Advent Property Management

It was you that wouldn’t return the calls and who was anything but honest. So if you want your team, who perhaps does work very hard, to be treated fairly then you should remember that when dealing with tenants that lease properties you manage.
I see all the comments you have in response to your poor reviews and I have no care for you to give excuses for your inexcusable behavior on specifics. I’m actually doing you a favor there as I have documented emails with no response to the various issues.
I’m simply giving my word of caution to other consumers as Unilocal was meant for. Believe it or not, I wish you the best as well and hope things have changed.

Bianca is extremely hard working, caring and wonderful to work with.

Advent has truly been a wonderful property manager. As I am a downstairs townhome renter, at times there are certain things that happen that require both care and immediate attention. The most noteworthy came this past Monday when I realized there was a leak coming from the bathroom ceiling. Not wanting an unexpected «visit» from the upstairs tenant (read: toilet falling through the ceiling), I contacted Craig and Rhonda — both of who have been absolutely instrumental in making sure contractors, plumbers, and the HOA were on board for a plan of action.
I cannot thank you guys enough for your rapid response.

If I could negative star I would. I contacted Advent to see a unit they had for rent. Craig Everett — Broker/​Owner and General Contractor was assigned to the showing. I had contacted him numerous times via email to confirm the time for the showing at 3pm. He confirmed that he would be a bit late and show up at 3:10. I said this would be fine.
The unit I was visiting was a GATED community and you cannot get in without a pass code. I contacted him asking if he was there multiple times via email. I tried calling multiple times with no response. I advised that I was outside the gate but he never responded.
Once again he CONFIRMED the showing and confirmed that he would be there.
He did not respond leaving me outside for over an hour while I tried contacting him over and over via email and phone.
Finally I decided to leave at 4:15. I called and miraculously he picked up. I explained what happened and he said «ok…» THATS IT… THATS all the response I got… He pretended not to know who I was or why I was calling. He just said «why didn’t you go in» I explained why and he said «I don’t know what to tell you» …
REALLY?! What kind of customer service is this? Needless to say I would never go with a company that treats it’s potential renters/​buyers in this way.
Thanks to POS craig… and thanks for wasting my time.

I am surprised at the multiple negative reviews. I rented in San Marcos, CA from Dave Nash in August 2013 and all went smoothly. He is very laid back, but, did not neglect my tenant needs. I am moving due to a change in family situation, but, would not hesitate to contact Dave or anyone at Advent if I were to have rental needs in the future.

We rent from Jim Scanlon at Advent. We have had nothing but a positive experience renting from him. He made sure that before we moved in that everything was clean, any repairs were made, and that we were happy with the property.
We have lived here for almost two years now, and have never had any issues that have not been resolved in a professional and timely manner. Jim is quick to respond to any issues that may arise, and if a repair is necessary, he ensures that it is done at a time convenient for us, and will follow up that day with us to make sure we are happy with the result.
We are very satisfied with renting from Jim, and the experience we have had with him makes us want to stay with his property for many years to come!

Worst property mgmt company!
Unprofessional! Allows anybody into tenants home without notifying tenant.
Incompetent! Takes too long to complete 1 simple task.
Useless! Owner and Tenant does most of the tasks.
POOR communication! No communication as a landlord or property mgmt co.
POOR follow-​up! No follow up or show concern for tenant or owner.
Maintenance leaves property in WORST condition than it originally was. Example, owner of property approves for new washing machine. How long does Advent take to replace … 4 months!
Head office has no clue where their employees are and what they do.
Property manager has no clue about the property and any property issues.
Owner of company (Advent) do NOT take any concern of his employees actions. Also, does nothing to fix problems immediately. When Advent schedules for 8am maintenance call, they are late by over 1.5 hours. They do not see it as important to notify tenant they will be 90 minutes late. Late is 10 – 15 minutes in most people’s standards.
Advent Maintenance leaves property with NO RUNNING WATER… tells tenant he will be back… assuming to fix the water taps he broke and turn water back on. Instead never shows up again. Tenant has to call Advent that the handyman left property with no running water. Advent finally realizes their error (not the first time) and calls owner for a real plumber to fix problem that Advent caused. Advent does NOT communicate with tenant about plumber, so some random company calls to say they are sending somebody to fix leak. Meanwhile, property manager thinks the dishwasher is not working and says it’s tenants fault for not contacting her first… she has no clue what is wrong and unprofessionally yells at tenant for not letting her know of this ‘small issue’. Until she finds out I have no RUNNING water into property, she realizes her mistake and doesn’t have time to deal with ‘small issue’…has to go out to dinner. Finally after 10 hours since the handyman left, the plumber finally shows up and reluctantly fixes taps… so many errors and handyman even left washer plugged in, fumes he caused came from dirty oily rag and handyman burning homes structural beams and installation, and turned off main water using city council main tap control (which is illegal).
A company is only good as their employees. Craig, the owner, should look at all the negative comments about his company… they are all consistent… poor or no communication, bad practices, no office structure or sense of urgency or ownership, etc.

