Star Metro Properties

I am so impressed with how quickly and effectively our requests have been addressed. I am also feeling the love from recent renovations to the common areas.
Star Metro has the best property management of any place I have ever lived. Prompt, courteous, and willing to go the extra mile.

I’ve been renting apartments since I was 17 years old. That’s 50 years of renting. Most landlords have been absolutely miserable, with maybe 3% OK and a golden 2% wonderful. Star Metro is in the top 2%. I’ve lived in a NE Hoyt Star Metro apartment for almost a year. If I made an online request for repair in the evening — first thing the next day the repair is done. The building is cleaned thoroughly every week, including the laundry room. The grounds are perfectly tended. But what is the most amazing to me is that after I left my keys hanging out of the mailbox and a tenant found them and turned them in, Beth in the Star Metro office not only called me at work but offered to run the keys over to my place of employment. Fortunately, I had a set of keys at work (just in case), so that was not necessary. But, really, how thoughtful is this? I will always live in a Star Metro apartment as long as I am in Portland.

Angela was the biggest help to me and finding my new apartment. She took all of the stress away for me and was very professional and courteous to me with each and every interaction. She was very helpful and answered all of my questions (and let me tell you it was a very long list). I would recommend renting from Star Metro because they make their process simple and quick. I am very excited to get my keys!!!

Leased a unit from Star Metro remotely. Called ahead, prior to signing, to ask about unit details. I was told the unit is located «on the top floor, overlooking the nearest intersection.» Arrived to find the unit is on the ground floor, looking at an ugly wall a few feet away.
Building is in poor condition, especially the floors/​ceilings. Every footfall produces a high-​volume creaking sound. Very disruptive. Difficult to sleep here. Floors/​ceilings are so thin I can hear normal tone conversation in the upstairs unit almost as if we were in the same room.
I contacted Star Metro several times regarding these issues but they were of no help whatsoever. Spoke with manager but he did all the talking — accused me of «payment issues» and «no other correspondence» — both of which are complete lies.
Paying an enormous fee to move-​out so I can finally fall asleep at night.
P. S. I suspect some of these five-​star reviews are fake…
Update: Star Metro posted a response with personal information, which is a form of harassment — think about this before doing business with these people. I called their office and asked for the author of the response, «Enrique», and was told «oh… uh, he works off-​site» — which perhaps means the author was hired specifically to undermine reviews and personally attack current/​former tenants. Pleasant!

I really appreciate the front office and I thank the ownership for flexibility. I have signed on for another year and I could not be happier!

The Good:
–Emailed me and called me back promptly when contacted.
–Maintenance requests were attended to promptly.
–Online portal to pay rent – no checks.
–Free internet… worked OK most of the time.
–Hardwood floors and pets allowed.
–New windows.
The Bad:
–Pet rent.
–Every email they sent had several misspellings. Embarrassing and unprofessional!
–They had cleaners come in once a month to vacuum the hallways, etc, but the main door handles were always filthy and covered in grime.
–They got confused about my move-​in day and then acted like it was my mistake.
–They didn’t refund a portion of an application fee they said they would.
-$ 45/​mo flat fee for water? It should be $ 30 or less.
–The front and side doors were so heavy that they slammed shut constantly and the neighbors’ floor above me was ridiculously creaky and I could hear every footstep among other sounds. Recycling and garbage next to my windows. It was just way too loud all around. I decided to move out once my lease was up for those reasons and because they sent a letter stating they «had to» raise my rent $ 100 more a month, which is complete nonsense. Once I gave my notice, they listed it out for $ 100 more on the website. Overpriced for what you get: Slamming doors and creaky floors… all this could be yours for $ 1,395 + $ 45 water/​mo. NOPE… and it’s only going to get more expensive. Just look at their website.
Probably wouldn’t rent from them again.

Shady, shady, shady. Continuously entered my apartment without my permission. Which is against the law. Wouldn’t allow me to do a walk thru with them at the end of my lease. Then had the nerve to deduct half of my deposit with no explanations of charges. No phone calls returned, no emails returned, no money returned. It’s a scam. Stay away!

After almost four years of living in Belmont Court I can say that I will miss Don the Maintanence man the most. The property was always well maintained and if there was an issue he would show up promptly and with a smile. Their pet friendly policy made it a great home for my dog and I. They have great close in locations which made bike commuting about the city great fun. And the classic renovated touches of this 1920’s building will also be missed. Thank you for proving a great safe home to us!

