The worst rental experience I have ever had. Old Town Realty failed to honor the lease agreement by not providing proper window screens, leaving the home uninhabitable during the summer, and delaying or neglecting essential repairs despite repeated requests. In addition, the property had numerous habitability issues--including pests, odors, damaged fixtures, misleading advertising, and unclean conditions--that led us to move out early. Please read: Old Town Realty broke the leasing agreement between Old Town Realty and Jordan Greenhut - the lease implied window screens would be included in the home. Upon move-in, only 7 of the 20 windows had screens. We filed a work order to have the window screens replaced. They did not fulfill the work order in 30 days. Additionally, the lack of window screens created a habitability issue because it was the Michigan summer - June and July - with temperatures reaching low 90s. We could not open the windows without screens because the house is located in the country, so pests were plentiful and a constant issue. Because the lack of window screens made the house uninhabitable, I believe they should have had 24 hours to fix the issue, but they did not. I asked the maintenance crew to install temporary screens. However, Old Town Realty only provided a few temporary screens, and it took nearly a month for the screens to be put inside the windows. A representative of Old Town Realty told us to use curtains when we complained about the sweltering heat and lack of window screens. I have a copy of the lease, many pictures of the house and windows, screenshots of work orders, and the email correspondence between myself, my wife, and Old Town Realty. I believe these other issues may be not be actionable, but I'm sharing them in case they are relevant or could support the case in some way: Other Issues: Nicotine residue was visible on the walls and in the windowsills, despite the lease stating the house was non-smoking. Carpet cleaning crews sent by Old Town Realty agreed that the carpets were disgusting. Old Town Realty offered to replace the carpets (eventually), but we were not interested in continuing to lease with them. A persistent odor--possibly from marijuana or tobacco--permeated the master bedroom and much of the upstairs. The home was infested with carpenter ants and carpenter bees. Previous attempts to address this with bait traps had failed, and we were concerned about potential structural damage. A baseball-sized hole was discovered in the basement on move-out day. On Move-In Day: The home was not in livable condition. Doors had visible holes (likely pest-related). The entryway was filled with over 50 mosquitoes and other insects. Floors were covered in dead bugs, suggesting a bug bomb had been used without follow-up cleaning. Kitchen drawers were filthy, drains were clogged with hair, the dryer hose was filled with lint, and multiple fixtures (doorbell, sink hose) were non-functional. Post Move-In Issues: The landlord delayed lawn maintenance, on one occasion, allowing the grass to grow over a foot tall before cutting it. Although some remediation occurred--such as fixing the sink hose, applying weather stripping and caulk to one door, spraying the backyard for bugs, and cleaning the carpets--these actions were taken only after move-in and did not resolve the core issues. Several doors that separated the interior from the outside still had visible holes. The property was advertised as having central air on the Old Town Realty website, but it did not. That listing was later removed. A water heater failure added to the disruption shortly after move-in. Lastly, Pittsfield Township informed us that Old Town Realty had recently received a warning upon their last inspection. They offered to conduct another inspection but stated it would take 3-6 months to do so. Naturally, we decided not to wait, and we moved out as soon as possible. read more

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Old town realty manages several of our units. They are always responsive when needed. We have also heard good things from our tenants. They seem knowledgeable in leasing the units and creating fair pricing structures. We will Use them on future units we own and rent. read more

I honestly don't understand how this place has such poor reviews. The only thing I can think of is that people are more likely to leave bad reviews than they are good ones. Or maybe there was past properties or past management that didn't run things as well as they do now. This company has always been super reasonable, friendly, and helpful with myself and other tenants the entire time I've rented through them. Maintenance has always been responsive. We had emergency maintenance issues at one point, and in addition to the company themselves coming to take a look, they would contact third party companies to resolve our issues as fast as possible. I recently secured a different unit for the fall and again, this company has been so accommodating to scheduling conflicts in regards to the showings and has been all around a joy to work with. As someone who's lived in the Ann Arbor area for years, I find it very refreshing to have a rental company that's so easy to work with. Highly recommend, don't let the negative reviews scare you away. read more

Terrible experience, avoid doing any sort of business with Old Town. We were warned by friends not to do business with Old Town, wish we had listened. Ann is never available, they don't communicate, will say they are making a repair and then never show up. I'm honestly not sure how they are still in business! They only work for the owners of a property, not the tenants! read more

Avoid at absolutely all costs. I cannot fathom why any landlord would allow this company to manage their properties bc theyre a lawsuit waiting to happen. Multiple violations of ADA, building codes, landlord/tenet laws, etc. Also some of the men that work for this company are super rude/creepy to women FYI - def dont rent from them if youre a single woman but honestly NO ONE should rent from them. read more