I rent a property from Jim Scanlon at Advent. It has been a great experience. Jim made sure the property was spotless when I moved in. He is helpful and prompt in his attention to anything that may come up with the property. He even arranged to get me access through another tenants garage when my garage opener had stopped working. Anytime, even the simplest thing like the coins for the washing machine malfunctioning he had it addressed right way. He is interested in making the rental experience very pleasant. He seems to value and appreciate long his term tenants. He always responds right away to any questions.
Jim has all the qualities of a great Landlord and manager. I appreciate the place I found with him every day. Renting in San Diego can be tough but Jim makes it very pleasant.

I just moved out of a property owned by Advent. Overall, I give the service a 4 star rating, mostly because I the treatment from Craig and the rest of his staff was very good. The application, move in and move out process went very smooth with no concerns. I am no expert in how property management should work, but all I know is that I appreciated renting a fully furnished apartment when I needed it. I will recommend this company to my friends, and will absolutely consider renting from them if we cross paths again.

To start off, I can not say how important it is to have honest ethical people support you. Our landlord was crucial in taking responsibility for Advent whom clearly tried to take advantage of us.
My fiancé and I lived in an Advent managed property for a little over a year during 2012 – 2013. We left as soon as possible based on how we were treated.
Our refrigerator repeatedly leaked on the floor and the freezer constantly frosted over. one maintenance request for this had the drain cleaned. the next time the freezer heating element began to glow red hot. the maintenance person agreed it was a safety hazard and we should unplug the refrigerator. it was over seven days before the 20 year old refrigerator was repaired and safe to plug in again.
throughout that time we had to eat all of our meals outside the home and could not save leftovers. this increased our food costs, created a mold situation for the rest of our duration, ruined the food we had at the time and was a general inconvenience of not having cold storage at home the entire week. Advent’s Craig told us not to expect any credit on the next month’s bill even though we were not getting what we paid for, and had to spend additional money eating out all that week versus preparing our dinners and meals for the coming work day.
nearing our lease renewal we were offered a 5% increase for month to month. We replied back that we would like to sign on for an additional three months, alleviating financial risk over month to month tenancy. i also asked to stay at our original lease cost. this was not communicated to the landlord.
the following business day we were notified that month to month was no longer an option, that only one year at current price or three month terms at a 10% increase were available. this was all less than 30 days from the lease expiration.
Our landlord had no idea Advent was operating like this when we let him know we would not be staying there at 10%, especially after the experience with the refrigerator.
our landlord stepped up and told Advent what to do to keep us there.
we signed on for three more months and upon signing the lease extension, sent a clearly worded email to property manger and landlord providing a three month notice that we were moving out and there would be no more extensions.
At less than two weeks from the end of the lease extension, Advent tried to prorate us for the remainder of the 30 days «we did not provide notice of».
Our landlord stepped in again and made sure Advent did not prorate us for additional days.

I contacted Advent Property Management and spoke with Christina Vasilakis. She was excellent! She responded in a timely fashion, she takes care of all of her properties very well and was even helpful finding my friend a place to live when she needed to move ASAP! She also kept me informed about the various properties she was in charge of so I could make my own decision when finding a place to rent. I’m a little picky and she was very patient with me through the entire process. I would recommend her to anyone in needing assistance finding a place to call home. She is an excellent property manager!

