We lived in a Mercer rented property for a little over a year. Overall I would say that the experience was positive. Communication could sometimes be a little slow when they were busy but we never had any issues otherwise. Why I love them: We were renters for about 10 years and would meticulously clean our place each time we moved. No matter what we were always hit with a super high cleaning fee. Most property management companies put it in the fine print that this cleaning fee will be taken out of your security deposit regardless of the condition of your place. This was the first time we vacated a property and were charged a lite cleaning fee of $150 - this is how it should be done!! We didn't feel taken advantage of at all. Additionally, we broke our lease early and they were able to find someone else to take it over within 2 months... during Covid lockdowns. Pretty impressive considering the environment. read more

I was interested in renting a certain apartment but there were problems with both of the vintage climate control units. The one in the bedroom vibrated the entire wall, but it did produce heat and cool. The one in the living room did not vibrate that way, but did not produce any cold air. So I called Mercer properties and they told me how difficult it would be for them to look into the situation, and that maintenance had signed off on them so they must be OK. I would stay away from this company. read more

tried to schedule a tour to see an apartment (requested a tour on zillow, emailed them, called them multiple times) and they never followed through on scheduling a tour even though the whole time no one had put down a deposit on the unit. their lack of responsiveness to 5+ follow ups is a red flag, watch out! read more

If you are interested in a property, they make you pay for a self guided tour then act annoyed when you want to speak to the property manager to ask questions before paying for and submitting an application. I spent well over a week calling them every other day (during which the receptionist confirmed that it was still available) and emailing them only to be told that they decided to go with another application. The lack of customer service made me thankful I dodged a bullet with them, hopefully it was just this specific property manager that was like this, and there are more communicative ones within the company. read more

I put a work order for a door that was broken before we moved in. It was never fixed or addressed after I followed up. They charged us upon vacating for the damaged caused for something we did not do. The floor had one scratch and they charged us $2700. Avoid these people. Crooks! read more

In what world does a company charge $5 to schedule a self-guided tour for the rental property? Uploaded documents to prove income and was excited to check out the space, only to get a snapshot into Mercer practices by getting charged for services, prior to submitting an application. It's the principle that gets people upset - Not the monetary cost of $5. From the looks of the reviews, looks to be on-brand. Glad we're looking into other options. read more

I had a great experience with Barbara and Kelli. Their professionalism and process with finding reliable tenants exceeded my expectations. Highly recommend! read more

See all

Mercer Properties was terminated from providing services at our apartment building. The incumbent company provided a much higher level of service, were friendly and professional. I subsequently received a response to the post that "while we don't agree with everything you mentioned..." nothing will happen to the aforementioned KC Chandler as she shares the same last name as the Broker of Record at the company. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. Read through my entire original post (below) for more info. -------- KC Chandler is the worst property manager I have ever dealt with. She is rude, lacks respect for others, has low emotional intelligence, is demeaning and demanding. This is consistent behavior directed not only at me, but my neighbors in the building. As a direct result of this, Mercer Property Management was fired after only two years managing our apartment complex. I learned that this individual is an extended family member of the business owner which would explain her demeanor and lack of people skills. She manages her staff with an iron fist and does not delegate decision-making. Below are specifics and you will read not only my interactions, but my neighbors experiences, below. Mercer Properties itself, overall, had a good staff and system in place. KC Chandler, only followed up on matters with me/us when SHE wanted something from the residents. I live in an older, smaller apartment building in San Diego. The neighbors were courteous and friendly. Here is a recap of my experience and further details: * Signup and Tour: was able to do the application on-line via their portal, and get approved. I will give the company kudos for that. However....when it came time to view the unit, only virtual tours were allowed and this was after the pandemic. Entry was via a lockbox. I could not enter it as the code was wrong. I called KC's cell phone on that Saturday, and it rolled to an offsite worker. They could not get a hold of her (of course), so I wound up peeking through the window to get a look at the place. I was desperate to get a place so...get this...KC approved my application before I was able to produce a final written offer of employment at the new job. Meaning she was after the money. * Portal: the portal is useful, but Mercer tacks on the fees for making rent payments on-line. Debit Card Fee is $9.99 and a Credit Card is an OUTAGEOUS 3.9%, an E-Check is $2.49 to pay rent that they pass on to the residents. One of my neighbors paid via US Mail but I could not trust this company to process in a timely manner. The new property management company does not charge anything for paying on-line. * Increase Costs for Residents: discussions with neighbors indicated they passed along not only the aforementioned costs of doing the portal transactions, but they started charging for water and sewer to the residents after Mercer Properties took over. * Additional Requested Rent Payment: after their contract was terminated, they tried to bill me for the next month's rent. When I pointed this out, there was a back-and-forth between me and KC. She insisted she e-mailed me back on the matter, but there was no time/date stamp on the "sent" e-mail. * Work Orders: plumbing issue with my unit and I clearly stated on the request that the plumber enter the building on their own, and gave permission to do so. As a courtesy, I followed up with Mercer Property Management, and KC Chander demanded that I contact the plumber to arrange entry. She told me I had to call them myself and refused to do that as part of their duties. This is inconsistent with other repairs that were done at the property. * Safety Issues: they removed the sign from out front of the property and left a gigantic hole in the ground from the post. Conclusion: STAY AWAY from this company! read more

