The Carvajal Group

If it were possible to give a zero star review or negative, The Carvajal Group would receive that.
This review is based on a rental property they manage (or managed) in Clarksville and their service. I’ve written an entire blog that details every aspect related to the terrible experience at the house, so I’ll keep it simple here. I’m writing this to warn anyone who is considering using Carvajal Group in anyway.
1) The property they managed was extremely dirty (stains on bedding, stains on all the furniture, overused). Photos did not include any of this.
2) The service was beyond terrible.
3) Ants fell from the ceiling onto the bed. I tried to put this past because we had complained about so many other things and I was trying to keep a positive attitude (I only say that because they didn’t know until near the end, so I realize they can’t fix something if they don’t know about it in time.)
4) The bathroom door wouldn’t close and the window wouldn’t lock (it’s on the bottom floor, so someone could simply open it and enter the unit). This WAS fixed, but not until after we reminded multiple times and it was days later.
5) I came home one day to 2 men in my home and the entire house was covered in plastic from wall to ceiling to floor and they were painting. It was a miscommunication on the management’s part — they had told the construction crew a diff. day and they didn’t hear correctly apparently. Accidents happen and I get that, but this was the last straw after a string of events.
I should note that this was last year. It’s possible enough people have reviewed negatively and they have changed their service, though I find that hard to believe. Cristina was our contact. At times she did her best, which didn’t seem like her best was very good, but we’re guessing when we were asking for a discount, the decision was not hers.
We stayed in their unit for a month (short term rental) and received a 2 days comped for the experience. In our opinion, for the price we paid and our EXTENSIVE experience staying in short term rentals in Austin and Clarksville (20 in 2 years), this was not acceptable.
You’ve been warned.

If I could give them zero stars, I would.
First off, the condo that I was shown originally looked nothing like what they gave me. Then when I asked to adjust my rent because of it, there was a month of them not emailing me back. They basically asked me how much I wanted to be charged (which makes me wonder how legit they are if they don’t even have set prices for their units). There was mold in my vents, which I’ve been begging them to fix.
On top of all that, I paid two months rent ahead of time, then they messed up my paperwork and charged me a full months rent way after I paid the month.
They are vey unprofessional, never get things done in a timely fashion and will blame you for their mistakes. I never want to be managed by them again!

My roommate and I leased out a 2 bedroom in West Campus for our senior year thinking the location was convenient, the complex was small, and so surely there couldn’t be any major problems. Instead, we ended up with a lot of hassle and a huge sense of relief when we moved out.
The biggest problem is that the property manager doesn’t respond AT ALL unless you persistently bug her. If you’re with them, I don’t recommend email correspondence ever. Call or show up (which we had to do a few times) so they can’t really give a runaround.
Another problem was the «maintenance» guy. For someone who’s supposed to be working in customer service he likes to be really condescending. The maintenance requests that were sent (to an email I had to ask for) never received a response. I had to cite a housing code in order to get any response (after about 2 months of no response). This just angered the guy (Justin I believe is his name).
Lastly, the mailbox never locked/​closed. You could pull it right open and we have had our mail stolen before (probably drunk kids) and my roommate had her insurance cards found on the street and returned by a nice random stranger. I let the maintenance guy know and he suddenly lost his attitude and said something to the affect of «it’s the governments fault, they probably cheaply installed it. I’ll let them know.» This wasn’t fixed even when we moved out.
There were more issues but they basically boiled down to these. I wouldn’t recommend knowingly leasing with them.

I just finished a contract with Eric for managing my loft in East Austin. Or, I should say that Eric cancelled the contract without the required notice because he thought I was being disrespectful to his staff. He said I cursed at he and his assistant. While I did curse during the conversation, I never cursed at them. I was frustrated with them because of their failure to fulfill provisions of the contract, especially for regular maintenance. My property was supposed to be checked for damage and for maintenance 4 times a year. That never happened once. I would routinely have to make calls to Cristina, Eric’s assistant, requesting updates because she was poor at following through on issues unless I followed up on her. She rarely did things when she said she would do them. She rented to a tenant without even meeting the tenant and then, after, found out the tenant smoked when I’d explicitly indicated I wanted nonsmokers. Once the tenant moved out, there were a number of items to be repaired because of the lack of promised maintenance.
All I can say is, if you’re looking at using this company, do your due diligence. I’ve not been satisfied with them.

We put Eric and his company through the ringer, and at every turn, they handled us with skill, professionalism, and patience. We had a house that we needed to rent out for a hefty sum. Eric got it done. The property management took lots of attention, because it was an older home and needed some repairs. Staff was all over it. When we finally decided to sell the house, there were obstacles galore due to some organizational hiccups entirely on our end. Didn’t stop Eric and his team from making it happen (even when we were suddenly out of town on the day we were supposed to close.) It didn’t matter what kind of curve we threw, Carvajal and Company were on it.
Can’t speak to some of these other experiences, but I’ll say this: We had to be one of his more challenging clients. And they handled us brilliantly.

