My sweet landlord contracted this company for the last 5 years that I have lived in an apartment managed by Makras. I do not recommend them to any owners looking to get efficient service to their tenants or properties. Over the several years that I lived in this apartment managed by Makras, responses usually took up more than a week to any emails or voicemails that were left for repairs for kitchen sinks, leaking from the rain on the back door, door repairs for doors that don't close, and keys for locks in an Edwardian home that used skeleton keys for the restroom and bathroom. When the building was being sold, the washing machine was full of quarters at and despite a dozen calls and emails, they did not remove the quarters from the machine for over 6 weeks, which was a violation of our lease and tenant rights. It took the real estate agent to be notified during the sale before they even removed the quarters. And when they did remove the quarters they did not notify any of the tenants. We had to email Viktor to ask in an email. I also had a unique breastfeeding shirt that was left in the washing machine that is now missing. The owners said that we should be receiving those quarters to replace the $10 I lose not realizing the machine was not working, but my shirt remains in the missing and we have yet to receive the quarters. Specifically we have been told to send emails to Maria for any building repairs. And in those last 5 weeks while the building was being sold I never received an email or call from her. I also had left messages on the general voicemail and for Viktor Makras and never received a call from him either. When finally someone did answer form reception, they told me to just email him or to leave a voicemail for him. And they said that the building was sold so it was none of their business anymore. read more

Makras Real Estate is a terrible company. I rented two apartments with them. For the first apartment, they changed the terms of the lease, removing yard access which was the whole reason I moved in since I have a dog. I had to negotiate for rent reduction, which was a small fraction of the rent. The landlord was nice and came by frequently, so I was able to talk with him about being let out of my lease if I found another place with a yard. I ended up finding a place with a yard also through Makras. The application process was easy since they already had my documents. I emailed with the leasing agent about having two dogs in the unit, and he approved. He noted "dog approved" on the lease. Then when I was fostering two puppies, VICTOR from Makras sent a letter in the mail saying there were complaints that I had three dogs. Luckily one was to be adopted that weekend, but I wrote an email to them that I was approved to have two dogs. A lengthy correspondence followed. VICTOR always sent a letter in the mail, a clear power play that only delayed the inevitable: I had an email stating that I could have two dogs and the note on the lease did not specify the number of dogs. Then when I moved out, they withheld a third of my security deposit for cleaning and painting. I emailed that the lease states that standard wear and tear should not be taken out of the security deposit. I also pointed out that the paint in the kitchen was peeled off by the trash can lid opening and closing and other simple things. One could literally scratch the wall and have paint come off. VICTOR MAKRAS sent back blurry pictures of the unit to prove that it was dirty. The pictures looked clean, and any dirt could not be seen due to the low quality of the pictures. Despite pointing these things out, Victor did not sway from his initial, WRONG decision not to return my security deposit in full. I DO NOT recommend working with this company. read more

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Makras is now handling our apartment building's maintenance; they've been doing a good job. Makras responded within a day and fixed a chirping carbon monoxide/smoke detector in my unit and recently changed out the fire hoses on every floor of the building, something that was done only a few short years ago. Proactive with maintenance and safety repairs, my only complaint is they've been cashing my rent checks early the past few months. Just because I'm conscientious and mail them early doesn't mean they should be cashed mid-month. read more

Terrible company. The leasing agent was fine but clearly did not know about the process and multiple times had to check in with a colleague and get back to me. The maintenance side is very slow, and the owner V. Makras is extremely rude and unethical. read more

People always find a reason to complain but not for me... they are always on top of things whenever we needed help. Very friendly guy that sold us the unit named Manoli and I only have good things to say about them! Don't forget they deal with a ton of locations in the Bay Area so give them a break! read more

This is a review regarding my experience with our realtor Shahin Garibaldi. My partner, small service dog and I have been renting for almost 3 years now. Never late on a payment, hardly ever ask for any work done (despite every apartment being updated, but ours) and we keep to ourselves. You would think that we are scum of the earth to Shahin. Every experience i've had with him he has been incredibly rude for no reason. Making snarky comments, constantly defensive when asked a question and a all over unpleasant person to be around and have to encounter. Was told that I needed to be home for a fire alarm test between the hours of 1pm and 3pm. Work would not let me off until 2, so I left a note on the door saying i'd be back 2:15. Theft is high in my building, so I wasn't going to leave my door unlocked all day, again I was AT WORK. My partner gets a call from Shahin at 1:20pm saying that if they couldn't get access to my unit in 20 minutes that he would fine me $1,000. I rushed home from my job, leaving my meeting early to find him and 4 men laughing at me, mocking the situation when they thought I wasn't in ear shot, asking me questions that had nothing to do with the situation at hand, but Shahin was the ringleader of most of it. A cop was even there for the situation and they were apologetic about the inconvenience. He said stuff like this happened all the time and not to sweat it. Not Shahin though, he made sure to belittle me as much as possible. Little did he know I just got back from a trip where my father passed away the day before. Shahin - I get needing to get a job done, but being a human still means something in this world. So no, I would not recommend this business. Sucks I love my neighbors so much or we would be out of here. read more