This is going to be a long review but I believe everyone should know what they're getting into before working with this company. *Please note the situations have been resolved after 4 painful months of trying to work with this property management company. *To sum for those who do not want a long read: Mercer Properties lost 500 dollars of mine, even after I provided bank statements/bank confirmation, broke THREE laws in regards to tenant rights in California regarding my move-out process, degraded and yelled at me over the phone, and is impossible to get into contact with; even in the case of emergency. I rented from Mercer Properties for a year. I lived in a small studio in La Mesa. Initially upon move-in, there was no walk-through inspection done with me by anyone in the management company. Huge red flag. Immediately I noticed the house was not level with the ground, leaving gaps that bugs would frequently come through. Before I moved in, I notified Keila that I had a cat. When I applied, I was told there was a 500 dollar pet deposit for cats, and 1,000 dollar deposit for dogs. My pet was approved, and I paid 500 dollars along with all my move-in fees. When I moved out, my pet deposit was not returned to me. There was no pet related damages deducted from my security deposit, and it is illegal in California to have non-refundable pet deposits. When speaking with Kelli about this, as one of the many things that were illegal with my move out process; Kelli stated they "couldn't see" my deposit in my tenant ledger. When I provided bank statements, and offered a call with my bank/written proof, I was ignored and told the situation would not be resolved. Besides all of the sketchy and illegal practices, the worst flaw of Mercer Properties is their communication. It takes days to hear back on any communication channel. One of these instances, my house FLOODED due to a backed up main-line. It took 3 whole days for Mercer Properties to send maintenance even though I frequently called and said it was an emergency because there was water trapped underneath my floorboards, and sewage water coming out of my sinks and shower. Everytime I called I was met with attitude. After maintenance finally came out, I was charged for this; solely because the main-line was on my property. Even though 2 other houses used it. No other tenant was charged. To get into the sketchy aspects of this company, and the times they broke the law is a lot; but I will sum it up as best as I can. In California, if a tenant requests a move-out pre-inspection, the landlord/management company is required to provide one. I was denied and blatantly ignored in my multiple requests/ asking to reschedule. This company charged me for all my utilities after I moved out even though it is stated in my lease MULTIPLE times that if I am being charged for utilities, I am to receive a monthly bill. (Also illegal in California...) I sent a formal grievance letter to address these issues before having to go to small claims court over these law violations, and was degraded and yelled at on the phone by Kelli. I gave written notice, proof for all my claims, and provided the civil codes for every individual law infraction, and was horribly treated. I begged to settle this at the lowest level. After 2700 of a security deposit, for a place that only had a rent of 1800, my first check was 9.00 due to them charging for utilities and not notifying me. I called, discussed everything with Kelli and she told me even though they BROKE THE LAW, that the owner "would not accept" me not paying for utilities when I lived there. I told her I would pay last month as a compromise, and she argued with me for 6 minutes saying I should pay at least half of the expenses. I told her if my solution was not honored, we would be going to court. Please keep in mind, I began my move-out process July 19th 2022. My final day was August 27th 2022. This "resolution" was reached with Mercer Properties on October 7th 2022. To conclude, this is an incredibly sketchy company to rent from/do business with. They will not respond to you. They will lose your money. They will degrade and yell at you over the phone. The worst possible experience you could have. I do not write reviews, but I genuinely would recommend finding a business that cares about what they do and doesn't scam their tenants. read more

I debated about writing a review on my experience with Mercer, so I will keep it short. If the VP of a company has to call an applicant to cover up a lie from her own Operations Manager regarding an application and/or protocol they up hold, that is a company that does an extreme injustice to the San Diego community. I highly suggest you pursue other options when renting a home for your family in San Diego County. read more

Prepare to have your rent increased the max 10 percent..EVERY SINGLE YEAR. In our case, that would be an increase of $600 in 2 years! Would never rent from them again. read more

Absolutely the WORST rental management company in San Diego. They are dishonest. They are scammers. They have a horrible front office and the owner is not a good person. Read the rest of their bad reviews on here, it says it all. By the way, while there are many bad reviews for Mercer already on Yelp, I firmly believe they pay to have many of the other bad reviews removed. And the good must be from their employees. STAY AWAY! FAR AWAY! read more

