Discuss These Ratings (6)

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
5518 Baum Blvd.	1.0	3.0	5.0	3.0
Pros: -I love the layout of this apartment. The kitchen is fantastic and relatively new, the bedrooms are on separate ends of the building. I also love being so close to the Giant Eagle Market District. -Our property manager, Jim, is very nice and always calls to let us know when he is about to fix something, etc. -Utilities are all included, there is a parking space in the back, and laundry in the basement. Cons: -The windows are old, drafty, and rattle so loud they sometimes wake me up. -The building is ancient. When the guys above me play music I can hear it word for word. I am also awoken at exactly 7:15 every morning when one of them takes a shower - the pipes make such an awful racket in the closet next to my bed that I jump awake, fearful that the ceiling is collapsing. -When we moved in, 5 of the 10 lightbulbs were burned out and they refused to replace them. We called and called; finally they replaced 3 of them. -Also when we moved in, there were four chirping smoke detectors in the building and our actual apt, which they also wouldn't replace. Finally we bought the batteries and lightbulbs ourselves and took it out of the rent. Not a huge deal, but it was the principle. -Generally their idea of maintenance is "buy it and fix it yourself and take it out of the rent." This happened again when the flush lever on our toilet broke. -MICE. When I called, the first response was "buy traps and take it off the rent." However when my roommate called crying (she's deathly afraid of rodents) they got an exterminator and repaired the holes in the basement (which they were supposed to do the year before when that year's mouse infestation happened). -No heat for a week in December. They gave us temporary space heaters which didn't do shit, and then after a week replaced the furnace. However, when the furnace was being replaced, my apartment filled with smoke. I went downstairs to figure out what was going on and the repairman told me it was freon gas, to open the windows, and not to "breathe too deep." Thanks, man. I still have 5 months left on my lease and can't wait to see what other adventures await me.

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
5437 wilkins ave. Pgh Pa 15217 Howard West Realty	2.0	1.0	3.0	2.0
Extremely lazy about repairs and fixing broken appliance that were on the last legs to begin with. 3 weeks to replace broken stove 3 weeks to replace broken clothes washer 6 weeks to fix leaking, broken radiator in our child's room, in January and February. 9 weeks to hang window treatments(tenants not permitted to choose or hang treatments) PWA notitfied us that the water pipes in the house are lead and in bad shape and Howard West realty response is"not sure that is our responsibility to fix" Add to this various minor repairs and painting that was/is promised and never is attended to by these landlords. Poorly run organization and dishonest to boot.

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
816 Ivy Street	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
I rented from Howard West from 3-4 years ago (rented for 2 years). At that time, I was unaware of a forum such as this where I could voice my displeasure to other potential tenants, so I am doing it now. I understand they have made several improvements to this building since I was a tenant, but again, I'm discussing my experience (If I could give negative ratings for some categories, I would). First of all, the place was infested with mice when I started living there, meaning that this was an ongoing problem and not a result of my cleanliness or lack thereof (I was a clean tenant). I saw mice scurrying around on a daily basis (mouse feces ALL over the floors/shelves) and there were mouse holes scattered throughout the apartment. We (roommates and I) called about this and a surly, obese man named Bob gave us a bunch of "sticky traps." OK, great. The traps didn't work - the mice would avoid them. That was the extent of which Howard West & Co. would go as far as resolving that issue (LAZY) - talk about a lack of responsibility for public health. I realize that they renovated the rear fire escape; however, when I lived there the concrete floors of our rear "porch"/fire escape were separating from the support beams holding the whole thing in place. On top of that, there were several large holes where large slabs of concrete had fallen onto the landing below. They didn't seem too concerned about it back then, but, needless to say, I didn't spend much time taking my chances on the "fire escape." I'm glad they did repair it (~3 years later) for the safety of current tenants. Several times the lock on the main door to the building would break (how this happened so frequently is beyond me) and it would remain broken for months, allowing anyone to walk on in to the building if they so desired. There was little to no insulation in the building. The first year I was there, during the winter, temperatures dropped as low as 46 degrees (Fahrenheit) inside our apartment. The walls were paper-thin, the windows were not sealed (there was a breeze even when windows were closed - hell, there was a breeze THROUGH the wall), the non-functioning fireplaces/chimneys had not been sealed so they basically just funneled cold air into the apartment. We ended up having to go out and purchase several space heaters, which ultimately drove the electricity bill through the roof (no help from Howard here!). The following year, they did decide to add new insulation, but the improvement was negligible. It didn't account for the windows/chimneys/fireplaces and we still had to use several space heaters just to keep the place at a tolerable temperature (55-60 degrees F). I have lived in some old buildings over the years. I understand that they are not airtight and that there will be some drafts, but this was unacceptable/inhumane. I never dealt directly with Howard West, so I can't comment on his character (although seeing what kind of a business he runs makes me wonder...), but Bob (McCall?), the obese man I spoke of earlier, was the crudest, most unprofessional SOB I have ever encountered. How he was able to obtain a job blows my mind. I will never rent from such an unprofessional organization again. Aside from the pathetic service provided by Howard West & Co, I will say that the apartment itself was very charming and in an excellent, convenient location. I certainly hope that the landlord has improved his etiquette.

