MGR Property Management - Rancho Mirage, California

Matthew T.

MGR Property Management, formerly known as Whitestar Management, is by far the worst property management company I have ever dealt with.
As a homeowner, I pay hundreds of dollars each month for their "management" and HOA services, yet I receive little to no support.

I live a quiet life and simply expect my front yard to be maintained, as covered by the HOA fees.
However, every time I submit a landscaping request, it gets ignored, closed without resolution, or met with vague responses that offer no real assistance.

For example, the front of my home has had dead plants for nearly a year. (12 months)
The landscapers removed them but never replaced them, leaving empty holes in my yard. The irrigation system is also faulty—some nozzles don’t work, others barely drip water, and some are completely blocked by rocks. Despite multiple requests, nothing has been done.

I have never missed or been late on an HOA payment, yet my simple requests for basic maintenance go unanswered.
In the four years I have owned this home, the community has gone through at least five different property managers, which speaks volumes about the turnover and lack of consistency.
I strongly advise against working with this company.

Save your money and choose a management company that actually supports its homeowners and takes their concerns seriously.

IN RESPONSE TO THEIR REPLY BELOW:

I have already communicated with Vanessa multiple times via email and phone, as well as with several individuals from your company, including the community manager and assistant community manager. Unfortunately, no resolution, assistance, or support has been provided.

The only request I am making is for the missing plants in front of my home to be replaced, as outlined in the bylaws and CCRs (Exhibit C, Section 1.7), which state that the Association is responsible for maintaining front yards, including landscaping.

My request has always been simple and remains the same.
I am readily available by phone or email, yet no one has made an effort to provide homeowner support or reach out to resolve this matter.

Emmanuel L.

Cant speak on the whole company only based on our experience with HOA community manager Karina franco

Leak bursted upstairs unit. This line that burst had nothing to do with my plumbing on a common wall it ruined my home.

We are living out of a box eating fast food daily

We have no liability hoa manager and plumber all concluded with unit upstairs its responsible.

She had no insurance‍

I was told via email and phone calls they will cover the repairs and bill unit upstairs. Work is commenced after a dreadful long waiting of Karina stating she was waiting for approval from attorneys. Weeks later she emailed us rebuilt process will begin. They started the work. Contractor notifies me that Karina emailed them to charge us that we had to pay. So work has once again stopped they hired an attorney send us a letter. Stating they sent people to do the repairs to mitigate any further damage and that we are responsible for the bill 7 weeks after the damage of my home had already been done.

HOA manager got into a legal binding contract with a contractor who failed to pull permits with the city on a rebuilt project of my kitchen

We have gotten legal advise and are ready to hire attorneys since our way of living has been drastically affected due to Karina giving approval assuring us we hold no legal liability to then billing us for something she got into contract with when we are on a set income

We have maxed out or credit cards eating out living in out car taking prescription pills to endure the emotional distress this has caused.

Holidays were spent eating in a park table due to this. Never have i seen such lack of professionalism work ethic in my life.

Highly advise if you deal with her to record everything and email evverything she will always flip what she says.

Billing us 6k as a progress payment when only drywall has been done based on the contractor estimate should only be 1100$ paid to date

We have started to look into the relationship with contractors being used by them as it is very fishy on how they bill 6700$ for 1100 worrth of work based on their estimate

I will update when this is all resolved i hope bery promptly

As of now wish me luck

I will post pics and links to audio recording to prove the injustice abuse of management

This is my experience and im expresing my freedom of speech we will see if any retaliatory act is done against us due to our review on this horrendous time

Alicia A.

Whitestar Management literally SAVED US!

I want to thank Rhonda and her amazing team from the bottom of my heart for all that they have done and continue to do for us. My husband and myself were left in a pretty bad situation with our previous management company after purchasing our first 6-unit rental property. We were left with a property in total disrepair and half of the tenants not paying rent for several months. We thought our property was being taken care of but had no idea how horrible things really were. We were in such a deep hole with no idea on how to get out.

We found White Star and they literally saved us! This is no exaggeration. Rhonda agreed to take us on and help us even after knowing all about the horrible situation we were in. Rhonda and her team immediately took care of business and did what was needed to get us back on our feet and then some. We now have a beautiful almost completely renovated property from the inside out filled with wonderful tenants.

The entire Whitestar team is always so professional and thorough, extremely efficient, and are always such a pleasure to work with. They communicate and take care of business on all levels no matter what it is. They truly listen to everything we express that is important to us and have no problem at all with stepping up immediately to any issues that we may have. And they take such good care of all of our tenants, which goes such a long way! At the end of the day, they are just considerate, caring, and genuinely good people and that means so much. They are by far everything a great management company should be and then some.