I was unable to complete the online form to do a self tour of a property I was looking to rent so they asked that I EMAIL them my CREDIT CARD NUMBER & SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER in addition to the standard name, phone number, address, driver's license. Thank you but no.. Kelli, your staff said unequivocally that I needed to email my credit card number, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER and a picture of my ID in addition to address, phone and name. If they said anything different they aren't owning up to it or you aren't owning up to poor training. You're just a property mgmt. company and there's no way you can guarantee my information will stay secure in your email system. There has to be a better way especially since I can't see how you expect to recover damages from someone with an unexpired DL if you don't get their CC, too. Your less than positive reviews from tenants and property owners make sense considering how everything went from the start with your staff. I feel like I dodged a bullet. read more

The rental management side of this business is extremely unprofessional, shady, and incompetent. During the 3+ years we used them to manage our property in Kensington, there were far too many mistakes, problems and failures on their part to list here. I could not wait for our contract to end so I could be rid of them. With so many reputable property management companies in San Diego to choose from, I would heed all the bad reviews and avoid Mercer. I wish I had! read more

What can I say that hasn't already been said on here about this family company. One thing I can say is that I waited to post this until my deposit was back in my account because this family and company lost my trust immediately after moving in. They lack personal responsibility. After all the fuck-ups there are two words me nor my neighbors ever heard from this family: I apologize. These words do not exist in their vocabulary. My experience taught me that in that company, no one can do any wrong because they are family. These units were brand new when we moved in. The expectation is, they are in impeccable condition and move-in ready. I move in and begin unpacking my closet boxes. The closet racks fully collapse on me because it was poorly installed. The power outlet in the bathroom wasn't working. The water in the shower wasn't heating. And the flooring between the kitchen and the bedroom had a huge hole underneath which is a tripping hazard. When you step over that section, your heel sinks into the hole. My unit was connected to one other unit and my bedroom wall was the wall we had in common, which was connected to their bedroom wall. The wall we share is SO THIN, I could hear their conversations. I could hear when a person coughed, flushed the toilet, had sex. EVERYTHING. I specifically chose this place because I have a large SUV that requires assigned parking. I moved in 2 weeks earlier bc when I went to the open house, the property owner pressured me to move in 2 weeks earlier than I wanted because "the property was ready for move-in." I paid rent in two places for 2 weeks for a property that wasn't ready. They took close to a month to provide the assigned parking. Once it WAS ready, I had to email them multiple times to actually get the parking assigned. Some people renting had multiple cars, and after a while, everyone started parking their multiple cars wherever which left some of us parking on the curb. I emailed them. They sent out ONE email...letting us know parking was assigned. Zero towing number, deadline. The kicker to the story is that they assigned the WALKING ENTRANCE to me. The piece of concrete that is not large enough for a car to park, that is meant to be an entrance, was assigned to me. I'm not joking. So I had to email again. They sent out a 2nd email saying the other was email incorrect and now there are new assignments. Zero apology or implication of accountability to me or to anyone else. I guess they assumed everyone checks their email multiple times a day because they did nothing more to enforce parking. You would think they would send out a letter. Or print the email and tape it to the entrance door...nothing. Which means that no one actually got the memo for a while about either emails. No joke, I LITERALLY had to knock on doors like an idiot to find the person parked in my spot, to inform them that parking had been assigned, and that spot was mine. I had to do that multiple times. So then we get the 1st water and sewer bill. I find out that I, the sole renter of one of their two 2bed/2bath units, was responsible for 20% of the bill for the whole property. Let me spell this out. 11 adults and 1 child lived on that property, and I, ONE PERSON, was paying 20% of the bill, as a consequence for renting their larger unit by myself. I went back and saw it on the lease. I had overlooked this. Here's what infuriates me. I still wanted to understand the logic behind why I was taking care of the water bill for more than just me. When I emailed to ask they said it's because they can't keep a headcount and it's easier this way. When I replied and said, it doesn't make any sense though, I'm one person, can you help me understand? Her response was, you signed the lease which means you legally agreed to it. Didn't even try to diffuse the situation, or politely explain. Just, get over it, legally you have to do it and we're done talking about it. There is more to say but Yelp has a character limit. It's funny. Earlier I said I never heard or read them say I'm sorry about anything. Yet, everywhere I look on here they are replying to the poor reviews with apologies galore! If only it mattered at this point. Here's the funnier part. Never was I asked to give them feedback on how THEY were doing. But minutes after they emailed to tell me they returned my deposit, they sent an email for a review on the "move-out experience." NOT how they did in general..they wanted me to rate the one thing they did right. Thing is, this review you are reading would not have happened had they bothered to ask how THEY were doing, at any point along the way. Unfortunately, the move-out experience is irrelevant to me because what I really wanted was NOT to have to move out yet AGAIN after one year. NOT to have to hire movers again. If you are reading this, you have been warned. read more

