If it were possible to rate zero stars, I would. If you find yourself in the market for a rental property and see that a particular property is managed by Crosstown Properties, think twice. Then think a third time, turn around, and run away.
At first, everything seems great. You'll deal with Debbie, who is friendly and helpful and more than willing to do whatever is necessary to get your money. Once you've signed on the dotted line, though, you'll start to wonder if Debbie was just a figment of your imagination, as chances are you won't ever see or talk to her again.
After you've signed your lease, Jim will be the point of contact, if you can really call him that. On the rare occasions that he does respond in a timely fashion (and only ever by email; don't bother trying to call, and heaven forbid you should ever try to go by their office--in two years I only ever saw someone in the office once...and I was there to drop off rent in the middle of the day during the week, so it's not as if I was there outside office hours) he's rude, condescending, and seems to regard renters with the same esteem one might regard a cockroach.
Their overall business practices are what one might consider ""shady."" If you rent from them, you can expect behavior that borders on harassment and stalking. Drive-bys, in which they'll take pictures of the house to show you your shortcomings as a tenant were regular, and unwarranted. Once a year, you'll be subjected to an ""annual maintenance check"" during and after which few to no maintenance issues actually get resolved. More than anything it seems to be a ploy to come in and snoop around the house to make sure you aren't destroying it. You know, because that's what all renters do.
You'll be held responsible for things beyond your control, like the weather. Last year during a scorching summer and record-breaking drought, we were forced by Jim to re-sod the front yard, knowing full well that with temperatures over 100 almost daily and drought restrictions in effect that new sod couldn't possibly survive. Needless to say, it died in short order and not long after the emails from Jim demanding that we replace the sod yet again started. Once the weather cooled and we started getting rain again (though we were still under drought restrictions), I seeded the lawn and by the time we moved out in March, the entire lawn was covered and green again. That didn't stop Crosstown from charging us $250 to unnecessarily re-sod the front yard after move-out.
Which brings me to my next point: move-out charges. As someone else mentioned, you can expect a large portion of your security deposit to be nickel-and-dimed away by move-out charges. In addition to the aforementioned charge for the yard, we were subjected to a plethora of other charges. Some were legitimate, but others, like a charge to replace a garbage disposal that we never once had trouble with in our two years there, were most definitely not. Then, to add insult to injury, we left behind (at the owners' request) a refrigerator for which we were to be credited on our final statement. There was no such credit.
All in all, my experience with Crosstown was the single worst I've had with any management company in my life as a renter. But don't just take my word for it. Let the plethora of other negative reviews here and elsewhere help you make the decision to leave Crosstown Properties far behind you.
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