I was tenant from 2009 to 2014 and they had been nothing helpful and pleasant, whenever anything needed fixing they were out there the next day to fix the situation. The front office staff were nothing but kind and professional I would recommend them to anyone looking for quality housing, I don't know what other people are talking about, people complain about the high cost of rent but thats just the price for living in san luis obispo. I would recommend Farrell Smyth to anyone looking for a great place to live. read more

If you are a college student looking to get by, they MIGHT be the right company for you. The only thing I can comment on is how unprofessional the application process is. I went into their office to apply for a 3 bedroom house. When I asked about the deadline to turn in the application, the secretary responded "We will be showing the houses in the beginning of April so as long as you get it in by March 31st you are fine." After I turn in my application, I get a call for an appointment to view the house at 10am on a Tuesday. I go the appointment, where the only other people are a group of 3 college girls. I don't work in the property management industry, but I assume that a couple with full time jobs would be more appealing to rent to than 3 girls in their early 20's. Anyways, I fell in love with the house and called them back on my lunch break after speaking with my girlfriend (who lives out of town so she couldn't see the apartment) only to find out that it had already been rented to the 3 girls. When I asked why, they informed me it was because their original applications were turned in first. I understand there needs to be a fair way to decide between applicants, but if the rule is "first to apply" that should have been disclosed when I asked about the property. Essentially they had me take time off of work to view a house that I never actually had a chance to rent. Very unprofessional and a gross waste of my time. I called back at the end of my lunch break to ask about another property that I had applied for, but I have yet to hear back. I decided to look up their reviews on yelp and I see mostly 1 star reviews with a couple 5 stars mixed in. Now I can see why. I would love to say that we dodged a bullet, but I really liked that house and I'm very disappointed. Needless to say, I doubt I will be using their services in the future. They lost out on 2 amazing tenants. read more

Why is zero stars not an option? DO NOT RENT HERE UNLESS YOU ARE OK WITHOUT ELECTRICITY AND YOUR SECURITY DEPOSIT GONE. First of all this company is so out right shady and takes advantage of first time renters (as most of their clientele are) that it is unbelievable. One of my friends had an opening in their house so I decided to move in with them at the beginning of a lease period. First of all the house was FAR from perfect, but it's a cute college house that has definitely seen wear and tear-normal for renting in slo area. First red flag should have been since not all the roommates would be moving they would not do a walk through for damages. They also wanted us to pay the old tenants that were moving out their security deposits in full instead of deducting problems and cleaning fees etc. One of the girls had a puppy that peed everywhere in the house, even though it is against the lease, the back door had holes in it from said dog, and there was extreme lack in repairs and maintenance. We sent pictures to Farrell Smyth to please do a walkthrough and readjust our payments for deposits. They said sorry this is not our problem it is in part of the contract. By this point it was verrrrry late to look for housing as the school year was approaching. We bit our tongue and paid out the old leasers' deposits. We were hoping we could just give the lease over as the unending cycle seems to go. We have been out of power off and on for the last TWO MONTHS!!! We call regularly they do not do anything. They sent people twice, nothing happens. THIS IS A FIRE HAZARD!! Come to the end of the school year they are evicting us for "remodeling the house" even though the next month they show the house to potential leasers. They also want us to professionally clean the house and I am sure they will be charging us outrageously for damages that we have proof for being there before we moved in. We took extensive pictures. I am definitely not your average college student, I am an OCD person so this house is regularly bleached down, vacuumed, and cleaned once a week. Planning on fighting this tooth and nail to get a deposit back. Small claims court here I come. PLEASE DO NOT RENT HERE. read more

Paddy Doron is an organized, knowledgeable agent who was a valuable partner in guiding me through the buying process. She showed me several properties within my price range and expectations. Her input on the pros and cons of each was very helpful. After submitting an offer and its acceptance, she introduced me to contractors to make upgrades that I wanted. I would highly recommend her. read more

People are desperate for work and rentals in SLO, everything is costly somehow, someway. I was a good tenant, paid on time, cleaned the woodwork better than the "professional" cleaning service to rid the smell of the apartment and gave them an early departure in the middle of the month. They could have had the dump ready for the next tenant in the time I left them. They follow the book and hold the security deposit for the 21 days and I was still responsible for the gas bill until "the end of the lease". We get what we pay for..... read more