The staff at Mercer is incredibly nice, professional and friendly. They came recommended by so many people that have either rented managed by them or bought properties, that contacting them was a no brainier. Needless to say, we found the perfect rental after a few days of giving them our parameters. We have already sent their way a few friends looking to relocate. Excited to move into our new place!! read more

I know this review is long but please read! WARNING! Mercer properties is the worst rental company I've ever dealt with. 1. Shady contract. Who has their customers sign a contract without telling them the contract is unbreakable. I made sure to read the contract from top to bottom before signing. But if your NOT a lawyer you would have never caught the verbiage. You cannot break the lease for ANY reason. They make you pay it to the end of the lease unless someone takes over it. That is thousands of dollars wasted. They offered to "help us" look for another tenant to take over the lease when we were planning on moving out, but that was a LIE. As soon as we told them we can stay the whole lease after all, they made it seem like the landlord wanted to do "renovations" and needed us to vacate the property within 24 hours. They even made up a lie and said someone from the office was suppose to send us an email stating we could break the lease completely after all. I never received that email. So if I had moved out you had no plans to help me find another tenant to take over my lease but instead receive free money for months. Luckily, the contract was still valid and we were able to stay until our lease ended. Then the pandemic hit and we felt like staying put was going to be best. So, I asked if we could stay another 6 months. I didn't want to but I would have agreed to sign another contract if need be. They said we couldn't extend the lease because the landlord had other plans for the property. Which made no sense to me. BUT when we moved out the landlord ended up taking his business to another rental company. And now thinking about it I don't think they ever spoke with the landlord after finding out this news. They had no intention of helping us stay there unless it benefited them. 2. In the contract you stated we would not be responsible for any cleaning/repair deductions if we did a preliminary walk through. I met with one of your agents and she recommended what should be done to prevent any deductions. I completed the entire list of things plus some. I even hired my own carpet cleaning company because the one you "go with" would have charged double. I patched up the walls and painted the spots because if I would have not done that I would have been charged $30+/hr. (This was what I was quoted by your office). The apartment was left clean and spotless. Once I got my deposit check I was flabbergasted because I was charged a $200.00 cleaning fee. I called your office and was told the apartment was left "dirty" and needed a deep cleaning. When I asked what was "dirty" you said the back of the washer and dryers weren't swept and the windows weren't cleaned. The w/d were stacked and tucked under a piece of wall. How was I suppose to or should need to move those heavy appliances? 3. Don't rent or buy from this company. They have no interest in helping their customers and have horrible values. This company runs on kick backs and how fast they can make money. They could care less about their customers. I hope no one else has to go through my horrible experience. read more

My wife and I had a very smooth experience renting a Mercer property. Their responsiveness is astonishing and they went above and beyond in accommodating every single request. Everyone is very accessible and transparent, and we'd rent from them again in a heartbeat! We always got the sense they have a vested interest in our comfort and satisfaction. Thanks Olen, Barbara, Kaila, and the rest of the team! You guys are rockin it. read more

Super responsive, professional and pleasant team to work with! If we ever return to the San Diego area we would not hesitate to retain Mercer Properties for either leasing from them, or entrusting our property to them. read more

I am an owner and have entrusted Mercer to handle the rental properties that I own. They have been very responsive to whatever I've asked them to do and when it comes to their administrative responsibility, they excel. I have worked with many Property Managers over the years and find that Mercer is one of the all around best. Additionally, I think they do a great job at representing the tenants when they require assistance and communicating those needs. I've worked with Kelli at Mercer and I can't say enough about how great she is to work with. Also, she has an up to date working knowledge of the legalities of managing properties which has gotten very complicated over the years. It's a good feeling to know that Mercer will keep me informed of any requirements that are necessary to keep the tenants happy and everything going smoothly. All in all, life is good with Mercer Properties at the helm. read more

If I could give negative stars, I would! I just want to say that the customer service here is horrible! I just return a call in regards to a house my fiancé and I were VERY interested in and excited about viewing located in fallbrook and the person I talked to, Shannon, was incredibly rude! She was not accommodating and talked to me as if I was some dumb high school kid who knows nothing about real estate or managing properties. For the record, I was a real estate agent for 5 years, I also did appraisals for residential homes all over the San Diego area so you can say I do have an understanding for not only the area and the business but how you are suppose to communicate with people who are looking for homes. It is suppose to be a great and exciting experience. Shannon was talking down to me as if I owed her money. This individual should NOT be working for a property management company. She should be working for a debt collection agency! If my 5 minutes conversation exchange with Shannon was this horrible, I can only imagine how they manage the properties and how they interact with the residents. What a disappointment. Do yourself a favor and for the amount of money you are spending on these properties, give your money to someone who at least is going to talk to complete strangers over the phone with some respect! Shannon should not be the first point of contact for people looking to spend their hard earned money! In fact, she should not even be working for this company. Period! So disappointed. What a waste of my time. Shannon, you need some serious customer service 101 training. Rude! read more

