Mainlander Property Management

I lived in a Mainlander property for 2 years. It was a pleasant experience. I didn’t have any issues with the house and when I moved out I wanted to get the most out of my security deposit as possible. I cleaned the house and gave it back spotless. I am not a new renter and expected a cleaning charge and a carpet cleaning charge. I was happy to see that was the only charges I got! I was nervous reading the Unilocal reviews as I waited the 31 days for my deposit (it came in 28 days) but it seems as though they have really made efforts to improve their services since these previous Unilocal complaints! I was pleased renting from Mainlander.

We’ve been using mainlander for more than 13 years. Getting them to do anything other rack up dubious charges is like pulling teeth. They never return calls. Never answer questions they said they’d get back to you on. And let people run down your house into a horrible state. They are terrible.

Was a property owner with mainlander for years. When it came time to sell the property and close out my account, it took them over 2.5 months to pay out my refunded owner funds. They were dishonest, avoided my calls and failed to communicate in a timely manner. Very frustrating to deal with!

Seriously worst property management company anywhere. They took 1800 of our deposit back. The bad part was we knew they would. When we moved in we were given a very small sheet of paper to list the problems in the home, and I filled that thing in, every space I could find, with all the issues. Of course I wasn’t given a spot for the yard or the garage, however those were in major disrepair as well.
I definitely wrote the kind of state the house was in, mentioning that it looked like it used to be a frat house. It was just so beat up.
I couldn’t believe they would rent a home to us in the state it was in. I spoke with our agent, Jamie, who was very kind, but said that the last owners had done such damage to the house that they just couldn’t afford to repair all the damages! What nerve. I called once a month to ask them to fix the dryer which really scared me because it wouldn’t stop, so I had to manually stop it. They never fixed it.
So many things wrong. The fence was broken when we moved in and was never fixed despite multiple calls. There were doors not attached! There were light bulbs out all over the house. So guess who was charged for new light bulbs?! Even on my move in sheet I noted multiple light bulbs missing and house in disrepair.
They had done a quick crappy coat of paint that covered absolutely nothing, so that when we left they could charge 1100 for a new coat! Genius!
We hired a carpet cleaner that spot cleaned and regular cleaner, and a house cleaner, however they had to hire their own cleaners that surprise, cost $ 700. Lovely.
There were dings, holes, doors off hinges, a bullet hole we lived with for 1 year in our window before it got fixed, broken blinds, sink was broken. In fact I asked for about 5 repairs on move in date. Did they repair them? Eventually. Maybe after being there about a year.
I’m not really sure why we even stayed there for two whole years. Jamie left, and we were assigned Tom, who seems pretty rude.
I’m sure they will always have horrible turn over because of the way they treat people. Please don’t bother responding to this, owner. You are disgusting, disgraceful, and inappropriate, misusing a system meant to keep all things equal and fair to steal people’s deposits.
Shame, shame and more shame. So glad I live somewhere now where when something is broken, it is fixed. When I moved into my new house, wow! Nothing was broken!
Also when we left, we spent an extra week cleaning. Like with a toothbrush in every. single. crack. I thought they would appreciate us leaving the house better than we found it. Our last landlord did and gave us back 100% of deposit.
Mainlander is totally a scam.

Very good service. Prompt on replies and responsive to needs. Quite satisfied.

As a Landlord I CANNOT recommend this company. Typically when one signs on a service provider they expect… wait for it… «service» (surprise)! I live on the other side of the US from my properties so having a «dedicated team» to manage my property was important to me and I stated that up front because I could not be there in person. I had pretty simple expectations. If I am giving you 8% of a tenants rent each month I expect to get something in return… I expect that my Managment «Agent» returns phone calls or god-​forbid emails. I expect that they actively communicate with me when something happens on one of my properties. I shouldn’t have to find out about an incident/​repair/​bill weeks or months later –especially if it involves money that I am asked to hand over after the fact. If I request that they call me to authorize a payment or use a specific bonded and licensed repair person, then I expect that they will do everything in their power to make it happen. The individuals who were responsible for my property were completely unorganized and kept awful records. My team frequently mistook my property for others they were managing. Others may have had a different experience but that was mine with my «dedicated» team for nearly 5 years. The bottom line is that dealing with Mainlander Property Managment in Portland, Oregon left me feeling that no one was there to look out for my business interests when that is what I was paying them to do. A friend of mine had an identical experience with Mainlander and ultimately terminated their contract. I sold my properties and will never use there services again.

