Dellinger & Dellinger

Marv comes across as a rather brusque busy guy but in reality he is a very business like competent property manager. We have rented one of his properties for 7 years and had many major problems with the house — plumbing leak, bad furnace, electrical etc due to the age of the house. He has always come through for us in getting things fixed and fixed right. You just have to get to know his way of speaking.

Not much of a people person, I’ve never rented from him but I called about one of his rental properties and he wasn’t the greatest. Let’s just say I’ve spoken to other landowners/​realtors/​landlords that are much more friendly and eager to help out.

If I could give negative stars, I would. Marv is an absolute nightmare to work with. I’ll spare you a long story, and just tell you that it’s not worth renting from him. Find another place to live, and good luck!

This person should not be in this business. I was trying to rent a property from him; agreed to the key terms but when I reviewed his lease agreement I found a number of items that are violate California law as it relates to fees. I tried to work with him to resolve as the $ amount was not large compared to the lease payments but he just simiply is unable to work with people. We would talk and come to agreement but when I sent him marked revisions to his lease, he just could not accept them. It came down to the day of move-​in and I had sent him the money but he had not acknowledged or signed the lease. I finally spoke with him and he said he ‘just wasn’t comformtable with me as a tenant’ so he would not rent me the property. I was shocked, but in hindsight glad we did not sign a lease with him.
If you are a property owner and he is managing the property for you, please also be aware of the fact that he gives the prospective tenant the code to the lockbox and he allows you to access the property on your own. I would never pay a property manager or agent to lease my property knowing this.
Some of the fees he charges:
1. He charges a fee to ‘set you up as a tennant’. Huh? You mean I have to pay him a fee so that I can pay rent? He works for the property owner, not the tenant. There is no basis for him to charge a tenant to pay rent.
2. He has a three day late fee of 7% of the monthly rent. CA law does not allow for fees on late payments except to cover ‘reasonable costs’. In our case the fee would be $ 300. Such fee is way in excess of any potential cost.
3. He does not allow any form of electronic payment. With a $ 300 fee for a late payment after three days, I wanted to use automated electronic payments so that I would make sure we did not ever forget the rent payment to avoid the $ 300. He would not allow it. He is apparently paranoid about providing anyone with his bank account number. My sense is that he does not allow electronic payment so that he can capture extra fees when and if a payment were to be three days late.
4. He charges an ‘adminstrative fee’ of $ 125 if there are any items that require cleaning at the end of the lease term, plus the cost of the cleaning, which is deducted from the deposit funds. Again, this violates the law.
5. He leaves the lock box at the property and has a $ 100 charge if you somehow lose it. I asked that he take the lockbox as I did not want to have to store it and take any risk that it would get missplaced.
6. There were also other terms that simply did not relate to the property, but included fees (e.g. a ‘roommate’); but he would not remove the terms.
7. Other items were also not clear, and a literal read of the terms would potentially result in additional costs to the tenant.
Overally, he would not change anything. I also learned that he really does not know how to use email or a computer. When I spoke with his wife she said they do not stay connected to the internet as they are worried that someone will be able to access their money.
He should not be in this business. Avoid him at all costs.

I’ve noticed that for most businesses, there are both good and bad experiences reported. I don’t presume to have any idea why Greg G. had such a negative experience. I would just like to at least give a little balance to the overall rating of MD Real Estate (Dellinger & Dellinger).
I have leased a home from Marv Dellinger for almost seven years. I have had no negative experiences with him. He can get very busy at times, but has always responded right away to any urgent messages I have left for him and has taken care of any repair needs immediately. I have found Marv and Elaine to be very nice people and have an excellent relationship with them. I am truly saddened to hear that others have not had as positive an experience.