I moved into an apartment in SF and started feeling sick (sinuses and headaches) ​after a week or so. I suspected mold from past experiences with symptoms like that so did an at home mold test and it was positive. I contacted the agent and they responded quickly that they would send someone over to inspect. They sent over there generic maintenance guy who was unqualified for the task. He found nothing and did some cleaning as extra measure. I continued to feel sick and makras wouldn't handle it properly so I spent a lot of money on my own certified mold inspector who quickly identified the source of past water damage under the kitchen sink and found black mold. After all this and linger health effects they let me out of my lease finally. However, I never received an apology or even acknowledgement of the issue they merely said 'We understand that you are unhappy with the unit'.... I'm only giving two stars instead of one because they were quick to respond and did return my deposit without a fight. read more

Makras Real Estate - Mold sample results from behind wall in kitchen - Real Estate Services Near Me - San Francisco, California

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The leasing agent has been good, the person who handles rent payments OK. MAINTENANCE is HORRIBLE. The person who handles requests, Maria, is non-responsive at ALL. I called about being locked out and never even got a return call from the office. EVER. I moved into a NEWLY renovated unit that had paint chips on the walls and baseboards, scratches all over the bathroom tiles, mis-drilled holes in walls when they hung cabinets, floorboards that need repair that I cant get responses to, etc. Other tenants cant get any repairs done on their units either and two recently left stating that as one of the reasons why. Until they get new people in charge I would avoid this company. read more

My son rented from Makras from 2021-2023 in SF. His experience with the company was nothing but positive from beginning to end. Shon, the agent, was responsive to all our (he even responded to mine) texts and calls for the past two years. We had even contacted him on a weekend as much as we did not like to. Maria in Maintenance was helpful and repair requests were always addressed promptly. The service persons showed up as scheduled and were good. Lucia in Accounting addressed all his payment questions promptly. His security deposit was returned in less than 30 days without him having to inquire of its status. Manoli who handled the vacating process also made it easy and painless. Thank you Shon, Maria, Lucia and Manoli! My son was hoping to be able to rent from Makras again if they had a property he was looking for. This was his first apt rental experience in SF. His new rental/property management company has big shoes to fill! read more

Never live in their turk blvd location because they have mouse problem and wont do anything about it and ignore you with any type of problem that you have. I wish I can give negative reviews. read more

Awful awful awful! Completely unresponsive to multiple inquiries. Zero integrity and poor ethics. Avoid if you're a serious client.

Blatantly lied on a denial letter for renting an apartment, my "Credit History" being the reason. I checked my credit immediately after I get the letter, and they are all 710, 810, and 753 on the one that they used. If that is poor credit history, I don't know what they are talking about. Reading these other reviews, I am glad I didn't get them as a landlord. I am disabled and that is most likely why they denied my application. read more

I don't know why this business still exists. Look at the other reviews. The owner Victor apparently doesn't care about their review at all. I am not sure why they still have so many business with such a bad reputation. Friends, please think 10 times before working with them. Trust the other reviews, I assure you. I see a lot of similar patterns (compare to other reviews) when I work with him. He is so hard to reach via phone/email/text and he picks what he wants to answer. Also he easily gets angry and annoyed. read more

Everyone who works here is incompetent and unprofessional. Makras is such a pain to work for no reason at all. Do yourself a favor and stay as far away as possible from their rental properties. Packages are constantly stolen out of our building, and Makras refuses to do anything to make the building more secure. After over 2 years of having a broken front door that gets jammed and doesn't close all the way, it was finally replaced a few weeks ago. Victor and Shon are especially unhelpful and rude. Dealing with them is always a headache, and they dodge phone calls from their tenants in my experience. read more

We have rats in 2218 Baker bc of construction around the building and Makras is doing nothing about it. Multiple attempts to contact Makras about this have been made by multiple residence (we banded to voice collective concerns because that's how you have to treat these ppl if you want anything done). A week after emailing them to bring an exterminator to our unit (which they never did), a rat climbed into our bed. Repeat: A rat climbed into our bed. I emailed with URGENT in the sub, and got no response. I've sent subsequent emails and left vms. I could go on and on, but that sums it up. If you own a building and want to see it deteriorate, or are a resident looking for a beyond frustrating experience with a landlord who won't fix basics, then Makras is your team. read more

