Barry Ward Realty

Very well handled all aspects of our transaction renting a cabin for a long week end in Arnold: easy and efficient website, contract sent within 24 hours, payment processed as expected, directions and guidelines clear and complete. Cabin was also all to be expected: clean, comfortable, well equipped with sufficient kitchen ware, furniture, … Will definitely rent from them again.

Let me preface this comment with … I have had real issues with realtors in the past … Not always representing me in the deal but never ever had I been inclined to post something on Unilocal… negative or positive …
Barry, as the selling agent just closed a deal for us on our mountain home in Arnold … (we actually used him to buy the place 10 years ago) and I have to say I was blown away with the way he handled the deal
We got way more than I thought we would be able to get and he demonstrated a willingness to help us close the deal that went above and beyond my expectations of what a realtor would do…
… By far the most trouble free, stress free deal I have been a part of
Ps
John Ereht
Has been simply stellar in managing the care and business of our home when we rented it … Great guy !!!
Consider him a friend at this point .
Grateful

ORIGINAL POST: Bought a house where Barry Ward was representing the seller. The disclosures barely said anything. During our escrow we discovered some undisclosed issues and asked our realtor to get more information for us. His response was NOT «oh that’s concerning, let me get more information for your buyers», it was actually «well there are plenty of other people that will buy this house». Really? Your answer is to try to bully us?!? Guess what, we discovered yet another item that we believe was known and never disclosed. It’s going to cost us a bundle. He’s the sort of guy that gives Realtors a bad name.
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After this post I received an email from Mr. Ward copying my realtor and her broker that:
1. Blasted me for using Unilocal
2. Informed me that my experience/​information was wrong
3. Did not inquire about and showed no concern for my issue/​problem
4. Tried to shame me
First bullying, now shaming, what a jerk.

Meth House. Yep, Barry Ward rented me one then kicked my family out when we contacted a lawyer.
Cliff notes
We rented the property at 1265 Shady Circle in Arnold. Family with pregnant wife and toddler at home. Discovered it was positive for Meth Contamination (see photos). Tried to work out an amicable solution. No dice. Contacted a lawyer and was immediately issued a 30 day notice to get out.
Lived in a meth house for 9 months without being notified as such, Barry Ward kicked us out when we said something.
DO NOT RENT THIS ADDRESS until you have personally verified the meth contamination has been remediated and you have lab results in hand to prove it!
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Long Story:
In the Fall of 2014, Barry Ward Realty rented my family and I a home and neighboring studio cabin (1265 Shady Circle in Arnold). We have a toddler and at the time of this writing, I am currently 8 months pregnant with baby #2.
Over the months, we had repeated found rusty nails, coils, and broken glass galore in the yard as well as mysterious white substances scattered throughout the soil. Tons of trash filling the entire outdoor property, much of it hazardous and dangerous for a child to play or even to walk without shoes.
Shortly after moving in, we noticed that the studio cabin had bizarre industrial lab cabinets and the sink drains in the kitchen has been completely chemically corroded — we had our suspicions. Then, at about 8 months into living at this location, our neighbors informed us that the previous residents were meth users. The informed us that the guy who had lived there for many years was a heavy user and potential cooker and they even knew where he obtained meth.
We contacted the landlord about this immediately and he did nothing and denied knowledge.
For our own peace of mind with a child and with a developing baby, we decided to have both the house and the cabin test with preliminary tests for meth contamination (me, pregnant this whole time). We paid for these out of pocket and I put my MS Graduate Degree training to use in the most unconventional way — no longer was I running samples in a lab, I was doing it in my own house.
The preliminary tests were positive immediately for both the house and the cabin (see photos).
Our next step was to contact the County, who informed us that while they couldn’t do anything legally because there was never a police bust for meth, it was not safe for us to be there. The state of California has a legal limit for safe habitation with meth contamination of 1.5ug/100cm2. The health department advises that once an initial test is positive, that lab testing is completed to verify that the property is habitable. Then, if it exceeds legal limits, they recommend complete remediation and re-​testing to ensure the cleaning took care of the contamination.
We relayed this information to the landlord, hoping hew ould be on board.
He wasn’t, because apparently his homeowners insurance would cover none of it because the meth contamination occurred prior to ownership. He refused to test to ensure it was habitable for anyone, let alone a child and a pregnant woman.
We contacted a lawyer. Lawyer contacted the landlord.
Within 48 hours, we were issued a 30-​day termination of our lease and boom — pregnant lady and family are out on the streets. All because Barry Ward and friends rented us a meth house without our knowledge and we found out.
We had the property lab tested out of our own pocket, see photos for results, and the studio cabin did, in fact, exceed legal habitable limits for the state of California at 2.4ug/100cm2 and 1.8 ug/​100cm2. The legal limit is 1.5ug/100cm2.
This is the cabin that I, the pregnant lady, used as my home office while we lived there.
Despite the fact that we were rented a meth house without our knowledge, while pregnant and with a toddler at home, the landlord not only refused to ensure it was safe to live in, but also kicked us out after we raised issue.
If you value your health and safety, and your family’s health and safety, I would strongly advise you to not rent the property at 1265 Shady Circle until you have verified that meth contamination is cleared and you have lab results in hand to support this claim. Additionally, a county employee advised us that the soil is not safe for children to play in and the water table is also contaminated, so the water is not safe to drink.
Barry Ward — test your homes before you rent them to people. While we are currently not pursuing legal action against the advice of our lawyer (mostly, because I’m pregnant and we want to get on with our lives), others will sue you and sue you for THOUSANDS. If this baby is delivered with health problems, you better believe you’ll get slammed with a suit.
Everyone else — 1265 Shady Circle is a Meth House, beware and rent at your own risk (P.S. Both my daughter and I experienced nausea and headaches after only 3 months of living there.)

