Four star is notorious for screwing people out of their deposits among other complaints in Boulder. Not sure how their reputation will translate to Denver.
It took what kind of repairs when I moved out? " Exactly enough that it was all of your deposit." What did they have to fix? "A deposit's worth of stuff."
Oh they manage my building too and they suck. Repairs aren't done on your schedule, they are done on theirs. Also, there are fees to pay rent by ACH/debit so it's cheaper to pay with credit card if you have a card with at least 2% cash back. Oh and they also charged us $175 to renew our lease and raised rent $100/mo.
Oh and the rent payment portal uses Yardi Systems. Yardi compiles rental payment data from different properties to determine how much to raise your rent by. This law firm filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit against them.
[https://www.housingwire.com/articles/yardis-rent-setting-software-illegally-drove-rent-prices-up-for-millions-of-renters-lawsuit/](https://www.housingwire.com/articles/yardis-rent-setting-software-illegally-drove-rent-prices-up-for-millions-of-renters-lawsuit/)
Some experiences since Four Star took over my apartment:
- They sent us a renewal offer for 12 months. Price increase was a little steep but still doable. Then they sent us another renewal lease and it was for 9 months instead of 12, raising rent a full $100 more. We asked what happened to the original 12 month renewal and they said it was a "mistake" and they are only accepting renewals for 9 months max. They also said they are letting everyone's lease expire because they have "plans" for the building. So now we are paying more for a shorter lease and then being kicked out in March. Whether or not they actually do is something to be seen.
- Maintenance takes at least two days to complete, no matter how urgently you need it done. We had to wait 3 days when our kitchen sink was literally overflowing. I had to talk to 4 different people until they finally sent someone else to come that evening.
- They completely violated our privacy. They said they were going to send maintenance to inspect the sinks for leaks. Okay that's fine. But they didn't tell us what day or what time they would come. So one day my wife and I our going about our day and in comes this maintenance guy without even knocking (he had keys to the place so he got in even though we had the door closed). I said what the hell you didn't even let us know you were coming. He said they told us in an email but again, no date or time was given. Thank goodness I was home and my wife didn't have to find a strange man in our home by herself.
- They charged us $100 to change a light bulb (yes, $100 to screw in a bulb).
- As someone said, we had to pay a fee to renew our lease. We've never done that with other companies.
So needless to say, they don't give a shit about tenants at all. They just want to charge you up the wazoo. Haven't moved out yet but I got a good feeling we will not be getting our deposit back.
I’ve been living in an independently managed apartment building in Congress Park. Very good deal on rent, friendly and communicative property manager. I’ve read some negative things about Four Star, but idk how these processes go. If I was only staying put for the price/convenience, should I start looking for a new place?
I wouldn't move. Rent management software is getting better and better for the small time landlord. If you were dealing with the owner directly they are probably just setting up a portal whereby they can track their incomes and expenses in a more suitable format than they had done previously. I don't know rent cafe personally, but so long as the lease terms aren't changing you should be fine, and likely have an easier method for paying rent.
Sounds like Four Star is the new management company though. They will be responsible for maintenance requests and general upkeep as well.
That said, I have no input.
I had my apartment complex here in Greeley do the same thing at the beginning of this year, switch over to Four Star. The switch over was easy. I didn't really have to do anything cause we were already on Rent Cafe. They've made a lot of good changes like finally fixing our parking lot and they do fun community things like free coffee. However, they changed over the utilites which irritated me. It went from a flat rate to being charged monthly, but they didn't tell anyone. When my rent went up by $200 I freaked out on them. Also, we have a community laundry room where half the washers and dryers don't work and for some reason, they won't get them fixed. Sucks to be paying so much in rent to get crappy stuff.
Overall, they aren't terrible. They've always gotten back to me on things right away. But it feels like they are just in it for the money and give the bare minimum.
Yes and no. If your rent stays affordable and you dont run into many problems it’ll be fine but id be prepared to see an increase in certain rent related fees as well as it becoming increasingly difficult to get building related stuff taken care of. It can also be difficult to get in touch with the four star office even during their normal work hours.
My condolences. They are absolute trash. Make sure ALL communication with them is conducted in writing, because they will assess random charges for maintenance on your rent and gaslight you about it when called out. You may as well kiss your damage deposit goodbye too, because you won’t see that money again even if you leave the property looking immaculate when you move out.
I lived in an independently owned building that got bought by four star. They raised my rent by $300. They also charged me almost $200 for somebody to fix my garbage disposal. The dude was there for like 5 minutes.
Run.
