SG Real Estate — Local services in Berkeley

Avoid SG Real Estate if you can. I am in one of their beautiful properties in Oakland which is the only positive thing I can say: The actual building and area is great.

The management is the worst I have ever experienced. I've lived all over the Bay and the country and SG Real Estate takes 1st prize for being the worst.

My partner and I were sold on the unit as we moved in from out of state with the contingency that we would have two parking spaces. Not only did they have us sign a lease and pay for both spaces but when we arrived I noticed someone kept parking in my space. Left a not the first day and let it go. the second day I waited for the driver who was a tenant that was ALSO paying for that spot.

A week went by me emailing and calling SG Real Estate to understand what was going on with the parking space I paid for (went to the office but it was closed due to COVID). Meanwhile my partner and I were missing keys to the apartment we were paying for (never received all of our keys!).

Two weeks go by and we only get any hint that SG Real Estate still exists after I come home with a sticky note on the floor next to my door from my neighbor saying he has keys for me. My neighbor had my keys dropped off to him (I guess he must work for SG Real Estate???) to give to me.

I disregarded the fact that I had to go to my neighbor's door (he doesn't know me and I don't know if he's comfortable with a stranger coming to his home) thought wow finally they listened. NO apparently SG Real Estate thinks it is safe to have a lock box with extra keys hanging from the front door. Apparently that was broken into and the only reason I got keys was because SG Real Estate had to change the locks to the building after the break in.....There is a fresh new lock box back on the front door now.

I learned that only maintenance responds to calls or email (maintenance team you all are the MVPs! ) so I emailed them about my situation and they forwarded it to the "appropriate" people.

Jessica Vernaglia you said verbatim "I may have mistakenly double booked parking." (I have the receipts btw) then proceeded to say how you have done things "historically." No apology no trying to make it right even though we had a deal and I know you needed to rent this unit that was sitting on the market for a couple months vacant. You cheated us and you and your team should be ashamed for your dishonestly and extremely poor customer service!

I am an irate customer who has no choice but to be locked in this situation for a year.

Avoid SG Real Estate. Now I know why they call this place the asylum. You either have to be crazy to live here or this place will drive you crazy.

Best of luck to you all who expect decent professionalism and customer service at the bear minimum because I doubt you will...

I moved into an SG-managed unit in January of 2022. In that time, I've found out that my and my neighbor's heaters were installed without permits, no one has a CO monitor despite SG leases stating that monitors are installed in our units, and my downstairs neighbor has had water leaking into his apartment every time it rains for the last five years. It's only getting fixed because he requested a city inspection. He also had a person from SG show up and say they needed to come into his unit to take photos for "insurance purposes".

My power went out last night and the only thing the person who answers the emergency maintenance line did was put in a work order.

Original review June 2022:

I moved into an SG-managed unit in January of this year. But first, IF YOU ARE A TENANT IN BERKELEY AND SG HAS NOT COMPLETED A LEGALLY REQUIRED MAINTENANCE REQUEST, submit an inspection request to the city (Google "Tenant Request for Housing Inspection" + City of Berkeley)

Here are some cool things that have happened since I moved in:

-I was given the same keys that were used for the open house

-I was not given the code that opens the gate to my building

-the laundry room was filthy upon move-in, and Jessica, who sent me a note asking why I rated my move-in low, said that she couldn't do anything about it because the owner does his own building maintenance. The owner of the building is the same owner of SG.

-my deadbolt was not up to code (it didn't close). It was only fixed after I submitted an inspection request with the city 38 days after my initial request. It's now loose - but SG backdated the "repair completed" date to 3 days after I submitted the request. That's how they have "most repairs are completed within three days" in their responses.

-I had an ant infestation when I moved in. My request to have that fixed was DELETED from the maintenance request system.

-my oven is not up to code - it needs to be plugged into an extension cord to turn on. I expect I will also have to submit an inspection request with the city before this gets fixed (same for my now-loose doorknob).

-I live in a 6-unit building. There are tenants in my building who leave the building gate open for hours and leave garbage all over the laundry room. SG has not bothered to do anything about this despite my and other tenants' requests for action.

Based on my interaction with the property management team, I would avoid renting...

If I could give SG a negative star review I would.

From the moment I signed the lease this "management" company has been an absolute nightmare. On move in my apartment was not properly cleaned, appliances were not properly inspected, parking fobs were not ready, keys were not ready and it took weeks and weeks of me hassling them to get anything done.

After being passed around from staff member to staff member, it eventually got to the point where I had to camp out at their office during business hours to have my issues addressed. Small things like my window not staying open and my blinds not closing eventually turned into bigger issues as weeks went on. My main statement to the manager I spoke to was, "I feel like you guys don't care".

This feeling has persisted throughout my short tenancy and I am not the only one.

The building I live in is poorly managed. The staff that clean the building are friendly, however, they do a poor job of keeping things looking nice and the level of service is not reflective of the rental rate. Garbage rooms over flowing with immense amount of cardboard and waste (I cleaned it up myself), common areas that are mopped, but nothing else cleaned (food waste left out for over a month), hallways and the courtyard not swept and landscaping that is neglected. The building itself is beautiful and in a nice area, but after only being open for about a year, the wear is already showing.

In summary, if you intend to rent at a property managed by SG I highly recommend reconsidering. If you do rent with them, be prepared to pay to have repairs completed in your suite, to clean up human urine in the elevator and to fend for yourself.

SG does not care, is poorly managed and has no idea what is going on at their buildings.

If you are an owner of a building that SG manages, please reconsider! Your tenants...