Old Town Realty is a horrible company that takes advantage of the low-income students in college areas. I lived in a property managed by old town realty for 3 months and experienced 15+ illegal infractions. They were as small as coming into our home without notice and as large as our home flooding with sewage and mold breakouts that were neglected. Beyond this, we did not have full disclosure before moving into our home. We contacted the carpet cleaning company and found 7 floods in the past 2 years in our space, which was not disclosed in our lease. Their maintenance men are completely incompetent (excpet for matt, get out of there man those people are monsters). So much so that our situations were worsened on numerous occasions due to their work. They inadequately changed pipes which lead to more mold, left a whole in my wall and then left the home and my cats got stuck in the wall, and they did not correctly seal the main sewage pipe which resulted in sewage consistently leaking in our dining room. After bringing in a private inspector, we were assured that anywhere we slept in the house would be detrimental to our health. This left us homeless as OTR did not re-home us. We then turned in a letter to withhold rent until our damages were repaired. Rather than fixing our home or re-homing us, old town sent us an email explaining our home was under new management. This severed any responsibility they had for our living situation. read more

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Absolute worst prop mgmt company in Ann Arbor/Ypsi. They are unprofessional and rude. They leave emergency repairs for weeks or months. My downstairs neighbors ceiling caved in in one room from bad roofing during rain and for weeks all they did was tape a tarp on it which sank down with leaking water. I paid for a dishwasher for 2 years that didnt work bc they were "waiting on a part". Workers let my cat out by leaving a window wide open, and they'd skip mowing our double lot yard for weeks. Also, they will wait over 2 weeks to cash your rent checks so you are forced to pay theu their online portal which is $25 extra dollars. I gave written notice and a forwarding address over 30 days ago and still not a word on my deposit. These guys put Beal to shame - they are awful!! Photos of how they boarded up the legally mandatory 2nd point of exit for my unit for over a month and left trash all over when the porch caved in to the neighbors bedroom ceiling from rain. Multiple "emergency repairs" left for months (see pics). read more

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Very irresponsible housing company. Rude customer service. As a second year resident of one of their properties, they are shockingly unprofessional with how they have handled maintenance issues. The staff even get annoyed with residents over the phone when there are frequent call backs over problems that were never fixed correctly. Our hot water has broken no less than 7 times (still counting...) over the last two months and they are dragging their feet with fixing it. We've had problems with ants and were told to try ant traps - and when that didn't work they flippantly said it was no surprise they didn't work! Though they promised to send someone to spray for ants, nobody showed up after repeated phone calls. Residents of other properties have also gotten fed up with the terrible customer service and moved out because it feels like when things go wrong you can't count on Old Town Realty to fix things or even act like they care. read more

I lived in the same 1-BR apt in kerrytown for 6 years with Old Town as my property management company to virtually no complaints. 1. Maintenance issues -- for me at least -- were always handled within 1-2 days. At times, I even had to make calls late on a Fri or Sat night (e.g. power went out, heat was weak), and they would send someone over within an hour to get the problem sorted out. 2. I sublet my apartment for 3 separate summers, and each time, they made the process extremely easy. Old Town would provide me with straightforward documentation and forms to make the process between myself and the sublessor feel very official. 3. We had one problem neighbor who used to always want the house to be kept fairly cold (all four 1-BR units were controlled by a single thermostat in the building). Old Town stepped in, handled the situation professionally, and was able to resolve all of my concerns. Finally, I found the staff friendly to work with, always with a cheerful attitude whenever I called, and the maintenance staff was similarly always friendly and willing to check things out. There's a reason I never changed apartments in 6 years! (I only left after finishing grad school and moving to NYC.) read more

I am so glad that we called Old Town Reality when we moved to Ann Arbor in 2009. Rudy helped my wife Lynn and I find the perfect house to match our needs. The office staff are always friendly and professional. The maintenance men are knowledgeable and complete necessary repairs the first time. Over all , it has been a positive 4 year relationship. read more

I rented with Old Town for one year, and I had an excellent experience. The staff was professional and promptly answered my emails. When the washing machine had one issue, they fixed it within a couple of days. When it had a second, different issue, they replaced it. There were no other issues with the property; everything went smoothly. I would happily rent from Old Town again in the future. read more

I will never forget old towne realty and my landlord, Rudy. It was almost three years ago that I rented from them but I am taking the time to write this because it was such a horrible experience and I wish someone would've told me before signing the lease. Rudy is the most flamboyant, rude, and condescending bully (landlord?!!) that I have ever dealt with. Too many things happened to me while renting with old towne; all I can tell you is when I tried disputing the terms of the duplex and its lease because my house and neighbors downstairs were completely trash he told me "but honey, we were giggling like little girlfriends during the viewing don't you remember?? You loved that house. You signed the lease. You're out of luck." All with a disgusting smile on his face. I had to go through my lease with a fine tooth comb and get my father involved as well as threaten to hire a lawyer to get us out of our lease after just two short months. Worst renting experience ever. read more