We attempted to book a rental they manage in Austin via VRBO for a month long stay in January/​February 2014. I contacted them on ¹⁰⁄₂₅ with a request for booking, and after asking some questions related to the sub-​par reviews of the space (like, how it’s poorly managed and they don’t respond to customers), I requested to book the space on October 30^th. I sent another email on November 1^st, and submitted 3 new requests via the VRBO site between November 1^st and 7^th. So I attempted to contact them 5 times with no word over a 12 day period. However, this was the ideal location and space for us so we did not move forward with any other rentals.
I did not hear anything back from them until November 11^th when they said they would send me a contract and request for payment via VRBO. The did so on November 12^th, and I was working hard/​late hours that day so was going to pay the next day. They said at 9am on November 13^th that someone else was interested in the property and to let them know if we still wanted to book. I responded less than 2 hours later that yes we were, but by 12pm they said they’d rented it to someone else right out from under us after less than 48 hours of a re-​connect in communication on their end! Really!!! I need to give you 12 days to get back to me but you can’t give me 2 business days?
In my opinion, this is an incredibly poorly run company and I wouldn’t entrust my rental search, house search sale of my house, management of my rental property or really anything to them. They’re shady and unreliable and they basically can’t be reached for weeks. I’d look elsewhere if I was an Austin resident!

I’m disappointed to read the negative reviews about these guys. Jonas helped my husband and I find a house that fit our needs perfectly. We looked at SO many houses over a four month period in a super competitive market– multiple offers, houses going for above list price the day they are listed– and Jonas was both patient with us and diligent when it came to searching for properties that we would be interested in. Not once did he say that he was unavailable to show us a property or answer a text or call, even when we called him on a Friday evening to drive in horrible Mopac traffic way down south to view a house we weren’t even sure about. It is refreshing to work with someone who isn’t telling lies and who completely understands what you are looking for. We are thrilled with our purchase and will recommend these guys all day long!

Although our realtor helped me and my roommates find an apartment in the location that we wanted for a good price, that’s where the positives end.
We didn’t have all of the amenities that were guaranteed: the a/​c & heater do not work downstairs, we did not have a working microwave for a whole semester, my sister’s shower would never get warm, the bedroom lights in two rooms were not connected to the switches on the wall, and some of these problems were not fixed until toward the end of the semester and some were not fixed at all.
Calls and messages went unanswered for weeks and our power is now out, with a delayed response to fix it. We tried brushing the minor problems off; however, last night we had to sleep at a friend’s apt. I do not understand how the carvajal group is still in business with their horrible customer service. This apartment is becoming such a hindrance and the carvajal group perpetuates the unnecessary situations that my roommates and I face.
edit: I also saved my review b/​c a friend told me that one of his kept getting deleted.

My boyfriend and I decided to begin looking for a place to live about a month and half before our desired move-​in date. Somehow, I don’t remember how, but we got in touch with Chloe and the Carvajal group. We had really no idea what we were looking for– i think we changed our mind about the price range/​area/​and certain features about 3 times. She spent probably 3 whole days with us driving us around and showing us properties and was nothing but patient and encouraging.
Cloe was super flexible and it really felt like she had our best interest in mind, and wanted us to find our perfect place. She is also young and hip, which is a plus– i felt like she was better able to understand our needs!
The Carvajal group website beats all other real estate websites hands down. It is simple to do a search for the property you desire, to save searches, and doesn’t have a bunch of confusing bullshit on it– just simple and to the point. It also allows your realtor to email you lists of properties that you can go back and review and even compare them side-​by-​side.
I would definitely recommend. After falling in love with a condo, we even considered the option of buying (or investing) and she was able to set us up with a Lender, who contacted me right away.
We ended up finding a property with red river flats, one that Chloe recommended looking at, which i wouldn’t have even considered, but it is everything we were looking for!

They are absolutely wonderful! I called the number on the website at dinner time on a Sunday and they not only answered the phone but I had an email that night and properties to look at the next morning. Chloe and Jonas go above and beyond. Truly the best experience I have ever had rental searching. They truly cared about me, my situation and my needs which I have found is very rare!

I disagree with the other reviewers. I sent an inquiry through the Carvajal website, and Jonas contacted me right away and we made an appointment for that same afternoon. That was even late on a Friday just before Labor Day weekend, so he definitely went out of his way to help. Then, we were a bit high-​maintenance in our search for a rental home.. .changing our budget, the zip code we wanted to live in, etc.
Jonas took us out three different times to look at homes and was always quick in answering tons of emails from us. We finally found the perfect place for us, and Jonas rushed around, again late on a Friday, to get the deposit and applications in for us before the weekend.
We’re very happy with our new rental home. We wouldn’t have even known about our new place had it not been for the Carvajal listings. If you are looking for a rental home, or even to buy a home, I definitely recommend them.

I contacted the Carvajal group about a rental on their site. Jonas called me back and we spoke. It was blatantly obvious he had no interest in «wasting» his time making any effort. He told me he would call me back with the answers to my questions and just never called back. Ridiculously unprofessional — I would look elsewhere for a Realtor.

I’ve done a lot of surfing on Craigslist in the past. Bought stuff. Sold stuff. Rented and sublet apartments. No real issues. Aside from the obvious Nigerian prince money order scams, I’ve never had any problems. But now I’ve had agents from the Carvajal Group post bullshit postings on Craigslist. Unprofessional, sloppy, and not worth your time.
Long story short: they posted a listing for an apartment in a highly desirable neighborhood which I contacted them about. They then told me to meet them at a place in a neighborhood which was suspect at best, and more likely severely dubious (think: number of pawn shops and liquor stores vs. Starbucks as your metric). When I confronted them about whether it was the same neighborhood as the posting, they assured me it was a great neighborhood and that I just didn’t know any better (I was moving to a new city and was trusting them even though it was many many many many blocks away from where I *thought* the good hood was). But the place was not only NOT the picture on Craigslist, it was a total dump in a completely different hood. And to add insult to injury, when I got to the place, the agent wasn’t even there to meet me and told me he’d be there in 10 minutes. I told him to eff off.
I can’t say that all the people who work here are unscrupulous, just the ones I’ve been in contact with. And in a shitty RE market like this, you can do much much better.