I own a house next to a building managed by Mainlander. The house is in such disrepair that it is affecting my property as well. They won’t return my calls or put me in touch with the actual owner. It’s so bad that I’m in the process of sending them a certified letter letting them that I am starting legal action against them. When my house goes up for rent in a few months I will certainly not consider them.

I am a home owner that uses Mainlander. They are very owner-​friendly and always eager to help. Angie is wonderful, customer service oriented, honest, and makes me feel at ease that she is managing my property. If you are a property owner looking for a property mangement firm that will take care of your home, Mainlander is the way to go.

Mainlander has been great to me, no complaints. Angie and Kristine have bent over backwards to work with me, take care of issues, and continuously responsive to my needs. Angie and Kristine are a definite asset to their tenants and property owners.
I will work with Mainlander again just because of the service to me Angie and Kristine have always given.
Good job keeping these ladies on board Mainlander, don’t lose them!
Thanks, Scott C.

These guys are so unorganized & unprofessional! We made an appt to see a rental home that we had our hearts set on, only to be called back the day of our appt to be told that the home owners decided to move back into it. Shouldn’t Mainlander have known this before marekting the home? Another house they advertised, I took time to drive out to… only to find out that the actual rental house was completely different then the picture that they posted! What a waste of time that was! Then, we found another house that a Mainlander employee showed us (twice). Both times we were very up front with her about our outside cat. We got all the way through the application approval process only to find out (weeks later) that the home owner would NOT accept cats! Third & final strike! I would not waste your time with this company!

Randy R
Excellent job they all went the extra mile and worked around our schedules which was very helpful.

We have rented from Mainlander for the past two years — they are responsive, professional and they worked with us to get our house released prior to our lease end date. I highly recommend the Mainlander team if you are looking for a rental property. (We are now home OWNERS).

I have been very happy with my experience thus far with Mainlander. They are always prompt, professional, and communicative.
Mark, who does the maintenance on our building, is top notch! He is so efficient yet manages to be attentive to detail as well. The work is always done well and the areas are spotless after he is done. I am so appreciative of his work! Thanks Mark!

Honestly If I could give 0 stars I would.
I rented a house from mainlander about a year ago in January and It was really the house I fell in love with. I read the Unilocal reviews and was skeptical of the company but, like I said, I thought the charming little bungalow would make it worth it.
I went to see the house and was left waiting about 15 minutes past our appointment time, which was fine. We went inside and I loved the house, though it was pretty dirty. I could clearly see dust in the corners of the empty rooms and the bathroom wasn’t something I would be eager to use. the kitchen counters were literally still covered in sugar from the previous tenant.
The agent must have seen me looking because without me saying anything at all she said, «Of course, we will have the place cleaned before you move in.» That really sold it for me.
But the day I move in I notice the place is still a mess. I wrote an E-​mail and explained my frustrations. She told me they knew of some good cleaners they could send and bill me for, or I could do it myself. I opted to do it myself.
Soon after move-​in I noticed some mold growing in the basement. They came and took care of it. There is a dehumidifier in the basement to control the mold. Soon that stopped working. I told the company of this and they said the owner said to just leave it off. So now I have to worry about my clothes molding as they’re hanging to dry in the basement where the laundry room is…
Next my garbage disposal stopped working. It just stopped. There was nothing in it. No noise or grinding. the blades still spun when I cranked them manually, and the reset button did nothing. I assumed it was probably an electrical issue. Mainlander sent someone out to fix it. When I got the bill I was shocked. $ 70 for an hour and a half of work. The explanation was that there was a penny in the drain… I live by myself, I don’t have kids. I’m an adult. I think I would know if there was any way a penny could have possibly fallen down the drain. I also thought It was odd that they didn’t leave the penny for me to see.
And then the ants came. I basically had to beg for them to come spray for ants. I’m an extremely clean person. I put out ant traps EVERYWHERE. There was ants in my BED. on my couch. in my bathtub. In my pantry and food. It was literally two months of hell before they finally broke down and sprayed. After that I never saw another ant again.
So I moved out of the house. I cleaned on my hands and knees. I scrubbed every nook and cranny. I mopped the basement! and then on top of it I hired a professional cleaner and carpet cleaner to come after me. The house was immaculate. But when I got my (partial) security deposit back they charged me for cleaning and carpet cleaning.
In the end I feel silly arguing about 200 dollars missing from my security deposit. But its really the principle of the matter. I feel like I was harassed and robbed for a year of my life, meanwhile paying ridiculously high rent for what I ended up actually living in. Bottom line. PLEASE DONT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY. YOU WILL BE SORRY. I DIDNT LISTEN TO THE REVIEWS, BUT YOU SHOULD.