Update: I see she responded. I'd like to emphasize a couple of points: I did not approve the charges beforehand. They were a surprise to me. Their policy was to not notify me unless individual charges exceeded a certain amount. They took a while to get back with appropriate receipts and would not answer direct questions about what each type of charge was. They owed me money after I had ended our contract and got a new property manager. They did not deliver a statement in a timely manner after switching. Updated star rating: zero stars. Plug for my current PM: Bill DeRidder. Great guy, 5 stars. Extremely responsive and doesn't talk down to you. Highly recommended. Oh boy, where do I begin. -Mercer properties took my keys on January 14th. It took them somewhere between 2-3 weeks to get it listed. I don't know if this is a standard time frame but my new manager says that it's not. -Once listed, the manager took a 3 year old ad that I saw when I bought my property and replaced the word "buy" with "rent" and put in no effort to change the ad in any other way. This included the previous photos which did not look good anymore. I only realized this on March 2nd when the listing had been up for about a month. -They wanted to charge to have someone come out and take photos of the place. I politely said I can have my girlfriend drive out herself and take a few pictures with her cell phone for free in about 10 minutes instead. They responded by taking a few immensely better photos from with their phone. I'm sure it didn't take more than a few minutes of effort. -Once my place had a tenant in April, I noticed that my disbursements for the months of April and May were only 500 and 700. Turns out that a bunch of repairs were necessary and they paid out 2800 dollars without asking me. Now, technically, according to the contract, they are not required to notify me unless a single item exceeds 300 dollars. But you would think that COMMON SENSE would dictate that once you run up a balance of 2800 dollars you might want to notify the owner. -Once I went through my monthly ledger I got vague statements for expenses that I couldn't explain. Getting an explanation for charges was like pulling teeth and made me skeptical that the money was being used appropriately. I believe I finally received receipts for most of the items but I'm not sure. -In general, communication with my manager was very poor. She was very slow at responding and often did not respond at all to questions over text. -Communication with the main office itself was also unreliable. On Thanksgiving Sunday, my tenant had a heating issue and was unable to get the temperature up to a comfortable level. He was unable to contact the property manager, so he reached out to the HOA who then contacted me. I tried to get my manager on the phone but was unsuccessful. I then called the main office, which did not answer due to it being a Sunday, which is understandable. But, when their voicemail left an emergency phone number that ALSO went to voicemail, I took another star off of this review. I ended up getting my property manager on the phone eventually. -I have a new property manager Bill de Ridder and he has officially taken over management on the 14th of January. Unfortunately, Mercer properties still wants to let me down so as of today I have not received a full wire of my account balance or an explanation as to why. I also don't know why you would owe an owner money from an account that a different manager is now in charge of almost a week later. When they finally pay me back, I'm not going to bother to update this review because that would be more work than this company has done in a year and they don't deserve that. -If I could give zero stars I would. read more

I lived in a mercer property rental property for 2 years, and can tell you they deserve 5 stars. Everyone from Barbara to Hugo are very professional, and ensure you have a great stay in their properties. Issues are dealt with immediately, it does not matter what time or day it is. If you rent from Mercer, you will be happy. read more

They wanted to charge me to SELF TOUR a listing. Then they tried to tell me it was a deposit for the key, so I said "oh then I'll get it back?" The response "Well not exactly." Gross and scammy. Avoid. read more

I had the opportunity to work through a purchase transaction with Michael Chandler at Mercer Properties. Michael was very easy to work with, extremely professional and above all else, truly had his client's best interest at heart. Michael was always reachable, which I greatly appreciated since communication is so important during real estate transactions. I look forward to working with Michael on future transactions and would recommend him to anyone buying or selling real estate. read more

We rent a property from Mercer for 2 years. We had a pleasant experience with their staff, especially Keila. Keila is very professional, she was the one who responded to our questions and maintenance requests. We are very glad to have worked with Mercer. read more