Review for Madison Ward, realtor with Barry Ward Realty:
If you are thinking about buying a house in the Arnold/​Murphys area, you should meet with Madison Ward. As I am extremely particular and difficult to impress, I was absolutely astonished when I met with Madison. Although she is young, she is incredibly knowledgeable and professional. She is, by far, more thorough and committed than 99% of all realtors with whom I’ve met and worked in a number of states. I highly recommend.

We have rented our cabin out that is located in Arnold, Blue Lake Springs area. We have dealt with Kip who has done a wonderful job. She’s handled maintenance issues that have come up and has always returned our calls in a timely manner. Her customer service has exceeded our expectations and we are thrilled to have someone manage our 2^nd home when we’re away.

My wife and I used this agency to buy our cabin in Arnold. So the review is more for our Realtor: Noreen Seeders.
If you have to buy something in the area, request her. We only have positive things to say about her. We met her twice (one month interval) to visit homes and she really tried to understand our needs first. She never pushed for any of the homes that we visited and she knew we had a budget. She helped us find our dream cabin.
Now down to the ugly part of paper works. Noreen could help us with everything (we leave in the Bay Area). She organized the inspections and helped us to do all the due diligence needed. We felt like we really had someone who was supporting us through the whole process. The best part is that she followed up after the sale.
We have been recommending her to all our friends and we would use her again if we have to buy another property in the area.

Just returned from our third holiday visit to one of the BW Realty rentals. The rental process has worked smoothly for us each year, the house was as advertised, clean and ready for us and we’d recommend using BW Realty without hesitation.

I’ve taken down my review

Very satisfied with Kip Machado and Barry Ward Realty in general. The process of renting a cabin was smooth and handled professionally. The cabin was well-​described both on the website and over the phone. Kip was available via her cell phone at all hours and very easy to work with. Our family had a great ski adventure and a well-​appointed cabin to call home for the week. We definitely would rent through Barry Ward Realty again.

My family and I have rented many vacation homes and have always had a positive experience. Not this time. This time we rented through Barry Ward realty and their representative — Kip Machado. Short version of this review: avoid Kip Machado.
The reservation process was smooth and the cabin was actually quite nice, but when we arrived at 6 pm the water was not on. I called Kip to get her to help me and she didn’t answer her cell phone. I also e-​mailed. With small kids ready for dinner and no help from Kip, I searched and searched until I finally found the shut off valve under the house and turned the water on myself. I could only figure out how to turn on the cold water, though. Still no hot water.
No word from Kip until 7:30 am the next day — 13 hours after my initial call — when she finally returned my call. Did Kip apologize? No. First she told me that I was wrong, that her crew had turned on the water when they set up the house (uhh, I think I was pretty clear that no water was coming out of the tap). Then she said if the water wasn’t turned on, it was because the owner had sent someone without her knowledge to turn it off (totally plausible, right?). And by the way she’s been sick, blah, blah, blah — basically she came across as I was being an incredible annoyance to her for complaining that the house I rented from her didn’t have hot water 13 hours after I’d arrived.
We headed out for the day to ski, and while we were out Kip finally had the hot water turned on. I spoke to Barry the owner and he promised to refund me the first night’s rent for my inconvenience. But get this — now 1 week after my check out date, having not called me after the inspection after my check out — Kip claims that the house was «trashed» (the house was in no way «trashed» — I washed all the dishes — left the house as I found it) and the toilet was clogged and they had to call a plumber — and now they want to charge me an extra $ 85 for snaking the toilet. Oh and I still haven’t seen my refund.
Avoid Barry Ward realty and in particular avoid Kip Machado. She acted as if I was a friend to whom she had graciously lent her great ski cabin for the weekend, as opposed to a client who had paid to rent a cabin that it’s her job to manage.

Me and my family rents vacation houses at least twice a year. Almost with every house there has been some issues but this was the first time ever we felt fooled. This time was the first time we rented through a formal broker so maybe we just ended up in a normal broker behavior?
The house we rented was not even close to live up to the expectation of the description, pictures and the price tag on Barry Wards (BW) home page. I wont bore you with details. In addition it was told to be suitable for families but it wasn’t. Even in the guest manual in the house, on the first page, the owners warned the guests to have kids on the terrace. If you see the terrace and all the old planks you would understand why. BW gave us wrong info which made us spend half a day figuring out that we were searching for a guest member card that didn’t exist and arguing with wrong HOA to get access to pools and lakes.
When returning the keys BW was sorry for everything that had happened and promised to come back with a refund proposal. That never happened so we had to spend time chasing them. After a couple of pushes they came back and refunded us only for the Internet connection that was nonfunctional during most of our visit. This refund was probably coming 100% from the owners and not BWs pocket. BW them self told us that they hadn’t done anything wrong and the problems and expectations we had was our problem only.
However, this was our first visit to Arnold, Arnold is a great place to stay at. We had a lot of adventures in the nature and lot of good time at Stanislaus River.

We rented a vacation cabin in Arnold thru Kip at Barry Ward Realty. She did a great job for us. She was helpful in understanding our needs and making recomendations for homes based on our requirements. She was very responsive with the procedural stuff, and pleasant in her communication. When we picked up the keys at her office, she was helpful with recomendations, directions, etc. All said it was a great experience. The home worked out perfect for us, and I would definitely use her service again for our next trip to Arnold.

I use Barry Ward regularly for vacation rentals and have found their service top notch, flexible, and always friendly and helpful. Kip is fantastic!