You are reading this review because you are either interested in doing business with Makras Real Estate, or you are currently dealing with the incompetence of either Judith, Maria, or Victor and are wondering "Am I the only one?". By skimming over the other reviews, it is obvious that you are not the only one, and that you should definitely stay away from Makras Real Estate. If you are still somehow on the fence and are a functioning member of society who values their time and money, please continue reading my experience and hopefully it will steer you away. If not, then I guess blithering idiots like to stay in packs, which must be why Judith, Maria, and Victor all work together. Of the various issues and unprofessionalism I have dealt with in my two year stay, this one sticks out. I had a very serious rodent issue (I was catching 2-4 mice a day) and they sent a third party exterminator to fix. That exterminator ripped up the obviously cheap kitchen flooring when he was moving the fridge to check behind it. I documented it, and reported it to Makras. The exterminators sent someone else out to attempt to fix the flooring but did a very poor job. I documented that as well and reported it. I continually emailed Victor to make sure he knew this was not my fault and to not take it out of my deposit. He was extremely vague in his replies and said he was still "looking into it." They also never fixed the rodent issue, I had to purchase steel wool and duct tape to stuff inside the heater vent and block access. Fast forward to me receiving my deposit back and they took out $500 for damages to the floor. I have contested it and of course they denied so now I am in the process of taking them to small claims court. As someone who has rented five apartments for the past 8 or so years, I cannot recommend enough that you absolutely stay as far away as possible from Victor Makras, Makras Real Estate, and the other incredibly unprofessional employees. read more

I personally had a much better experience with Makras than a lot of other reviewers, and I think that is for a few reasons: 1) A property manager lives in our building 2) My unit has its own floor, so less neighbor concerns & no shared hallways I have to be honest, it's not perfect. 1) My friends and I lived here for about 14 months, and the stove/oven didn't work for the majority of the time (6+ months). Eventually, they replaced the stove/oven altogether (you're welcome future tenants) 2) The dishwasher/disposal required a maintenance guy to come and fix multiple times. They didn't believe me when I continued to press them to look further (the first maintenance guy just cleaned out the disposal and called it quits). Eventually, the dishwasher/sink area caused a leak underneath our apartment and the neighbors downstairs got flooded! 3) It wasn't properly move in ready. Yes, it was clean and such, but it clearly was not professionally cleaned (or at least, not after all of the public viewings they had) and we needed maintenance the first week we moved in. Why? My shower/tub backed up the first day. They pulled out a shit ton of hair and the maintenance guy blamed me because it was long, black hair. Um, sir, I moved in yesterday. Oven was dirty. Balcony needed to be repaired two months after we moved in. 4) My closet doors never worked. Our screen door fell off at one point. The blinds did fall off. Microwave door was broken within the first month we moved in. Clearly, they just need to upgrade the unit. Ok, ok. Like I said, it wasn't perfect. I'm still giving them 3 stars because, despite our apartment's constant nagging - bc of said above - they remained professional. Sure, it wasn't as quickly as I would have preferred, but eventually...6-10 months later...it was resolved. Bonus: -My unit came w/ a parking spot and it was pretty secure/safe -Our lobby remained really clean when I was there -My neighbors were pretty nice :) read more

I will have to agree with many of the negative reviews here - so many are true. We rented a house from 2012-2017. Yes they are hard to talk to. Judith was the agent, was not enthusiastic in any way. But got the work done. Got us the lease and we moved in smoothly. Good thing the house was wonderful. The owners kept it cleaned and maintained and we had a great time living there. Not many problems but we did have plumbing issues. Malta's would have someone come out quickly. But there was also a time I had a plumber come to clear the toilet which I paid for and didn't bother with Makras. I got into an accident there, broke my foot, but didn't report or file a lawsuit. I did a lot of research and found that everything in the house was up to code, I just had a clumsy fall. Also one of our bikes got stolen during the time when the Sunset district had a rash of burglaries. Didn't report this either as it's a renter's thing. The house had a gate and it was as secure as it could be. The thief popped it though and got the bike behind the gate- nonetheless, we stopped leaving our things there. We had a minor rodent problem in the main living area, and it was also a big problem in the garage. I treated that house like it was mine. We made sure to the best of our capabilities to keep mice out of our living spaces. Move out was pretty smooth too, although they weren't happy with the cleaning we left. We hired a service but even they said some of the dirt were not removable off the carpet. Makras did have a calculation mistake when it came to the deposit return. But they were very quick to correct it and sent the rest of the balance right away. I guess because the house didn't have too many problems, there wasn't much of a need to keep calling them for anything. I just feel we got really lucky that we got that house when we did. (Tip: I wrote a personalized letter why we really needed the rental, despite that one of us had low credit) It enabled my family to grow, get into a great neighborhood school, and save up to eventually buy a house. For that - I am grateful to have had cross with Makras. read more

