The HOW Group Property Management, Philadelphia PA

Service is terrible, they are not accommodating to any of your needs, the properties are built in the cheapest way possible, lease renewal is required 9 months before the end of the lease term which is ridiculous, it is impossible to speak with anyone over the phone, they take advantage of you as a resident.

Some of the properties may look nice, but don’t waste your time. This property management group is terrible with communication and doesn’t seem to care for their residents once the lease is signed. I’ve lived in one of their properties for only 4 days so far and I am already regretting it. For starters, once I signed the lease, the leasing agent Helen mentioned that she’d follow up with me regarding move in costs as the website was inaccurate. I reached out to her and she never responded and it wasn’t until two days before I was to move in that I called the leasing department and got it finally sorted. Helen still hasn’t responded to any messages.

Once we finally move in, they said a cleaning crew came through the apartment but either they lied about that the cleaning crew is terrible. Nothing was clean. The shower was covered in old mold, there were piss stains on the toilet, all the adhesives the previous tenant hung on the walls were never removed, a bunch of dirt and debris all over the floors, a bucket of paint left behind by someone, and the most disgusting part is that there was a weird sticky substance on the living room floor covered by ants. I get the building is old and am not expecting perfection, but I’m also not expecting disgusting. I called resident services in case there was a mixup and the cleaning crew never came to our apartment. They told me “the cleaning crew did come to your unit and cleaned it to our expectations. ” This only convinces me more that they do not care about the residents.

One of the reasons I decided to go with their property is because of the option of on site parking for a fee. I gladly signed up and was assigned a spot. Turns out, the spot was already assigned to a different tenant and now I have to waste my time searching for parking in South Philly until the office opens on Monday so I can call to resolve yet another issue.

The technician Will, always come and do a great job and I appreciate the response time and the time it takes to complete the job! As Always thank you

DO NOT STAY HERE! Coming from a fellow college student, HOW does not show any sign of care towards your safety. Garage door breaks multiple times every year leaving it wide open (currently on its 4th week in a row of not being fixed). Front door gets broken into and packages get stolen consistently. Same issues keep reoccurring and HOW does not even make an effort of improvement so it doesn’t happen again. The lack of care is frustrating since dozens of people, especially students, live here. Even when you approach them with the issues, they don’t care and just ask you to send an email which leads to nowhere at the end of the day. Find someplace else to stay. Not here. Not with HOW Group.

This company is extremely unprofessional. It was difficult to get in contact with someone, and when I did, they did not hold up to their word, and the description of the location was false. If you're not from Philly and are not familiar with the area, just know this property is located in a very bad area. I drove over an hour for an appointment with Ammonie (who seemed to be highly recommended but turned out to be a disappointment) for her to not show up. I called and text her and Will (who originally set up the tour) and no one answered. 1 star is too much for this rating.

Office staff and maintenance are appropriately responsive and professional. Among the best experiences working with property management I've every had. Maintenance staff are always professional, skilled, and knowledgeable. Fady saved us by fixing our AC unit recently as was outstanding! Thanks How group

Chris gave us a tour was very respectful answered all questions was patient and made us feel good

I loved the tour i took this morning with Chris i believe. He was so real and professional with everything. Loved the spaces!

Ammonie did an outstanding job helping me throughout the application process! She really made me feel at ease and was quick to answer any questions that came up. She also made touring apartments super simple and was so flexible when it came to scheduling a tour. I'm so grateful to have had her help!

My first time applying for apartments on my own felt like a breeze with Ammonie. She’s quick, flexible, and works with you to make sure you’re in a good place to get your new place asap. I toured and applied just a couple days before my vacation and she made sure to get everything processed and approved overnight so that I could go on vacation with a clear head and a new apartment waiting for me back home. I liked her so much I’m writing this while on vacation:)
I had a great experience.

I'm a new tenant with The HOW Group and I have to say, Ammonnie is AMAZING. She was extremely polite and eager to help. Me and my partner were extremely nervous about moving, as the market is chaotic, but she was an angel throughout the process. Any questions we had, she answered and made all my anxiety about the move go away. I definitely recommend her if you're looking for a new place?

