Burkhamer Property Services - Cosmopolis, Washington

Heather

I’m sorry to say we had a poor experience trying to rent a house, that we thought was beautiful, from these ladies. We were initially told that there was another application pending a business day ahead of ours, and that we still had a chance to rent if we were able to get our application and deposit in quickly. Therefore, we were rushing to get everything turned in and accounted for, however, we were then told that it was a red flag that we were in such a big hurry. Additionally, they made a snap judgement about my husband’s character and presented it in a pretty insulting way before he was able to explain, and then proceeded to stand by their incorrect judgement. Mind you, my husband is an active member of the community who both volunteers at schools and has many reputable references due to his activity. Finally, the nail in the coffin was that they wanted us to pay a $6000 deposit because they would not recognize our current rental history because we rent a house from family (for the past 7 years), even though we are great tenants, signed a rental agreement, and have bank statements supporting our on-time and reliable payments. The only way we could avoid that outrageous deposit would be if we could track down a rental reference from over 7 years ago… Better luck to the next applicants.

Annalee V.

Terrible company. Lied about cleanliness and lied about damages done to the place that were already damaged before we rented. I have proof, just never wanted to see their lying faces again by taking it to court. The funny thing is, is that even their own pictures on their provided DVD proved what they said we damaged was damaged before we moved in. Yet they took money from our deposit to fix it. Their cleaning girl is the one who inspects the home before and after you move out. Where is the oversight on that one. To get paid for hours for working on a place after someone moves out, why would she ever say that nothing was wrong with the cleanliness. We told them of a problem with water leaking in part of the house which caused damage to a couple of my pieces of furniture and a moldy smell to the carpet. They charged us for extra deodorants to be added for the carpet cleaning for that area of the house. Ugh.

H F.

They literally told me and my partner that we did a great job cleaning to move out of a unit I had rented: "what more could we ask for?" and "you worked really hard!" Then two days after I handed over the keys, I was called and told that they were charging me to wax the kitchen floor (they literally prohibit tenants from waxing) and that they were going to charge me for carpet cleaning because (again, days after I moved out) Kelly decided to accuse me of being a smoker. So, again, after saying it was great and I would get my deposit back, in person, they INVENTED reasons charge me. I got to tolerate bad neighbors, whose behavior--with actual negative affects on property value--was consistently dismissed. But a smell they invented after I left is something I'm now responsible for? The intent to swindle is clear and distasteful.

Cole T.

I was very apprehensive about dealing with these people after reading all the reviews. It seemed I would of been better off renting somewhere else, but it couldn't be further from the truth. The rules are black and white pay your rent don't destroy the property and act like a responsible adult. I raised a family in my rental, and never had any problems with them. Whenever we put a help ticket in they responded almost immediately and sent the proper company to fix the problem without charge. We took the best care we could of our rental and ended up getting money back from our deposit. My advice would be, be a decent person pay your rent on time and I guarantee you'll never have any issues.

Jace

Youngwild A.

I’m entirely sorry that I even interacted with this company. In my opinion I would not. Especially if you can’t afford to lose money for outrageous charges.

When I moved in I thought it was a cute apartment. Then about a week later I couldn’t figure out what this horrendous stench was coming from my kitchen. I looked and looked and then I found rotten vegetables coming from one of the cupboards left by the previous tenants. I also had to personally replace the stove exhaust filter because the one that was left was falling apart and caked with what looked like years of grease also left by the previous tenant. The fridge next to the stove was also caked with grease which I had to scrub for hours to get off. However when I moved out they “spent two hours cleaning” even when I spent two weeks cleaning it myself and left it in spotless condition.

Also immediately after moving in the garage space under the units leaked water enough to be coming out from under the door of the garage and onto my personal items. But don’t worry because they have a team of what looked like ex meth heads to come into your home and “fix” it while smoking in your bathroom and leave the butts in your toilet even though the landlords have a very strict no smoking policy. They didn’t even fix the leak. I had to have my friend come over and help me fix the leak because I was tired of my items getting wet.

Back to the strict no smoking policy. During my stay I was going through a divorce and picked up an old habit to help with the stress. I did so outside only, never in the residence as did the person downstairs. Shortly after I got a message from my landlord that they had been video taping me doing so. Which by the way is illegal for them to do. On top of that they would drive past my residence and lay on the horn all the way around the block. Talk about harassment. All this for a tenant who not only paid rent every month but paid it early and left the apartment spotless only having been there six months.

