Cethron Property Management

In 8 years renting with Cethron, I had three different property managers. They were the very first property management company I rented with (previously I’d rented from owners). The first one was amazing — the other two were awful. Most correspondence was one-​sided and it took forever to get a response. Most maintenance requests took a long time to cover and the property manager often refused to be present to let maintenance in (even when we included permission to enter w/​o us present in our requests). I didn’t receive the security deposit back until the 21^st day exactly and it was made out incorrectly, so I didn’t actually receive it until nearly 5 weeks after I moved out. That said, in 8 years, they never raised my rent or did something so bad I had to leave, so I’m giving them a 3.

This review is llllooonnnnggggg overdue! I rented with Cethron when I first hit the San Diego County line back in 2002! After getting in town to head out on deployment, I needed a place of my own when my ship got back in port. I found Cethron through the SD Reader. They were friendly and patient. I moved into a lovey 2 bed/​2bath in El Cajon with my roommate. We loved that place! Unfortunately, the building was sold within a year of us moving in, but we got a nice move out package and all of our deposit back. I did rent my next home from them and stayed in that apartment for 7 years until the orginal owners took over management.
I never had any issues with maintenance calls and the folks in the office were always helpful.

The rent for my apartment was reasonable, however it almost wasn’t worth it due to the poor management skills of the staff. For starters, the day I was set to move in the agent showed up 45 minutes late to bring the keys and let me in, and offered neither an excuse nor an apology. I lived in the apartment for almost 2 years, and over the course of my tenancy they locked our trash cans without handing out keys to the tenants, randomly changed the spots each tenant was assigned to without any formal notice (and then sent out notices saying we were all on the verge of being towed for parking illegally!), and on the handful of occasion that I needed to speak to them no one seemed to know who I should speak to.
At one point, I wanted to switch to a 2 bedroom unit that became available one apartment over. Upon going in to the office (because no one returned my phone calls) they refused to acknowledge that the unit was available, even though I had watched my neighbors move out several days before. A few more unanswered phone calls later, someone else moved in.
I have finally received my deposit check refund (a full month after moving out and 2 more unanswered phone calls later). The check is for a fair amount, but in all the years I rented it never took a full month to get a check for the deposit.
Overall, I wouldn’t say this company is crooked, but potential renters should not plan on getting very prompt or decent service from them or AMG (one of the companies they branched out to).

The place I rented was maybe a bit overpriced for what it was, but it was maintained ok. The guy who showed me the place was a little odd and acted like he had somewhere better to be, but was still decent.
I never had a problem with the agency doing shady things. They never charged strange fees or anything, they were always straight. When I went in to give my 30-​day notice, they said they received a fax a few days earlier from the place I was going to move into, so they counted that as part of my notice so I could pay less rent. They gave me back my entire security deposit, nothing sketch. Very nice. Pretty professional in the office, although it can be hard to find.
No complaints here. I wouldn’t rave about them, but I have nothing bad to say about them. I do recommend them. So, 3 stars, A-​OK.