They don't care to help or hear out problems, but rather just blow you off. I have lived at Lenox in W.Campus for 2 years now. The unit is falling to pieces and the owner refuses to do any updates and Ely charges a arm and leg for simple maintenance protocol. Over the summer there was a water leak upstairs that caused our ceiling to collapse. It took Ely a month to get someone to replace it and clean it up. The AC unit has a massive hole cut out where the maintenance guy tried to "fix it" and i suppose gave up. The trash compactor that i removed from the unit was infested with ants and god knows what when we moved in. My heater went out for two days in the dead of winter and I had to call someone to fix it because the emergency maintenance line is a joke. I cannot wait to get out of this apartment and from the management. I feel sorry for the next renters. read more

If I could give 0 stars, I would. I lived in Texan Pearl. The apartment itself was nice and we didn't really have many issues with it through out our time there, aside from how dirty it was when we moved and a few broken things here and there. Additionally, plan on the elevator breaking down constantly, especially on move-in/out day. The main issue was the management. I read all the reviews for Ely properties ahead of time, but still was dumb enough to sign a lease with them. Upon moving out we left the place in perfect condition. We figured they would take out the cleaning fee from our deposit regardless of if we cleaned or not, so we didn't clean, but nothing was broken except for a few blind slats. Despite that we were issued a closing statement of less than 200 dollars of our deposit back. Bogus charges were taken out of our deposit that we knew weren't broken. We were even charged for an air filter despite the fact that we left an extra one in the apartment. Keep in mind, we never even received the check for what was left of our deposit. My roommate and I proceeded to go to the office and ask to speak with whoever was in charge, but was met with a very rude receptionist with a major attitude who would not let us speak to anyone. She only gave us an email to take up the claims. I proceeded to send an email to the person in charge, but was met with no response. About a month later, I sent an additional email about the fact that I never received a response nor the check, but still I received no response. I sent many more emails and tried to call the office many times and was again met with no answer. Needless to say, Ely Properties sucks. DO NOT live there. Definitely, do not expect your deposit back. I would suggest making sure you have UT legal services or a lawyer get involved if you can. Even all realtors and leasing agents I have met with know and have been warned not to work with Ely properties. That is so sad. read more

If it were possible to give less than a one star rating, I would. I have lived in many different apartments in my years and this is by FAR the worst management company I have ever dealt with. First off, they are completely incompetent. Secondly, they are completely rude pretty much all the time. It is very unfortunate because the apartment that I live in is actually really nice - the owner just needs to use a better management company. Suffice it to say - avoid Eli at all costs. If you would like more details, you may keep reading for some representative incidents of the rudeness and incompetence of Eli Properties. 1. After a year and a half of living in the same apartment, our heat and water suddenly cease to work. Apparently this is not an emergency maintenance issue, so we first off had to wait 3 days for a maintenance man to arrive. Having never been informed that we had gas heating (never received a bill, Eli never told us we had gas and not electrical heating...) we had never paid the bill, it was apparently shut off. Unknown as to why it took a year and a half for this to happen. Upon calling Eli Properties, they couldn't even be bothered to tell us what gas company serviced the property (my roommate was told to ask our neighbors). And I will say some of this might be attributed to human error on our part, but the incredibly rude response and lack of information from Eli exacerbated our problem. 2. We have been flat-out ignored numerous times on maintenance requests. And there is generally quite a wait if they do respond. 3. Eli ran a special saying that if we renewed our lease by a certain date for the following year that we would receive half off a month's rent. My roommate and I worked out a deal where we got that discount in January instead of the standard July rent because we are students. This was confirmed in writing multiple times by the Eli, and was even written into our new lease. Then, when January rolls around and, as agreed, we only pay half the rent, we immediately get an eviction notice after 2 days. Thank goodness we are in law school and extensively document all communications with these people. Months later, Eli comes back and tells us that we owe this part of the rent because the owner has not agreed to a discount on a different date. read more

This place sucks and Andre is a lying scum bag! I fell in love with an apartment leased by these jerks but instead of moving in I got totally screwed!! I signed the lease and paid the deposit a month in advance of the move-in date and was told to phone a couple days before to set up a time to get the keys. When I called the day before move in I was told the place wouldn't be ready due to construction and "the city" and I should find a new place! Thanks! I have a job, a life and a TWO MONTH OLD BABY and one day to find a new place at the end of the month when everything is already rented?????? I had a feeling Andre was feeding me a line of bullshit about the construction so I did some investigating, called the city and the contractor on the job who all told me it was fine and I could move in but for some reason Andre was hell bent on not letting me. Baby discrimination? I don't know.. this dude is super unprofessional and just a flat-out liar. Although, after reading the other yelps it feels like a blessing in disguise.... read more