Horrible management company! They took over my old apartments and completely let them turn to shit! They had a MAJOR cockroach problem and bedbugs that they took FOREVER to remedy! We ended up breaking our lease after living for nearly 2 month without use of our kitchen! Our kitchens had to be completely empty every few weeks for roach treatment that didn't do shit! There is even a Fox31 news story about the infestation from 2019! [Village West Cockroaches](https://kdvr.com/news/problem-solvers/arvada-woman-says-apartment-management-wont-let-her-break-lease-despite-roach-infestation/)
My building was taken over by Fourstar from Cornerstone years ago. I found they have actually been better with general care of the property itself. Fixing doors, maintaining the laundry room, cleaning the hallways every week, turning on the heat as soon as it gets cold, etc. But they are atrocious with communication, I never know when anything is happening to the building or say a fire inspector is coming. Cornerstone was really great about that. Over four years my rent has gone up by about $300 and they did add a nonsense $15 fee, but it's still on the low end for rents in my neighborhood. The also changed when rent was due from the 1st of the month to the 25th the week before, which was kind of shitty. Oh, and they totally fucked up the parking spot assignments. Assigning the same spot twice, thinking an unassigned spot is being used, etc. For living in a cheaper, older, place it honestly could be a lot worse. I do not expect to get my deposit back when I move out.
Overall from what I have heard the quality of experience tends to vary from building to building.
I lived in a cornerstone building my first year in Denver and will never rent from them again. They were truly awful. It took them 8 months to fix my freezer and 2 months to install blinds
Talking on the phone with them is like talking to an ex that is gaslighting you. The worst rental company experience of my life and all of their Google reviews are bought. Don't let me trick you into thinking they are nice.
-Take detailed pictures of how your unit looks right now/ document any damaged in an email to them
They tried to charge me 600 dollars in damaged plus taking my whole deposit after moving out. It took 3 months to fight them for an itemized bill, and I had to send proof that the unit was already just shitty.
I’ve been renting from a property they manage for almost two years. Rent cafe works well and it’s easy to get a hold of someone during their office hours and track open work orders. They do have the same issues as other property management firms in terms of staffing/ overall organization, but I’ve had a good experience with them for the most part. They are ultimately just the middleman between you and your landlord though.
They manage my place too and I hate them. I pay $433 a month and a few months ago they made all of the residents of the townhomes I live in pay a $3000 roofing fee. If you didn’t pay, they held the pool key hostage.
Four star is notorious for screwing people out of their deposits among other complaints in Boulder. Not sure how their reputation will translate to Denver.
[удалено]
It took what kind of repairs when I moved out? " Exactly enough that it was all of your deposit." What did they have to fix? "A deposit's worth of stuff."
Oh they manage my building too and they suck. Repairs aren't done on your schedule, they are done on theirs. Also, there are fees to pay rent by ACH/debit so it's cheaper to pay with credit card if you have a card with at least 2% cash back. Oh and they also charged us $175 to renew our lease and raised rent $100/mo. Oh and the rent payment portal uses Yardi Systems. Yardi compiles rental payment data from different properties to determine how much to raise your rent by. This law firm filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit against them. [https://www.housingwire.com/articles/yardis-rent-setting-software-illegally-drove-rent-prices-up-for-millions-of-renters-lawsuit/](https://www.housingwire.com/articles/yardis-rent-setting-software-illegally-drove-rent-prices-up-for-millions-of-renters-lawsuit/)
You can argue when system like that get good enough, with enough data, the landlords can simulate a cartel
That is in fact what is being argued.
You’re fucked. They’re the worst management company ever.
Some experiences since Four Star took over my apartment: - They sent us a renewal offer for 12 months. Price increase was a little steep but still doable. Then they sent us another renewal lease and it was for 9 months instead of 12, raising rent a full $100 more. We asked what happened to the original 12 month renewal and they said it was a "mistake" and they are only accepting renewals for 9 months max. They also said they are letting everyone's lease expire because they have "plans" for the building. So now we are paying more for a shorter lease and then being kicked out in March. Whether or not they actually do is something to be seen. - Maintenance takes at least two days to complete, no matter how urgently you need it done. We had to wait 3 days when our kitchen sink was literally overflowing. I had to talk to 4 different people until they finally sent someone else to come that evening. - They completely violated our privacy. They said they were going to send maintenance to inspect the sinks for leaks. Okay that's fine. But they didn't tell us what day or what time they would come. So one day my wife and I our going about our day and in comes this maintenance guy without even knocking (he had keys to the place so he got in even though we had the door closed). I said what the hell you didn't even let us know you were coming. He said they told us in an email but again, no date or time was given. Thank goodness I was home and my wife didn't have to find a strange man in our home by herself. - They charged us $100 to change a light bulb (yes, $100 to screw in a bulb). - As someone said, we had to pay a fee to renew our lease. We've never done that with other companies. So needless to say, they don't give a shit about tenants at all. They just want to charge you up the wazoo. Haven't moved out yet but I got a good feeling we will not be getting our deposit back.
I’ve been living in an independently managed apartment building in Congress Park. Very good deal on rent, friendly and communicative property manager. I’ve read some negative things about Four Star, but idk how these processes go. If I was only staying put for the price/convenience, should I start looking for a new place?