30 years in the real estate business and a commissioner of our city and Makras is still not responsible/ ethical enough to transfer Recology bills to his name when the place is left vacant after a tenant leaves. Essentially, Makras did not give a damn and tried to stiff me with the bill while putting his clients(home owners) at risk for a lien on their house. Makras also screwed the door shut, which provided access to the furnace and water heater, so neither one could be serviced!! I guess the reason was so we would not use the crawl space(already a junk yard and fire hazard) as storage. When asked how we could change the filter, the only response was that we were not allowed in the crawlspace. The result: Water heater exploded from rust --clearly never drained. The furnace filter was not able to be changed by the tenant, though Makras should be doing this. Makras clearly didn't even think of it since they do not give a crap about the home owners! They've been around long enough to know better! They also rented the place to us with a completely clogged filter that needed immediate replacement --its their responsibility to rent with a clean filter. Since we were blocked from having access to change the filter, this made our gas bills astronomically high and the furnace most likely cracked its heater core, since it seemed to have stopped working entirely. I'm sure this cost the home owner a years worth of rent to remedy. Watch your back if you do any business with Makras whether you are a tenant or home owner. read more

I would have given them ZERO stars but yelp requires at least one. I have had nothing but trouble with Makras Real Estate. Extreme degradation of service. Completely ignores tenant inquiries. Refuses to address safety and fire hazards. They will make your rental experience a living hell. Definitely read these reviews carefully and evaluate your rental options before engaging in a lease agreement with this agency. PRO TIP: Call the SF Dept. of Building Inspection if you need repairs or have any trouble with your rental. They are super helpful and will force this slumlord to provide the service your hard earned rent money pays for. For other issues, visit the San Francisco Tenants Union - It is free legal service and they will help you get to resolution. read more

Oh man, these people are crazy. They took over my building and I was soon privy to their total mess of management skill. Here's my makras top ten: 1. If you call the "24 hour emergency line" they give you a magnet for, you will get a cell phone for mr. makras himself indicating that you should call the office. You are warned that he does not check messages left on this line. Again I state, "24 hour emergency line!!!!" 2. When something fishy is going on up stairs and water starts streaming in your shower like a rain storm #1 will not be comforting to you 3. You will need to try and coordinate with a very thick-accented and rude repairman who will come to the house only to tell you that the people above you (who are leaking into you) are not home and that he does not have the key. The next visit he will tell you that he can't talk to them because they don't speak English, and be unable to fix the problem again. He will then make very racists comments about Chinese people. 4. It will take about 3 days to get your hot water heater fixed. 5. You will leave several messages about how water has seeped into your kitchen because it sat in the ceiling for so long, nothing will happen. You will lose much of your food in the kitchen because you aren't sure if the water streaming from the sky was once inside a toilet above you. 6. Your rent will go up 7. You will be yelled at when you call about anything 8. the office staff will make you want to kill someone because it is not possible that people providing customer service can be so rude 9. After living with them for a year they will send you "late fee" notices indicating you were late on your rent for some dates over a year ago and now owe huge late fees (approx $1000). Even if you did owe late fees the fee amount is 4x the amount your original lease states. When you point this out they tell you you don't understand the lease. 10. Following your visit to the Tenant Rights folks and a stern letter along with a copy of your original lease and copies of cancelled checks you will walk away paying nothing, for doing nothing wrong. Beware is all I can say. It took them a year after we moved out to stop sending us notices about repair people entering the building. I don't think their record keeping is very good. read more

I lived at 3615 Taraval from 12/20 - 2/22. Very poor RE Management company. Apartment flooded multiple times with no repairs. Multiple repair requests filed with no follow ups. Heavy mold issues in the walls from the upstairs apartment leaking. Avoid this company at all costs. read more

We've rented an apartment through Makras for two years. During that time we've had a number of problems (some emergency some not) that they have completely ignored, despite our many phone calls. When I do manage to get through to them they are totally dismissive and will do the absolute least they can to try to get me off the phone. One such incident dragged on for many months and ended up with me filing a complaint about them to the local courts, with the help of the Tenants Union. Makras offered us a large out of court settlement so that they could avoid the incident appearing on their record. If they had just sent a plumber out when I first called it all could've been avoided. I strongly do not recommend dealing with Makras if you can help it. read more

Honestly my time dealing with this company has been nothing short of being waterboarded.

