Raskin Real Estate

Relocating to San Francisco from LA is serious business. I’ve done it before and it’s not very amusing. I knew it would be even more annoying and difficult this time around, but luckily I stumbled upon a Raskin ad on CL. Pure coincidence, dumb luck — call it what you want. All I know is that Zena is a stellar agent and she saved my ass from shacking up in the Tenderloin again.
The second unit showed to me was incredible and in a superb part of the Richmond. I was approved in about 24 hours. Great turn-​around time! I then drove back to LA happy as a one-​dollar happy-​hour oyster! Zena even accommodated me and my time-​table given the relocation aspect. I couldn’t have done it without her help to be honest.
Very thankful for both Raskin and Zena! You guys rock!

I only write reviews based on quality of service and have extremely high expectations. Working with Zena and Raskin Real Estate has been an absolute delight.
I don’t know if people had bad landlord experiences and mistakenly thought Raskin had anything to do with it but RASKIN IS NOT YOUR LANDLORD– this review focuses on THIS business. Renting and moving is one of the most stressful unpleasant things in the world, but Zena (and the lovely Bella who I didn’t even directly work with but met in their office) are just lovely! It is evident they work hard for their clients and are loyal to the people that hire them, but as a renter also everyone was very personable and professional, and made the process super easy. They even made themselves available for me to come back into the apartment I ended up renting so that I could take measurements. I’ve never waited more than an hour or two for Zena to respond to my emails. I would definitely refer a friend and work with them again.

Raskin managed the Bernal Heights apartment for the 7 years I lived there and I was very happy with the service and response times, particularly in the last few years. Zena always responded promptly to any concerns or maintenance requests and I never had any problems getting the repairs we needed. The one or two times they needed access they always gave lots of notice and otherwise they trusted us to pay our rent and stayed out of our way — the perfect scenario if you ask me!

Raskin Real Estate has provided me with the best apartment experience I’ve had in my 4 years in San Francisco.
From the first viewing I had of my current home, to every small thing I’ve needed fixed around my place, Raskin has been responsive, fast, polite, and very accommodating of my schedule.
The main contact for tenants, Zeina, has solved any problem within 24 hours. And the proprietor of the company, Richard, clearly takes pride in providing a quality living experience for tenants.
The neighbors in my building have resided here for 20 and 40 years respectively, so I think it’s safe to say that Raskin takes care of their folks.

Raskin Real Estate has handled my family’s SF rental property for more than 20 years.
We have always had an outstanding working relationship with them and have recommended their services to many people.
Because of Raskin’s quality service, we have had a history of long term tenants.
We believe that they offer an excellent value

I have no idea why Raskin had such horrible reviews. I think they got a new manager because Raskin Real Estate is seriously the best I have ever worked with. We have had a ton of issues with our house and they have fixed everything and super quick too. I felt annoying because I kept asking for stuff but they were always there with a positive attitude. Zeina is the best. She is so understanding and amazing to work with. We love her! I will always try to go with Raskin because they have completely exceeded my expectations.

Our experience with Raskin Real Estate was fantastic. Most of our interactions were with Zena. She was always responsive and helpful. We never had any issues with the property management while renting the property.

I live next door to a Raskin managed property. There have been a string of unhappy renters that have come and gone. Raskin does not respond when there is a problem. And, they do not respond when there is a problem that needs to be resolved between the property they manage and me, i.e. leaking sewer pipe that they took months to repair! I would never willlingly deal with them.

I found Raskin Real Estate to be great — its wonderful to see a family run business thriving in SF. I rented an apartment from them in the Mission and found them to be super diligent and responsive to my needs for repairs and concerns related to my apartment. they returned my deposit promptly and were very accommodating to meeting at times that fit my hectic schedule when I was first viewing the property. Zena was a consummate professional and very nice to work with. I highly recommend supporting this local business and renting from them

The front door lock broke so our apartment building had to remain unlocked — for over 2 years.
My upstairs neighbour’s fridge broke and it took them 4 months to replace it.
Water piping work was done illegally and water filters out the side of the house.
Heater broke and was never fixed during my tenancy.
Garage door was never fully functioning and was late for work on two occasions because they did not send a repairman on time and my car was stuck inside.
«You left a voicemail? We don’t check those.»
Back porch nearly collapsed before they sent someone to repair it.
Gas leak upon move in was «normal for a new house». Nick didn’t want to let me send PG&E to repair it insisting he would fix it himself. 4 days later he decided he couldn’t fix it. I called and had to pay PG&E myself because he became incommunicado. We had to stay in our old house while this was resolved.
Xena and Bela are sweet, sweet people.
Think twice before renting from them.

