Business ProfileforCarolina Foothills Real Estate

Clemson Foothills Realty (CFR Property Management) is poorly run, has horrible communication with tenants, and does not respond to maintenance requests. This company took over property management at The Retreat of Clemson in May 2022. The prior property management group was wonderful. In August 2022 CFR had cars towed 7 days before tenants had to renew their parking permit according to the resident rules. This was done at 3am when residents were not awake to stop the towing. A maintenance request on a toilet has been filed 4 times since May 2022, once in person, and CFR has failed to make the repair as of October 27, 2022. CFR sent notice of renewal and a rate increase out at 4:59pm on October 26, 2022 and said it had to be replied to by October 28, 2022 - TWO days to say ‘yes or no’ to a 17.5% rate increase in late October when most other apartments in the area had already set leases for the next year in September. Clemson is a college town with a highly competitive rental market. This almost seems to have been done on purpose leaving tenants no choice but to renew at this much higher rate. CFR’s poor communication left tenants confused about utilities plans and rental payments for the new school year. When CFR took over they implemented a $2.95 fee for bank draft of rent with no prior notice this would start. This company seems to be overwhelmed and not adequately staffed to handle the number of units they are supposed to ‘manage’.

Carolina Foothills Real Estate (CFRE), not Clemson Foothills Realty, purchased the management company that Kevin originally signed with back on April 1, 2022. The towing contact was implemented by the previous company and continued under CFRE, there were no changes made. All of their parking decals expire on July 31, every year. It is not based off leased. CFRE does not call to have vehicles towed. CFRE will call to suspend towing during move outs/move ins, and there is between 4 to 10 days after move in where there is no towing enforced. Decal instructions are given to all residents at move in. There are multiple different management companies in town and all have different renewal procedures. On campus renewals are sent right around move in dates. Off campus housing renewals are sent as early as September and continue on from there. CFRE tries to allow residents to move in completely and get settled prior to sending renewals. We do not force anyone's hand when it comes to signing a lease. CFRE does a market analysis before sending renewals and makes sure all pricing is in line with the market. CFRE gave multiple extension to residents that asked for a little more time to decide if they wanted to renew. If any resident said they did not want to renew, that did not automatically disqualifying them from future renewals. The portfolio manager for The Retreat, where Kevin signed, sends out multiple emails each month with updates as well as rent reminders, and updates on any maintenance issues. The $2.95 fee was a fee that is implemented from a 3rd party software that handles CFRE online payments. The online payment portal is an option for payments but is not mandatory. There are multiple other ways to pay rent, but the online portal will charge a fee if it is used. I would also like to point out that CFRE received the response for renewal around the 26th of October and had the new lease sent on the 27th of October. Based off that timeframe, CFRE does not agree with the residents being rushed to respond.