RE/MAX Y.G.

Not the friendliest bunch in town. After 8 hours of driving to reach this lovely group, I got some misdirecting signage and a «well, I was wondering if you were ever going to show up» when I finally found the office I was not supposed to go to but was… Ugh. I was actually looking for a friendly greeting in exchange for my 700+ dollars of rent. And incidentally, this entire little town of Groveland is exceedingly unfriendly. WTH? It feels a lot like they resent the tourist trade here, but without it, this crappy town would wither and die. That being said, the house we rented was clean, spacious, well-​tended and a great environment for our girls. I felt that we really got a good value renting here. See what an attitude can do to a review gals at Remax?

Lauree at Yosemite Gold is extremely knowledgable about the area. She has been working with us for over a year, and is always gracious and hospitable. We are close to buying a vacation home, and once we do, we will use her to manage the property as a vacation rental.
I recommend them.

I have rented out my home for the past 13 years through Re/​Max, and been happy with their service. Tracy has, until now, been helpful and accommodating.
The trouble began last summer when I got a call from the water company, telling me that the meter reader had shut off the water since he could see no one was home and the meter was spinning. I immediately called ReMax and they sent someone over. They found the toilet running non stop and the person fixed it, and they sent me the bill for the repair. There had not been any renters in my home for 8 days. During the summer months I turn my home over to ReMax and don’t see it until the end of summer as they take over everything. When I got my water bill, it was $ 729, FAR larger than any bill I have ever seen in my life. I appealed to the water company and they did a one time only credit for about $ 200. Tracy reassured me they would not stick me with this. I reminded her it was her employee (the housekeeper) that had last been in the house and would have been the person that cleaned the toilet that had the problem. Months passed and I got a voice mail from Tracy telling me it was probably a renter running the hose with their kids (meaning it was not their fault !). Next I got an email with the calculation showing how they took the remaining bill, averaged it over the 35 day period from water meter reading to water meter reading, and sent me a check for $ 83, and saying I only asked to be reimbursed for the 8 days from the time the renter left until the running water was found (true because I thought that was fair), so they paid me 8/​35, so now after charging me $ 35 to fix the toilet, they really reimbursed me $ 48($ 83 — $ 35). So instead of reimbursing me for the running toilet, they averaged it over 35 days, so they could keep the money and stick me with the approx. $ 475 bill. I have pulled my home from their listings and will not be back. Tracy had apparently spoken with their insurance person and they came up with the plan to pay me next to nothing. Even the people at the water company told me ReMax should pay this bill. Tracy, I hope you read this, because when you treat people like this (the word weasal comes to mind), they simply will dump you and vote with their feet. $ 48 out of a $ 729 bill… I have not yet decided if this is worth my time to go to small claims court since I don’t live near by, but if I do, you already know what the judge will do. Any reasonable person can see that you screwed me.

All I can say: customer service was great. BUT. Couple things to consider:
— depending on the house you are renting (which is just my guess) make sure you do following things before your checking out time at 11 am sharp: wash all used linens and towels, dry them, fold them, put them back in the closet; clean kitchen very good, clean bathrooms, take trash everywhere and just remember — you cannot leave any trash behind, so you will have to take it with you to avoid unnecessary charge.
— keep in mind, that small beach is not being cleaned like it supposed too.
On the other hand –we did enjoy weather and the lake. Fishing there is great. 40 min away from Yosemite park. I would say I want to come back to the location, but will try to find out more details about what would need to be done while at the property before hand.

After a very long day of travel, they had our arrival information ready and waiting. Check in process was very easy and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

I gave it 1 star rating, but it was for the effort that Yolanda, one of the representatives at the Re/​Max put in to help me. I really wanted to give it MINUS 5 stars for the complete lack of customer service that this company offers. I personally work in a customer service oriented field in a very policy regulated environment, however, every day I strive to accommodate my customers and find ways of saying yes instead of no. I guess this is not the policy of this office!!!
My son, turned 24 on July 7. He LOVES, LOVES fishing so as a present for his birthday we’ve decided to rent a house for him and his friends. It was somewhat a last minute decision so I was really surprised to find a the property offered by Re/​Max. It was perfect and my son was super excited. It was just what he wanted!
I booked the property and received the contract which states and I quote «RESPONSIBLE RENTER AGE 25 OR OLDER WHO’S NAME IS LISTED ON THE VACATION RENTAL CONFIRMATION AND ALL PERSONS LISTED ON TEMPORARY RESIDENT REGISTRATION AGREE AS FOLLOWS». Nowhere in the contract did it state that Responsible Renter MUST stay for the duration of the rental period.
Granted it was my fault for not calling ahead and clarifying the whole 25 year old rule, but when I returned signed agreement I got a call back and was told that my reservation is cancelled because of the age requirement. And that was 3 days before the trip.
I spoke with Tracy, property manager, and explained to her that this was a birthday present and to please help me find the way to salvage this situation. Unfortunately, I was told in a very matter effect way that it’s policy and her property owners rely on her to make sure that we comply with the rules (I wonder how many of the property owners given the situation would accommodate their renters?). She did not even try to come up with solutions! When I asked her if she can please hold the house for another day so I may find an alternative solution, I was told that the refund was already done.
I guess you can judge for yourself. We’ve been renting in Pine Mountain Lake since way before my son was born and I can guarantee you that I WILL MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE I KNOW WILL HEAR ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE.
By the way, Tracy suggested I contact two other rental agencies. So thank you for that suggestion. You can be sure that I will be contacting them from now on for all of our future rentals.