Similar to everyone else on here... throwing in my two cents that they are absolutely horrible. I was renting a garage for about 5 years, and just recently gave it up. The garage was dirty, plants and weeds growing everywhere, the door broke quite often, and when it rained, the whole area would flood - I'm talking inches of dirty water. I mentioned all this to them of course, but unsurprisingly, very little was ever done. Now, they won't send me my deposit back. I've been dealing with Lucia and Manoli. I did everything they asked and they even have the gaul to write a letter staying I owe them more rent? Get your books in order Makras. Just another scumbag SF property owner. read more

I moved out of my Makras managed building in 2014. Over the last 6+ years, I have fielded calls from random maintenance folks who have been trying to get into my old unit to fix stuff. I called and emailed Victor numerous times over the years about this and he assured me that it wouldn't happen again - but it never stopped. Yesterday, some d-bag named Matt from Makras calls me up with an attitude and asks if the black Benz parked in the garage is mine because he's trying to show one of the empty units and would appreciate it if I didn't park there. Need to unpack this a bit. 1. I do not have a black Benz 2. I haven't lived in the damn building for YEARS 3. Why are you still calling me if Victor told me they'd stop!! I've tried to be patient with these guys, but they are terrible. If they are making this former tenant this angry, I wonder what it's like to be a current one? read more

My girlfriend and I applied with a Guarantor so as to satisfy the 3x rent and above because we loved the space so much, and we received a letter in the mail declaring that our income to rent ratio and credit did not satisfy the requirements. However, we do satisfy them with a Guarantor (which we were told was fine to have) and our credit is and has always been great. They must not have liked how we had a Guarantor and chose not to be honest with us. read more

I rent an apartment that is managed by Makras. I have to say that they don't care about tenants' most basic needs (like hot water, mail, garbage pickup, working laundry machines, elevator maintenance and security). I've had issues with all of those in the short time I've been renting. I dread having to call the office because often it's a rude person on the other end, like Maria. For the insanely high rent that I'm being charged, I would think that I could get my mail and have my garbage picked up on a regular basis! I also found out that the security cameras are fake and don't record anything. Would have been useful for the multiple times our mail has been stolen (because they're stupidly located outside the building) and the two times our garage has been broken into. The garbage room is overflowing and is a hazard--this happens on a regular basis. One of the worst experiences I've ever had with a management company renting in SF. I own a condo myself that I rent and know what a good property management company should be like--this ain't it. read more

We have been renting from Makras for 3 years and they are the worst management company I've ever dealt with. A few examples: - Their 24/7 hr "emergency" hotline is in fact, not 24/7. It takes days or weeks for them to respond to emergency maintenance requests. - There is a rat problem in our building, and we often find dead rats trapped, or laying in a pool of their own blood. - We had a mold problem in our bathroom that took Makras 2 months to fix (they only took action after we filed a complaint with the city). - The front gate of our apartment is always broken (does not close properly) and they refuse to fix it. Tenants have resorted to doing their own DIY maintenance on the gate. - There aren't enough recycling or garbage bins for the number of tenants in the building, so the trash is always overflowing and Recology often refuses the bins as a result. - On multiple occasions they have shut off our water for maintenance or remodeling work on other units without giving us the legally required notice (or any notice, for that matter). - Everyone who works at the office is rude and dismissive. read more

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Sheila was excellent in helping us lease our place. She was on time for the viewing and helped with all of our paperwork. A polite and professional attitude made her a pleasure to work with. Still unsure about the rest of Makras management as we have only recently moved in, but will update my post in a few months. Update 5/29/18: Have lived here for just over a year now and have to say we are pleased with Makras and their management team. Victor has been helpful and any repairs or issues have been resolved promptly. I email him directly whenever we need anything. I'm always polite and respectful and he's responsive. Disappointed that we recently discovered our upstairs neighbors pay $1000 less a month for the exact same apartment layout as ours(4 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms) and a top floor unit. I felt really deceived when I learned this and asked Makras to lower/ match our rent to which they replied that they would not. read more

If possible, I recommend you do not engage in any sort of relationship with Makras real estate company. There is really no circumstance under which I can imagine a situation that merits dealing with them. Doing so will certainly save you a great deal of hardship, stress, and time. I have been leasing from Makras since March 2015. Everything was fine in the beginning, they run smoothly for the bare bones. If you pay rent on time, there are no issues. However, the problem arises whenever you realize that you need a landlord for many things such as routine maintenance. For example, did you know you are entitled to a working fire extinguisher on the premises? And two methods of escape in case of fire? Well, you wouldn't know it living on a Makras managed property. They do not handle maintenance at all. I have contacted them numerous times regarding routine maintenance and each and every time it has been a challenge to a) get ahold of someone, b) get something scheduled, and c) get something done. Calling Maria is a terrifying ordeal considering she sounds ready to bite your head off. Additionally, why do they still take manual maintenance requests? They could really utilize a technology facelift. That was the beginning. Over time they have become increasingly more unresponsive. Especially once I educated myself more about renters rights in San Francisco and began to reference specific building codes. I engaged in email correspondence for a while with Shon, who was helpful, but eventually referred me to Victor Makras, the owner. He refused to email me back and would instead reply by handwritten letter, often taking 2 weeks to reply to an email. Eventually, he simply stopped responding. I began requesting assistance for normal household repairs in November 2016. It is now March 2017 and they have still gone unanswered and unrepaired. I called several times requesting an in person meeting and have never heard back. They even misspelled my name on their most recent letter to me. Not significant, just an exemplification of how their business is run. Overall, my experience may not convince you but I believe that over the past 2 years I have been exposed to a pattern, based upon my own experiences, my neighbors, and what I have heard from the various contractors hired by Makras. This is a pattern of consistent neglect, bred by incompetence and apathy. Makras is a company that understands it holds leverage and power over its tenants, that because it rents affordable housing many of its tenants don't have the time, energy, or perhaps even awareness of their rights to demand suitable living conditions. For this reason, I urge you to either a) stay away, or, b) rent from them and follow the channels set up by the San Francisco Housing Board to mediate disputes between landlords and their tenants to fight this injustice. Resist. Persist. read more