Le Links to my Move-in Pixs: https://www.flickr.com/photos/133165906@N06/ I wish my camera was better so you can see the dust and cobwebs on the ceilings...but hope this helps BEWARE DO NOT RENT FROM THEM! i WISH i COULD GIVE THEM 0 STARS. i RECENTLY MOVED OUT OF A STUDIO I WAS RENTING FROM THEM. A charge of $387 was taken out of my $1000 Security deposit. That a very ridiculous fee for a studio that I lived in for only a year. I was charged 89 for carpet cleaning (oh you mean that little strip of carpet that is no more than 10x10 ?), 225 for cleaning, and 72 for janitorial fees. Let me break down how ridiculous they are... I was charged 225 for the cleaning. I understand that I have some responsibility to the cleaning fees but 225 for a studio is excessive. I left the unit in the same condition, if not better than what they gave me. (I will upload pictures for you guys to see the condition prior to me moving in, yes, that's how dirty their rentals are and yes they charge you that much to clean their S**T hole! oh yeah, I created a flickr account just to upload these pictures, so give me some props!) I was charged $55 (from the 72 dollars) for repairs to the walls for pin holes. Umm, did you say pin holes? can you see pin holes? how big are pins holes to be excessive enough to charge me $55 for repairs? On the summary sheet it said there were "23 in kitchen, 19 in dining, 47 in living room, 32 in bedroom, and 9 in bathroom". Okay let me get this straight. The little s**t hole of a studio i rented does not have a dining room or a bedroom, okay. The kitchen is at most 3 feet wide and maybe 10 feet long, and you're going to tell me there were 23 pin holes on the only wall in the kitchen? The 8x8 feet space that you call a bedroom (that little space with no doors or closet, that little space I use as a closet is apparently a room) has 32 pin holes? The problem i have with this charge is that: A) i noted on the move-in sheet that there were many holes and i listed where. (I don't think they even look at the move-in sheet, if they did, then you would see that i said there were many holes in your shack of a rental) and B) is it even appropriate to be charging 55 to repair pin holes? How the F**K do you repair pin holes? Like it takes that much effort and time to repair a 1mm hole. I do not expect them to refund me back any money I lost, and the reason I am writing this review at all is to warn future renters to stay away! I rather recommend living on campus or even another company to rent from. I understand that it's very difficult to find rentals in SLO, but remember don't be too desperate to rent from them. They make money by ripping off students and making false charges to security deposit. Think about it, why would their deposit be so ridiculously high so rentals that look like s**t? Also know your rights as a renter. This is what I sent them: Per section Civil Code Section 1950.5(b)(3) , "For cleaning the rental unit when the tenant moves out, but only to make the unit AS CLEAN AS it was when the tenant first moved in." I do assume some responsibility of the cost, but what you are charging is unreasonable. I believe Farrell should be responsible for half of the cleaning cost of 225.00 because the unit was not handed to me in a clean condition and I cannot be charged for in-excess for the cleaning of the unit fees. (These pics are uploaded to flickr for your judgement, but I sent it to them via email prior to the 3rd day of move-in). "Civil Code Section 1950.5(b)(3) the tenant is not responsible for damages resulting from normal wear and tear (Civil Code Section 1950.5(b),(e)), and the rental must, at a minimum, be fit to live in at the beginning of each tenancy (Civil Code Section 1941)." I believe that the charges of 55.00 for wall patching should be refunded because I had stated on the move-inspection sheet that there were small holes in the walls and the interpretation of "pin holes" do not qualify as in-excess or above and beyond "normal wear and tear". *****************UPDATE******************* So I emailed them to dispute some of the charges and they were able to refund me the $55 and half of the cleaning cost of $225. I guess something is better than nothing. Malissa told me that there were 70 other units whose lease was up on the exact day as mine (so I'm guessing that's why she didn't look at my move-in inspection sheet until I brought it up to her that I pretty much wrote down a lot of stuff). But I still wouldn't recommend them just because they make you pay for carpet cleaning (and for my studio it came out to $89) and pay for professional cleaning (came out to $225 for a studio). Those are just fees that you have to fork up on top of other miscellaneous fees they can come up with (like janitorial fees for patching up pin holes). read more