We have stayed at a few vacation rental properties and were quite shocked that first the staff seemed short with us when giving us directions for the area. Then we realized that they DON’T provide linens, but CHARGE you for them if you want them. Then the fridge was dirty and most of the furniture had tears and stains on them and were covered with blankets. Some of the linens had blood stains on them. No heater in the downstairs area you have to plug in a space heater. The fireplace needs a serious cleaning it is very dusty. Overall we had a dirty feeling. The best part is the backyard area where your precious little ones can slide right off the slide and to their DEATH since there is about 1 foot between the end of the slide and a steep ravine. And the locals absolutely hate visitors and make no attempt to hide it. And everything closes at around 9 P.M. If you plan on going to Yosemite eat there as you will not find anything else that remotely resembles food once you leave there. I would suggest you go to El Portal instead that city is much better.

Was a perfectly good compromise between distance from Yosemite, housing quality/​space/​comfort, and price. Contacted the office on several occasions (to check how things worked, to make a reservation, to ask questions, to tell them we were going to arrive late, etc… etc…). There was one day when I couldn’t reach anyone by phone, but they managed to respond to my email in a reasonable amount of time. Overall, we found a nice property, reservations went smoothly, and we didn’t have any problems.

The previous comments do not reflect my experience whatsoever.
For over a decade now, my immediate family has rented from this particular Re-​Max office countless times for weekend getaways. Communicating and arranging rental times have always been a breeze for us, and we have never had any trouble retrieving our security deposits. Consistently, we have enjoyed clean, quality units, and the management at the Yosemite Gold office has always bent over backwards to ensure that our needs were accommodated. They have also been very resourceful for suggesting things to do beyond Groveland (e.g. in Jamestown, Sonora, and Yosemite). Altogether, I highly recommend using them for booking rentals at Pine Mountain Lake.
For as much as I enjoy this site, it really sticks in my craw. Reviewers here fail to recognize that negative reviews are remembered far more often than positive reviews. I’ve come across too many «caveat emptor» tales that pale completely from my experiences at restaurants, hotels, and the like; this is just one example. In their ignorance, people find it worthwhile to crap all over the business and livelihood of others, and these self-​appointed connoisseurs do so ad nauseam. In the time people take to write these diatribes, they could be pickling their livers down at the local swank bar, feeling elite while flushing $ 60 down the toilet. That way, only the customer gets the shaft.

ReMax has been my property manager for 4 years and the service has been fantastic. The property is well taken care of and vacation renters are very happy with the service. Tracy our property manager is very devoted to us and renters. The last 4 years has been very good to use even during the bad economic times we just had, thanks to Tracy. ReMax and Tracy are the best team in town.
Max d

OMG my recent experience with the Rental Mgr. was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Tracey Billib has managed our rental property at Pine Mountain Lake for years. SHE IS THE BEST OF THE BEST. She takes better care of our property than we do. She is professional, friendly, conscientious, and always goes above and beyond. I have referred her to so many friends looking for someone to manage their properties as well as people looking to rent. THANKS Tracey for always being so on top of things and making our life easier and our guests vacation experiences TOP NOTCH!