I am seconding the sentiments of other reviewers that have previewed the leasing process. My boyfriend and I viewed a beautiful unit with Judy and within two hours of viewing the unit we submitted our applications to Judy. We never received a response, no confirmation of receipt, nothing. However, we waited a few days and naturally I followed up on the following Monday. No response. Fearful that Judy had not received our applications (which contained sensitive information IE SSN) my boyfriend then sent our application materials to the owner, Victor. Again, no response. We followed up again a few days later. No response. My boyfriend then called the office and spoke to the receptionist who confirmed that yes, the unit was available, but Judy and Victor had already left for the day -- AT THREE PM. He left a voice message with Victor and we have for the past week been trying to get in touch with them. Still, no response. Incredibly unprofessional. If this is any indication of what renting with this company is like, I would stay far away. Interestingly, they have posted on their website an ethics policy. Given the unprofessionalism they have demonstrated with me, they are NOT following their own ethics guidelines. I am confident the City would be furious to know that they are ignoring rental applicants in a housing shortage and I am fairly confident that there are more violations with the Fair Housing Act. In short, don't waste your time and stay away. It's really not worth the time and effort. And, it sounds like renting with them is a nightmare. read more

Have lived in an apartment managed by Makras for a little over a year. I've lived in a number of apartments, in and out of San Francisco, and Makras is by far one of the worst management companies. They don't really care about their customers. I've had my front door knob fall off a few times. It once happened on a Friday afternoon and the woman I talked to tried to push the date of it being fixed to Monday, saying they couldn't get someone out to fix it. I wasn't having it, since I couldn't get out my door. She eventually folded and had someone come out. The heaters in the apartment have stopped working at least a dozen times. They usually take a few days to a week to fix it. It reached below 60 at one point. The 24-hour emergency line goes to a voicemail. I've never had Maria, who is in charge of the line, answer it directly. Usually takes her over a day to respond. I've had to wait until the next morning to call the main office, and many times never heard back from Maria. Maria has been, by far, the worst help. She usually sounds annoyed, doesn't offer any real help, when she does she doesn't give any indication when things will get fixed. She has yelled at my neighbor over the phone. One of two washing machines in the building stopped working, only because it was full of quarters. It took them a couple days to come out and sort out the issue. Heaters and light fixtures were not cleaned before I moved in. I figured they would have been cleaned. Makras refused to clean them. Makras is legally obligated to give proper notice before entering. Once, when the heat was out and they gave us space heaters (which is also not a legal substitute), they entered my apartment to leave the heaters. While I was not home, with no notice. The other apartments in my building have dish washers and other basic features in the kitchen. Makras had redone my apartment before I moved in. After talking with neighbors I'm pretty sure they simply ripped out any appliances and features in the kitchen, that were older, instead of replacing them. They have told me several times that any routine maintenance, like fixing a leaking pike, would be charged to my name. At one point the main fire alarm in the building went off early in the morning. The entire apartment was calling the emergency number. We never got an answer. Our building has complained about a number of things, and Makras has only been difficult and avoided being of any help. I'd suggest never renting from them. read more

The worst building management company I've ever had the misfortune of knowing. I signed a lease with three housemates, and Shiela Hagen looked us straight in the eyes and lied to us about the terms. Now, a year after I've moved out, they still refuse to take my name off the lease and put the new tenant on. Also, they claim there is a loophole that makes our building not covered by SF annual rental increase laws. They raised our rent every year by 2-3 times the city's maximum ammount. They are unresponsive to building maintenance issues. If I'd known what dirtbags they would turn out to be, I would have kept looking until I found another apartment. My advice to anyone considering signing a lease with Makras: Don't do it. read more