Star Metro Properties were a fantastic company to rent from. It is so hard to find places that are amenable to pets and they were great with our dog and cat! The employees were responsive to our needs, respectful of our space and were always friendly!
The apartment building was kept clean and safe.
Laura Ruffner
Jeanne Jaeger

We had such an extreme atypical Portland experience with Star Metro Properties.
Pros: online lease «reservation» system made it easy to book a place from afar. Pet friendly policy also a modern touch.
Sadly, only cons after that…
–After a 10-​hour drive with cats and dog in tow we were given a 1 hour key pick-​up window on Friday afternoon (no weekend hours) despite multiple attempts to get things in order during a previous visit, sans moving day exhaustion.
–The unit we were in was nice enough, but drains that did not drain, bulbs out in the fridge, holes still in the wall, all seemed like items to fix before a new tenant moved in. We did report and were told we could file an official maintenance request if we wanted these items addressed.
–We closed on a house sooner than we anticipated (a possibility we disclosed up front) and were made to feel as a major inconvenience, despite the fact that we would be gouged for ending our lease early.
–Cleaning fees seemed excessive (we were only in the space 3 weeks, never unpacked or used the kitchen) and did not correlate with the level of clean we accepted the unit in.
We did find that there was a discrepancy with invoiced charges (both at initial signing and exit charges), but the situation was fixed when we let the office know. Good idea to double check.
Bummed that we have to leave a less than stellar review, and know that with limited rental options folks will have to tolerate the unpolished customer service offered by SMP, but at least our words of warning have been shared.

We lived for one year at the Gladstone location and only left because we were moving to California for work and school. They always answered our maintenance requests promptly and never charged us extra for the necessary work. They are well organized and well run. Their places do seem a little pricey, but rent in general seems to be going up in the area and at least their properties are nice and well maintained (and we had a washer and dryer!). I have not had any problems getting ahold of the office. It is too bad that the office itself is difficult to access — street parking and a locked external door with no intercom, but that could be easily fixed and was never an actual problem for us. If I ever move back to Portland I will go right back to Star Metro to check for any apartments they have available first.

Star metro properties units are very clean and well maintained. We lived in one of their units for 1 ½ years and any time we needed anything they were very prompt in their response to any issues or maintenance requests. Highly recommend this property group

My husband and I have lived in 2 different Star Metro properties (Davis Street and Mississippi Ave). We LOVED both of them. The properties were well maintained and reasonably priced for Portland renters. They were super animal friendly and even had poop bags in the court yard. When a maintenance guy had to come in while we were at work he was really kind to our dog and even brought her treats. The people at Star Metro were also wonderful. They were always kind, accommodating, and easy to get a hold of. When my husband and I bought our first home we had to extend our lease a couple of days because our closing was delayed, they quickly got it taken care of. We never paid a deposit, which is great, and never had fees after we moved out. I would recommend them to anyone looking to rent in Portland.

My wife and I lived in Rose Court for over two years and had only positive experiences. We moved to Portland from Austin in July of 2011 and initially had trouble finding an apartment when we arrived. Luckily, we found a vacancy at Rose Court.
Our favorite things about renting from Star Metro:
1) Easy application process. There was no deposit, the application was short, and we moved in within a few days. This was a relief after we had a few bad experiences with other apartments in town — others had long processing times, high application fees and deposits, and were accepting many applications for the same property and choosing renters subjectively.
2) The apartment was spacious, affordable, and located near many great bars and restaurants in East Portland.
3) Online rent payment. Very easy to go online and schedule rent payments. Much better than writing checks.
4) Responsive maintenance. It was easy to submit a maintenance request online and the maintenance guy was very nice.
5) Very pet friendly. Almost everyone in the building had a dog.