I’m taking out the time to write this review regarding our personal experience with two (in our opinion) invaluable employees; Hanna (Reception) and Mercedes (Leasing Agent). Let me start by saying that we are moving to Portland from California and have never attempted a move such as this. Our first experience with Mainlander Property Management was when we were still in CA and Hanna answered my call. I was at this point at my wits end, frustrated and confused as to how to get this ball rolling. Hanna was not only a breath of fresh air with her professionalism, patience and warmth but full of knowledge and direction. She gave me valuable information over the phone AND immediately emailed me sites to look up which led us to the vacation rental that we are currently staying in. The next interaction was with Hanna again! We were perusing sites for rental homes, forgot that Hanna was employed at Mainlander, found a home on the Internet that we were interested in viewing, called that night and left a general message. The next day we got an immediate response to our surprise from Hanna! She was once again a perfect representative for the company and as true form set us an appointment. Our next impressive encounter was from Mercedes whom was a delight following suit to Hanna, was a calming, informative, welcoming and extremely professional advocate for the company! We couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to Portland and would recommend Mainlanders Property Management to anyone who will listen! Hats off to whomever hired these two bright professionals!
Update: Just dealt with Jennifer and true to form; her professionalism, personality and eagerness to help was once again amazing! So far so good… not good more like fantastic! Thank you Mainlander!

While Mainlander has some very nice properties, they completely lack in organizational and customer service skills. When I called to schedule a viewing of a property I’ve been keeping my eyes on for months, I was excited to be able to get in the very next day. My elation quickly dissipated when I took time off work and then waited for 15 minutes outside the building with no one in sight. When I called the office an older woman answered the phone and was incredibly rude to me. She stated that I must not know my own name, because there was no appointment for me. When she finally found my appointment, she informed me that it was for the next day. Problem is that I took notes from my original phone call when I made the appointment, and remembered specifically confirming for the day following my call and thanking the girl on the phone for getting me set so quickly. When I expressed this to the older woman, she told me I was wrong and to show up the next day. I ended up having to reschedule that appointment because of a work commitment. The morning of the appointment, the leasing agent left me a message confirming the appointment and letting me know that there was already an application in, but we could be a second back up if we still wanted to see it. I called back and left a message to confirm that we would be there and were still interested. When we arrived for the appointment, we were made to wait for almost 20 minutes outside where it was freezing and windy (typical day in January). When the agent finally came out to «greet» us she barely said hello and said «we need to make this quick.» I’m sorry, but we were on time for this appointment, don’t make us feel like we are the bad guys here! As she walked us up to the apartment she mentioned to us that there were still tenants living there so not to touch anything, and she’d be «keeping an eye on us» I wish I could say she was being sarcastic, but she seemed to have zero personality and was aggravated to even be showing us the unit. Overall, my experience with Mainlander was dismal at best. I don’t care how nice the place looks, I will never work with them again. After the fact a co-​worker informed me that she rents through them and has also had a horrible time dealing with them.

I’ll start with the good aspects of renting from Mainlander. Jamie, the assistant property manager, was my contact. She was so helpful and always quick to respond to my inquiries and maintenance requests. She really is awesome.
The only time we needed maintenance was when the blinds wouldn’t close, and they sent someone out the next day to replace them.
When we moved out I cleaned the whole house, top to bottom. I was nervous to see how much of our deposit was taken out, because you just never know if a company will nickel and dime you. We were so happy to see that we got our whole deposit back, minus the reasonable cost of professional carpet cleaning.
Now onto the small negative aspects. The house was kind of dirty when we moved in, i.e. dirty walls, filthy toilets. I took pictures and emailed them to Jamie and she had people out to clean the next day. No big deal. The only other thing is that the home was pretty neglected. The white walls had been patched with so many different shades of white, it was almost laughable. I think whether or not the money is spent to repaint is up to the owner of the property though, so I don’t hold it against Mainlander.
All in all, I would definitely recommend Mainlander. They are honest and helpful. Do your due diligence as a renter, though and take note of any damage to the property, just in case.

This company is great if your looking for someone to take your money and make totally false claims against you as an individual. I applied for a rental with this company and Gabe them money for a «background check». I have income well exceeding what is required, a great rental history, good credit, and no criminal record. Mainlander claimed I didn’t meet the criteria, robbing me of the money I had given them to hold the place. I guess they can make a killing if they do this often enough! I think the rave Unilocal reviews tell us all a lot!!!