I am a very easy-going person. My roommates and I were clean and the definition of ideal college tenants. With all of that being said- FARRELL SMYTH IS THE WORST. Someone else said this in another post, but they are negligent and selfish. Our townhouse is in phenomenal condition, but they are still going to take away as much money as they can from our security deposit because they know they can walk all over us. PLEASE read the lease carefully. FS does not cover anything and is really just a scam. They have sucked so much money out of our pockets. Everything in the place would always break- everything is old and needs to be replaced by the landlord, but they would take it out of our pockets instead. They frame everything so that they are never in the wrong. Be stern and clear with them from the start- we really messed up by being too nice from the very beginning. They also give varying information depending on who you talk to no matter how many times you try to clarify. They don't return calls and they don't answer your questions. The only one that is helpful is the woman at the front desk. I would not recommend any college student using Farrell Smyth- they are the worst people I have ever had to deal with in all of my housing experiences. Rent from someone privately instead of this wretched place. read more

I am so grateful to Annette for holding my hand through the whole home-buying process in San Luis Obispo. From the day I landed here for my job interview in July 2014 to when I closed on my home in November 2014, she has been my friend and guide. Even before I moved here in September, Annette had started to find houses that met my criteria. And as my criteria evolved, so did her search. She never once lost her cool and composure while I would panic or change my mind. Her warm and personable demeanor is what every realtor should strive for! I was juggling a million things with my move from Texas to California and the new job. Annette took the stress out of buying a home here. Her intelligence, phenomenal work ethic, and experience come through in each conversation I've had with her. With her help, I was able to sell a home in New York, sell a home in Texas, and buy my dream home here in San Luis Obispo all in 2 months!!! I honestly don't know how many other people would be able to pull that off. She is truly one of a kind! read more

This is literally the worst property management company on the central coast. They lack concern and professionalism. I had an insurance claim, I believe the womans name was Sonia, you can look her up on their website, for my property I rented from them that they refused to process on time and when I inquired about its status was made to feel un important and not of value. Upon vacating they deducted several hundred dollars from my deposit, that were due to the damages of the property beyond by control. Do NOT rent or buy from these people. read more

Hands down the worst people I have ever dealt with in my life. I was moving to SLO and my friends had already had a house rented through Farrell Smyth. We had planned on re-renting the property with new room mates, because some where moving out and me and another person where moving in. All seemed to go well until Farrell Smyth decided to make a 4 bedroom house a 5 bedroom and charge 700 dollars extra. This was ridiculous as the previous lease had stated 4 bedroom and 700 dollars less then what they where asking. Clearly not happy with how they handled this, we decided not to re-rent with them. No where on the website do they say anything about an application fee or anything. I had planned on renting with them, but decided not to. When I asked for my deposit back that they needed immediately 3 months before the lease even started, they decided that some how taking 100 dollars out of the deposit was fare for the HORRIBLE service that they provided me. Clearly confused as to why I got 100$ less than what I sent them. They claimed "application fee" and have refused to return my emails. This company is terrible. They don't give a shit about you or anything, they only care about money. Worst experience trying to lease a house for a year. Honestly they all have alot of Karma coming their way. There is a nice place in hell for these people. read more

Our HOA signed with your Property Management Division effective March 1, 2014. I have contacted Cinde Christopherson/HOA property assistant in your office multiple times. We currently have an HOA president who is unresponsive to the questions and the needs of our association. I first started contacting Cindi, just as a homeowner, with many questions. Now I contact her as a board member (secretary eff 07/29/14). We have worked together to get the 2013 taxes ready to file. When I persued filling out the paperwork (form FTB 3500) for the state to have our HOA "CA tax free status" reinstated, she assisted. When I needed to find the enitity who actually had been doing our HOA taxes for the last several years, she provided a name and a web site. She always responds to my phone calls and my emails promptly. She is open to my suggestions and follows through with a response. Thank you Farrell Smyth for assisgning her to our HOA (Autumn Gardens/Arroyo Grande). We are a business as well as your company. It is appreciated when questions and answers can be done in a professional manner. Note: The reason for only four stars is that we have not completed a full year yet for full evaluation! read more