**Warning** First, this message needs to get back to the owner of 2244 2nd Ave, #29: OR, to John, the VP of the HOA, as he could pass this on to the owner (they are both on the HOA). Please share this link if you know either of them. This management company, Mercer, is just bad news. It took less than 10 minutes on the phone with one of them, Kristen, to create the single worst experience I've ever had with a Real Estate company. So bad that we decided to pass up on this gorgeous home Mercer is managing because I figured if my experience was this bad so quickly I could only imagine how it would be after handing $$ over to them and we need their support later. With that being said, my experience was so shocking that others need to hear about it. For the record, I'm a long-time homeowner in San Diego and currently have a tenant in my home. I'm simply changing neighborhoods. *The bottom line-- They don't care about you! If you want the details, read on: ---- My gf and I are excited to move in together so we started looking this week. We both are super positive & happy people who work in holistic health. We scheduled an appt over the phone, with Shannon, to view the home yesterday and did get a quick walk-thru with Kelli Mercer. Here's the bullet points of how that went, and honestly, this is NOT the deal breaker....Kristen is the sour apple that ruined the deal. But to give a full review, here it is: 1- Over the phone, I asked how many units were in the building so we could get a feel for how many people were sharing the 2 washers & 3 dryers. The answer -- "I don't know." She put us on hold and asked someone else in the office, came back again and said "We don't know that information." 2- The walk thru- While Kelli was friendly, she didn't know anything about the complex. We ran into the VP of HOA, John, and fortunately he filled us in. Key things Kelli didn't know, but should have: A) The community has a sauna. B) You get free wi-fi & cable. C) There's a community garden. D) On-site gym. E) Biggest perk- There's an extra unit in the complex that EVERY SINGLE owner/tenant gets FREE access to for 14 days / year. So when your family comes to town for a weekend, guess what? They can stay free of charge! You should know that as the person representing the homeowner. Again, the stuff above (#1 & #2) were not deal breakers. It's to paint an honest picture of the representation by Mercer. Here's the incredible part that killed the deal for us: 1) We called Mercer (and spoke with Kristen) after the viewing and inquired about scheduling a 2nd viewing the next day. The place is $2500 and so we wanted to sleep on it and view it with a fresh pair of eyes the next day. 2) She didn't listen to a word we said. Instead, Kristen cut me off every time I spoke, with a demeaning and rude tone in her voice, as if I were interrupting her from more important business (more important than taking care of her client and renting his home that he's paying out of pocket for). 3) She then played up this scarcity conversation about how we needed to put in an application now or we are going to miss out, even though Kelli told us the place had been "sitting on the market for a while." 4) Eager to get off the phone & talk to someone else, I inquired about the application and got off the phone. 5) I called back 10 minutes later to see if I could get someone else, but Kristen answered again. She was even more rude this time. I told her bluntly that I was having a bad experience with her, but I'm excited about the place and would like to talk to someone else about renting. Verbatim she interrupted me and said "WOW nobody has EVER said that before. We pride ourselves on having good customer service. She went on and on but I cut her off and said "Well, somebody is telling you that they are having a bad experience right now." She just didn't get it. She went on and ranted even more. That's only half of it, there's not enough characters to tell the full story but I'm sure you get it. I've never felt so turned off by what's supposed to be a good experience. It's no wonder this home is sitting on the market. I truly feel bad for the owner because he's throwing $$ away and has no clue as to why. Mercer is unenthusiastic, un-knowledgeable, and Kristen in specific could care less about you. Not the type of experience you want to have when moving, or, giving money to someone. It shouldn't feel bad. To wrap it up, my girlfriend and I came in to view this townhouse with level 10 excitement and within 10 minutes of talking to Kristen we couldn't wait to get the heck out of there. So, we've moved on. We found a place down the street where the owner is actually nice and prideful of her home. The application is pending and it feels good to have moved away from that awful experience with Kristen at Mercer. Had she been nice, we would have paid $ on the spot. If customer service matters to you, move on. Owner- Do not contact me read more

I recently sold my primary residence with Mercer Properties and this review is regarding my experience with their real estate agent Michael Chandler; I have sold and purchased multiple properties in the last 10 years in California and I have used a different agent for each transaction. Main reason for not staying with one agent was because of the "just below average" experience that I've received (or maybe that is the standard and it doesn't meet my expectations). I am a very organized/meticulous individual and sometimes overwhelming because of my business ethics. However, my most recent transaction with Michael Chandler from Mercer Properties was by far the most coordinated, organized, and smooth one. I truly appreciate Michaels professionalisms, but more so his aggressive strategy. Through out the transaction I felt that Michael was always ahead of the plan and always on track; I felt that the deal was on cruise control. The only item that I can say was unexpected , was that Michael sold my home much sooner with 0 snags (compared to my other transactions), so I was a little behind getting the home ready for the new owners. I will definitely use Michael Chandler as my real estate agent for future business and I highly recommend him to others. read more

