Matusich & Raich Property Management Co.

As a tenant for over 5 years in a house in San Jose managed by M&R, I have been very unhappy with their management.
1. I should have known after the first month, after I was told by «Dee Dee» when I went to sign the papers that they took applications and deposits from 4 people and chose me due to the fact that I was the highest paid applicant. Like I was a winner, I said nothing at the time because my wife chose that house. I did not know we in a competition for the place, I was told we had to put a deposit down and an application immediately if we wanted the place.
2. Coincidently it seems that every time I asked for a repair the rent was increased after the first year lease. During this time rent when up over $ 600 per month. We had a hot water heater go out, an electrical panel fire, back porch rotting and a fence go over. Not once during this time did they bother to inspect the rest of the house.
3. When we moved in there were bad smells coming from under the sink. We sprayed and put in moisture absorbers and the smell finally went away. When we moved out, apparently there was mold under there and I was charged for its removal. ($ 1,373) All I got is «you should have reported it» so we are charging you, apparently I am now a mold expert.
4. Lastly I paid $ 300 for someone to clean the empty house when I left. I was presented a bill of $ 515 for a service to clean an «empty» hardwood floor house again by M&R and was told I was expected to pay half the cost.
5. Looking at all the billings it looks like they socked it to the owner as well.
So they successfully wiped out my deposit down from $ 2000 to $ 300. I would encourage anyone renting from them inspect every corner of the house during the walk through in case (M&R the experts) miss something and you pay for their negligence. Be prepared for increases after the lease expires.

Two nights ago I wrote the previous dissatisfying review above and has just learned that apparently after 3 weeks of silence and denial of repairs, after I called and told them that I am looking to do my own repairs and deduct that out of future rent, or withhold future rent (i am paid through this month) until they contact me back, my mother just told me that they have decided to send me a 3 day eviction notice to quit! Not a 30 or 60 day notice, not a 3 day notice to amend or quit, just simply an intimidating 3 days to quit eviction, period!
I have been a perfect renter from this place for the past 8 years, was never late a single time on rent, always courteous, this is classic retaliation attempt to intimidate me to vacate so they can start the work to remodel the kitchen for more financial gains. The letter they sent me to request entry was to inspect fire alarms, not about a kitchen remodel evaluation, they did not inform me that in advance!
In addition, they didn’t even know the terms in their own lease agreement with me, since the PM I dealt with for the past 8 years was no longer there last year! They’ve also apparently gotten rid of their receptionist and physical office presence, changed to a ‘virtual office’, if info told to me by the owner Rick himself is correct.
My recommendation is Do NOT rent from or manage through this business, they may have been great in the past, but it’s completely changed now.

We want to thank Matusich & Raich Property Management, especially Marie Ruiz and Jodi Christiansen for an easy and fast rent sign-​up and release process for the better part of 2 years. For the few things we needed help in the house, they were quick to seek support and the get situation fixed right away. They also were very considerate of the care we gave the house and the urgency when we first rented it. Thank you for treating us very well as tenants.

This review is for Cindy Katz, and if i could give Cindy 10 stars on Unilocal,i absolutely would.
Cindy was incredibly friendly and easy to work with during my tenure at my rental property, and always helped to make me feel at home. Cindy has eased my concerns on move-​in/​move-​out procedures, and provided me with a glowing review for my future place of residence, which provides definitive affirmation that I was a good tenant, and that Cindy is on top of taking care of her customers.
Cindy was always accessible by phone and email when I needed to contact her, and always has both her property and the tenants of the respective property top of mind. She is an A+ specialist at what she does, and ultimately would be someone I would highly recommend utilizing when looking into potential places to live.
If you’ve had a property management nightmare before — come and see Cindy! She will find you an excellent place to live and make you comfortable throughout the entire process!

