Metro Denver Management

Can I give them no stars? I lived in a property with this company for three years. During that time I was refused a building key to the property until I was locked out several times. I mentioned water damage in the bathroom which was never fixed and they refused to replace the windows which were ordered in the wrong size and resulted in drafts during the winters and higher heating bills. After paying to have the place professionally cleaned before moving out, we were deducted the entire amount of our deposit allotted for cleaning as though we had not cleaned the place at all. I was consistently condescended to and would not recommend this company to anyone nor will I ever rent with them again.

There are currently 3 other postings about this Management Company and all of them are scaring you away. I’m guessing that most people don’t consult Unilocal before doing business with a Management company like this, but if we don’t post our stories, people like this will continue to get away with it.
When people have been screwed over, they generally use hyperbole to describe their situation, but I can honestly say that dealing with Jeff Sterkel, Property Manager, has been one of the worst experiences I have had as a renter or a customer of any kind.
We moved into a townhouse/​apartment near Holly and Yale in March 2010. The place was small, but the rent was $ 695, allowed pets, and had a washer and dryer and dishwasher. The carpet was disgusting, filthy and tattered. I use these words because they are the exact words I used to describe the carpet on the «Move-​In report».
Did the company fix this? Nope. The tile was shifting, the washer and dryer broken down for months after 2 months of moving in, the HOA was hounding us about every little thing, but the rent was so cheap, we stayed and tolerated all of this and the nails sticking out of the floorboards, the asbestos (we found out after move out), and the constant leaks in the ceiling. No hyperbole here. We NEVER paid the rent late, not one day, never in 5 years. We NEVER had parties nor was there any reason for the cops to be called. We NEVER bothered the management company with anything other than all of the broken things that went wrong in the apartment. We kept the place immaculately clean and even paid to have the carpets cleaned as requested by Jeff Sterkel. We requested a walk-​through with Jeff, but he declined because he said the owner was going to overrule whatever he saw that day anyways. Lazy trash.
In Mid-​March, Jeff Sterkel calls and says the owner, Chrystal Owin, is selling the apartment and we need to be out 30 days after it goes to contract. After dealing with the ridiculous unfairness of this, we swallowed our medicine and prepared to leave. The apartment was sold on March 23, 2015 and our move out date was set for April 22, 2015.
I’ve seen enough People’s Court to know that you take pictures before you move in and after you move out. We allowed 12 – 15 visits from potential buyers in the last days of our residence. We allowed several tests, inspections, including the asbestos which came out positive. We cleaned the place from top to bottom and took pictures to prove them.
We applied for a new apartment out of state and they wanted to speak to my previous landlord. The landlord handed it off to Jeff and described our apartment as «disgusting and dirtier than normal». He also answered the question: «Would you rent to these tenants again?» with a «yes» on the sheet and faxed it back.
When I spoke to the new apartment property manager, she says that Jeff told her NOT to rent to us. So he lied to us and lied on the paperwork and chose to badmouth us to our new potential landlord.
Bottom Line… Jeff Sterkel is a the used car salesman of property managers. Don’t do business with a company with zero integrity.
Here’s the best part, now the owner wants to screw me out of my security deposit because she thinks I don’t know my rights. See you on Judge Judy!
UPDATED 7÷22÷15
Chrystal Owin refuses to obey Colorado Law stating that a landlord cannot hold your security deposit longer than 60 days. If they do so, they must forfeit any right they have to keep any portion of said security deposit. She has sent me many communications since the original letter that I sent her on 6÷26÷15 demanding my security deposit back. She states she is not aware of any law and wants to keep over 600 dollars of my deposit due to «Damages» and «Cleaning». Even though we have taken hundreds of pictures, this thief refuses to send our entire deposit. Now that we live out of state, there is very little we can do in terms of small claims court without taking a major risk of losing time and money if she doesn’t show up for court.
Most of the time, the tenants have the upper hand, but this time Chrystal Owin appears to have gotten away with it. It’s important for people to know that Chrystal Owin is not someone that does business with integrity.

I’ve never rented from MDM but I live near a unit they are «managing» — it had a fire alarm going off for two days and despite repeated calls, nothing was done, not even when the fire department showed up after a passerby called 911.
So when they talk about «managing», it sounds like it’s very cosmetic. I cannot imagine AA batteries were that expensive that they couldn’t replace them.
Crap company, crap service.

I rented from Metro Denver Management for 4 years in the past (2005 – 2009). It has been a while but the experience stands out as the worst I have ever had. I rented all through college as well as after my experience with MDM and they were hands down awful. I have never had a single dispute or issue with any other management contract before or since.
They had a Hispanic couple that they used for maintenance issues. I would usually get a 24 hour notice that they were coming however they would show up at my place at 7 am and just let themselves in to fix my issues. I was working nights at a restaurant during this phase of my life and one morning the wife of this couple began SCREAMING at me about «What is wrong with you?» and such because I was still in bed sleeping when they came in to work and was not ready for them. I asked them to leave, she refused, so I told her to leave or I was calling the cops. So she left and I called MDM to tell them to never send them back to my place. They actually argued with me about them being the people they use. The situation was mortifying. This was a ramshackle apartment in Capitol Hill that I was paying less than $ 500 a month for after college and I believe they were only there to fix a bad connection on my bathroom light that had stopped working (don’t get me started on the exposed wire from the bulb next to my bathtub). Just a completely ridiculous situation.
Finally came the day to leave. When I moved into the apartment the carpets weren’t even vacuumed and everything was filthy. My parents helped me clean the place for two days before I moved in. Of course we did not take any pictures and I somehow did not have my walk through sheet from day one (never again). I cleaned and made sure to vacuum to leave on a good note and just put this experience behind me. They actually took my entire deposit and sent me a bill for additional cleaning. When I called them to tell them that they had made a mistake, they told me that I needed to get a lawyer to dispute the bill. I’m sure the next person moved into the apartment in the condition I had left it, without an additional 12 hours of cleaning that they billed me for.
Now, every time I see their sign in front of a rental I just want to plaster a slum lord sticker on their sign and tell everyone «DON’T DO IT!» This review will have to suffice. Caveat Emptor!

I knew this before I moved in, but had to rent the place anyway — these people WILL cheat you out of at least part of your deposit. They charged me for repairs that I reported when I moved in. They make you do all the work to maintain the place, and then they charge you for it. If at all possible, DO NOT rent from these people.