Originally I did not plan to write a review for Advent. After seeing their response to my husband; I feel compelled to put in my 2 cents.
The following items are what Advent did poorly to earn them 1 star
1. Slow in renting: One of my properties (listed well below the market price) went unrented nearly 2 months in a very desirable UTC area.
2. Last minute lease renewals: I didn’t see any evidence of Chris attempting to renew leases until 2 weeks before they were up. I always had to nag her several times to get her to act (the new property manager starts months before the end of the lease).
3. POOR communication: Sometimes I waited 1 or 2 weeks for Chris to get back to me. Craig was helpful; Chris seemed too negative, hostile and counter productive.
4. $ 350 for a small tree trimming: My husband told me $ 350 was insanely over priced and called Chris. It’s a little offensive to imply we’d hire anyone that does not comply with local, state, or federal laws. For the record, David is a tax paying US citizen with a completely legal San Diego business. A good property management company would be delighted to find a company that can save their customers money, while providing a quality service. David was able to do the work ASAP for $ 50 (the actual work took less than 30 minutes) — our only issue was getting Advent to notify the tenant.
5. Cleaning the property: The tenant did not clean the unit enough to be considered move in ready. On one toilet there was pubic hair, pee drippings (on the floor and toilet), and pieces of floating feces — in all fairness to the tenant, the toilet may have been defiled by people hired by Advent. The master bathroom counter top/​sink had toothpaste drippings on them. The mirror looked like a Jackson Pollock with mouth spray from someone’s aggressive teeth brushing. The place needed a cleaning service to wipe down all of the surfaces. After we complained, Chris’ initial response was to tell us the place was dirty when the tenant moved in. After a long debate Chris finally agreed to have a maid service come in.
6. Carpet: I requested pictures of carpet several times; I never requested a dark color (I wanted a lighter color). After the tenants moved out we demanded other color options, and we were told she needed to get approval. It’s my property. I don’t understand why wanting neutral colors makes me an awful person. Eventually we did get the other color options.
7. Tenants leaving early: Advent’s response made me feel like I am the evilest landlord ever. The tenant didn’t have enough money for rent… that is in no way similar wanting to a new one year lease. Advent should have called us before working out an exit strategy with the tenant. I was getting married and would have done anything to delay this problem for a month or more. We would have gladly lowered the rent a lot (I actually offered to lower the rent 60% or more). We wanted a short term tenant, and Chris told us that even with a discounted rent it was virtually impossible. I was able to find a short term tenant on my own.
8. Not checking on tenants: The tenant painted the walls without permission, and had a dog that peed inside so much it *WARPED* the subfloor (I did not charge the tenant for this). The other property with long term water damage was filled with college students, with a very impressive pile of empty Jack Daniels bottles. It’s normal for college students to not think about the property, which is why Advent needed to check on them more.
9. Leak: There were water issues in 2 of the bathrooms. This is where Advent highlighted their poor management skills. It took 2.5 months to finish both bathrooms. Our insurance company told their vendor he was over charging for our repairs. The 2^nd bathroom, which we needed to pay for was also over priced (right before my wedding I didn’t have time to get quotes from other contractors).
My husband was forced to deal with Advent’s contractor directly to speed up the repairs, and suggested a much better (and cheaper) way to repair the bathroom. I feel bad for the tenants and I’m sorry they had to suffer. It is fortunate for me the tenants didn’t ask for a rent abatement (I would have).
10. Devalued: I’m upset when I look at craigslist and see how much under the market price Advent rented my property. I’m doubly upset when things within their control like carpet colors and cleaning are partially responsible for their difficulties renting my property.
11. Adversarial: For proof of this just look at Advent’s replies to their reviews
12. Firing Advent: You’d assume since they treating me with nothing but contempt, they’d love to expedite my move to another company. All I needed to start the transfer process was a PDF of the lease and the tenants contact info. It took a month of calling, I’m only talking about a PDF file (not transferring the deposits). The day after my wedding I was forced to call Craig and beg him for a PDF file and the contact info for the tenant.

