Smooth Sailing Realty & Property Management

Oh boy, where do I begin.
We didn’t end up renting from Smooth Sailing, and during our two and a half week application process (before it was even run, before we pulled out) we had no idea if we would even get a chance to rent.
1) While you can apply online (really nice feature!) they do not even look at your application until you have seen the property with the agent. There is nowhere on the website or the application process that asks if you have done this, so you spend time filling out the application and paying $ 40 per person … and then not even having your application touched until you call and ask for an update several days later and are told this rule.
However, there is only one agent.
So when we applied Saturday night after doing a drive by (and being allowed to peek inside by the couple cleaning) and I called Tuesday to check on our applications and make personal contact, I was told then that our application, while first come first serve, could not be run until we saw it in person. Wednesday, I received an e-​mail and a phone call with a showing time… for the following Tuesday. (I replied to the e-​mail and never got a response.)
After viewing the property on that following Tuesday I called to reiterate interest and was told another application was run before ours (?! I wasn’t informed of this the other two times I spoke to them?) but they’d let us know when ours started processing. In the meanwhile, we viewed other properties… and were run and approved for two other places within two business days. (Two weeks had passed by this point.)
In addition, the advertising on their website and Craig’s List stated the inclusion of a refrigerator, which the agent said was not included when she showed the property (opened the door and let people wander without really saying anything about the home itself). One day short of two weeks after when we applied we received an e-​mail letting us know the fridge was not included and asked if we were still interested.
The (one?) good thing was the friendly receptionist did refund our application fees right away when I called to rescind after applying somewhere else. Too bad, we did like the unit, but were so tired of the lack of communication and the runaround. Definitely does not speak well for managing– I wouldn’t expect any maintenance to be performed if there’s this much trouble with the application process.
This poor overworked agent needs someone else to help show units if applications can’t be run without that official showing, and they need to be shown closer to calls. There needs to be something on the website warning that the application will not be run until the unit is shown (like a check box «Have you seen this unit?» that can be manually verified). Smooth Sailing would very much benefit from streamlining their application process and are definitely losing quality tenants who just… can’t get anything accomplished. Very disappointing.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO NOT RENT FROM THEM!!!
They seem nice at first but you’ll have a horrible time with maintenance and they don’t call back on a timely, professional matter.
I really want to give this company zero stars. Asked them for a security door for the back because the house I rented did not have a dryer vent to the outside. Did the maintenance request on their website. Took them over a year and calling every week for a month for them to finally get off their lazy butt to give us one. Not only that, when the initial request was put in, they put in the online request that it was finished a few months after which was a lie.
Even after giving them a 30 days notice it’s still on their terms of how to get out of their lease, otherwise you can’t get out of it.

Update Edwin, Denise, and Jennifer have reached out to me to resolve the issues at week after almost 2 months since I moved I got my deposit check it was only $ 104 and I was very very upset as to I’m a clean person and I left the home in good standing but before I had a chance to really voice my frustration Denise emailed me and said I had additional funds due to come to me and it was in the mail so I will say they have taken the initiative to see that I am a satisfied customer … I appreciate the efforts on all their behalf’s and it made me feel as if they were genuine. So thank you again and once I receive the other I will update again so as of now I would go back as a the at if they are willing to go above and beyond for me like they have now. But I’m in Atlanta and I love my new home and the landlord is absolutely amazing ! If I ever moved back to California I would go back to smooth sailing but only is those 3 are still there. Thank you for going above and beyond!

If I could give this poor excuse of a company ZERO stars I would do so. I saw a home posted on the company website and became very interested to see the home I called the number listed 4 times, now mind you I may have called the first time during lunch hours but the next 3 times were very clearly during their so-​called «business» hours. I never received a phone call back or a return email as I also inquired online. This is extremely poor customer service and at this point I’m glad I’m not renting from them, heaven forbid something goes wrong and you have to «reach» them for help or assistance! Do Sacramento a favor-​CLOSE YOUR DOORS and leave the property management to the professionals!

As a current tenant, I would advise to never mail in the rent. I’ve mailed in my rent twice because our online payment has been ‘unavailable’ the entire time, and both times they seem to ‘not receive it’ via mail on time. Then charge late fees galore. It should not take over one week to receive a letter within the same city. I do not trust what they say.