It’s been over two years since I moved out of Castle Manor and I’m still bitter about how unprofessional and narcissistic these people are. My girlfriend and I lived in the back unit of the building and the only door directly to the courtyard. The building is H shaped so the back courtyard has an acoustic flaw in that it’s a giant speaker. That being said this isn’t even the root of our problem, more so just a set up for how inconsiderate these monsters are.
After living in the unit for around six months and happy with the idea of things like no deposit and a small/​fair pet fee, endless hot water (additional fee), and good bathroom ventilation (you know, things that get people to move in right away, without looking at things like Unilocal) we were beginning to call the place home and feel we would live there for quite some time. One by one people were moving in and out seemingly each week. Finally, after getting to know a few people in the building (who lasted more than a few days) we began to realize that people were being forced out and rent was going up each time someone was intimidated out. Shady business practices, right! These are peoples homes!
Around this time is when things started going south for us in the building. First we went on vacation (2000 miles away, dog boarded at a pet hotel). We recieved a noise violation… yeah, because we were making to much noise. You see, since the courtyard had a door to our apartment anytime any noise (i.e. pin drop) was reported is was automatically us, even if 2000 miles away. This happened two more times, both of which while I was at work, and my girlfriend was home asleep… asleep, amidst a noise violation, weird.
So with all these people moving in and out, in and out, our dumpster was prime pickings! I couldn’t walk by the dumpster any day of the week without a residentially challenged individual digging around. Our window being right above the dumpster (yeah, it’s as crappy as it sounds… just wait, that gets better) we would constantly hear the clinging bottles and the digging around.
Between the complaints of tenants being «asked» to leave, and problems taking 3 – 4 days for a response, and being blamed for noise we didn’t cause, I was started to get fed up. Finally, the last straw…
One night after receiving a ride home from work, I asked my friend to come inside for a night-​cap. We proceeded to have one drink, and then he left, by 1130 @ the latest. We didn’t hang out long and I remember this b/​c it was a studio apartment and my girlfriend was asleep at the time. The next morning I receive a call from one of the «landlords»…he claims that a member of the party I had the night before took a crap on the ground in the courtyard, and there is a witness. WTF, are you kidding me!!! I said, I thought it was a prank call at first, then I just got pissed. So, not only did I see my friend walk away, from my apartment with a toilet les than 8 feet away, I also got a «cough» from a neighbor as I said goodbye to him. This person was new in the building and had asked us to watch our for her stalker, then leaves all her bedroom windows wide open and blinds up on the ground floor… obviously a bag full of hammers bright. So, not a dog… which there were many in the building, not a vagrant, which were constantly digging around and stealing bike tires, but my friend who gave me a ride home, and I was asked to leave b/​c of buildup of noise violations, we would get a good recommendation if we just left, or else they would take us to court. What a load of crap. Luckily, my girlfriend and I found a much better place for $ 50 more in a way better neighborhood, even thought we only had 21 days to move out.
Now I have the # of a maintenance man! No waiting three days when the water isn’t working! We did not receive a bill b/​c of the no deposit when moving out, that is the only thing positive I have to say about them. But then again the place was spotless b/​c we feared being taken advantage of more so then we already were.
I have continued to hear more stories of the crap these people deal, it’s just a shame that they think treating their own tenants this way is ok. From the passive aggressive neighbor to the landlords that own multiple buildings and don’t even have maintenance on staff! Just to add a final thought, our landlord now (who owns plenty of buildings as well) will text us, and us her if anything is needed. She loves us and we continue to work on making our residence a better place to live! Two years later, still good tenants, just not being screwed!

This property management company is the lowest of the low. I’ve rented several properties, and have never dealt with a more unprofessional management company. I lived at their property on 27^th and Division for 2 ½ years. Whenever I had a maintenance issue it was usually pretty important — the sink in my bathroom leaked all over my floor, the fridge broke TWICE and turned into a heater, and it always took them minimum two days to respond. They don’t check their voicemail over the weekend, and the first time my fridge broke I had just spent $ 300 on food the week prior and it was completely ruined because the maintenance guy said the fridge basically turned into a heater (both times the fridge broke on Saturday and they responded on Tuesday). When I asked them about being compensated they basically said it wasn’t their problem and «these things happen.»
The icing on the cake is when I moved out. There was a small water stain on the hardwood floor in the front room, and they had another tenant moving in the next day after I moved out. I let them show the place to potential tenants when I didn’t even have to. They billed me $ 1700 to replace ALL the hardwoods for the one small stain. When I inquired about why I had to replace the whole apartment they were like «oh yeah, you have a point and we’ll just charge you for the front room» which ended up being $ 1400. The walls had mold on them, and they charged me $ 300 to repaint them saying I «burned too many candles» even in the spare bedroom which had the door closed 100% of the time which also had black mold appear on every barrier. I had renters insurance and they wouldn’t even let me in the place with my insurance company to view the «water damage» because «they didn’t have to». My insurance company advised me to hire a lawyer and mentioned the property management was completely sketchy and one of the most unprofessional they had dealt with because Star Metro would never get back to them.
Star Metro also decided to make up a last name for me, and when they sent their bills for the damage they had a complete wrong last name to my new address so the post office kept returning them, and within 45 days of me moving out they sent me to collections when I hadn’t even received the first bill.
They also charged me $ 25 a month for having a dog, but yet they never provided doggy bags and rarely maintained the property. The dryer cost $ 1.50 per load and neither dryer worked and you had to pay to dry your clothes twice.