My now wife and I have 3 rental properties (two with Advent). She hired Advent and due to issues with them forced me to deal with them (on her behalf).
Stuff starting going wrong almost 2 years ago. A small tree at one of her condos needed to be trimmed. The property manager got a quote from her husband for about $ 350…since it was her husband we asked for a second quote (conflict of interest and all)…she refused to get a second quote saying it was their primary tree trimmer. I called another company to get a quote and the first place quoted me $ 50. Advent only uses their primary vendors — whether it was $ 350 or $ 12,000+ Advent always refused to get us a second quote.
When the property manager was trying to push the $ 350 service we got lots of calls from her… when we got the $ 50 quote it was impossible to get her on the phone to notify the tenants of the tree trimming. I left messages. Days went by… I finally had to call Craig.
I viewed their actions as a red flag. Craig called my wife and told her how sorry about the situation he was and asked for a second chance.
Go ahead ask me how the «second chance» went…
My wife needed to rent out another property. The place needed new carpet, a deep cleaning, and some minor repairs.
The carpet… Advent put in the *UGLIEST* very dark brown shag carpet you can imagine… it made the place look *AWFUL*. My wife cried… it was that awful… Was it a hostile act or extremely bad taste? I don’t know. The place wasn’t fully cleaned. We received a quote for a deep cleaning and that is what we wanted.
It was lucky I decided to visit the property. The place was freezing. The AC and oven were on (they must have been on for a week).
The place sat empty. It was expensive to have an empty unit and we desperately needed it rented. The asking rent needed to be lowered and we needed to allow people with pets. Someone finally rented it.
Near the end of their lease the tenants broke up. One of the tenants moved out and the remaining tenant didn’t have enough money to pay all of the rent. It was days before we heard anything about this. Advent seemed way more concerned about the tenants and not us. They worked out a deal with the remaining tenant before even talking to us. I feel the tenants should be treated well, but at the end of the day only we have the ability to terminate the contract with Advent (not the tenant).
You could have rebuilt an engine while stabbing someone to death in the living room and the ugly brown shag carpet would look the same after you’re done. The tenants had a pet that peed on the carpet… a lot… I guess the doggy thought the brown carpet was dirt. As it turns out pee was the carpet’s kryptonite. Half of highly absorbent shag carpet needed to be replaced.
The property manager was highly adversarial. I was filled with dread every time I needed to call them. We asked them to replace the all of the carpet with another color… remember half of the brand new carpet was destroyed… There were 3 color choices all for the exact same price. They told us we could only replace the brown carpet with brown carpet.
The place was dirty. They told us it was clean enough to rent… I asked the property manager if she would rent a place in the same condition, and she said she wouldn’t. She also said her standards are higher than those of prospective tenants, what??? With that attitude and the ugly carpet I understand why it took a while to rent the place.
We asked to see an itemized list of what the tenant would be charged… nope we were told we wouldn’t get to see the itemized list until *after* they gave the tenants back their deposit… I don’t think it was an unreasonable request under the circumstances.
At the same time we had issues with Advent’s dealing of the other property. There was a lot of water damage in two of the bathrooms. Lucky for us the insurance paid to fix one of the bathrooms… unfortunately the other bathroom was determined to be long term damage caused by a problem not reported by the tenant… What I expect from a property management company is to deal with the problem. I expect things like updates on repairs (even a call to say they haven’t heard anything or are waiting for a call back would be good). I expect options with different vendors or pricing options. I don’t expect to waste a lot of my time calling various people… if I’m making a lot of calls I might as well keep the monthly management fees for myself…
Even the switch to another company was painful, but we didn’t expect anything less.
The contract with them ended on the 16^th. If you are canceling your contract end it at the end of the month, because you’ll be charged until the end of the month anyway. Advent’s response to a request for a partial refund: «The commission is not collected according to the length of time we managed the property, but how much money we collected. We collected a full months rent, therefore we collected our full commission.»

I moved from La Jolla to North Park. During my rental search, I called several management companies about their listings. Even though I did not end up renting from Advent, I came away impressed with Craig Everett and his assistant Sarah and their level of professionalism. Craig answered the phone when I called, was easy to talk to, and answered all of my questions. He was prompt and responsive in his communication with me. I certainly would have felt comfortable renting from Advent. Even though Advent isn’t the same size as the property management companies that own/​operate the apartments in the La Jolla/​UTC area, I thought that Advent exhibited the same level of professionalism, which can not be said about the other compaines I called.

I’ve had a great experience with Advent. My fiancé and I have been renting from them for a few months now. We moved all the way from Texas and they were so helpful and made the whole process way easier than I ever thought it could be. The customer service you get with this company is above and beyond what I have experienced in the past. They really listen to your needs and help you find the perfect place! Ask for Chris — shes awesome! I recommend all of my friends to use Advent !

After a horrible experience at our last rental home, I am thrilled to now be in a home managed by professionals like Advent.
* Their online payment option is a lifesaver – very convenient and secure.
* We have had a few maintenance issues since moving in February, and each one has been addressed promptly and professionally.
* Everyone we’ve had the pleasure of dealing with at Advent has been professional, courteous, and helpful.
I highly recommend Advent and have had nothing but fantastic service from and interactions with the professionals working there.

The problem with Craig Everett and Advent Property management is, if you are the least bit unhappy forget about him being sympathetic and forget about get any of your money back. We had to check out early due to many issues and he has refused to refund our money for nights we didn’t stay. He would rather fight this in court than take care of the client. Craig has fought my wife and I tooth and nail with the BBB, disputed charges at the bank and will soon be dealing with my attorney. There is no customer service with Advent or guarantees. Do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY from Advent and Craig Everett.