This is a truly awful company. The building where I live isn’t secure, packages being stolen on a regular basis, bikes stolen out of the locked garage, no security cameras on the side of the building. Unresponsive management team. I have a friend who lives in the Harbisons dairy building (which caught on fire recently) and hardly any acknowledgement from the HOW group about the fire itself. Would not recommend renting from this company.

Edit: this company knew about unsecured doors since Memorial Day weekend and failed to fix them until yesterday, 6/14. Our “secured” building was accessible to ANYONE for over two weeks. Heightened property theft took place in this two week period. Thankfully, no home invasions occurred, but this situation could have easily escalated to that.

I’m rewriting this review because what seemed like a month from hell just got solved by Dave Hall. There were some uncertainty in my lease due to the property I live at being previously owned by another company during my lease term. Dave was able to come up with a solution for me quickly and helped me out more than he knows!

My partner and I had the pleasure of working with Ammonnie in our search for a new apartment. She was polite and professional but also extremely personable and easy to talk to. She made us feel welcome right off the bat, explaining the features of the home as well as the feel of the neighborhood. I felt so comfortable asking any questions I had about the properties as well as the application process. Ammonnie did an amazing job describing the perks and benefits of the apartments but not once did we feel pressured to make a decision. We still keep in touch to discuss other openings and overall I trust her completely as a leasing agent and as a person.

I had to have some work done in my apartment, and Will, the technician, was AMAZING. He was kind, courteous, and professional; he made me aware of every step of the process. I can't say how much I appreciated how efficient he was. I work from home, and he was able to work quickly and quietly as well. I had a great experience with Will.

My wife and I are incoming tenants and we had to the pleasure to work with DJ Penn. She was very prompt and answered all our questions thoughtfully. DJ even managed to fit us in for a tour on a Saturday. We're very excited to move in!

Update April 2023- thank you to Marc and the maintenance management team for having an external company come to seal the windows, which seems to be helping. Im also happy to see the latest positive reviews because there are good things that the company does and people that make it happen.

Previous review from January 2023:
I have been a resident of a HOW property building since 2019 and am disheartened that my experience has finally brought me here. Tonight I have submitted my EIGHTH (8th) maintenance order for an extremely aggravating, exhausting, and chronically pervasive leaking roof dating back to January 2020. I am not sure what my expectations were when I moved into an old, converted building, other than a shared responsibility between me, the tenant, paying for a safe place to live and the management company, who above all else, is legally responsible to create and maintain those safe living conditions. The two stars I have provided are representative of the hard work of two maintenance men who have been saving graces. The one gentlemen in particular has worked tirelessly to do whatever is in his scope (and kind heart) to provide me with some relief as the roof has continued to leak for the last 3 years. Management has had knowledge of the building’s chronic issue with leaks for a very long time, specifically my unit with the largest windows. They have chosen to turn the other way, but uphold my lease agreement to charge me the maximum rent increase for the last 2 years, which is quite frankly insulting. They’ve never offered suggestions or recommendations for how this ongoing issue can be addressed at the lowest level or even accept any responsibility, while I have used my personal time scrubbing black mold, washing towels and pots I’ve used to soak up the water, re arrange my furniture to accommodate the rain drops, and go so far as to call the city inspector. Despite it all, I have made my unit my home and would be upset to part ways with it, but having the same issue replay is exhausting on every level. Thinking back to a time when I called the office out of sheer exhaustion about the issue and was told “ well we’ve had a lot of rain. ” And “the issue hasn’t happened in a while, so…” I was completely floored. While I understand that some issues are out of our hands generally in life, I don’t pay to be roommates with the elements and this IS within HOW’s control. My goal for writing this is not to turn future or current residents off to HOW Properties, but rather a plea for management to lead with empathy, by example, and commit to (sustainable) action.

I am about to be a tenant at one of this groups’ properties. I had such a good experience with Ammonnie, one of their leasing agents. She was quick to respond to all questions I had. She made it so easy to schedule an initial tour of the unit, and also helped us to schedule a tour again to take measurements after we signed the lease. She has been amazing and made my first time renting on my own a little less scary. I highly recommend using her as your leasing agent. She is awesome!