Mercer Properties

I’ve been using Mercer Properties now for a couple of years to manage my property and let me tell you, these people are fantastic! No more do I deal with calls about broken this or not working that or clogged drains or all the myriad issues that occur from rental ownership. Mercer Properties and their team of people are pro’s at managing property and make owning property a joy instead of burden. If you want to own income property and not manage it yourself, I highly recommend using Mercer Properties.
Bill H
Owner
San Diego Hardware Co

I’m a tenant with Mercer Properties in Kensington (San Diego). The best part of renting with the Mercer folks is their prompt service and attention to any issues we’ve had at the home. These beautiful older homes don’t come without minor problems it seems (benefit to renting!) They’ve been really responsive so no headaches here.
They have an easy web portal for payment or maintenance requests, and when I need to talk to someone directly it’s really simple to get them on the phone. Barbara the owner even gives out her cell number. A side benefit is they really know the local community so I have an instant resource to ask about hot spots and the like. Friendly and professional crew over there!

I have been using Barbara and her team for many years now and it is a great stress reliever for me not having to worry about any issues that come up as well as finding new tenants. In addition she is always there for some advice and is super responsive.

I first rented from Mercer Properties about 25 years ago after moving from Denver. I lived at that property for two years. It was a great experience. Fast forward 10 years. The time came that I became the care giver to my 92 year old mother and I needed a ground floor 2 bedroom apartment. I called Barbara at Mercer, and she found me the perfect apartment. Sadly, I lost my mother a year later and wanted to move. Again, I called Barbara. She found me an apartment in Kensington where I’ve lived happily for the past 12 years. The owner of my property is now selling and it’s time for me to move again. You guessed it. I called Barbara at Mercer Properties. In all the years I’ve been acquainted with Barbara and her staff, I’ve found that they are honest, professional, caring and efficient. Maintenance and repairs are handled quickly. I highly recommend renting from them or using them as brokers for buying or selling property.

I rented an apartment from Mercer for over a year and I had a great experience with them. Maintenance issues were always responded to immediately and the management is kind and professional. I would recommend renting from them.

My husband and I rented a home that was managed by Mercer properties. We had a very good experience with them. They were quick to respond to our requests for repairs and maintenance. They also worked with us on our move in and out needs.

Thrilled to have just signed another lease with Mercer Properties after two years of living in our Kensington home. Dealing with Barbara and her entire team these past two years has been a first rate experience. Having been a landlord myself in the past, I know that issues come up and not everything is always speedy, easy or straight forward. I feel Barbara and her team has done an exceptional job taking care of all our requests and maintenance issues in a timely manner especially considering we chose a vintage home which can be more difficult to deal with (we are in the Kimberly M home). Their customer service and communication has been exceptional. Love the website portal that makes paying rent and maintenance requests a breeze. I would highly recommend Mercer Properties and we look forward to turning to them for our family’s property needs in the years to come.

I just moved out of my rental unit with Mercer. I rented from them for over 5 years and am only leaving because I purchased a home. I always found Barbara, Kristen, and the entire staff at Mercer extremely attentive to any issues I had over the time I was there. If I had a maintenance request it was addressed at the latest the very next day.
I’ve definitely lived in some slum lords so having Mercer as the property mgmt was such a breath of fresh air to know I could rely on them for anything. If I know of anyone who is looking to rent I would absolutely recommend Mercer.

Nice little business model you have going there for yourself, Barbara. Somehow you saw fit to scam me $ 250 three times over under three different paint vendors for a total of nearly $ 800 in repainting at a place I lived at for over a year and a half.
Gotta pay for that new Porsche Cayenne S somehow, right?
You’re not the first landlord that has tried to jerk me around with my deposit in this town. I’m really going to relish the opportunity to drag you into small claims court and watch a judge shove a dose of reality and justice straight up your ass.
See you in 2015. :-)

Barbara Mercer was referred to me by a very close friend when I was looking for a home residence to rent in Kensington. When I met with Barbara I knew from the very first moment that I was going to be in very good hands. She takes the time to listen to your wish list of amenities and immediately gets to work on finding the best property out there for you. I found that Barbara had pocket listings and knowledge of gorgeous homes that never even get published or seen by the general public. I love my home, it’s everything I wanted. Plus, I have to say as my one year anniversary just passed, I can share that I did not go wrong with having Mercer Investments represent my housing search and I enjoy them as property managers as well. I have also found them to be generous with their ability to please as a property management team with special acknowledgment to Kristen for all she does to juggle, please and satisfy I’m sure a colorful cast of rental characters!