We are so incredibly thankful for Whitestar and for all they have done and continue to do for us. There are not enough words to express our gratitude.

We would more than highly recommend Whitestar for any and all management needs and we will definitely be using them when we buy our next property. They are simply the very best!

P C.

I've lived for several years in a community that uses WhiteStar (now MGR) services to manage several different neighborhoods/HOA's. I believe my review is fair and is NOT an uninformed rant from someone who doesn't understand how things work - I am involved with my community, and I know the HOAs themselves make most of the decisions, etc. that guide our neighborhoods and the management company assists in implementing them and gives advice.

But when we first moved here, we had a few very competent individuals that worked for WhiteStar/MGR and managed our communities. However, as often happens, those talented people found other opportunities. The people working with and for us now leave a significant amount to be desired. The biggest and most consistent issue is the utter lack of consistent communication and/or responses when a resident has an issue.

In particular, one community manager that works with our entire community simply CANNOT and will not keep up with communications, won't return phone calls, and quite frankly, has been caught in a lie, multiple times, when asked about whether action was taken on an action item. Any attempt from residents to contact him will simply fall down a rabbit hole, never to be addressed again. Bringing these issues up at a board meeting only results in more lies and denials, never a resolution. Another representative is so poorly trained that they are unable to use standard office tools (including emails).

I don't know why WhiteStar/MGR hasn't been able to hire, train and place competent, efficient newer employees in our community; it's been very frustrating and disappointing for quite some time now. The issue seems to come from higher up as well; a higher level manager attended a few meetings a while back and was incredibly condescending and dismissive of concerns of residents, basically telling them "you'll get what you get and you'll like it."

Communication is incredibly important and what most of these people haven't realized is that if the communication was more frequent, consistent and dependable, they could cut the calls/emails and queries to their offices in half. The concept of "first call resolution" or not being a part of the problem to begin with is unfortunately missing here.

A number of us are petitioning the board(s) and suggesting they either insist on a meeting with upper management at WhiteStar/MGR to have a "come to Jesus" moment, or perhaps better yet, seek another company out to engage their services. While past experiences were better, I cannot at this time recommend them or their services.

James L.

I am writing this review to compliment Michaela Morgan. I have lived in Rancho La Paz for 16 years. In my time here I have never received the high level of professionalism, communication and assistance that Michaela has given me. It is such a welcome change and I appreciate and applaud her work ethic very much. She is an amazing representative for White Star Management and they should be proud to have her on their team.

Mark W.

Originally it was a Mickey Mouse operation. They have been trying to improve over the past 2 to 3 years but they still don't get it when it comes to business communications, alerts, messaging, etc. I wish I had their job because they seem secure. They would never survive as a Fortune 100 company.

Cici (.

10/14/2019 my review is based on my personal experience. I needed to put my house for sale ASAP, I was so lucky to find Errikka Paiz my initial contact for the sale of the house. Immediately she got to work, by getting all the information and my house was put on the market in a few days, professional from begin to end .Mrs Paiz was on top of getting everything ready. Hardly had to do anything on my end she DID ALL THE HARD WORK . Errikka Paiz, will listen to your needs, will work to get you the best deals and cares and keeps you inform by Email, text and phone calls all the times with update. Her professionalism and knowledge really helps you when it comes to Sale or buying on a new home. I can't thanked her enough for getting my house sold in less than 2 weeks and for the endless hours of work to get my house sold.!!! VERY HAPPY WITH HER SERVICE AND WITH THE SALE OF MY HOUSE!!
I will recommend Errikka Paiz ,she is honest, friendly, respectful but most important she makes everything so easy for you. *

I would also like to extend my gratitude to Mr. Mario Perez, he sure makes all the documents and papers easy to understand and sign and information that I didn't' understand he was there to help and answer all my questions. Very professional too.

Errikka Paiz & Mario Perez AWESOME TEAM TO WORK WITH AND WHEN I'M READY TO BUY MY NEXT HOUSE THEY WILL BE THE FIRST TO CALL.

thank you Whitestar Management for having such an amazing team

Nancy Newton

Aida D.

Karina Franco and her team have done an outstanding job in overseeing our Saddleback community that was very neglected under previous management (Dion-manager). She consistently goes above and beyond to ensure our community runs smoothly and is always prompt in addressing concerns and implementing solutions. Her professionalism and dedication is truly commendable, and I highly recommend White Star management and Karina to any community looking for an outstanding HOA manager.