Patrick was excellent to work with on my recent purchase in Kensington. He is methodical in his approach, professional, and was able to create a fair deal for all parties involved. I also loved working with his associated Jennifer who was very pleasant and kept things moving efficiently. Jennifer was especially great at updating me every step of the way. Patrick's knowledge and expertise in the neighborhood is top notch and I was happy to have him on my side. read more

******BAD BUSINESS****** HEED THE WARNINGS in the "poor" reviews you see here. I'm sure if you read them all, you'll pick up quite quickly on the common theme. Here's mine: I wish there was a NONE option and a thumbs down icon I could choose to go with this review. Moving is one of the most stressful events a person can go through. Moving cross country magnifies it that much more. Finding a realtor that you can trust and feel secure with is so important. You will NOT find that here. Barbara will be attentive, kind, agreeable, and sweet when she's trying to get you to write a check. In fact, at the start of our encounter - when she wanted money - the texts and calls were endless. But once a check was cut, it was cashed before the inked dried and she disappeared along with a LOT of my money. Over a week after collecting a FULL deposit I hadn't even seen or signed a single document, let alone a full lease (which had been promised would be sent the day the check was cashed). Texts and emails went unanswered. When the lease FINALLY came over - it was inundated with strange rules about living in the house that were never mentioned and included clauses negating perks and inclusions that she said came with the property rental. Turns out, she never actually cleared permission with the owners to offer any of it! Net/Net: She will lie to your face. And then backpedal if you threaten to pull out of a deal. If you do (like I did), you'll have the unpleasant experience of meeting her husband, who is extremely rude and (for lack of a better phrase) a total prick. Don't fall for her bullshit. In the end, (although I got a lot back) it still cost me a decent chunk of money to NOT rent from her because she refused to refund the full deposit given in good faith on empty and false promises. She and her doucher husband basically made money doing nothing but causing me stress and aggravation. However, I consider it money well spent now that I see other reviews about her lack of response and sense of urgency in fixing issues with the properties she manages. (NOTE: the only good reviews are from property OWNERS who sit back and collect checks). Honestly, I think I dodged a major bullet. And so should you. Her "unconventional" ways (skipping proper credit and reference checks, etc) are not a one off. She is completely full of shit. Just keep searching - you'll find something way better and get the level of service you deserve. One that involves proper procedure, like signing a lease BEFORE even ASKING for thousands of dollars of your money. And above all, one that involves professionalism. read more

Horrible management if you are a renter. I'm sure they save you tons of money as a property owner since they ignore or delay on responses to requests by us as a tenant. But is it a good idea to have an upset tenant in your property even if they are saving you money? Barb promises you a lot and even some stuff makes it to the lease but whether or not you get what is promised seems to be a crap shoot. If you don't mind pestering the management company for what was promised to you then your review will probably be better than my rating of one star. We were told we get a landscaper at least once a month and it was in the lease to get a landscaper twice a month. The entire reason we rent a house like this is to have nothing to worry about and not be tied up by house maintenance. Being a professional couple with active lives the last thing we wanted to do was pull weeds and maintain the zero-scape plants. Even zero-scape requires maintaining. Also many things around the house like the screen door, the windows, etc all needed to be repaired and were being worked on when we moved in but required about three months of us reminding them to get it done finally. It took pestering them to get a landscaper out too but that turned in to their handyman pulling weeds for about thirty minutes. You are better off not using them or getting EVERYTHING in writing. read more

Barbara has managed our home in Kensington for almost three years and is an absolute treasure. Her service, both on our part and on the renter's behalf, has been outstanding. She makes a mission of keeping the home in 4-star condition. Professionally maintaining every detail from paint and polished wood floors, to landscape and appliances with ease and expertise. So well respected and known in the Kensington area, she now represents most of the inventory- which works great for the renter and the homeowner as she is easily able to asses fair market value and match renters with the right house for their needs. There isn't a home in that area that she doesn't know. In fact, the quality of renters she has found for us over the past few years have been outstanding. We have never had a problem and concurrently, have never heard anything but glowing reports about her from our renters. I tried to manage the property on my own the first year and it was a nightmare. So many people to coordinate showings, assess financial viability, make midnight calls for plumbing fixes... Barbara has an army of people that handle all of this for us with competence and immediacy. read more

My partner and I have lived in a house managed by Mercer Properties and it was the best renting experience ever. The folks at Mercer are incredibly friendly, helpful, honest, and responsive. Whenever something needed fixing, the Mercer team usually had someone out to our house that same day - sometimes within an hour or two. The level of service was beyond impressive. We also were there when Patrick Mercer worked with the owner to sell the house. Patrick was professional, diligent and had the house sold in record time. We saw him do a great job communicating and engaging with prospective buyers and would highly recommend him to people looking to buy or sell their home. We plan on working with Patrick ourselves because we think so highly of him. Barbara, Patrick, Kelli and the whole Mercer family and team are warm and welcoming and treated us incredibly well since Day 1. Can't recommend Mercer Properties highly enough. read more