TERRIBLE! BEWARE! We are moving out of our vacation early because this house and company is a complete joke.
Lack of Basic Supplies, No soap, 1 roll of TP, No dishtowel in kitchen, No Coffee Maker, A TV but no cable/​satellite therefore an unusable TV, Drinking water filter expired on refrigerator, The heater was on in the home when we arrived and did not know it was for about 12 hours. (There was unseasonably hot weather in San Diego upon our arrival). When I mentioned this to Craig, he simply said «sit outside, its cooler». The front yard was advertised as private with 12 foot high hedges. This was not the case. It had partial hedges on one part, nothing on one side, and dead plants facing the neighbors with the dogs that barked the entire stay. The dogs also proceeded to jump up and stick their heads thru the low fencing and acted very aggressive. Barking dogs at 2 houses next door (neighbors are also noisy and partied all night). When we asked them to quiet their talked, they used profanities and told us they didn’t care because we were simply «renters»
* Dirty, not clean
o Crusty «food» Stains on dining chair
o Horribly stained sofa (we didn’t want to sit on it)
o Kitchen counters and cabinets were sticky
o Bleached/​stained towels
o White crusty stains on pillows on beds
o Unmade beds upon arrival. Found sheets and towels crumbled up in clothes dryer in the garage.
The overall condition of the house was terrible. The furniture was cheap and moved around on the floors, the beds were not connected to the headboards. Everything was very cheap and lacking. This is not a place I would have continued my vacation in.
The place was poorly represented based on the ad we found thru
however, some of these could have been resolved by the property manager. When I sent the initial email asking where some of these items could be found, he pretty much ignored them and instead of apologizing made and excuse and left it at that. When my husband sent one asking what he planned on doing to remedy some of these issues, he again, made no attempt to offer to help, to offer a discount or to accommodate our problems. He said he would check into the lack of satellite TV and did not. And he also told us to watch TV on our laptops, which was extremely rude and unprofessional. This was his general way of handling our emails. He also took his time in replying and went 24 hours without replied… only did he reply when we told him we would be checking out early and told us that wasn’t possible. We have been nice, reasonable and gave him SEVERAL opportunities to make things right and he chose not to.
We asked that we be able to check out early and asked that we receive the nights that we DID NOT stay as a refund and that we be refunded for the maids’ cleaning fee as well. He was not willing to work with us on this at all. I never signed a contract from this property manager either. We found another rental to move into and will be incurring fees for those nights stays. We also have to pay a higher nightly fee due to it being last minute and cleaning fees at the new place. We have stayed in several rental homes and have NEVER had an issue like this. He should not even be in the business of managing properties as his lack of service, professionalism and care do not convey what a property manager’s job is. We will be disputing this charge with our credit card company as he is unwilling to work with us on a refund.

In 20+ years of owning and managing rental properties in Southern California, I have worked with multiple property management companies, from San Diego to San Bernardino. I can safely say that Advent is the sloppiest, most unprofessional property management firm I have ever seen.
I typically manage my own rental properties, but last year in a pinch I needed to hire a third-​party firm to manage two of my properties here in San Diego. I chose Advent and it turned out to be a horrible mistake.
Poor communication (emails/​phone calls to them would go a week and sometimes more than two weeks without response), performing and billing me for unnecessary maintenance in my units without notifying me first, changing one of my contracts after I signed it without notifying me, failing to follow-​up on issues when follow-​ups were promised, the list goes on and on. Tenants in both properties complained to me about Advent’s poor communication and lack of attention to detail.
When I called the manager to voice some of my concerns, I encountered a dense and hostile «shoot-​the-​messenger» type person who was totally in denial about the shoddy performance of his firm. He seemed to believe that denying facts makes them untrue. He essentially dismissed both me and my concerns. After this rather surprising treatment I had to I return the favor; I dismissed (fired) Advent 10 months ago.
Well, the tenants in one of the properties I had under Advent’s management just moved out, and guess what? I discovered that Advent charged me hundreds of dollars for maintenance in the unit that did not occur. This was maintenance that I had actually authorized them to proceed with. They told me this work had been completed but now I realize it never happened.
Based on my experience with them, this really does not surprise me.
If you are a rental property owner needing third-​party property management, there are many professional, competent firms out there. Advent is not one of them.

Verdict: This is the company to rent from or to manage your property!
We’ve been renting an apartment managed by Advent for a little over two months, and they are truly the best! Very friendly, personable, and reliable. Since we’ve moved in, we’ve run into a few maintenance issues (some our fault, some not) and the Advent Team has been very responsive to our service requests. (Not to mention patient!!) They are easily reached via email or phone, and are great with follow through. A new service they offer is paying rent via their secure website! Love it — no more checks! The site also shows your history of payments, which is useful.
Overall, a great team of people! I know the owners of our unit feel the same way as well.