They kept nearly 600 dollars of my security deposit. I’ve rented several times in my life and have NEVER had anyone keep that much money. Ever. Especially not after leaving it in better condition than I rented it.

Good luck to you if you decided to risk renting from this company. I didn’t think the reviews could have been true when I did. I was sorely mistaken. I’m glad to be done with these people.

Marissa D.

I called twice, spoke with the same lady explained everything. First, she was insulting when I told her when my husband gets off work, which is around 7 pm for nights. Her response, “well, can't you just take pictures and show him, haven't you looked at the pictures” I then go to say it's a lot of money to put in every month and I would feel more comfortable having my husband with me.
Second phone call I said we stopped by the place and peaked through the windows and called her to ask for a showing. Explained in the process of getting my dog to become a service animal. I have lupus and am going deaf. Also explained if it's a long process our dog will stay where's he's currently at until all the paperwork is completed. I had to stop her multiple times to repeat myself because she kept cutting in and interrupting me. She just laughed and had a sarcastic “well okay”. I don't know how you except to have business if you won't even let people finish their sentence. No wonder they only have a 2 star rating. Definitely won't be renting here.

Christian S.

An overall poor rental experience. Petty deductions for cleaning after my pregnant wife and I spent days cleaning the apartment before moving out. We were charged for the back deck having to be swept, even though we swept it before we moved out -- it was outside, in the fall, right beneath a bunch of trees; this doesn't sound like a situation a tenant would normally be charged for. Despite units appearing to be old enough to necessitate re-carpeting (evidenced by our neighbors who moved out having their carpets replaced upon move-out), we were charged several hundred dollars for carpet cleaning.

The "amenities" of the apartment left a lot to be desired: our unit had no screens and they explicitly mention that they will never put in screens in order to save money; the windows didn't insulate well, and we were contractually obligated to keep the heat at a certain level and to keep the blinds open the majority of the time; we found hair in the shower drain on our move-in day, before either of us used the shower; several drawers in the kitchen were sticky upon move-in. I know we signed the lease with these provisions, but I think it is still worth mentioning that this is the quality of a unit they deem acceptable.

I don't know that we ever had an interaction with Kelly or Sandy wherein they were not condescending. Between the move-out pettiness, the overall interactions with the rental staff, and the poor quality of the unit, we would strongly recommend renting through a different agency. Our experience was not positive.

Trevor B.

We rented from them for six years never missing a single payment. We did our duties as tenants and let them know right away when things in the house needed repair. We were always blamed as the cause. One example is that the shower which is over 20 years old would sometimes not fully shut off. we would notify burkhamer and they told us that we are young and "turning off the water too hard and causing it to break"....... I'm pretty sure we know how to use a shower. the plumber who came out even agreed with us that the hardware was old and needed replacing.

when we moved out we paid a professional cleaning company to clean the house front to back. Three women were out for most of the day scrubbing every corner of that house. Keep in mind we were already pretty clean people and kept up with daily maintenance cleaning. We did a walk-through with Sandy burkhamer prior to moving out and she pointed out a few things which we took care of. There was a back deck to the property that we even pressure washed which was not on the list to do. But we like to leave things nice before moving out. the house was spotless and we had checked off every item of the list.

a few weeks later I got a call from Kelly burkhamer. she says that we not only are not getting our deposit back but we actually owe them money. She said they spent six hours having to clean the house specifically areas that were already cleaned by the service we paid for. now to be fair to burkhamer there was one thing in the house that I did that was outside of the contract which was install some door latches for extra security. I understand fully that I am responsible for paying for that because that's outside of the contract. I can't hold that against them. But 6 hours of cleaning is ridiculous for a house that was professionally cleaned by three people for most of a day.

We also paid a pet deposit prior to moving in and yet we got billed for extra cleaning because of "dog smell" despite our dog being well potty trained and never going pee or poop inside. the carpets in the house were well over 6 years old and the state law even recommends replacement of the carpet in rentals that is that old. But again rather than do the right thing they stick you, the tenant, with the bill and just move in the next person.

That's what we get for 6 years of faithful rent payments and taking care of the property as a dutiful tenant. they will nitpick the tiniest things and find any possible excuse to not give you your money back. They know that most people will not fight it in court because they don't have the time or money. every place we have rented from before has always given us our full deposit back and has been sad to see us go. They have always appreciated the extra length we have gone to care for and clean their property. Not burkhamer. They are petty and cheap and will find any excuse to maximise their profit at your expense. Avoid them at all costs.