My roommate and I just moved to San Francisco and we are enjoying the city so far. Unfortunately, Makras has been one of the few sour experiences we have had here. The Agent from Makras who helped us was good, but it ends there. Upon moving into our apartment, a window that needed to be replaced was completely missing, the kitchen was covered in saw dust, lights weren't working, finger prints were all over the apartment, and the toilet was running. The apartment wasn't ready. Our mail key didn't work either. That took only three weeks to get sorted out. It's been almost a month since we've moved in and not much has been fixed. Now that it's getting colder, we've come to realize the heat isn't working either. We put in an emergency call over the weekend to "Victor" who told us first that our fire place was our source of heat (a lie). He then he told us he would send someone over first thing Monday (never happened). When my roommate asked if he could get any help over the phone, our friend Victor was extremely rude. I called Makras today and was put in touch with another lady who was rude and unconcerned with our plight. We've been told she was going to contact the proper people. This place is terrible... Update: It's been a couple of months and our heat now will not come down from 80 degrees....it's still broken. It turns out Victor is the owner of Makras. Hence the bad service all around...it starts at the top. read more

My review strictly has to do with the leasing process while working with Judy (Judith). I found it odd that there were so many negative reviews while working with her as she was incredibly kind and efficient. I went in to grab the keys to go show myself the apartment (I'm not incompetent - I know how to tour an apartment by myself - I don't need a leasing agent to show me around room by room). When I went back to return the keys, I told Judy I was interested and wanted to move forward - she gave me the application, I sent it back to her within an hour, and that night she had emailed me back saying I was approved. This was a way faster process than any other company or landlord I've worked with in SF. Additionally, the apartment was available for move-in that day, but I didn't want to move for a couple of weeks - Judy changed the lease so that it started 2 weeks from that day, which helped me out financially (and stress wise). The actual lease signing process was relaxed as well. I haven't yet moved into the apartment, and there were 2 fixes that needed to be done before I moved in. I will update this review in a month or so after working with them as property managers. read more

I am not at all surprised by the reviews of Makras Real Estate on Yelp. Based off the discrepancy of 1 and 5 star reviews, I conclude that there is an obvious trend: Buyers get treated like VIPs, and renters get kicked to the curbs of the Tenderloin. Ever since my apartment changed property management companies, everything went down hill. Renters in my complex (we all exchange information) synonymously agree and have many complaints of their own. (False late rent payments, miscalculated returns, unreturned phone calls about emergencies, etc.) 1.) Rent went up 10%. In this economy, renting prices are decreasing and many of my friends are successfully able to negotiate down their rent. My roommate and I did research about apartment prices in this neighborhood and we are definitely being overcharged by $300 - $400 each per month. We compiled a folder of apartments in our neighborhood with similar amenities, wrote a letter to negotiate down the rent under the condition that we continue being long-term tenants who pay rent on time. Victor Makras immediately responded that "based off research, our apartment is competitively priced in your neighborhood." I highly doubt that Victor even conducted research. Why? Read on. 2.) The "Emergency Line" never picks up and takes several days to get back to you 3.) Letters are always addressed to the wrong unit apartment and contains other innacurate information (wrong dates, wrong numbers, even wrong names) 4.) When you finally do get a hold of someone on the phone, they are never willing to help you. For instance: a. I dropped my keys in the elevator one night. They told me it was not their issue and to call the elevator number - guess where? In the elevator. b. One morning there was construction being done, and the pipes broke. The entire complex's water turned off. A woman with a thick accent picked up and said, "Call the Water Department." I firmly told her that the entire complex had their water turned off, and it was their responsibility as property managers to handle that immediately. 5.) When your washing machine breaks or your bathroom is leaking, they send a maintenance guy who barely speaks English and refuses to come after business hours when most of us are only available after work. There are so many more incidents that occurred, this is only the tip of the ice berg. Bottom line: Makras Real Estate is unprofessional, untimely, and never willing to help their tenants. Save yourself the time, energy, and your money by taking your business elsewhere. read more

The list is so long... I'm not sure where to begin. Maybe I should start with Maria. She's the lady you get to talk to when anything goes wrong with your apartment. Maria is a total bitch. Unfucking believable that someone who's the first point of contact for your customers could be that rude, not once, but EVERY time you call. Or maybe I should start with the time I tried to get personal property insurance. It's pretty standard, you need some basic info like, when the building was constructed, what sort of pipes you have, square footage, standard stuff. It took me THREE months, of calling weekly, and eventually daily, to Mr. Viktor Makras himself, before I finally got answer to my questions. Guess what my answers were? We don't know. We don't know the square footage of this building we own. We don't know what sort of pipes you have. Shady? Ya think? Unfucking believable. Or maybe... maybe I should start with the garage incident. They put in a new garage door, and gave everyone new keys. My key did not work. Maria (naturally) told me, I had to go across town (from Russian hill to Noe) to get a new key. They fuck up, and I have to deal with it???? Or maybe I should start with the fact that, if my building is any indication, their properties are total shit holes that they do next to, if not nothing, to maintain. The list goes on and an and on.... Save yourself a whole lot of frustration and avoid Makras at all costs. read more