Thieves, Liars, I would rather eat dog shit than to ever rent from this property management company! They don't even deserve one star. I was placed in an apartment that was infested with Roaches, had crackhead neighbors upstairs that never slept (therefore I didn't get much sleep), was attacked by said crackheads, my window busted out by neighbor children, had a constant ceiling leak from the neighbors above me with black mold. Never once did they address any of the issues with this place, basically told me everything was my problem and they weren't responsible. Then sent me a letter after my move out date saying I owed them $500 for an air filter, a small stain on the carpet, and screens that were never on my windows to begin with? They will NEVER see that money. read more

I worked for Matt Ely on a couple occasions to help out with some company filing. He was very professional to work with, friendly and paid me the same day. read more

To condo owners and sellers: It appears from my research that Eric Sanders of Ely Properties is outselling all other agents by far for 1-bd, 1-ba condos in the UT area. Of the 40 1-1 condos sold in the past year in 78705, Eric Sanders sold 9 of them. I've had trouble selling a condo, so I'll see really soon if they can sell this one too. read more

They just sound like horrible people. That is all. Jumping on the bandwagon hope they go out of business as I feel for the people they've screwed over since it's happened to me with other management company. read more

I lived in an apartment managed by Ely and the customer service was AWFUL. This was 6 years ago and it is still hands down the worst property management company I've ever dealt with. Ignored maintenance requests, very unfriendly staff, and cheating tenants out of their deposits when apartments were left in perfect condition. The only reason I write this now is because the Facebook group I created 6 years ago to warn others about Ely has finally been noticed by them (hey, this kind of mimics the speed in which they tend to maintenance requests!). A representative from Ely called to demand the group be taken down and even threatened to send a Cease and Desist letter. I was shocked. Mostly because I'd completely forgotten about the Facebook group and assumed long ago that Ely went out of business, however I suppose ripping off unassuming college students can still pay the bills. But a Cease and Desist letter? Really? For recounting the story of my experience with their joke of a company? Looks like they know as much about the law as they do about how to run a successful business. instead of threatening customers you've already pissed off, why don't you just DO A BETTER JOB and attempt to improve your reputation? The way they handled this bad press just goes to show what a poorly run business we have here. read more

I've lived at the Quarters Nueces building for 2 years and I decided it was time to try something new for my senior year. The prices at the Texan Pearl are great (way cheaper than Quarters) & it's in a great location. Probably a 15 minute walk to campus. But I have many complaints... I'll only list a few. First off, unhelpful staff. Second, the apartment I was supposed to move into was filthy. It had not been cleaned. Looked like there had been a party in the room the night before. Not a safe place. Found narcotics casually lying around the room. I do not recommend this place. Don't be fooled by the cheap pricing. I would give this place 0 stars if I could. read more

0 star worthy. Worst service in town. The bad reviews that you may have heard about is 100% true. I learned this the hard way by leasing with them the 2k10-2k11 year. My complaint is more about their management, moreso than the property. I lived in Texan Pearl last year and found the property to be decent. Ely however was absolute crap. They accused me and my roommates of missing rent payments 3-4 times when in fact, we had every single payment on time. They had misplaced our checks thanks to a very unorganized system so as a result, they sent us eviction notices on our door instead of asking us if we paid or not. Not very pleasant. In many other instances, they tried to tack on 300$ worth of late fees (we were not late on any payments). We eventually got these problems fixed, but let me tell you, it is never convenient when you are being threatened for eviction and being charged bogus late fees. The lady at their front desk was honest enough to tell me and my roommates that they have a very faulty mail system in which they misplace a lot of things. How can a leasing company not have an organized mailing system? I have no idea.... First month we moved in, they lost my roommates check and told him to send a new one in. He did, only to find out that they had already cashed the first check. Secondly, a few times, they barged into our apartment without ANY prior notice that they would be giving out tours for people looking to lease. Maybe my roommates got the notice but it wasnt very explicit. Thirdly, they are well known for not returning your deposit. I got 3$ dollars back from a $1000 dollar deposit. Being charged 400-500$ for paint is very sketchy, considering the fact that we kept the walls pretty damn clean. We lived in a 900ish sq ft 3 bedroom apartment. A gallon of paint usually costs 15-25$. This means that Ely supposedly used 15-20 gallons of paint. The funny thing is, a gallon of paint can usually cover around 200- 400 sq feet worth of walls, according to a bunch of online sources. It's funny how a simple google search can expose the lies and BS that this company feeds it's residents. I'm considering asking for documentation/receipts on the supposed "repairs" they did on my old apartment. Lastly, if you have any sort of credit left with their offices at the end of the lease, expect a long time to get your money back. They are completely incompetent. Me and my roommates paid extra so at the end of the lease, they were supposed to mail out this extra back to us. They mailed out a credit of 300-400$ dollar to the OLD ADDRESS we used to lease from them at the Texan Pearl, as opposed to the PERMANENT ADDRESS I provided when I first signed my lease. Their reasoning for doing this stupid act: They said I did not provide a forwarding address. Why not EMAIL ME or CALL ME for it then? If they can send out emails threatening us of eviction and late fees, then why can't they send out an email asking me for my new address or my permanent address? Can't they see who is currently living at a property they manage, before they blindly send a check worth 300-400$? As a result of this mistake, I had to go back to my old room at the Texan Pearl and asked the current tenants if they had received any mail under my name. They said they had not received anything. So this means that my check is being returned in the mail (seems unlikely, it has been 3 weeks since they apparently mailed it out), or Ely Property has misplaced my check. There is no sight of my check anywhere. EDIT- Got my check back, but there was a 35$ deduction fee for check reprocessing.. smh... Avoid Ely at all costs if you can... Unfortunately, because Ely has a big ownership of various complexes in West Campus, many people are going to end up doing business with them. I have some tips: Always get a receipt from payment, and never ever mail your check. Always hand it-in in person because they tend to lose checks a lot through the mail. Also take pictures of everything at move-in and move out. read more

