First Rate Property Management

My wife and I rented a three bedroom, two bath second story apartment that had an incredible view of the parking lot and distant mountains, along with much more living space than our previous apartment. So we stopped into the FRPM offices to file the necessary paperwork. The front desk receptionist was quite rude and treated us as if we were interrupting her more important work at hand. We noticed in the initial paperwork that our deposit consisted of a significant portion going towards «administrative fees», along with a non-​refundable application fee of $ 40 per person. Those facts were unsettling, but we really liked the apartment, so we agreed to a six-​month lease.
A few months into our tenancy, we noticed that the oven was not preheating to the listed temperature on the display. We filed a service request with FRPM and they sent a repair man from a private company out to inspect. The guy was very rude and condescending upon the initial inspection, going so far as to ask me if I even knew how to preheat the oven properly. After a few minutes of looking at the oven he said he would «find out what they want me to do next» and promptly left. Several weeks passed before he returned only to replace the computer motherboard on the back of the oven, which did not solve the problem at all. When we inquired about the issue again, we were told that it had been fixed because the repair guy tested it himself. Really? Then he should try to bake a cake at 100 degrees and see how it cooks.
The real fun began when it came to renew our lease. We sent a letter to FRPM informing them of our desire to revert to a month-​to-​month term. We assumed this would be no problem since we always paid rent early and never caused problems. Several weeks went by with no response so we called and left a voicemail message, which no one returned. Finally five days before our lease was to expire, we were informed via email that since they did not hear from us in regards to our renewal, our new lease would be 12 months with an automatic 8% rate increase. A day later, another email from the same worker said that the apartment’s owner would not approve our month-​to-​month request and gave an ultimatum to renew or move out.
This began some very stressful periods of planning a move-​out at the last minute. Thankfully my wife located a clause in their documentation that said the original lease would automatically renew itself for an additional term of the original rental agreement. When we pointed this out in writing, the front office reversed course and asked if they could renew our lease for seven months instead of the original six, because according to them the owner thought that a new tenant would be harder to find if the term ended in December. We agreed since we weren’t too fond of moving out over Christmas either.
From that point on, we were on very thin ice. We ended up buying a house later that fall and planned to move there once our lease ran up. FRPM sent us a letter just a month before the end of our second lease trying to convince us to renew for another six-​month term and another 8% rate increase. We declined, and gave our 30-​day notice.
Upon moving out, we cleaned the entire apartment from top to bottom, changed out the furnace filter and scheduled an appointment for a move-​out inspection. The agent was 45 minutes late to the appointment. When she finally did arrive, the inspection consisted of her quickly walking around turning on lights, faucets and checking blinds. After less than 10 minutes she said that our apartment was «immaculate» and assured that we should receive our full deposit back, minus the carpet cleaning and administrative fees. We were also eligible for pro-​rated rent refunded to us if they rented it out early since we vacated before our lease officially expired.
When we received our deposit, we were shocked to discover that we were charged an additional $ 51 for «expired light bulbs» and $ 9 for a new furnace filter on top of some other miscellaneous charges that were never described or brought up during the inspection. Without the pro-​rated rent, we would have only received a little more than half of our deposit back. I disputed the filter replacement charge but decided not to pursue the other charges as we just wanted to be done with them. They eventually refunded us for the filter but that did little to repair the damage done from the past year.
In the end, despite paying rent religiously and on time, FRPM representatives were rude to us in most of our interactions, used bullying tactics when it came to renewing our lease, and never returned phone calls or emails. Essentially we learned a good lesson about the importance of written correspondence and documenting ALL transactions with this company. We highly recommend renting someplace else that treats customers with courtesy and professionalism.

I would caution anyone considering doing business with FRPM to do so with a great deal of caution. Make sure to have EVERYTHING in writing. Seriously, everything.
From my experience and for your information:
FRPM does not answer or return phone calls.
FRPM requires multiple calls to get maintenance issues resolved.
FRPM will find ways to bill you for silly things including routine maintenance.
FRPM will promise one thing, absolutely not deliver, and deny having had verbal conversations.
Everything that you do with this company will be a tremendous effort that will almost certainly end in your frustration. You’ve been warned.

I own two rental properties in the Boise area and have used First Rate Property Management to manage these units. From an owner perspective, they’ve been excellent. This is coming from someone who has experienced bad property management with other units in another state. FRPM keeps me regularly apprised of what is going on with properties. When a repair is required, if the cost will exceed a pre-​set limit, they send me a detailed estimate from a professional contractor. Upon request, they’ll even get me a second bid from another business. During a vacancy, they are prompt to get a turnover repair proposal to me for approval. When a prospective tenant is identified, they give me sufficient details on the tenant and seek my approval before signing a lease. I highly recommend FRPM to any investor looking for good property management.

In the beginning of our lease we had a few concerns, but once light was shed on then, First Rate Property Management was quick to try and solve/​compensate these issues.

Nightmare. And waste of money. This company is just a massive pain in the ass to work with, I regret attempting to even try. I definitely DO NOT recommend renting here.

We found a great listing on online and tried contacting this property management company. Of the two numbers, no one answered for three straight days.
I finally made one last attempt, and someone answered and was less than helpful. I was informed that the property was waiting for a background check to complete. The woman wouldn’t even take my number to call in case the deal fell through.
I’m sure the owners of the properties that they manage wouldn’t be happy if they heard the poor attitude on the phone. I would not recommend this company.

This is from a renter’s perspective. My wife and I rented an apartment in Meridian from them for a year. We always paid our rent on time, so we had no issues in that department.
They always responded to maintenance issues quickly and were fair with the return of our deposit. They held mail for us when we were out of town, and were all around pleasant to deal with.