Do not rent from Regency Management in Enterprise, Alabama. They will move you into a home with known issues, claim to work on fixing them and then attempt to charge you for those same repairs upon move out. For us this included a nonfunctioning pool, bogus yard work charges, and damage from previous tenants. They take advantage of the military community by exploiting the urgency of a PCS and not being transparent during the move out process to ensure they keep as much of your deposit as possible. Their customer service is horrific due to the high turnover of their property managers (we had four in three years) and the complete arrogance of their management team, who behave as untouchables because of their local relationships. You have been warned.
I am an owner who had my property listed with Regency Management from February 2016 to November 2016. During this time, I experienced countless problems working with this company. Most importantly, I caught my property manager (Malissa) engaging in unethical business practices of which I will explain in greater detail. Furthermore, Malissa was completely incapable of communicating in a timely manner with me or prospective tenants. This resulted in many applicants choosing to rent other properties because she would not return calls or emails.
First, the home I listed was relatively brand new, built within the last 5 years, in a highly desirable neighborhood and listed at the market rate. Other homes in this neighborhood rented out in less than a week after being listed. However, my house sat twice on the market for over a month with no signed tenants. I became curious and asked why tenants were not renting my home. I kept getting different answers (i.e., like other homes better, decided to build, and many other reasons). I came to find out later that Malissa could not return prospective tenants calls in a timely manner, resulting in them choosing other properties.
The first time it was listed, I had multiple inquiries from people in my neighborhood that had interested friends/family members. When they called Regency, they were told it was off the market. On other occasions I would randomly check and somehow my house had been taken off the website, even though it was still available.
It finally was rented almost a month and a half after it was listed. During the time it was rented I was charged multiple maintenance fees for minor things that could have been fixed by the tenants (i.e, mailbox will not stay closed, fence gate will not stay closed)-things that could have been fixed by tightening a screw. I found out later that the repair man who fixed the problems was a family member of the property manager-unethical in my opinion. I understand this is not the fault of Regency, but some maintenance fees could have been avoided. These tenants unexpectedly had to move in October 2016 and therefore broke their lease (lease was until Feb 2017). They were not terminating by military orders (so I was told). I was told by Malissa that they would be responsible for the rent until the property was rented or until February. To date, Regency has not made an attempt to collect the lost rent payments or communicated to me that they are trying.
The property, yet again, was listed in September and had no signed renters by mid November. During this time, I had some major problems. Two examples are listed below:
On Friday,  I was contacted by Malissa and told there were "extremely" interested tenants. They had asked if I would take $100 off the rent. I told her I needed to speak with my wife and would call back in 5 minutes and let her know. I did call her back and told her that it would be fine to go ahead and rent the property at the requested price. Two hours later she called me back and asked if I had made a decision about dropping the price. I told Malissa that we had already spoke directly and I said that was fine. She apologized and said "today has been really crazy" and she forgot that we spoke. This makes me believe, that she got so busy, she never called the prospective tenants and let them know I was willing to go down on the price. Later in the evening, she called and told me that they had changed their mind. I was under the impression that if I negotiated down to their asking rate, it was pretty much a guarantee that they rent my home. However, I believe that because the property manager failed to get back to the tenants, they decided to go in a different direction. Again, I asked her to get back to me on Saturday (She told me she was working from 8:30-1200) to let me know if the tenants had changed their mind. I received no calls from her on Saturday. Â
The next example was the final straw. A few days after the example listed above, I received another call from Regency. Malissa told me they had multiple applications. One of which had already put the deposit down and would pay the month of December, even though they weren't moving in until January. I quickly accepted that offer and told Malissa to call them immediately and let them know I was good with that. The next day, Malissa called and told me they went with another property because now they didn't want to pay for December. Furthermore, I had lost all the other applicants because she had held the house for the tenants that put the deposit down. Of course, I could prove no wrongdoing at the time and had to take her at her word. Luckily for me, Army Aviation is a small community. An old friend and colleague called me about a week later and told me he had looked up the owner of my house via public records and to his surprise it was me. He told me an entirely different story than what Malissa had told me. She had told them that they would have to pay for November as well. She said she was unable to contact me and get approval for starting in December which is entirely false. My colleague continued to inquire about the property even the next day and got no information from Regency because they failed to communicate with me. He also told me that the agency put unneeded pressure on them to accept the November lease term by telling them there were multiple other tenants in line for the property. This entire practice is unethical.