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
344 Lamont Pl Pittsburgh, PA 15232	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
456 S Graham	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
I am about to renew my lease with Howard West and begin the second year of living in the apartment home I've always wanted. The building itself is beautiful and well-maintained. My apartment is a subterranean unit most recently occupied by a former long-term employee. It was completely remodeled and refurbished before I took possession. My rent is reasonable and the amenities are great! Any concerns I have had in the past year, which have been few, were promptly addressed. If I had anything bad at all to say, it would be that sometimes Howard West's contractors don't take as much pride in their work as I do in mine; you can tell their attitude is "its just an apartment; the tenant will probably tear it up, anyway." However, if tenants had any concept what highway robbery most contractors charge, they would understand that Howard West simply couldn't provide the quality units they do at an affordable price without negotiating the best deals they can with contractors. I hope to be one of Howard West's very long term tenants.

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
5285 Forbes Avenue	3.0	3.0	3.0	1.0
(Only the 'overall' category applies for this post, so please disregard the threes I awarded for the other categories.) I tried to negotiate a security deposit refund for a friend who lived at this address, once she'd graduated and moved to Dubai. At first, I thought that this would be a fairly straightforward negotiation that would take perhaps two or three weeks at most. Howard West strung me along for four months. They repeatedly failed to answer my e-mails, never returned my phone calls, never gave me a definite answer regarding whether they'd return part of my friend's deposit. I first met with one of their reps at the very beginning of October; it's now nearly the end of January and I've given up on trying to deal with Howard West. Although the gentleman I tried to communicate with was fairly friendly--I'll give him that much credit--, his promises were empty and his conduct, overall, was quite unprofessional. My friend may never see her nearly $500 refund, and I can't do anything about it. This is truly a crime in my opinion. Any other aspects of living at this property or dealing with the owners from a resident's point of view do not personally apply to me. I can say, however, that there was a serious leak in the first-floor ceiling once when I visited; water was coming from a second-floor bathroom and dripping into an enormous tub that had been placed on the floor in the common room. There was a huge, ugly hole in the ceiling where the water was dripping through, and my friend was baffled that Howard West hadn't done anything about it after much time had passed.

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
717 Summerlea St.	1.0	1.0	2.0	1.0
Promised renovation never happened. A dangerously-loose windowpane was never fixed and that window remained closed for the full year we were there. We moved out a month before our lease expired. The landlord had a cleaning service come in, dump our few remaining belongings, and rented the apartment to someone else. We were charged for the cleaning service. The apartment was quite nice though.

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
414 Stratton Lane	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
Howard West has been a wonderful landlord. We've had some stinkers in the past, but we are really pleased with everything at this address.

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
816 ivy street	3.0	3.0	2.0	3.0
Things have been broken that took multiple accounts of calls to remind, and some still never been fixed. Heating has been an issue with the horrible window frames and landlord blaming it on old heating system. Also extended delay on building fire escape, so right now there is no fire escape... Overall I would say not a terrible landlord. Not the best, certainly not a real slumlord.

Address	Maintainance	Availability	Friendliness	Overall
6801 Meade St., Pgh., 15208	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Howard A. West is the worst management company I've ever dealt with. The boiler in our apt. building broke during the coldest week this winter and it took them TWO WEEKS to fix it. It went down to 42 degrees and we had to live with relatives. They dropped off dinky space heaters that didn't do anything and quickly stopped returning our calls. Before the boiler broke, the pipes would clang extremely loudly every hour, day and night. We would routinely wake up to them. The ceiling is so thin we can hear every move the upstairs' neighbors make and most of their conversations. We're counting down the days until our lease is up.

Discuss These Ratings (6)