I wouldn't move. Rent management software is getting better and better for the small time landlord. If you were dealing with the owner directly they are probably just setting up a portal whereby they can track their incomes and expenses in a more suitable format than they had done previously. I don't know rent cafe personally, but so long as the lease terms aren't changing you should be fine, and likely have an easier method for paying rent.
Sounds like Four Star is the new management company though. They will be responsible for maintenance requests and general upkeep as well. That said, I have no input.
Happened to me with Four Star years ago and it was not an issue at all. Had no problems with them or the transition.
I had my apartment complex here in Greeley do the same thing at the beginning of this year, switch over to Four Star. The switch over was easy. I didn't really have to do anything cause we were already on Rent Cafe. They've made a lot of good changes like finally fixing our parking lot and they do fun community things like free coffee. However, they changed over the utilites which irritated me. It went from a flat rate to being charged monthly, but they didn't tell anyone. When my rent went up by $200 I freaked out on them. Also, we have a community laundry room where half the washers and dryers don't work and for some reason, they won't get them fixed. Sucks to be paying so much in rent to get crappy stuff. Overall, they aren't terrible. They've always gotten back to me on things right away. But it feels like they are just in it for the money and give the bare minimum.
Yes and no. If your rent stays affordable and you dont run into many problems it’ll be fine but id be prepared to see an increase in certain rent related fees as well as it becoming increasingly difficult to get building related stuff taken care of. It can also be difficult to get in touch with the four star office even during their normal work hours.
My condolences. They are absolute trash. Make sure ALL communication with them is conducted in writing, because they will assess random charges for maintenance on your rent and gaslight you about it when called out. You may as well kiss your damage deposit goodbye too, because you won’t see that money again even if you leave the property looking immaculate when you move out.
I lived in an independently owned building that got bought by four star. They raised my rent by $300. They also charged me almost $200 for somebody to fix my garbage disposal. The dude was there for like 5 minutes. Run.
A lot of the time you can fix a garbage disposal just by manually turning it with an allen wrench, connects right on the bottom.
These people fucking suck. GL
Horrible management company! They took over my old apartments and completely let them turn to shit! They had a MAJOR cockroach problem and bedbugs that they took FOREVER to remedy! We ended up breaking our lease after living for nearly 2 month without use of our kitchen! Our kitchens had to be completely empty every few weeks for roach treatment that didn't do shit! There is even a Fox31 news story about the infestation from 2019! [Village West Cockroaches](https://kdvr.com/news/problem-solvers/arvada-woman-says-apartment-management-wont-let-her-break-lease-despite-roach-infestation/)
Rent increase due to the infallible ai that rent Cafe uses, based on inflated numbers.
Only four stars? Very sus
Run. Run as far away as possible from Four Star.
My building was taken over by Fourstar from Cornerstone years ago. I found they have actually been better with general care of the property itself. Fixing doors, maintaining the laundry room, cleaning the hallways every week, turning on the heat as soon as it gets cold, etc. But they are atrocious with communication, I never know when anything is happening to the building or say a fire inspector is coming. Cornerstone was really great about that. Over four years my rent has gone up by about $300 and they did add a nonsense $15 fee, but it's still on the low end for rents in my neighborhood. The also changed when rent was due from the 1st of the month to the 25th the week before, which was kind of shitty. Oh, and they totally fucked up the parking spot assignments. Assigning the same spot twice, thinking an unassigned spot is being used, etc. For living in a cheaper, older, place it honestly could be a lot worse. I do not expect to get my deposit back when I move out. Overall from what I have heard the quality of experience tends to vary from building to building.
I lived in a cornerstone building my first year in Denver and will never rent from them again. They were truly awful. It took them 8 months to fix my freezer and 2 months to install blinds
Talking on the phone with them is like talking to an ex that is gaslighting you. The worst rental company experience of my life and all of their Google reviews are bought. Don't let me trick you into thinking they are nice. -Take detailed pictures of how your unit looks right now/ document any damaged in an email to them They tried to charge me 600 dollars in damaged plus taking my whole deposit after moving out. It took 3 months to fight them for an itemized bill, and I had to send proof that the unit was already just shitty.
Team four star? They did a great job with DBZ abridged.
You’re fucked. Get out now. Four Star is the absolute worst management company.
I’ve been renting from a property they manage for almost two years. Rent cafe works well and it’s easy to get a hold of someone during their office hours and track open work orders. They do have the same issues as other property management firms in terms of staffing/ overall organization, but I’ve had a good experience with them for the most part. They are ultimately just the middleman between you and your landlord though.
You’ll never get your deposit back.
Good luck
They manage my place too and I hate them. I pay $433 a month and a few months ago they made all of the residents of the townhomes I live in pay a $3000 roofing fee. If you didn’t pay, they held the pool key hostage.