We have had a number of issues while living at a Raskin Real Estate Property since February 2009. The day we moved in and got our keys, they gave us the wrong keys so we had to wait for a locksmith to come and rekey the house. Then we noticed that none of the doors within the house worked properly so we had to wait another two weeks for those repairs. The water in the house upon moving in was rusty and the kitchen sink barely worked. These repairs were not made until May 2009 and involved city inspection and notices. Next, the kitchen light stopped working and again we had to wait for repairs and issue notices from the city.
Recently, our outdoor lighting stopped working and a leak from the unit upstairs caused a whole in our shower ceiling. The plumber came out to fix the upstairs unit, however, no repairs were made to our house and it still leaks when their shower is running. There was also a graffiti incident which the owner was responsible for cleaning, but given the past issues with them, I decided to clean it myself. When I tried to hookup a hose to our outdoor facet, the hose would not run because the facet had been rusted out. The plumber and city inspection have come to review these repairs, but nothing has been done over the past several months. This company is run so poorly and disorganized that I am at my breaking point and unsure of what to do.
This past month they lost our rent checks (around the first you can expect to see a number of checks/​envelopes sitting on a doorstep, sounds pretty safe, I know) and they claimed to have no way of contacting us because they do not have our phone numbers. I don’t understand what kind of property management company would not have their tenants phone numbers and why they would not think to send us a notice through the mail. When we called them, they said that to reimburse us for their mistake they would take off all late fees that we have incurred. If we were charged for late fees over the time we have lived at this residence I would have liked to be notified.
I have contacted the city officials a number of times and the Better Business Bureau about their poor managing.
If you are looking at a property managed by Raskin, don’t do it! They are a hot mess of problems that will make your life a living hell.
Oh yeah, and Theo up there, one of the two good reviews Raskin has, is their locksmith who rekeyed our house and fixed our doors. Upon leaving he said «damn it feels good to be a ganster,» very professional, thanks for your help Raskin. not.

My roommate and I found an apartment in the Mission run but Raskin Real Estate a couple years ago. It was a really nice apartment in a not so cute block. The rent was such a good deal on the 2 BR apartment that we jumped at the chance. During the first viewing we noticed a drawer in the kitchen was loose or stuck and asked if this is something that they can repair before we moved in and property manager who showed us the apt said, «you can just take a screwdriver and fix it yourself.»
That should have been the first clue. We agreed to take the apartment but had to give 30 days notice our current place. On the way out she just slyly slide in that we should start rent on the 15^th. This way they company took a 2 weeks loss in rent and we did too. Since we really liked the place we agreed. So we paid up and traveled all the way to the Sunset to sign the lease. After that it went downhill. I keep asking my roommate where is the key for the new place he said Raskin never gave it to him, so he keep calling and calling. We were 3^rd week into the month and still no key. What’s the point of paying for rent for the 15−31^st when you can’t even access your new apartment? He finally go the key on the 21^st after driving out to the Sunset District to get the key.
We had to go through the same property manager (for got her name the Russian lady) for all the repairs and needless to say she is slow. Sometimes it took days and sometimes it took weeks. One time we had black mold infestation in our bathroom and she refused to do anything about it. After multiple attempts she finally sent someone out and all he did was paint over it!!! They will nickle and dime you. Such example includes making you pay the water bill even though there’s multiple tenants in the building. They just evenly divide up the bill. I guess that sounds fair when there’s a large family living next door. Not!
Then when I had to leave the apt, my roommate took over. Before they released me they said I had to submit a letter saying I will not go after Raskin Real Estate for the deposit and that it was refunded. I had to do exactly what she said because she sent back the draft that had the line that I was no longer on the lease and to be responsible for the rent. I was just trying to cover myself and I had write a new letter and resubmit it. So renter’s beware. You’ve been warned. I would avoid any property by Raskin. There’s a reason why rent is a few hundred dollars cheaper. You pay for it through time, energy, and extra costs.

I do not understand people who left good reviews for Raskin real estate. I guess they just asked their friends or relatives to do that :). Because the business they do and service they provide is awful and hardly can be rated higher that one star.
My family and I had bad experience dealing with them. First day we moved in they clearly stated — we are NOT cleaning anything neither we will fix anything that was broken by previous tenants. Do you like it already? Moreover, Nick was very rude and acted unprofessionally. It was very unpleasant to deal with him. Also, there was a girl named Zina or so (sorry if I misspelled the name). She was absolutely irresponsible, helpless and never returned the calls. Anyway, I started talking to Richard Raskin who was nicer and more professional. But we did not progress to resolve our problems; there were just small talks. They never fulfilled what they promised and we had to call them multiple times to resolve basic things. Although Richard was nicer but he ended up not returning full deposit giving us a lame excuse that we «damaged» something.
Conclusion: I do believe people who left bad reviews for Raskin, if you read their reviews you will see there is a lot in common…

Hmmm… I’m a property manager myself and not at all impressed with Nick or Rich. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend them to owners and/​or landlords since they don’t pay their bills in a timely manner.
So if you’re looking for a property management company to manage your income property and are considering hiring these guys, THINK AGAIN… do you want to hire a company who isn’t responsible enough to pay their own bills?

To be fair, I’m basing this review on my experiences with Raskin from 2005 – 2006, so things might have changed. Raskin managed the apartment building where we lived for a while, during its transition period from a rental building to selling the condos (it was built as condos, which were rented out until all units were finished and the owners were ready to sell them). Since they were planning on selling the units, they stopped caring about renters. They wouldn’t fix the leak under our back door, they were indifferent to the break-​ins that occurred in their garage, and they generally ignored us. Small claims court eventually agreed that they were forcing us out and made them pay our relocation expenses. Good riddance, Raskin.