First Place Management Consumer Reviews

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA -- There is a reason why the Better Business Bureau's Jacksonville chapter lists an F rating for First Place Management. You will NOT get your security deposit back if you rent one of their properties, no matter the condition upon move out. They are small town scam artists. I honestly left the townhome I rented in better condition than the day I moved in. Spent over $500 to make the place look immaculate upon move out; professional carpet cleaning, matching and painting walls, preventative pest treatment, etc. They still found a way to cheat me out of half of my security deposit. Charged me for things like "cleaning behind appliances" and "dirty light bulbs".

On top of that, there was a severe mold problem inside of the AC unit and they did NOTHING about it. I had chronic sinus issues until the day I moved out and I'm concerned about the long-term health ramifications. I have disgusting pictures of this mold infestation. And then they had the audacity to charge me for AC maintenance bills accrued during my stay - it's absolutely surreal. My experience with First Place Management should be on the local news. Do yourself a favor and deal with a well-known realty service, not these small town crooks. You have been warned.

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA -- Getting started with the company was easy enough. However, once they received their initial payment, the communication stopped. This may be a great property manager for someone looking to rent their house out, but their contracts heavily favor the company and are completely unfair to the tenant. In the year that I was there, the stove, freezer and air conditioner all broke. Only the stove was repaired in a timely manner. The air conditioner took two months and over twenty phone calls to get repaired. The freezer was never fixed.

When I moved in, the garbage can had maggots all over the bottom, and the place had clearly not been cleaned. Upon moving out, they decided to charge me for interior cleaning, carpet cleaning and other "miscellaneous" items.

As I've read with other reviews, there is no way to get your entire deposit back. It's impossible from the beginning because there's a $150 administration fee attached to your deposit. The house was livable, and I was in a hurry to move so I took it. I urge anyone that is considering this place to do your homework first. This company is the reason that people hate to rent from property managers. I wish I had something better to say about them...

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA -- I scheduled a tour one week in ahead and was told to get up extra early to call ahead of time. When I called they told me it was already sold. They easily could have called. When they called back they were rude and talked down to me.

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- First Place Management is full of assurances at the start, but once they start managing your property, it's all over. Communication is nearly nonexistent. They don't like to answer calls or return messages. Money disappears without explanation, and it takes days to get a response to clarify the deductions. The tenants they put in our house left the place trashed, and FPM still hasn't released the money we had in our maintenance fund.

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA -- Anyone in the Jacksonville area thinking of renting from First Place Management should think twice. The warning signs of this companies inefficiency to work with their clients were blaring from the beginning, but, needing a place to live, my roommate and I signed a lease without thinking it through. It took this company 3 weeks to call us back just to see the apartment!

After being there for a year and paying rent on time every month, we decided to renew our lease for one more year. My checkbook and credit cards got stolen at this time and my bank put a freeze on my account. I notified the company of said freeze and they processed a rent payment regardless. They then proceeded to charge me a late fee, a "delivery" fee for a notice (which was never delivered), and told my roommate and I that we had to pay in money order form for the rest of our newly resigned year lease. This, after I told them I needed to cancel the check and pay in a different manner.

Being two professional women who work all over town, you can imagine how time consuming it was to track each other down, cash checks, withdraw money and then get a cashier's check from one of our banks. I asked the company if there were a better way to handle it - they said no. I found out 6 months later there was indeed an easier method for us, but the company claims they "forgot" to tell us.

When I confronted the company with this I was treated as if I were an idiot and the disrespect from the OWNER of the company was appalling, telling me I deserved hardship for "writing a bad check," and I "must be irresponsible," and that's why he couldn't take my hard earned money from me. He repeatedly called me "young lady" as if I were his daughter and I'm 26 years old. I'm shocked. I've lived in a lot of rental units in the past 8 years and have never been treated like this.

It should also be noted that on one of my monthly visits to the office, I overheard an employee yelling at the owner telling him she did not appreciate his disrespect and lack of gratitude for her. If a company's own employees say this about them, why would anyone want to do business with them?

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA -- I own a home in Jacksonville which I am using as a rental property until my job transfers me back. I contracted with First Place to manage the property i.e., screen tenants, collect rent and ensure the property is maintained. In the past three years I've had three changes in tenants. With each change the "truth" comes out - the tenant wasn't financially responsible (Thought you guys screened these folks?!) and in the course of the move-out, damages exceeding the security deposit are always noted and repaired by First Place's own crack "jack of all trades".

Oddly enough, their "invoice" charges always equal the security deposit and include such necessaries as changing 5 light bulb for $50 and new toilet seats (every new tenant gets a new toilet seat - Whoo Hooo!). The rent is never deposited on time and trying to get an answer or a returned phone or email - forget it. I guess when the next tenant moves out, I'll be moving First Place out too!