I have never been moved to write a yelp review before, and will probably never write one again, but this company is just awful. if it saves just one person from having to deal with these slumlords, it will be worth my time. if giving them negative one million stars were an option, I would choose it. crash on your friend's couch another month. sleep in your car. stay at the arch shelter. just don't rent an apartment from them. read more

To make a long story short...DO NOT LIVE HERE. Why you say? Well... I lived at a property managed by Ely Properties from 8/08 to 7/09. The apartment had old appliances, crappy carpet, a couple of scratches on the walls, but nothing HUGE that made it unlivable. It took them a month to replace the microwave, but other than that I didn't have any maintenance issues. So while nothing sounds too horrible (or too wonderful), things hit the fan upon move-out. While I lived there I never created any serious damage. Of all the apartments I have lived, I have NEVER been charged by any damage. I clean regularly, never have parties (super cool I know), and never do anything beyond normal wear-and-tear. When I moved out I did a final walk-thru with the property manager and she said everything looked great, and we both signed to that fact. I gave up the keys, had no worries about getting my $850 deposit back. Wow was I wrong. Come a month later, I get a bill saying not only were they keeping my ENTIRE deposit, but they were charging me an additional $100. All charges were bogus, even saying that the stains I had marked on my move-in conditions report were actually "flecks woven into the carpet" and that I "trashed the brand-new carpet". The carpet was at least 7 years old when I moved in, and had track marks from the high-traffic areas in the apartment, and now they want me to pay for the ENTIRE apartment to get brand-new carpet. I was also charged for the oven having stains inside it, even though I wrote on my conditions move-in report that the oven was seriously stained and scratched. After going back and forth, we are now going to court. This has been a huge pain in the ass, and insulting to my intelligence. There must be plenty of students that don't fight back and just assume they have to pay these bogus charges... I just hope I get my deposit back. Basically to sum up, while living there the place was sub par at best, and the way they have treated me during the moving out process has been insane. Totally not worth it. DO NOT LIVE HERE. read more

Do not rent from Ely Properties if you can avoid it. They are not honest, not responsive to problems and will do everything they can to keep your deposit. If you must rent from them, take extensive pictures at move in and make sure you attach them to the move in forms. read more

I can't even begin to tell you how frustrated I am with this company. The owner told me that I had to move out because the police were called to my apartment after somebody had broken in. He said that it looked bad to have the police coming over to his property and proceeded to offer me another apartment in a different property "under the table" for half the cost. When I went to look at the place, it was a dump. He had no legal reasoning to kick me out and if I had enough cash for an attorney I'd sue them. I was not allowed to live at the place I was paying rent and had to find another place to live halfway through a semester. They take advantage of poor college students. Beware of these properties at all cost. Most shady and unlawful business I've ever dealt with. I've contacted the Better Business Bureau about them. Stay away from this place. read more

Ely Properties did an excellent job for me! They helped me find the perfect home within my budget, the closing was smooth sailing and my agent even took my for ice cream afterwards!! Additionally, they found me excellent tenants! I will definitely recommend Ely Properties to people in the future!! They know the Austin market! read more