I was a tenant of 2.5 years with Smooth Sailing. I can see why some of the reviews aren’t the greatest. The previous property manager I dealt with was Rodney. He was initially nice during lease signing, but towards the end, I found him to come off as slightly rude, and he also didn’t seem to have the greatest communication skills in getting back to you in regards to issues. I thought that my boyfriend and I were great tenants. We always paid our rent on time and never nagged about maintenance issues (only when we can’t figure it out ourselves). Last year, we had an issue where the oven was not working. I had the receptionist’s email so I messaged her letting her know of the issue. A week later, still no response. I ended up having to put in a maintenance request through the website, which I admit, I should have done in the first place, but the lack of communication on her part was off-​putting. When they finally were able to get maintenance guys out to the house to check out the oven, it turned out that the part needed to fix it was worth more than the oven. We then received a phone call that the owner decided to order a new oven instead, and that it would be a couple of days. All in all, if I remember correctly, it took about almost three weeks from my initial email to the receptionist to when the oven was delivered.
So how did Smooth Sailing get a 4 star review from me? This past March, we were notified in person by Denise (a new property manager) that the owner was selling the home. She gave us two months notice to move, which I thought was super nice. I think Denise took over for Rodney, but she was seriously a godsend during a very stressful time. Denise was compassionate and just super amazing about getting back to us either via phone tag or emails. She was even willing to show us a place on her weekend off if need be since we were having a hard time finding a suitable home. Luckily, we found a place five days before we were to vacate the premises. After the move, our security deposit got lost in the mail. I contacted Denise and she was quick to get back to me. She was able to have the accountant reissue another check for our deposit within two hours of me returning her phone call. Amazing! We ended up getting the entirety of our deposit back, since we spent five days cleaning from top to bottom.
I left one star off because Smooth Sailing is still really hard to get a hold of phonecall-​wise. But Denise deserves the FOUR stars. I would go as far as saying that I honestly think Denise has the best customer service of all property managers I have dealt with thus far. I’ve been burned in the past by many, so I am quite leery of property managements, but Denise has given me faith that there are still good people who care about their jobs and the people they are servicing. I will definitely reconsider renting from Smooth Sailing if we ever need to move again, as long as Denise is there. Thank you so much Denise! Please never lose your touch or your passion! :)

Thought my problem was being solved but it’s more like smooth sailing is stalling so I will be going to the court house to file a law suit against the owner of this property he can think smooth sailing for that it already consulted with my attorney I’m fed up with lie and games I am also
to code enforcement because the neighbors have roaches coming to my house I asked them to spray they never returned my calls roaches carry diseases such as salmonella, streptococcus, E. coli, dysentery, hepatitis B, plague, and cholera and more called about my sink 3 Times they still never fix it correct its just a on going night mare no wonder they rent to be on welfare and ssi instead of hard working ppl like me because they are able to get alway it this crap but it won’t work I know my renter rights and I know the law very well I am not a first time renter they may think I’m some dumb young kid they better think again DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY EVER GO WITH M&M PROPERY

this company is a joke and don’t pay their clients bills on time.
They are not nice people at all, not truthful…

Nothing smooth about their sail… They pretty much do not answer their phone. I’ve never experienced this at a business that both manages rentals and sells homes. Kind of baffling.
How can a real estate company be reasonably successful without answering their phone or returning phone calls… It’s so odd that I was tempted to go to their office and call them while standing in there just to see if someone is intentionally not answering the phone of if they are legitimately busy. I would not trust this company to manage my property because I feel like I won’t be able to contact them when needed AND because those that are interested in renting my property would also have trouble contacting them to view it.
2 stars only because they did reply to an email.

Smooth Sailing really doesn’t seem motivated to rent out the properties they manage. I called to set up a viewing of a property, and they absolutely refused to schedule an appointment for a viewing without me driving by it first, despite my assurances that I was familiar with the neighborhood. As a homeowner, I am likely a bit more sensitive to this type of poor property management then others, because frankly, their job it to find good tenant, which is difficult if you are disrespectful of a prospective tenants time. As a prospective tenant it is a huge red flag when a leasing office is difficult during your first conversation with them.

If you want your tenants to sue the hell outta you because this company is so incompetent of knowing tenants rights than by all means you found the right company to ruin your investment and run your tenants completely off.
They don’t fix things at all or if they do it takes months!
Their 24hour maint line is a joke they do not even answer the phone.
They do not advise their tenants when their rental property is being listed for sale which means no communication between the, seller, agent or tenant.
Believe me the level of unprofessionalism with this company is through the roof. Quite possibly when they get sued they will buckle it up.