The above examples illustrate and prove what my suspicions have been all along. Regency Management is absolutely horrible at communication. Countless times, phone calls and emails go unanswered or take over 48 hours to respond. I believe this is why my property has remained vacant for so long. They fail to return prospective tenants inquiries and the tenants go looking somewhere else. I have gone on rental sites such as Zillow and Trulia and see hundreds of "likes" or "saved favorites" for my house. Mysteriously, it is not getting rented. My colleague had told me it was his first choice to rent but because he was only in town for a few days to find a home, he had to go somewhere else because they failed to get back to him.
A few other examples of poor communication-I have had to remind Malissa to call me back many times, and she still fails to do so. On one occasion, Malissa had forgotten that she spoke to me less than an hour earlier. She has also asked me many times to remind her to do something. I have spent hours upon hours managing my own property when I am paying Regency management to do it for me. Tenants and owners deserve prompt responses to inquiries, maintenance requests, etc. I have never experienced worse customer service in my life.
I hope that this review sheds light on the practices of Regency Management. I know from reading other reviews that other people have had similar experiences. I believe this company is entirely understaffed and has too many properties to manage. They could care less if they provide you good customer service because they are already overworked and are not at risk of losing business. There are very few property management agencies in [redacted] and the 3 or 4 that exist have all the business that they need. When I moved away and listed my home, I expected much less hassle from my rental property. I could have managed it myself and commuted for much less effort. For anyone that reads this review, I highly recommend choosing one of the other management companies.
Do not rent from Regency Management in Enterprise, Alabama. They will move you into a home with known issues, claim to work on fixing them and then attempt to charge you for those same repairs upon move out. For us this included a nonfunctioning pool, bogus yard work charges, and damage from previous tenants. They take advantage of the military community by exploiting the urgency of a PCS and not being transparent during the move out process to ensure they keep as much of your deposit as possible. Their customer service is horrific due to the high turnover of their property managers (we had four in three years) and the complete arrogance of their management team, who behave as untouchables because of their local relationships. You have been warned.
I am an owner who had my property listed with Regency Management from February 2016 to November 2016. During this time, I experienced countless problems working with this company. Most importantly, I caught my property manager (Malissa) engaging in unethical business practices of which I will explain in greater detail. Furthermore, Malissa was completely incapable of communicating in a timely manner with me or prospective tenants. This resulted in many applicants choosing to rent other properties because she would not return calls or emails.
First, the home I listed was relatively brand new, built within the last 5 years, in a highly desirable neighborhood and listed at the market rate. Other homes in this neighborhood rented out in less than a week after being listed. However, my house sat twice on the market for over a month with no signed tenants. I became curious and asked why tenants were not renting my home. I kept getting different answers (i.e., like other homes better, decided to build, and many other reasons). I came to find out later that Malissa could not return prospective tenants calls in a timely manner, resulting in them choosing other properties.
The first time it was listed, I had multiple inquiries from people in my neighborhood that had interested friends/family members. When they called Regency, they were told it was off the market. On other occasions I would randomly check and somehow my house had been taken off the website, even though it was still available.
It finally was rented almost a month and a half after it was listed. During the time it was rented I was charged multiple maintenance fees for minor things that could have been fixed by the tenants (i.e, mailbox will not stay closed, fence gate will not stay closed)-things that could have been fixed by tightening a screw. I found out later that the repair man who fixed the problems was a family member of the property manager-unethical in my opinion. I understand this is not the fault of Regency, but some maintenance fees could have been avoided. These tenants unexpectedly had to move in October 2016 and therefore broke their lease (lease was until Feb 2017). They were not terminating by military orders (so I was told). I was told by Malissa that they would be responsible for the rent until the property was rented or until February. To date, Regency has not made an attempt to collect the lost rent payments or communicated to me that they are trying.