I had only a positive experience working with Barbara and Kelli at Mercer. My wife and I rented a home in North Park and signed a year lease. Within a few months my wife became pregnant and we needed to move. They were able to find a new renter right away and we were able to get back all of our deposit minus a re-​leasing fee that was clearly spelled out in the initial contract we signed. They were easy to deal with and addressed all repair issues in a timely manner. I wouldn’t hesitate to rent a property from them again in the future.

Me and my business partner needed to find a furnished house for rent in a short period of time. While rentals are not her core business, Barbara Mercer was very professional in how she handled everything, she found us two great houses, and she was very responsive when anything came up. I cannot recommend her more highly, she really welcomed us to San Diego.

Have been a customer for over 2 years now and have only good things to say. Barbara and the girls in the office have always responded to my requests promptly and showed great customer service. Any issues that arose were promptly addressed and follow up calls were always appreciated. Would highly recommend them and look forward to the next two years doing business together.

I have lived in a place managed by Mercer Investments for over a year now. The staff is very attentive to any maintenance issues– I have required a lock to be fixed, maintenance landscaping performed, and most importantly PLUMBING issues that were all taken care of quickly and efficiently (even on a Sunday night at 8pm!) I have absolutely no complaints.

I am surprised to see bad reviews for Mercer Investments. We have rented from them for 3 years now and been very pleased. They have always responded right away to any issue such as appliances, etc. If it could not be fixed they replaced it with a new one right away. Renting has been hassle free.

******BAD BUSINESS******
HEED THE WARNINGS in the «poor» reviews you see here. I’m sure if you read them all, you’ll pick up quite quickly on the common theme. Here’s mine:
I wish there was a NONE option and a thumbs down icon I could choose to go with this review.
Moving is one of the most stressful events a person can go through. Moving cross country magnifies it that much more. Finding a realtor that you can trust and feel secure with is so important.
You will NOT find that here.
Barbara will be attentive, kind, agreeable, and sweet when she’s trying to get you to write a check. In fact, at the start of our encounter — when she wanted money — the texts and calls were endless. But once a check was cut, it was cashed before the inked dried and she disappeared along with a LOT of my money. Over a week after collecting a FULL deposit I hadn’t even seen or signed a single document, let alone a full lease (which had been promised would be sent the day the check was cashed). Texts and emails went unanswered. When the lease FINALLY came over — it was inundated with strange rules about living in the house that were never mentioned and included clauses negating perks and inclusions that she said came with the property rental. Turns out, she never actually cleared permission with the owners to offer any of it!
Net/​Net:
She will lie to your face. And then backpedal if you threaten to pull out of a deal. If you do (like I did), you’ll have the unpleasant experience of meeting her husband, who is extremely rude and (for lack of a better phrase) a total prick.
Don’t fall for her bullshit.
In the end, (although I got a lot back) it still cost me a decent chunk of money to NOT rent from her because she refused to refund the full deposit given in good faith on empty and false promises. She and her doucher husband basically made money doing nothing but causing me stress and aggravation.
However, I consider it money well spent now that I see other reviews about her lack of response and sense of urgency in fixing issues with the properties she manages. (NOTE: the only good reviews are from property OWNERS who sit back and collect checks).
Honestly, I think I dodged a major bullet. And so should you. Her «unconventional» ways (skipping proper credit and reference checks, etc) are not a one off. She is completely full of shit.
Just keep searching — you’ll find something way better and get the level of service you deserve. One that involves proper procedure, like signing a lease BEFORE even ASKING for thousands of dollars of your money. And above all, one that involves professionalism.