DEAR FELLOW UnilocalERS… I’m taking time out to share this very upsetting personal experience for YOUR BENEFITS in the hopes that it would help you out when you decide to put your own home up for rental. STAY AWAY from this company because Rick Raich WILL NOT TREAT YOU WELL if you are NOT one of his HIGH END clients. He will TALK DOWN to you, say BELITTLING things, and make openly RUDE COMMENTS under the PRETENSE of it being «helpful» factual informations. For example, after he’s listed everything he wanted done like repainting the entire house, maintenance fixes and deep home cleaning which will cost us thousands. I said to him that I hope we will be able to attract renters willing to pay the higher rent range for my property as per his rent analysis. And this is what he said to me…
Rick: «SURE, you can get this house rented for $ 5k but it will be to DRUG DEALERS not to one of my quality tenants.» (more was said…)
Me: «Um, I just meant that if I did everything I can to prepare this house for rent then I should be able to get a good return.» (stuttering by now… SIGHS)
Bottom line is RICK RAICH DIDN’T TREAT ME RIGHT and if you read my first review about the type of comments he made to me which were HIS «factual informations and advices» given to me, you’d be just as appalled as I was. Um, why would a professional say that to his property owning client standing in front of him? I don’t know if my RACE or GENDER had anything to do with how I was treated but I definitely was talked down to and major intimidation tactics were being used on me. The things he said to me were grossly offensive and he made NO APOLOGIES for saying them because as he said, they are HIS FACTS and FEElINGS!!!
BTW, speaking of truths, NO WHERE during our many conversations did he say most of his portfolio was middle end or government assistance programs. He kept driving it home to the point of redundancy in every single phone call and personal conversations with me that he rented mostly to «high end executives renting for tens of thousands a month». Yes, tens of thousands a month with «built in refrigeration units». We just couldn’t bend ourselves backwards trying to please ONLY Rick and HIS hand picked clientele. We also have a responsibility to protect our own family’s interest, our investments which is our «rental house» and our ability to maintain our investment. We tried to make our «rental house» into a beautiful «HOME» for our tenants as evidenced by attached PHOTOS. However, Rick was NITPICKING every detail and saying things about our house to make us FEEL INFERIOR to his other high end clients’ houses and to make us SUBMISSIVE to his directives due to his «years of experience and expertise» in the field. This is OUR HOME as well which is and will be well maintained in the future. I have no clue what he means by saying such things as «prevention rather than rehabilitation» regarding our case as we ourselves have been proactive in caring, maintaining, updating, and renovating our own home ever since we have owned it. We are very cautious, wise and conservative with our spendings but we will spend on anything that are absolutely necessary and essential for the safety and living comforts of those renting our home. However, we won’t spend on frivolous aesthetics or other silly, lofty beautifications costs for advertisements. It is already a beautiful, entirely updated home even with the garage repainted, epoxy flooring, new side door, new top of the line garage door.
Everyone, this is a case of an egoistic and self-​inflated business guy so full of himself to the brim coming into our home trying to boost his own ego over our lack of experience and saying whatever he wanted to say regardless of others’ reaction or feelings. If all the things he said were «factual professional information» then I think we all should RUN AWAY as fast as we can!!! Apparently, as you can see, Rick is standing by his words/​actions as he said in his response that those were his «best intentions». Well, if that was his best intentions for me then I WOULN’T WISH IT FOR YOU but you can choose to experience it for yourself if you want. Fact is, I was willing to pay 1% more of the monthly fee which tells you just how much I wanted to get away from Rick’s «experienced advices and factual information»!!! I went with another property management company and they were able to get us $ 350 more rent for our home while treating us with the utmost respect and great consideration.

Update…
After I posted my last review I had an icident that required PM assistance for a broken window and the response was immediate and is supposed to be fixed tomorrow. I also heard from Jodi the PM for my site and she was eager to rectify and ill feelings/​experiences Id expressed in my last review. She informed me that they have a new towing company that will be monitoring our parking lot randomly for unauthorized vehicles (my single biggest complaint). Also Debi the acct mgr spoke with the co owner Mr. Raich and he waived a late fee I requested. I am very pleased with the change in attitude toward service and response to complaints. I hope it continues although I dont anticipate many complaints since the biggest is parking. Im very impressed with the lengths they have gone through to rectify a relationship w/​a tennant.

Rick and Cindy did a great job finding a tenant for our new condo. Their knowledge of the market & rental laws, their process and required paperwork are top notch. They found a tenant in less than a week She moved in within another week. And I have received our first couple of monthly checks. I have recommended Rick’s company to several friends already.

M & R has been managing my condo for over a year now. Exactly the kind of management that I was looking for, hassle-​free. They took care of some of the prep work prior to renting since I was moving out of state also. The experience has been so great that we are now listing another house with them. I would definitely recommend them if you are looking for a property manager.

We’ve been using MRPMC for close to a year now; they help manage our rental property. Overall, I’m pretty happy. When we first consulted with Rick, he seemed a bit non chalant but that was not the case at all. He explained everything in great detail, was not pushy and set everything up for us just fine. Would definitely recommend if you need a property manager and it’s so hard to find a good one that knows the market /​industry well.

Here is a review from the other side (property owner, rather than renter).
I’ve been using Matusich & Raich to manage my rental property (a single family home) for about 8 years and I’ve had very good service from them.
They return calls promptly, take care of everything a landlord would usually do (advertise and find reliable tenants, do credit checks, take care of repairs & regular lawn care, rent collection, inspections, etc.). They only charge their management fee in the months that someone is paying the rent, even though they are still working hard on my behalf when the property is vacant. All I have to do is cash the checks that arrive in my mailbox monthly and approve any major repairs — it could not be easier on my end.
Kudos to Rick Raich and Cindy Katz for their good judgment and helpful service over the years.

we’ve been renting under this company for almost 5 years now… they’re so great we’re signing a new lease with them for an «upgraded» apartment tomorrow!
i agree with the other reviewer: whenever we need them, they’re there… any other time we never hear from them (oh wait — unless the rent is going up, but there is always plenty of notice and a reasonable amount).
they are strict about the renter requirements (credit, income, references, etc.), but we don’t mind that at all.
overall great company — we’ll stick with them as long as we are renting in the bay area.

Great Property Management Company!
We rented a duplex from this company for about 5 years and if something needed fixing or looking into, they were great about coming and taking care of everything. Great communication etc.
Other than when WE needed them, we never heard from them. When we moved out to a larger place they were nice and friendly and sorry to see us go and it felt like they really meant it.
They are a family owned and run business and they are pretty strict on their credit requirements for renters, so be forewarned! The main guy is Bill Matusich if I remember his name correctly. At first, he seems like kind of a «booty head», but he really is a good guy, just kind of gruff. We rarely came into contact with him though, we usually talked with one of the ladies and they were always pleasant to deal with.
All in all a great experience! Thank you Matusich and Raich!