I would not use these people for your property management. I completely concur with Hannah M - only from the property management side. The wanted to terminate the contract (unilaterally no less) - and then CHARGED us to "buy out" the contract. They refused to continue with us. Later they suggested that it was because we hadn't gone through them for upgrades they wanted (we lost two months rent getting the upgrades on our own). Be very very careful with these two. We are now renting the property for more per month, and expenses are much less...oh, and one more thing: be VERY careful about how they document what works and doesn't. We had items that went with the house that were destroyed that these people refused to take responsibility for. Additionally, doors that were in perfect working condition when they started managing, had been broken somewhere along the way. Tom claimed they fixed it "for free" and claimed it had been broken when they took over. I RECOMMEND DOCUMENTING EVERYTHING (and good luck with that, because they won't let you be present for inspections - Tom said, "that's not the way we operate". Do it yourself or find a different property management company. I sure wish we had. read more

Mary is extremely unprofessional & deceiving. I was a tenant. She disclosed inappropriate information about the owner of the house & how she had unsuccessful been trying to get out of her contract with them. Rent Smart took over management after I had moved in. When I moved out I had 2 people cleaned the house for 8 hour. After her inspection she calmed that her cleaning company needed to clean the place for an additional 13 hours. One of the bizarre things she claimed was dirty was the floor boards because they had dried paint on them from before I moved in.They charged me to replaced a fully functional shower head because it was ascetically pleasing. The house was a hot mess. It had a cracked foundation which caused water to pool in my bathroom on a daily basis. It also had mold issues. They are willing to rent any kind of property no matter how run down it is. read more

Very unprofessional and unresponsive when emailed to fix issues with my rental. Extremely disappointed

They started out being really nice after taking over the managment of my complex but when it was time to get my deposit back things went downhill quick. There was a small amount of clean up that would have taken maybe 1 hr at the absolute most. Small amount of stuff left on the counter and they needed to clean the carpet of my small 1 br... Mary claimed the unit was filthy and it needed cleaning beyond reality, something along the lines of 12 hours or something insane like that. The unit outside of the two issues previously mentioned needed to be taken care of that was it! You could have painted the place and put in new carpet in 12 hours. The unit was cleaner than it was before I moved in. She had no idea as to the units condition due to her taking over managment after I moved into the unit. Shady! Beware! read more

For the last two years I rented from Rent Smart. I felt like I should post because it is so challenging to find a house from a private landlord in Missoula and so many property managers have terrible reputations, so it is hard to know who to rent from. At the end of the day, I am fairly surprised to say that the experience with Rent Smart was quite good. As a rule, I expect to be swindled by property managers every chance they get, but that was never the case with Ren tSmart. We only had one problem at our place, a pipe burst at 2 AM on a Sunday morning and John came and dealt with it at that time. Other than that the place was great. I will say that the move out process was a bit stressful. They definitely expect the place to be VERY VERY VERY clean, but we put in a ton of work (Two of us spent about 10-15 hours each) and were able to get the entire deposit back. We did have to spend $145 on a carpet cleaning and some more on cleaning supplies and odds and ends stuff, but we got the whole deposit when it was all said and done. I was actually shocked when we got the whole deposit back. The other reviews on here made it seem like no matter how hard we tried we would lose half our deposit, but we got ours back. My advice to you if your goal is to get the whole deposit back: be prepared to scrub the stove for 3 hours, but it can be done! At the end of the day, most of us would probably prefer to rent from a private landlord with whom we get along, but in Missoula it is hard to find a private landlord. I would say that you are unlikely to find property managers much better than Rent Smart. read more

We rented from Tom and Mary in 2015-2016, and at first it was a great experience. As time progressed though, it started to become a very stressful, expensive interaction with them. There were a lot of situations of hidden fees. For example, once they billed us for having dish cable installed on the top of our house. It was there the entire time before we had even moved in, as we didn't even have cable, and had to prove we never got it installed. Another surprising instance was in the summer time one of the tenants parents had bought a husky puppy that day and asked us if they could keep him in the back yard for an hour while they helped their niece move. I do understand we weren't allowed to have pets there but we figured an hour- 2 hours with him in the back yard wouldn't hurt anything. We got a call from Mary advising he needed to be removed from the premises and when we said what had happened she told us to "just put him in the car"-- mind you it was about 70+ degrees outside, this shows the type of people they are. On top of instances like this happening repeatedly we ended up losing our entire deposit and they charged us an additional 1500$. I would not recommend renting through these guys, as it is a very stressful and expensive headache. -Reanne read more

These people.do not know how to run a company, let alone a property management company. They have zero people skills, zero communication skills and shady business ethics at best. Their web site application process is not over a secure connection, so please be sure you take steps to safeguard your information!!! After finding a way to send all my financials safely they not only ran and charged me twice for my application, they also ran my credit check twice which then lowered my credit score. Thanks for that Rent Smart. I will not be renting from such people, and I feel responsible to let others know of my horrible experience to try and save you time Money and your credit rating!! read more