STAY AWAY. Smooth Sailing will try to take advantage of those who do not read the terms of their lease and those who do not know their legal rights as a tenant. Lori the owner, Brittany, Rodney, & Stephany (who was Diamond Bay staff) are people who will tell you things that are NOT in your lease. Please if you’re going to go into a contract with them, KNOW YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS and most importantly READ YOUR LEASE AGREEMENT. Lori tried to hold my roommates and I responsible for rent AFTER the one year lease had expired. Fortunately, she backed down after realizing I knew the laws in the state of California. And knew my rights as a tenant. I also had legal counsel to help. —–
Their staff is the worst –which doesn’t surprise me since smooth sailing is owned by the same people that own Diamond Bay Realty. If you have a chance to look at those reviews they are quite similar to the ones posted here for Smooth Sailing. Diamond Bay has received 1 star for most of it’s reviews as has Smooth Sailing.
I read all the other reviews here and I’m not surprised at what they say because I have had very similar experiences. Smooth sailing office secretary that answers the phone is nice but cannot connect you or help you speak to someone qualified to speak about the new terms of a lease. She offers her help which is nice but when you need to discuss the terms of your lease changing I don’t think she is the appropriate person to speak with. (Although, in calling four to five times in one week, I ended up explaining my dilemma to her to see if she had any helpful advice – she was only able to suggest emailing… which I had already done)
The property manager, Rodney, insists on avoiding all phone contact. I am a graduate student and I live with another young lady who is also a grad student, and a teacher. All three of us have tried to contact Rodney who is our designated property manager. He refuses to return ALL phone calls and has responded to SOME emails but not all. He has ignored emails from one of my roommates who is a teacher. –I would like to add in that he sent a lease with increased rent two weeks before the old lease was to expire. Then when my roommates and I were concerned, he treated us as if it was not something important that needed to be addressed.–
I find this concerning since the terms for the property will be changing and there is no one available to discuss the options with my roommates and I. We have been sent emails from the owner Lori, thanking us for paying our rent early/​on time for the last year, yet we do not get treated with good customer care. Over the past two years there have been no complaints. We are quiet tenants that have kept the property clean and in great condition as we are all studying and working all the time.
It is a shame to be in such a stressful situation and not be able to get in contact with anyone when the document must be signed in a week.
****I highly recommend you do not work with Smooth Sailing or any of their sister companies. (Diamond Bay Realty or TriCon American Homes)*****

If I could give this company zero stars I would. My boyfriend and I rented a home from this property manager for a year. We had multiple service requests with no response. We lived without a heater last fall/​winter (October-​November) for approximately 2 months. Not only were they nonresponsive to any of our requests they went past the 21 days to return our deposit. We left the house so clean that we did not have one cleaning charge deducted from our deposit. The front assistant, Britney (whom you speak most with), never knew anything that was going on and was absolutely no help at all. Please beware of this company. Do not let them handle your rental and do not rent from them.

Absolutely horrible band of conniving thieves. If I could give a rating of 0 I would. They will steal your deposit and charge you exorbitant fees for items that weren’t even there. I was charged upon move out $ 40 for a screen that wasn’t ever on the Window, fees for the maintenance crew to tighten the screws on the toilet seat, a fee to replace the perfectly fine toilet paper roll holder (?) and $ 350 to color match the paint for touch ups among other things. The staff is courteous until you need something and then you’re at their mercy. I made the mistake of moving into another of their properties before the move out process was complete with my first house. I now have repairs that have taken more than 6 mos to be fixed. My lease is up soon and I can’t get out fast enough. Make sure everything is in writing and you take pictures on top of pictures. At move in AND out. Thanks for the life lessons SS.

The people that work here are very friendly and courteous. This company manages property for property owners. If a complaint isn’t resolved right away it’s because they have to wait to hear from the property owner. Their hands are kind of tied till the owner gives permission for the repair or whatever.

We rented a house on 26^th Ave. Simply put do not go there! The neighborhood is beyond bad. The houses are pretty much run by the «maintenance man» Who has no training.
They were cutting back the trees when I was there with a skill saw, yes the round bladed one designed to cut boards, not trees. We put in an order to have a clogged bathtub repaired and it took them over five months to fix it. the fix was the drain dumped straight under the house. That repair was done by Smooth Sailings maintenance crew, not the drugged out freak living there.
The «maintenance man» also rents out the vacant units to his buddies, more druggies and prostitutes. Yes just what I want going on around my two young children. Well the moment my lease was up I moved on out.
My daughter that was also renting there moved out about three months before her lease was up when one of the «maintenance man’s» cousin’s slammed her husband in the face when he was sitting on his own patio minding his own business. Supposedly he looked at him wrong.
When I first moved in the place seemed OK. The people stayed back from us apparently we were not the kind of people they were used to associating with. The carpet in my kids room started to smell like a sewer within a month of signing the lease. It turns out that they had laid «new» carpet over the old carpet and did not even bother to clean the old carpet. The carpet was not new, once I pulled it out we found feces and urine stains everywhere. I let smooth sailing know and even sent them pictures of it. They did nothing at all. I had to clean the carpets myself to make the place livable at all.
Smooth Sailing may not have been able to control the other residents, but they could at least have kept up the maintenance on the buildings. They use the owner of the property as an excuse for not keeping up the units. Well if the owner of the units was so bad you shouldn’t agree to keep up the property, which is what their part of the job was. To rent and maintain the property.
I would say move to a shelter or a shared living arrangement before dealing with these people.

