First West Properties Corporation

Our opinions on our firsthand experience with First West are as follows: 1. They did not listen to us or to our tenants. They did not include requested conditions in leases. They did not respond timely to maintenance needs. 2. They were unreliable. They arrived late or did not show up to preview properties for prospective tenants. 3. They did what they wanted to do, and did not take our direction. 4. Their communication skills were very poor including poor follow-up. There was often no response to calls and emails, even after several tries. 5. They made minimal efforts to market, rent or show our properties. 6. They used contractors who submitted inflated billings for their services and did not review and correct those billings before sending them to us. 7. Their paperwork and funds management and legal (landlord/tenant act) compliance skills were adequate. We obtained one tenant's feedback on First West, as follows: "They were truly confusing to work with, really didn't know much about the place, and were always running late with things." We are not aware of any firm in the Sierra Vista area that we could recommend for property management, but we certainly would suggest you try to find someone else, avoiding First West Properties.

Initially we decided to rent this house due to location and, in splitting the rent, it wasn't too bad in price (just a little more than a 1 bedroom apartment in the same town). We didn't do much research as we were eager to move in and get out of our apartments. From the beginning, things were difficult with this company/realtor. We were able to get in quickly, but direction on turning in paperwork, meeting to sign the lease and pay the deposit, and returning phone calls was a hassle. Our realtor could not find the mail-box number, and ultimately had to call the post office to find out which one belonged to this property. Once we finally got the initial things situated, some of the cosmetic issues were fixed (that were supposed to be fixed before move-in), and a broken window in the master bedroom (middle of November) was finally replaced 2 weeks later, we decided we wouldn't contact the company until move-out unless absolutely necessary. The only prompt response we got was when I reported a potential leak in the piping, which was brought to my attention by a meter reading from the water company; turned out to be a running toilet. During the walk through, we were told that since this was a matte paint, as opposed to a latex-based, we would have to paint over any scuff marks with matched paint. Kim pointed out there were leftover cans of paint so we could match the color, and having a dog, we needed to do this upon move out. I spent about $60 on a gallon of paint/supplies, and about 2 hours covering some areas along the hallway, the living room where the couch sat, and up the stairway. As close of a match as I could get with Lowes, being the original paint manufacturer was not available in our town, it was not a perfect match once it dried. Walking through the house, she noted the paint, and I assured her that I brought the can and matched it, but agreed it was not exact. She then informed me that and quot;last timeand quot; they had to go to Tucson, about 1.5hrs away, to get the exact paint, and that it was and quot;a hassleand quot;; that they could not convince the homeowner to change to an easier-to-maintain paint for a rental property (though she really wanted to sell the house). Kim later stated that I was expected to do this (go to Tucson) or to ask them to get a gallon and they would have. She even questioned my checking the garage for and quot;a gallon of paint we should have left from last timeand quot;. I assured her there was only the empty gallon. I understand having to touch up those areas, though I followed instruction to match the paint. Instead, they charged me for 10 gallons of a new paint and for the supplies and time it took to repaint the entire downstairs. This was likely due to the fact that they had a family move in two days after I moved out. Had I known my $60/2hour paint touch-up would've costed me $800, I wouldn't have even bothered. Now that I live in Ohio, I am not going to take them to civil court, as it is a waste of my time and money, but I will never and quot;interpretand quot; a lease and rather, have the realtor come and show me exactly what they want. I also feel it is important to tell my story, as minute in the big scheme of things it may be, I'd hate to see someone else go through something like this, especially with this company. Upon filing a complaint with Kim's boss, he called me and quot;lazyand quot; for not driving to Tucson to get the right paint. Other issues involved a lack of filters in the house from before we moved in, and getting charged to have them replaced. I was told by the realtor Kim that the previous tenant was also charged for this, but if there were no filters for us to change out, they charged both of us for filters that they too did not replace. Additionally, there was a large screen that went to the sliding glass door. The previous tenant had taken it off, as to not damage it. Having a dog, we kept it off, and Kim knew this/agreed with our reasoning. It stayed in the garage, the same place it was when we got there. This was added into our and quot;chargesand quot; from our deposit as having to install the screen. When I called to complain about the paint charge, Kim agreed that we should not have been charged for this, but since we have not heard anything since the letter I sent arguing my point about the paint as well as the confrontation with the business owner, I do not foresee any reimbursement for this charge. Upon final inspection, I left all of the keys and garage openers on the counter. When I moved out for good, as there was no lock-box on the door, I closed the garage with the opener and slid it under as it closed. I received a call the next morning, en route to Ohio, from Kim, asking if I had a key with me or left any outside, as she did not take any with her and the back up key in the office did not work. I don't know how I was to help her while on the road if I had a key, but I left that alone. I suggested if there were a code to the garage, she could use it, to which she asked if I knew the code. I suggested she ask the homeowner as she did not give us the code and therefore we had no reason knowing it. A few days later she texted me asking if I knew the security code to the alarm system, as it was going off in the house and she did not know how to turn it off. We did not use the security system, something I would have assumed she'd know. These were just things that confirmed to me that we chose a bad company/realtor to rent through, and would never let our friends put their property in their hands if we could help it. Maybe we just had a bad realtor or a bad experience, maybe she was busy and had too much on her plate; these are not excuses for someone who is expected to do these tasks as their daily job. When filing a complaint with a company, the last thing management should do is point the finger at the customer. As management myself, I can't believe the way he reacted, automatically on the defensive - you are trained to listen to the issue from both sides. I didn't necessarily expect a complete refund, but at least being listened to would've been an acceptable response. Overall my review of this company is very poor. Walking in to the front end of the business, no one ever knew anything regarding rental contracts (how to hire someone to professionally clean a carpet when you are moving and need it cleaned after vacating, how to get a hold of your realtor when they are never in the office/do not answer their cell phone, how to sign the lease agreement and pay the deposit of the realtor is not in the office when they said they would be), which made things difficult since the realtor was difficult to find at her job/answer her calls/texts/voicemails/emails. I hope no one else deals with these issues, but it's bound to happen with the management in place.

We are currently using her right now. She is incredibly professional. She is really good.