I have been renting a home for 5 years this December from my landlord "directly" and we had a good landlord/tenant relationship. It has been a great 5 years with many great memories for my family. She allowed us to make upgrades to her home (when we got it - it was in bad shape) I painted all the walls myself, put in a pedestal sink in the outdated bathroom, put up all new curtains and blinds as all hers where from the 70s, put pavers in the back yard, painted the kitchen cabinets (they were so nasty) pulled out all the appliances and cleaned underneath from years of dirt. We have made her home a better place. We have the original windows which are paper thin and generates a$250 PG&E bill each month. We requested that she allow us to put cheep carpet in back in 2009 and in 2012 we picked out the paint for the house and paid the contractor directly to paint with her permission. She has raised our rent only $200.00 in that time and that was a verbal agreement made 4/2012. We never called our landlord expecting her to do any maintenance as we did everything ourselves. I expected a substantial raise as soon as she hired a property management company as she said she was traveling so she did want to worry about collecting rent. We were introduced to Makras Real Estate by mail ONLY with a LETTER and what a first impression they made. We were caught off guard with a this strange letter stating that we were to make payments to them and it had our names on it and some other address. We contacted them and our landlord asking what was going on? Makras said, "oh, we made a mistake" and let us know we were in fact to start paying rent to them and not our landlords bank account anymore. So the first month we make payment on the 10th as we had been doing for years. Then we get a letter on the 15th asking for a $250 late fee. I then contact the office and let them know our due date is 10th. I then received another LETTER with my lease contact from 12/2008 highlighting that my due date is the 1st and my rent is $200 less. I then write a email and letter back saying if we are going by the lease agreement and changing by due date back to the first then my rent is $200 cheaper as the lease states. The rent increase was a verbal agreement and nothing was in writing because that was the kind of relationship I had with my landlord. Needless to say, they now accept the rent on the 10th as it always was and I still continue to pay the extra $200.00 above what the lease states. So the next month I mail my payment in and they received it earlier than the due date and process it even though my check is dated the 10th. That action causes me an overdraft charge...I contact someone in the office and she apologizes. Then Mr. Makras writes me another LETTER basically stating nobody gives a sh** and it's not our problem. So now , my husband spends his lunch break and drives from Pacifica to drop off our rent on the 10th so that doesn't happen again. When he arrives at the small, old outdated office they all have their lunch sitting on their desks. What a nice professional touch for a business! Again, another bad impression! This week we received YET ANOTHER LETTER and this one is a rent increase for $800.00 effective 12/1/2013. Imagine the horror as every time we open a piece of mail from them it is some demand and a negative experience. This real estate group does not reach out and communicate to their residents other than by mail. My experience with their office is left a bad taste in month. I have been in property management for over 13 years and worked at communities as large as 950 apartment homes. This company is unprofessional and simply writes letters with no real communication with its residents as they represent the landlord only. This is not a win-win for each person. This is a win for them and lose for us! Since I'm in the industry, it just reminds me to keep treating my residents with value even while making profits for my owners! I can manage both! In thirteen years in property management never once have we raised anyone's rent $800.00! I wish my real landlord had called me and talked to me and we could have worked out her needs and mine to make it a win-win. I would have respected that and respected that she wants $800 more if I had been treated with respect and talked to like a person instead of receiving a nasty gram. read more

A friend of mine moved into a 2bd2ba in feb 2017, at first it was great they seem attentive and helpful in the beginning stages of the lease. The unit was okay for the price we were paying, however the service and communication were shoddy. We had a pest problem to which we contacted the office and they sent someone to take care of it. After the first "fix" the exterminator who set up bait traps behind the fridge tore up the linoleum at the base of the refrigerator. Not only that we continued to see mice and other pests. We sent an email with or concerns that the issue wasn't fixed and another issue had risen because of the exterminators they chose. They were very last minute in letting us know when another person could patch up the floor and work on the main issue. When someone came to patch up the floor and check on the bait behind the fridge, he must have forgot to have the adhesive dry and when pushing back the fridge it re-tore the flooring. We continued to email the office and received no reply, while constantly checking this would not affect our deposit. You could guess by the 1star review that of course they charged us for it. After stating that we've attempted to contact and rectify the issue they dismissed the idea that it was not our fault. Avoid this place. They are terrible with communication, and are purposely vague in their responses. If you do intend to use them I highly suggest you document everything. read more