I am definitely in the horrible move-​out experience camp.
My wife and I had no issues with Star Metro during our tenancy at the Castle Manor apartments. We did have severe mold and mildew growing in our second-​floor corner apartment, but we bought a dehumidifier and EdenPURE heater to combat that somewhat. After two years of occupancy by us, Star Metro installed fans and vents in the bathrooms and eventually moisture-​control windows for all of the apartments in the complex.
Our three-​year stay went well, and we cleaned our apartment, dropped off our keys, left our forwarding address, and relocated to Colorado in June of 2010. Two months later (Oregon law requires 30 days for notification of damages and security deposit settlement), we received a bill with multiple typos for $ 850 listing smoke damage that had to be repainted. Neither my wife nor I are smokers and we never light fires in the apartment. We spoke calmly to Sean, possibly the unofficial, unlisted owner of Star Metro, and asked for verification of the alleged damages, and he told us to fly back to Portland and he’d show us. Certified mail ensued by me.
Unfortunately, this has not been the end of the matter. I am currently fighting Star Metro and their designated collection agency and may end up flying back to Portland after all to settle the matter in small claims. Now I just need to find legitimate information for Star Metro ownership to start that process.
The taste in my mouth is very bitter. I would not recommend this property management company to anyone, and I wish the current tenants better luck when they move on.

I am a current tenant at Rose Court. I have to say I’ve had a great experience so far. I know there are many bad reviews but I can’t agree.
I’ve been at Rose Court for 2 years in June. While it is true that calling the main office is futile, when I email or call Tonya or Sean I’m helped immediately. Tonya has always been very nice (and ive bothered her with lots of questions). Sean (the manager) has always been nice, whether it’s a noise complaint (extreeeeeeemely rare it’s a unusually quiet building) or an inquiry I have always been helped and he has always been friendly and gone out of his way to help.
One weird thing:
I received a late charge of $ 100 once but when I called and explained it was an error, they removed it.
Pros
There is free wifi (though not lightning fast, it’s free).
They just put in new HE washers. Only $ 1 to wash and $ 1 to dry. I’ve had worse.
They are doing all new landscaping (nice!)
They installed carbon monoxide detectors
They accept pets and provide poop bags (I don’t own a dog but my visitors find this very useful)
The building is cleaned weekly.
Large, clean, vintage, and affordable apartments
Very small deposits
Pay rent online
I’ve read the horror stories of move-​outs. I can’t speak to that yet (fingers crossed I don’t have any bad experiences or 1,000 move-​out fees). My experience has been fabulous. I love living here. It’s quiet, youngish, great location, and the really put in work to keep it nice and upgrade it when possible. As long as you pay your rent and don’t trash your apt I don’t see how you wouldn’t be happy with Star Metro properties.

I’ve been asked by Star Metro properties to remove my «nasty post».

I’m going to have to agree with the Unilocaler below me as far as I’m not really sure why everyone hates them so much.
Star Metro has its ups and downs, but at its core it is mostly a property management company who is willing to deal with people who have crappy credit. In my book, that makes them pretty awesome.
I’ve had to pay my rent late a couple of times, and they’re always willing to work with me to set up a plan (and not get evicted – sweet). While I clearly have some poor financial management skills (lol), at least I know that they’re willing to work with me and help me out during hard times.
The handyman (dang why can I never remember his name!) is very nice and responsive, and very dog-​friendly. He’s the best! Maintenance requests are ALWAYS responded to quickly.
The higher ups definitely need to work on their business writing and customer service skills. Their emails to me are terse and harsh sounding, but I know that it’s not intentional so I don’t take it personally. They are the reason, however, for a 4-​star review rather than a 5-​star. If I felt like they cared a little more, I might feel differently about it. Tawnya (in the office), on the other hand, is amazing. She is super helpful and friendly and great to chat with. :)
We had an issue with dog poo in the courtyard area of our complex recently, and Star Metro was really proactive about it. They sent out a notice that they would start fining tenants for not picking up after their dogs, and reminded them that dogs are not allowed to run freely in the courtyard. YES! (Random side note: who doesn’t pick up their dog’s poo? RUDE.)
I’ve lived in my complex for a little over 2 years now, and I love it. It has it’s problems (as with ANY older building in a humid setting, duh), but the building is adorable and my neighbors are quiet and respectful.