I’m surprised there are so many negative comments for Smooth Sailing Realty. My husband and I are relocating from San Jose to the Elk Grove area and from the moment I sent in my application on-​line, I have received nothing but great customer service from Karen, Mick and Rodney. We did pay our processing fee up front and waited only about a week for our answer. The first month’s rent was half and the place is clean and in a nice neighborhood. We haven’t foreseen any problems and we don’t expect to. There are a couple of damaged screens that I’m hoping the landlord will pay for but other than that, things have gone smoothless so far. Relocating is not easy, and these folks made our lives easier, not harder!

Anything but Smooth Sailing
We looked at a place online and there was a «special» move in deal where you get $ 300 off the rent for the first three months so we applied and paid our fee for applying. It took so long for anyone to get back to us that I had to do a stop pay on the application fee in order to get their attention. By this time the said we were approved but the move in «special» was no longer in effect. It took another two months to get moved in all the while Im having to extend the lease at my other place and pay the rent there as well. The place was supposed to have a fridge, but when we got the keys there was no fridge and I had to pay $ 600 for one. They kept trying to add on money for anything they could find. NEVER USE SMOOTH SAILING REALTY. If you do keep an email and paper trail otherwise they will try to screw you in any way possible. WORST PROPERTY MANAGEMNT TEAM EVER!!!

Not So Smooth Sailing,
I should have read the Google review posted by William Nesbit prior to doing business with these people. Nonetheless, here I am, adding my two cents.
1) After our initial viewing of the home, we went online to look at the property within a few hours and the monthly rental had gone up a hundred dollars. I phoned the agent and his reply was that the owner had decided to increase the rent. I asked why he didn’t call us and he said he was going to! (I should have taken this red flag and jumped ship)
2) My spouse and I arrived to sign our lease and another agent informed us he would be signing with us, not the guy whom we had been doing business with all along. We asked where the other agent was and he stated he got tied up! The new agent proceed to go over the lease and had us sign it without doing a walk thru with us. He stated they already did the walk thru and we need to sign the lease then do our walk thru. We did sign this because we felt that this was common practice, but apparently its only common practice for those who are swindlers. (William Nesbit was right, «But these people like to do their walk thru’s without the tenant present»)
3) The online add stated «refrigerator», although there was no fridge in the picture of the add, the literature covered it, however the agent stated we would have a fridge in our lease to later be told the next day after signing the lease, there was no fridge and we would have to get our own.
4) The walk thru of the lease stated new carpet, new paint, etc. As we were doing our walk though we noticed the carpet was soiled with pet dander and pet hair and needed to be replaced, at the very least shampooed. The paint was not new and actually had brushes of paint strokes throughout the house. A screen door for our patio was missing, we had no key for our garage door entrance into the home. There was a bee hive inside the AC out on the patio. To their credit, the only thing they did fix was the leak under the sink, which turned out to be the garbage disposal wrapped up in duct tape.
5) Unprofessional — I initially received a call from one of the «management team members» regarding «more money» was due upon move in lease was completed wrong by our agent and we needed to come up with more money than we were told. (Make sure prorated amounts add up because 1 + 1 = 3 with these people.)
6) Tacky– I emailed that same woman regarding our walk thru we had done upon moving in. Since we were not receiving support from our agent, the old woman directed us back to that agent and proceeded to scold us via email as if we were one of her employees.
7) Be careful — Email all correspondence for a paper trail. Take pictures too and most importantly dumb down! The clientele for which this company usually rents too are low-​socio economically disadvantaged persons, thus they treat everyone as though they have the brain the size of a snow pea; Especially if you have a bit of pigment to your skin. In short, get your money back first before you show your hand… these people are shady and honestly don’t appear to illustrate a strong command of the english language as their vocabularies are remedial at best.