John and Mary are exceptional property management professionals. As an owner of property that they manage I cannot recommend Rent Smart Property Management enough. John and Mary are very professional, courteous and mindful of the owners time and wishes for their property. I have used other management in the past and have never seen such a thorough management from inspections and upkeep to the ease of billing and payment. If you are in the market for a great property management company for your property Rent Smart is the place! read more

I have had two experiences with this company and both have been absolutely horrifying. First off, they ask too much for the properties they rent. I was willing, on two occasions, to pay more than what I should to secure a house but it was all for none. I have spent $35 per application fee to let them dig into my personal life and determine if I was a proper candidate for renting a property through their company. They required the following to even apply for a house: vehicle insurance card (understandable), rental history (obviously), proof of employment (duh), criminal background check (happy to oblige) and the final requirement? My bank statements from MY BANK showing where I spend my money (completely invasive and ridiculous). I was recently emailed a notice of adverse action and told I could not rent a unit from them because I had past collections and "lack of recent revolving account information" which, if I was buying a house, would be understandable. They contacted my previous landlords for reference and I know all of them regarded me as a great tenant because I ALWAYS pay my rent on time and I help my fellow tenants and management with whatever they need...even helping to evict a renter that was not paying his rent. I have passed dozens of federal and state background checks for clearances that most people can not obtain but I can't pass a rental application to rent a house that I can afford without a problem? This company is absolutely ridiculous and I can't imagine what their tenants go through after they actually move into the house dealing with these people. If you have ever sneezed in the wrong direction or made a human mistake in your life, don't waste your money on the application fee for this company. You would be better off lighting $35 on fire instead of giving this nosy company a reason to find out if you like Coke or Pepsi. read more

Can't say enough positive things about Mary @ Rent Smart. I have been entrusting our home to Mary's expertise to help manage finding good tenants and inspecting for move-in and move-out condition of the home and she does a very thorough job. She ensures that homes are clean when people move in and then expects the same when they move out. It's a great system and makes alot of sense. It protects tenants from being taken advantage of by landlords and protects the landlords as well. A very fair person and follows laws to a T. Highly recommended after working with Mary for over 12 years! read more

We have been looking around for a small apartment just for two people, when we tried to book an appointment to see the apartment listing - not only had they messed up the lockbox but we had to wait 24 hours for them to come and reset it. Saw the location, it wasn't the greatest either. You could tell that they quickly replaced everything in the location with newer appliances. My partner called wondering about applying, the man whom he spoke with on the phone thought it was hilarious that we nearly qualified but our cs was just under the requirements. The man laughed at him over the phone and said "Welp, that sucks." Not only are they rude over the phone but when they can't even get a lockbox properly programmed, that tells me they would be horrible to rent through. And after reading all of these reviews, I can see why. Do not rent through these people, when they do not have the proper customer service skills and they think being homeless is HILARIOUS then they really should look at going somewhere else. I really wish my partner would have gotten the man's name whom he spoke with as I would clearly mention it here and wherever else I can leave these people a review. read more

I rented from Rent Smart in 2013 and it was the worst experience I have ever had. I would find deductions from my bank account from hidden fees that were not communicated! This is perhaps what I would expect from credit card scam, certainly not a rental company. Mary (the owner) was also extremely unprofessional in her interactions. We realized they were charging us energy costs for a chest freezer with game meat in it that was the owner's and pad-locked and we had a very hard time convincing them that this should be deducted from our energy fee. They incorrectly dated the end of our lease agreement as was originally agreed upon and were extremely reluctant to honoring this agreement. I do not normally post on Yelp but I would recommend serious caution to anyone wanting to rent a property with them. read more

Come to find out this is a husband and wife on the same hours that don't work past 2:00 pm Friday and no weekends. This is so unaccommodating when on a tight schedule in the area for the weekend. I found Tom to be very impatient. I believe it will be a blessing in disguise that Tom took-off while we were lost trying to find the property. He was not helpful in navigating our way through the neighborhood. AND drove right past us!! OMG!!! Really!!! (Just complained to us). I would never ever have Rent Smart manage my properties. Tom lacks customer service skills. read more

We had the worst experience we have had trying to rent a house through Mary and Tom. I understand that all rental agencies can charge a non-refundable background and credit check however we had all three roommates pay this fee along with a cosigner because our credit scores were below 600, that is $140 to just see if we were "good" enough to rent from them. They then proceeded to make us pay a deposit and first months rent to hold the house for us while our third roommate got cleared. Apparently he was not "good" enough to rent alongside us and a cosigner even though he has good rental references and work references. After a drawn out battle we finally got our deposit and first months rent back but still had to pay $140 for the ordeal. All in all dealing with this company was a good learning experience in how to deal with untrustworthy people. I would highly recommend them to anyone who wants to deal with lots of extra fees as well as anyone who wants a property management company that is untrustworthy. read more