Property manager company has bad reviews online

[Amie D.]

Hi all,

I've gotten to the end of my rope with my current PM and am looking for a different company. The town is a smaller college town so there's not a huge selection. I only have one house in this town, but it's in a good area and is not hard to rent. I live out of town and am required by local codes to have a local manager, so can't just do it myself.

One of the larger management companies has gotten bad reviews online, not from their owners, but from the tenants. The negative reviews were mostly because they got apps denied or did not get their security deposit returned for damages they felt unfairly charged or overcharged for (knowing that they have strict screening and go after getting paid for damages might actually be a plus to an owner), but also some commented that when they moved in the properties were dirty/in disrepair.

How much of this would you pay attention to versus attributing it to tenants who were just unhappy in general with deposits not being returned, etc? Is it a bad sign that I find more bad reviews for this company from tenants versus other companies, or could that just be because they are in general larger?

Thanks!