We just moved out of a home that was managed by Mercer Properties. The only reason we didn't stay is because we bought our own home. The year we spent renting was a wonderful experience as Mercer was very prompt to respond to any issues or questions that we had. Renting from Mercer felt like we were renting from family. Thanks to all of you. Scott Walker Eric long & Robin Perry read more

I just moved out of my rental unit with Mercer. I rented from them for over 5 years and am only leaving because I purchased a home. I always found Barbara, Kristen, and the entire staff at Mercer extremely attentive to any issues I had over the time I was there. If I had a maintenance request it was addressed at the latest the very next day. I've definitely lived in some slum lords so having Mercer as the property mgmt was such a breath of fresh air to know I could rely on them for anything. If I know of anyone who is looking to rent I would absolutely recommend Mercer. read more

Top notch professionals. Patrick was meeting with us within a day to talk about getting our house on the market, and had professional photos taken right away. I am not sure he takes any days off! He was in constant contact and gave us sound recommendations every step of the way. We made a contingent offer on a house in Point Loma and need to sell our Kensington house fast, Patrick got an offer over asking price withing 7 days. Highly recommend! read more

I've been using Mercer Properties now for a couple of years to manage my property and let me tell you, these people are fantastic! No more do I deal with calls about broken this or not working that or clogged drains or all the myriad issues that occur from rental ownership. Mercer Properties and their team of people are pro's at managing property and make owning property a joy instead of burden. If you want to own income property and not manage it yourself, I highly recommend using Mercer Properties. Bill H Owner San Diego Hardware Co read more

Where to begin... Kelli and Barbara are two of the most helpful property managers around! I am a licensed agent here in San Diego and referred a client that was having trouble getting their property rented. The other company found no tenants in 30 days and the Mercer's had it rented in less than 5. They were willing to get the place cleaned, utilites on, and organized for the out of state owner so it showed way better. This duo also helped me stage my own personal property for sale and crushed it! Highly recommend. read more

I have been working with Mercer Properties for several years now and they are delightful to work with. Everyone who works at the office is fun to work with and always has a positive attitude. They treat their clients very well and are very attentive. They even have 2 very cute office dogs that are so sweet. I look forward to continuing to work with their team of agents! Thank you, Francesca Castaños read more

I want to preface the review by saying I have no other management company experience to compare to Mercer Property Management. In all of my San Diego/ Ocean Beach renting history I have only dealt with the owners of the properties directly. I have lived at my current place for 10 years, my mother and brother had a place in the building before me for 9 years. The owners are amazing and truly cared for long term renters. That being said it was time for them to turn the property over to a management team so they could enjoy the golden years of life and I personally was all for it. From the time Mercer Property Management took over they have been some of the coldest people just leaving random notes through the mail slot in my door. When I called the office the receptionist made it sound like I was bothering her. I left messages for Kelli Mercer who did not return my call. The first round of rent to pay them was due and still did not know who the people were I was suppose to be giving my money to. My landlord didn't tell me that he was giving the property over to a property management company Mercer did via random letters and emails. I had no clue who they were. So finally I went up to the office to introduce and find out who it was I was dealing before sending money electronically or via mail. When I got to the office they were not happy to see me, there was no happy greeting and they did not want to take the time to get to know me. They made it seemed like I was inconveniencing them and was trying to usher me out of the office as quickly as possible. Strike one. I knew they were going to have to try and make themselves useful to our owner because we are a small 4 unit apartment, not a huge money maker. So Random bills were going to have to be added onto our rent which we've never paid before. AND here comes the water bills. when I ask to see what a previous water bill look like so I can gage the upcoming fees they ignored my email request; so I wasn't late on rent I paid the extra fees. Strike 2! Now 5 months later they tried to charge us for past due water bills from July as well as the current bills through November. It is unbelievable what this company thinks they can do considering my rental contract states I don't pay for water. When I called them to talk about it they didn't want to hear what I had to say, they didn't care how frustrating it is to be doubled billed for something YOU WERE NEVER PAYING FOR until they took over management. All they said was I was now responsible and pay the bill. They never offered to break it into payments, nothing. Just extremely cold people. They tried to turn it around to make me look like I was the crazy person when when they were the ones not doing their job for MONTHS was the reason for all this stress and strife. An extra $400 on top of your recurring monthly without warning is not cool; I don't care if you're an owner of the property or renter an extra $400 is an extra $400. Bottom line is I don't know much about property rental companies; but I know it There's got to be a company better than Mercer Property Management. Find another company to represent your property or rent from. I know for sure the do not care about the renters. They do not get enough off the top to care for renters. read more