The property, yet again, was listed in September and had no signed renters by mid November. During this time, I had some major problems. Two examples are listed below:
On Friday,  I was contacted by Malissa and told there were "extremely" interested tenants. They had asked if I would take $100 off the rent. I told her I needed to speak with my wife and would call back in 5 minutes and let her know. I did call her back and told her that it would be fine to go ahead and rent the property at the requested price. Two hours later she called me back and asked if I had made a decision about dropping the price. I told Malissa that we had already spoke directly and I said that was fine. She apologized and said "today has been really crazy" and she forgot that we spoke. This makes me believe, that she got so busy, she never called the prospective tenants and let them know I was willing to go down on the price. Later in the evening, she called and told me that they had changed their mind. I was under the impression that if I negotiated down to their asking rate, it was pretty much a guarantee that they rent my home. However, I believe that because the property manager failed to get back to the tenants, they decided to go in a different direction. Again, I asked her to get back to me on Saturday (She told me she was working from 8:30-1200) to let me know if the tenants had changed their mind. I received no calls from her on Saturday. Â
The next example was the final straw. A few days after the example listed above, I received another call from Regency. Malissa told me they had multiple applications. One of which had already put the deposit down and would pay the month of December, even though they weren't moving in until January. I quickly accepted that offer and told Malissa to call them immediately and let them know I was good with that. The next day, Malissa called and told me they went with another property because now they didn't want to pay for December. Furthermore, I had lost all the other applicants because she had held the house for the tenants that put the deposit down. Of course, I could prove no wrongdoing at the time and had to take her at her word. Luckily for me, Army Aviation is a small community. An old friend and colleague called me about a week later and told me he had looked up the owner of my house via public records and to his surprise it was me. He told me an entirely different story than what Malissa had told me. She had told them that they would have to pay for November as well. She said she was unable to contact me and get approval for starting in December which is entirely false. My colleague continued to inquire about the property even the next day and got no information from Regency because they failed to communicate with me. He also told me that the agency put unneeded pressure on them to accept the November lease term by telling them there were multiple other tenants in line for the property. This entire practice is unethical.
The above examples illustrate and prove what my suspicions have been all along. Regency Management is absolutely horrible at communication. Countless times, phone calls and emails go unanswered or take over 48 hours to respond. I believe this is why my property has remained vacant for so long. They fail to return prospective tenants inquiries and the tenants go looking somewhere else. I have gone on rental sites such as Zillow and Trulia and see hundreds of "likes" or "saved favorites" for my house. Mysteriously, it is not getting rented. My colleague had told me it was his first choice to rent but because he was only in town for a few days to find a home, he had to go somewhere else because they failed to get back to him.
A few other examples of poor communication-I have had to remind Malissa to call me back many times, and she still fails to do so. On one occasion, Malissa had forgotten that she spoke to me less than an hour earlier. She has also asked me many times to remind her to do something. I have spent hours upon hours managing my own property when I am paying Regency management to do it for me. Tenants and owners deserve prompt responses to inquiries, maintenance requests, etc. I have never experienced worse customer service in my life.
I hope that this review sheds light on the practices of Regency Management. I know from reading other reviews that other people have had similar experiences. I believe this company is entirely understaffed and has too many properties to manage. They could care less if they provide you good customer service because they are already overworked and are not at risk of losing business. There are very few property management agencies in [redacted] and the 3 or 4 that exist have all the business that they need. When I moved away and listed my home, I expected much less hassle from my rental property. I could have managed it myself and commuted for much less effort. For anyone that reads this review, I highly recommend choosing one of the other management companies.