This review can be broken down in a few simple words: inaccurate, inconsistent and bait-​and-​switch.
First of all, good luck contacting the main office through their phone number. For being open «Sunday to Saturday», they don’t really pick up the phone. Business must be BOOMING if they don’t have to answer the phone.
If you do get a hold of someone (which will be unlikely), get ready to jot down every single thing they say. Be sure to clearly repeat yourself so that they don’t confuse something like «house #1» with «house #235.» While this may seem like I’m being facetious, I can assure you that I am not. I discussed two properties with the REMAX office and we confirmed many of the specifics (that they were lakefront properties, would sleep x number of people, and other attributes), but in subsequent emails was told that I am mistaken about the conversation.
Second, be sure you double check the website. If a property states «3-​night minimum» and they confirm it on the phone, book it (or not, if you value your sanity). I decided to book online and merely 30 minutes after getting off the phone with the representative, a refresh of the website showed that it was now «4-​night minimum.» Wait, what? That’s right folks, a classic bait-​and-​switch. That or «demand adjustment» to swindle folks out of money.
Third, unlike other brokerages, they consider May 1^st as the start of summer. Last time I checked, summer started at the end of May. But who cares when it means that REMAX can charge more, right? Nearly every other rental agency in Yosemite counts the peak season starting at the end of May.
My advise is to simply stay away. It may seem like they are the only game in town, but luckily there are many more reputable agencies that should get your business. They have a mini-​monopoly and try to put a strong-​hold on honest customers.
Update: LOL! They registered some fake accounts on Unilocal to make 5-​star reviews. My 1-​star review must have really hurt them bad. How sad and pathetic.
Also, I found quite a few other rental agencies that had significantly more competitive rates and amazing customer service. I can’t begin to express how nice it was talking to someone that was polite and didn’t lie. However, in the end, I decided to book a place inside of Yosemite. The house I booked is nicer and cost less than what it would’ve cost to rent from REMAX. Not to mention, it’s only 30 minutes from Yosemite Village instead of about an hour.
Additional update: Looks like the owners responded with some canned text that describes how they label and address properties. Do they think I’m stupid? You pulled a bait-​and-​switch on me and LIED about what was discussed. Don’t listen to the crap they spin, they are just trying to save face of what is obviously a piss poor run business. My «criteria» is to not be lied to.
Can’t wait to see «CLOSED» written next to the name of the business.
Also, to a particular reviewer: way to bust out the thesaurus to sound «big» and «smart» in your review. RE/​MAX in Groveland is nothing more than a poorly run business by people who are greedy and do not know what customer service means. If you can tolerate rudeness, by all means. Fortunately, some people have standards and prefer to be treated nicely.

I just have to say: «They are horrible».
We rented a house through them. The check in time is 3pm. When we came there at around 4pm the house wasn’t ready yet. I don’t know what is the reason for that. When finally we got into the house we didn’t check how clean it was (big mistake). We unloaded all of our stuff into the house and went to the lake. When we came back we had some garbage, but there was no garbage bags anywhere in the house. We had to go back to the supermarket to get some bags.
Overall our stay was good except when we got a letter that we ar not getting our deposit back because we destroyed the house. They said that they house was really dirty, there was food all over the floors. There was gum on the carbets in the bedrooms. The barbeque grill was so dirty they had to soak it. Well guess what. We cleaned the hous as much as we could before we left. We hand washed all the dishes becuase there was no dishwashing detergent. We couldn’t vacuum the house becuase there was no vacuum. We didn’t use their barbeque grill because we brough our own. We had no gum with us at all because we don’t let our kids eat gum.
We did pay them cleaning fee, but they said it wasn’t enough to clean the house. All they are trying to do right now is get our deposit. Well they chose the wrong path, they are lying.
So if you ever want to rent a house in Groveland don’t use Re/​Max. Use someone else.

I went through Re-​Max Yosemite Gold to rent the lakehouse we just recently stayed in. They have a great selection of spots, and the prices are incredibly affordable.
And they will drive you insane.
I should have known I was doomed when one woman had to call me, oh, 15 times one day while I was home sick because she couldn’t figure out how to properly charge my credit card. She accidentally charged me three times, then told me I had to call my credit card company to deny two of the charges, blah blah. And we all know how much fun it is to sit on hold with your credit card company and then try to deal with explaining a difficult situation. To top it off, she was wrong — SHE had to call the credit card company to rectify the situation, so I was tormented for nothing. Good times.
They require you to send in a $ 500 deposit via check a couple of weeks before you check in. Since money management is not my strong suit, I wanted to know if I should just consider this money gone. Do they cash the check? When? Only if we trash the place? How does this work? The woman I spoke to — oddly, the same one who butchered the process of charging me in the first place — told me the check would not be deposited until after we checked out, if the place needed excessive cleaning or repairs. Sweet — that $ 500 is mine!
Except for how they deposited the check two days before I arrived and I had no idea — leaving me with $ 1 in my account. I called back to see what had happened — talked to the same woman, who transferred me to someone else who explained that I must have spoken with their «answering service» since that is not their policy, and the three women that work there all know that and no one would have misinformed me. Except I can tell her by name who I spoke to. And she works in the office. In fact, SHE JUST TRANSFERRED ME TO YOU. In any case, only six more days until they decide whether or not to send a check back to me and in what amount. Here is something that sucks — I know I’ll have to pay whatever they decide for charges, no negotiating a better deal or saying the charges are exorbitant. Sort of like the hospital.
Roll of toilet paper in downstairs bathroom = $ 67.43
Windexing mirrors in bathroom = $ 246.89
etc.
I must say that the most fun part came when I was driving up to the lake. We got a later start than planned, and I wasn’t going to arrive at the office to pick up the keys before they closed. I didn’t realize this, so same woman calls me on my cell — as I’m driving through Podunkville. Oddly enough, I had crappy reception. Our 10,000 minute phone conversation that ensued was nothing short of hilarity for my carmates, and a hammer through the skull for me.
Re-​Max Yosemite Gold — superfun to work with!
I’m glad there are three other real estate agencies in town for next year’s trip.