Chatel Real Estate

Washington, DC, United States

3.4

Open now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 202-745-0613
Website:
www.chatelrealestate.com
Address:
1929 18th St NW, Washington, DC, DC, 20009
b/t N Florida Ave & N Willard St
Dupont Circle
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
2 miLorton VRE
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
Yes

Today

Today 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Open now
Local time (Washington, DC) 14:24 Friday, 29 November 2024

Business hours

Monday 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Tuesday 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Wednesday 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Thursday 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Real Estate Services

Sales

Rentals

Property Management

Condominium & Cooperative Management

History

Established in 1950.

Chatel Real Estate, Inc. is a family owned, full service real estate firm providing sales, rentals, and property management services since 1950. Chatel Real Estate was voted #2 best Property Management Company in the 2010 Washington City Paper poll. With regard to rentals, we work exclusively for the Landlord, so please understand that we need to get permission from the Landlord in order to approve a tenant request. We manage 135 Condominium Associations in the neighborhood and hundreds of rental properties in the neighborhood. We give back to the communities we serve via numerous Charitable Donations & Neighborhood Event Sponsorships. Our Employees also volunteer at a variety of local area non-​profit organizations. We don’t just work in the neighborhood, we are an integral part of the neighborhood.

Meet the Manager

Lou C.

Manager

Lou Costanza is the Managing Director for Chatel. He works directly under the Principal Broker & Owner, Thierry Liverman. Lou was born in NYC & grew up in New Jersey. Lou received his undergraduate degree from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA. Lou moved to The District to attend graduate school at Gallaudet University. He fell in love with the city & decided to make DC his home. Lou has over 20 years management experience. He is a Landlord in The District of Columbia, Virginia and Florida. He is also fluent in American Sign Language.

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20 reviews of Chatel Real Estate