If only I could give my experience with this company ZERO stars, then I’d be able to more accurately describe it!
***I advise you to pay attention to the other POOR posts on here because they accurately describe what you will get when you work with Mercer.*** (I wish I had!)
If you will notice, there is only one post that describes a good review from a tenant. The rest of the tenant experiences are horrible. The 5 stars that Mercer gets — well those are from agents or homeowners who have used Mercer to rent their homes. Shocker! Of course there will be five stars when they are getting top money; Mercer may get top rents but they only do it because they get a piece of the pie too. More money for the homeowner equates to more money for Mercer. Win/​Win.
However, if you are a tenant, you will get scammed for your money, lied to and led to believe something that simply isn’t true. Watch out though, because Barbara Mercer and the rest of her company will start out sooo friendly, professional, timely, and promising (this is when they are trying to get you to rent a home and get your money). Once they have your money, you aren’t getting it back, even if you were promised something and don’t ever get it or if Mercer has represented something that turns out to be false. Then, when you confront Barbara about that empty promise, she will be nice and try and smooth it over. You’ll get sucked in again and then to your dismay, you will see that you have been lied to over and over and over.
While Barbara will be your main contact at Mercer, you may get the pleasure of meeting her husband, Olen Mercer (Google this guy! Turns out the City of Escondido didn’t like his shady scheme either!!)…What a schmuck! He too likes taking money from people who are in less fortunate positions.
Listen, what I’m telling you to do is RUN! There are other homes out there and far superior property management companies… The name of Mercer’s business alone suggests that they aren’t in it for anyone but themselves. Its their investment, not yours. Don’t set yourself up for a nightmare!
Mercer had an opportunity to try and make things right but they chose to add more to their deep pockets instead. Unfortunately for Mercer, some well-​connected ties to the community of San Diego don’t particularly like this and it will come back to bite them when it is least expected. Guess doing bad business with people will only take the Mercers so far!

Worst experience ever, rented from them in between the sale of one house and the purchase of another house. Slow to respond to multiple issues, kept requesting access to the property to show it to perspective buyers and appraisers, house fell into foreclosure and then they nickel and dime you illegitimate cleaning/​repair costs while holding on to your deposit for 35 days even though the law is 21 days.
Do yourself a favor and pick a more reputable company to do business with.

Barbara has managed our home in Kensington for almost three years and is an absolute treasure. Her service, both on our part and on the renter’s behalf, has been outstanding. She makes a mission of keeping the home in 4-​star condition. Professionally maintaining every detail from paint and polished wood floors, to landscape and appliances with ease and expertise.
So well respected and known in the Kensington area, she now represents most of the inventory– which works great for the renter and the homeowner as she is easily able to asses fair market value and match renters with the right house for their needs. There isn’t a home in that area that she doesn’t know.
In fact, the quality of renters she has found for us over the past few years have been outstanding. We have never had a problem and concurrently, have never heard anything but glowing reports about her from our renters.
I tried to manage the property on my own the first year and it was a nightmare. So many people to coordinate showings, assess financial viability, make midnight calls for plumbing fixes… Barbara has an army of people that handle all of this for us with competence and immediacy.

Horrible management if you are a renter. I’m sure they save you tons of money as a property owner since they ignore or delay on responses to requests by us as a tenant. But is it a good idea to have an upset tenant in your property even if they are saving you money? Barb promises you a lot and even some stuff makes it to the lease but whether or not you get what is promised seems to be a crap shoot.
If you don’t mind pestering the management company for what was promised to you then your review will probably be better than my rating of one star.
We were told we get a landscaper at least once a month and it was in the lease to get a landscaper twice a month. The entire reason we rent a house like this is to have nothing to worry about and not be tied up by house maintenance. Being a professional couple with active lives the last thing we wanted to do was pull weeds and maintain the zero-​scape plants. Even zero-​scape requires maintaining. Also many things around the house like the screen door, the windows, etc all needed to be repaired and were being worked on when we moved in but required about three months of us reminding them to get it done finally. It took pestering them to get a landscaper out too but that turned in to their handyman pulling weeds for about thirty minutes.
You are better off not using them or getting EVERYTHING in writing.