I have rented apartments in Boston, New York, and L.A. among other places. I have also been a property owner. Our former managers at Mainlander, Trista and Susan, were amazing. I called Susan my «easy» button because she was always ready with a simple and efficient solution to any problem. As an adult with young children, renting can be difficult and even demeaning. Mainlander helped us transition to a new state, making us feel more like neighbors than tenants. We are so grateful and would not rent from anyone else. Thank you!!!
This review was written in August 2011. Update August, 2013: when our rental was sold, we moved to a house managed by a different company and have been sorely disappointed. Although its no longer her obligation, Susan from Mainlander has continued to be an invaluable resource as we navigate our rights and responsibilities as tenants and attempt to remedy the problems at our new house.

We rented an apartment in Portland in a four plex. Fantastic location, great building (1940s vintage) and we stayed for almost 8 years because we liked the apartment itself, the neighborhood and our immediate neighbors (homeowners) around the building.
Examples of our experience with MPM:
Building common spaces cleaned one time in 8 years of residency. We requested this service time and again and were put off and/​or just ignored. We ended up cleaning the common areas ourselves but were never reimbursed for our time or out-​of-​pocket costs for cleaning supplies. When mentioned, we were advised that they never asked us to clean or buy supplies (basically, screw you).
No regular maintenance was performed unless requested and then had to be deemed necessary by ML or it wasn’t done. No carpet cleaning in hallway/​foyer.
The laundry machines were not maintained well so the washer did not spin water out of clothing and dryer did not dry completely (we never overloaded and still had this issue until the day we left).
We asked for 5 years to have the heating ducts cleaned (had not been done in who knows how many years) and were put off, ignored then when finally done the job was not quality – they didn’t even remove our vent covers to clean inside.
We had a window pane that was broken before we moved in (didn’t notice until later) and had to fight them to get it replaced. Building had vintage windows that leaked both air and water in the winter. Water would run down our walls and freeze due to zero insulation in the walls, our PGE/​gas bills were crazy in winter. It took us 6 years of requesting before some of the windows were replaced.
We had a leaking toilet, asked for repair and they let it go for a year. The next summer the toilet leaked through the floor into the unit below us and not only the toilet but the entire floor and sub floor had to be replaced. We were displaced from the apartment for 2 days/​nights with no reimbursement for our lodging elsewhere.
The landscaping crew for our property did only the bare minimum. They absolutely butchered a large hedge that divided our property from the neighbors and then never came back to fix it.
The outside sprinkler system was not working properly for 6 years and was still not working when we left – despite neighbors complaints about it flooding the sidewalks/​street.
No snow removal in winter despite steep front stairs. Once when we asked about this we were told we could exit through the basement door. We removed the snow/​ice ourselves for the rest of the years we were there to insure the safety of all tenants.
We had a string of noisy, obnoxious party-​people tenants in one unit and were very tolerant. Whenever we did report them we were told by Mainlander that we were being unreasonable. We were also told that we were the cause for ML losing revenue due to tenants moving out because of us «monitoring their lifestyle». At one point we actually received a letter from the management company in which we were informed that we were not to have contact with any of the tenants in our building for any reason, and that we were only to voice concerns via the management company. Honestly, why bother?
We paid a professional cleaning crew and documented any/​all wear/​tear when we gave notice to vacate. Our ML rep was going to do the final walk-​through without one of us present. In fact, we were told the ML doesn’t require and typically doesn’t have the renter present for any final vacate check. Since we’d lived here so long, and we knew there was wear/​tear on the unit, we requested a written statement that we would receive our full deposit back in lieu of a final walk-​through with a ML rep, and that no action would be taken toward us after the fact due to their (ridiculous) ‘policy’. This request was firmly denied so we WERE present at the final walk-​through and we did receive our deposit back within 30 days.
The property owner told us he chose ML upon referral. He said he paid a premium price and expected top notch service for his tenants. Sorry to say it but he’s getting ripped off by MPM.
These are just a handful of the issues we experienced while renting under MPM. We were both long-​term renters for many years, we were very good tenants and have an excellent rental history. The people we dealt with at MPM were condescending, unprofessional, high-​handed and just plain snotty. We could’ve overlooked some of that attitude if they weren’t also uncaring and lazy about maintaining the property we lived in.
We left our apartment because we bought a house and we have never looked back. Trust us, you DO NOT want to rent from these people, and please, DO NOT trust your rental properties to them because they just do not care.