No registration required
Place rating: 1
Washington, DC
Chatel has managed my condo building for the past two years and they have been atrocious. They are unresponsive to calls, emails, and even to in person visits. They have failed to take care of cockroaches, rodents, and bedbugs in the building. The customer service is horrible.
Place rating: 5
Encino, CA
A good friend of mine that lives in the Washington DC area, recommended Chatel a while back and said they were the best real estate firm out there. I won’t get into my personal business matters, but lets just say that these guys are pro’s in the fields of property management & more… Fast Forward — I now refer to Chatel as a trusted partner, that I can rely on for expert advice regarding pretty much anything real estate related. When it’s all said & done, I’m confident their experience and excellent customer service will win you over too.
Place rating: 1
Washington, DC
I just called Chatel about a letter they sent me and instead of listening to my issue they transferred me to the person who handles my building never mind the fact that she’s on vacation for the next two weeks. Yet again terrible customer service.
Hi Lou — you did in fact lose my keys. I put them in an envelope and put them in a slot at your door on 18th street. And I have emails from Sarah confirming that you received them. Then I have emails telling me that she no longer had them. Happy to send them over your way!
Place rating: 1
Washington, DC
This is not a tight ship. From accounting errors to openly flouting DC’s landlord-​tenant regulations, Chatel made a mess of the move-​out process.
In addition, responsiveness is generally an issue for them. Emails and phone messages are routinely not answered by Chatel or are not answered until a substantial period of time (e.g., a week) has passed. They also struggle with accountability, frequently trying to pass off their mistakes on someone else.
However, what’s most concerning is Chatel’s seemingly preferred way of solving problems: ignore them until they go away. I heard this from others, and I experienced it myself. For example, my attempts to fix the DC law issue went like this:
Week 1: Hey, I don’t think you’re allowed to do this [no response]
Week 2: You can’t do this. Here’s why [no response]
Week 3: Did you get either of my other messages? [no response]
Week 4: Trying one last time [evasive response from the property manager that refers me to his boss, Lou Costanza]
Weeks 5 – 7: Lou doesn’t respond either
Week 8: Lou asks to schedule a phone call; I propose times but do not hear back from him
Weeks 9 – 19: Still no response from Lou
Week 20: This is going to court
Unless you’re a glutton for punishment, I’d stay away from Chatel. If you are, however, then be prepared to: watch them like a hawk; follow up repeatedly when you need a response; and end up in court because of their mistakes.
Place rating: 5
Washington, DC
So I can only talk about my experience as having Sarah Keller as my property manager, and the truth is she goes above and beyond. She is truly a hard worker! Always comes through and never disappoints! I am very happy to have her on my side helping out building make good choices!
Place rating: 2
Tucson, AZ
My girlfriend and I found a place we liked and the broker rushed to have us pay the depost, first month’s rent, and sign the lease. Two weeks later (one week prior to our move-​in date), we found out the lease had not been signed and the landlord wanted to back out of the deal for either arbitrary or bad faith reasons (we didn’t really get an explanation that made any sense except «the owner is a weird guy and he didn’t like some of the questions you asked»). Although we did not place all the blame on Chatel for the landlord’s bad faith, the fact that the lease had not been signed a week before our move-​in (two weeks after we signed the lease) and the deal fell through reflects poorly on the people they choose to do business with and their diligence in properly closing deals. Chatel apologized and offered to comp our application fee (which is already a RIP OFF at $ 75 to do a simple credit check) and showed us a few other properties in the same price range but they were not even close to as nice as the property we lost. We decided to go with another broker and another property and had a much better experience. I would never do business with Chatel again.
Place rating: 1
Omaha, NE
Agent was a no show for a showing with no explanation. How hard is it to call someone’s cell phone if you can’t make it?
Place rating: 1
Washington, DC
Chatel took over management two years ago. Bad customer service. The only good thing is on line rental payments. Majority of the property managers are condescending and matter of factly when speaking to tenants. Chatel is pro landlord and not tenant. Hazerdous repairs like no heat not addressed in a timely manner and no monetary reduction in rent due to neglect from landlords and no apology/​resolve or customer service.
Place rating: 2
Arlington, VA
Two stars for me. Both of them are for the ability to pay rent online.
The balance of their property management services are not great. Service requests submitted online never seem to get any attention. Property manager has changed at least three times in as many years. They close for lunch and I am not sure I have ever received a call back from a message I left with their answering service. Most of the folks I talk to there are rude and seem like they are doing me a favor. Granted I am usually fairly upset by the time I talk to someone or tell my information over and over to different people.
There is one guy over at the Georgetown office who always goes out of his way. If every one ran their shop like him, this place would get 5 stars from me.
Overall not satisfied and would not reccomend for their property management services.
Place rating: 4
Vancouver, Canada
Very pleased. I’ve recommended these guys to several close friends, after having lived in a property managed by Chatel (Sergio).
The building itself, the Crescent Meridian, was a diamond in the ruff: gorgeous building with a nearly unmatched location.
Any issues were usually promptly taken care of (except for one, where the roof leaked into our ceiling and wasn’t fixed for several days due to weather restrictions).
Place rating: 1
Washington, DC
So far our experience with Chatel has not been good. They don’t return phone calls and don’t seem to have any sense of urgency to get things done. I’m hoping our building changes companies. Kasim in the office is rude.
Place rating: 5
East Northport, NY
Lou Costanza really helped my daughter find the place of her dreams, he was patient, professional and answered every question she had immediately. I appreciate the advice he gave us as it’s her first apartment.
Place rating: 5
Washington, DC
I’ve lived in a lovely apartment complex managed by Chatel in Glover Park for just over a year now, and I’ve been happy. Whenever we’ve had service requests they’ve responded very quickly, and Eric and Ahmad with Chatel are super nice to work with. I just moved across the hall to one of their other apartments, and they had it re-​painted before we came and totally ready to go.
I’d recommend them!
Place rating: 5
Washington, DC
After four years of living in my beautiful 17th Street apartment, I finally bought my own condo. I’m really going to miss my apartment and the staff at Chatel. Lou Costanza leased the apartment to me. He was very helpful and patient with answering my many questions as this was the first apartment I’d ever leased.
During the course of the last four years, my property manager Chris Matheren was very responsive whenever I had a service request or question about my account. If you are looking to rent an apartment in DC, Chatel is the best place to look.
Place rating: 4
Alexandria, VA
I dealt with the Old Town branch, but overall the experience was good. I moved from out of state into a rental condo listed by Chatel about two months ago. Gabriel was very attentive and good at communicating with both me and the owner of the condo, which was especially complicated by me living in Maine at the time of the rental. The whole thing was done within a few days (actually, two days before I moved in!).
I haven’t had any major issues, but during a «false alarm» service issue my property manager (Ned) was very responsive and quick to set up an appointment with the right service.
One thing that was a little frustrating during the process was that the business is not set up to accept credit cards for application fees or to hold the apartment. This was only an issue because I was coming from out of state and not going to be in the area prior to the move in date, and by the time we got the process started there wasn’t even enough time to mail a check. This also meant traveling 600+ miles with cashiers checks for rent & deposit.
Place rating: 4
Sausalito, CA
I was a residential tenant in a Chatel-​run building from 2004 – 2010. There were two property managers (different time periods) and both were responsive to maintenance and other issues. When I moved out to relocate to San Francisco, my security deposit was returned promptly.
What I appreciated most about Chatel was their professional, no-​tricks, straight-​up attitude and behavior.
Place rating: 5
Washington D.C., DC
I own many rental properties in DC all manage by Chatel. I am also on the board of my condominium association where I live. Our condominium building is also manage by Chatel. They are professional, detail oriented, and a pleasure to deal with. I always receive response from my email questions fast. There was a situation that was happening in one of the building where I own a rental unit. Chris, the Chatel manager for that building help me work out a win win situation for my unit and for the board of that building. These guys really show they want my business!
Place rating: 5
Washington, DC
I continue to receive excellent service from Chatel. I have been treated with much better respect than when our building was managed by EJF. My building is old, so things do go wrong. I’ve had 2 maintenance requests since my last review. Both were solved in a reasonable amount of time and everyone was polite. I am really surprised that another tenant in my building would write a negative review. Trust me, getting anything accomplished through the previous management company was 10 times worse. Chatel — you are true professionals. Keep up the great work and don’t let people who are obviously complainers or difficult in general to frustrate you. You deliver superior service!!!
Place rating: 5
Washington, DC
I was out of the country for almost 11 months. I had such a great experience with Chatel as the management company for our condominium building, that I decided to hire them to rent out and manage my unit while I was overseas. Lou from Chatel came out, priced my property, worked very hard on getting it rented and found me outstanding tenants! The best part was, Lou actually notified me by email 105 days before I was scheduled to move back to the states reminding me that I had to give 90 days notice to the tenant that I planned to move back into my unit. (There is some law to that effect in DC which I forgot about). I’m happy back in my condo, the place was well maintained, Lou did a final walk through when my tenant vacated, and processed the security deposit accordingly. No doubt in my mind, Chatel is the best management company in DC!
Place rating: 5
Washington, DC
I’ve being using Chatel services for personal and professional business for over 6 years and I still use them.
When I started using Chatel I could see the deference on knowledge, expertise and care. When I call or email with questions I always get a response the same day within hours even on Holidays. Over the years I’ve referred several clients and friends to them and everyone seems as pleased as I am with their services. Their properties are always in good condition and the management staff is highly qualified.