Marlon Management

If you choose to rent through Christone Enterprises, here is my advice for how to protect yourself and your deposits:\r \r Before you sign the lease, ask for a move-out cleaning packet. Compare the move-out packet to the lease. Their lease does not match the move-out packet in all areas (unless they have changed it) for example their policy on chimney cleaning is different in the lease and in the move-out packet. Get these things resolved in writing before you sign the lease and have it part of the lease. Then do a walk through with an agent before you sign. They expect the house to be spotless when you move out, so you should get the house spotless upon move in. Make sure they have everything cleaned that is on the checklist (including a new furnace filter).\r \r If you go ahead with signing the lease and the house still is not spotless upon move in, document EVERYTHING in writing and as much as possible in pictures. Include things that are broken, dirty, scratched, torn…leave nothing out…including cracked electrical plug covers. Examine every wall, every nook and cranny including inside cupboards and closets. Inspect tubs and showers for mold inside of the calking. Meticulously document everything inside AND outside. Don’t assume Christone knows about the trash under the deck, the rotting door frames, torn screens, windows that won’t open or closed, etc. Mail the finished document to them registered mail so you have proof that they received the documents. Keep your copy in a safe place too and find out how to prove that the documents and pictures have not been tampered with. \r \r Also, it may be a pain but go through Christone on all repairs, etc. instead of the owner. If you go through the owner, you have no way to prove you tried to take care of issues. When it was time for me to move out the owner of the house lied about an issue. A Christone employee yelled at me, called me a liar and I had to pay for cleaning something I never dirtied because I hadn’t put that it was dirty in my move-in report. Many months later I still feel upset when I think about Christone Enterprises. Their good employees (which there were some) did not outweigh the bad encounters and having my integrity attacked.\r \r more

Found great tenants in no time. Tenants are happy, maintenance gets done quickly, good company. more

We've used Christone Enterprises as our property management company for our rental home in O'Fallon Illinois. We are currently stationed in Japan and they have given us piece of mind while on PCS with finding great tenants and minimal vacancy rate. We correspond directly with the tenants and they've reported similar feelings about this family run company. Helpful office staff and responsive maintenance team. No complaints here. more

Our family has rented from Christone for three years and we are on our second home. Great staff and mindful maintenance department! more

In my opinion and as others have said, this property mgmt company is pretty awful. I've rented 2 different properties through them and both were bad experiences. In both cases, I moved into the properties and they were not clean yet upon move-out, they wanted to take a $150 cleaning fee out of my security deposit. This was even after the agent said that the properties looked great and passed inspection. One of the properties I even had professionally cleaned right before the inspection. Apparently, it's okay to rent out properties that are not clean yet charge tenants a ""cleaning fee"" when moving out. They also tried to take out fees for various repairs related to problems that pre-dated my move-in. Fortunately I meticulously documented these on the move-in inspection report so the evidence was irrefutable. Doesn't mean they didn't try though! I had to reference the report to avoid any additional charges. Aside from their poor business practices, the office staff have poor customer service and no sense of urgency about important matters (especially with regard to maintenance issues.) I could go on and on about their shortcomings but will just forewarn others to avoid this company. \r \r From what I understand, it is slim pickings when it comes to the property mgmt companies in the area so if you must rent from them, make sure to carefully document every ding and hole in the wall on your move-in inspection report. Make sure to get a copy of this inspection report too as they may conveniently say they never received it (this happened to a few of my friends who have rented from them.) And I wish you the best of luck because you will need it!\r more

I'm sure they're probably good to the owner, but they are HORRIBLE to the tenants. I've got two close friends who have rented from them, and they dearly regret the deceptive and underhanded methods of squeezing money out of the renters. Christone does nothing to improve the house, and forces the whole burden of repair on the tenant - this is against the landlord laws of this state.\r \r DO NOT RENT FROM THEM! more

WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING DO NOT RENT FROM CHRISTONE!!!! I recently posted on yahoo also and If I could give negative stars I would. I want everyone to be warned. I can't stress this enough. Recently had a horrible experience with this company and with our owner. My experience could not have been worse. I'm not going to list all the problems in detail but I will say if you expect to see any deposit money back from Christone, you won't. We read the warnings about them before moving in but we ignored them and we chalked it up to a few disgruntled customers. COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG. We were fully prepared to accept carpet cleaning costs and some general maintence costs withdrawn as it was in our lease but having read the reviews and warnings about Christone we thoroughly cleaned prior to moving out. Didn't matter. I think the phrase""highway robbery"" is a family friendly description of how they treated us and our deposit. It's disgusting. Don't believe the positive reviews. They are evidently from the landlords that use Christone to cut corners and rip off their tenants. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID. more

Do not..under any circumstance...rent from this company! On December 14th, 2011, we reported water damage on our kitchen ceiling (directly below where out upstairs bathroom is). A day later, the ceiling fell in. Plaster was EVERYWHERE! We called them again (since we'd never heard back) to report that the ceiling was now falling...3 weeks later, maintenance finally came out and basically all they did was make an even BIGGER hole in the ceiling (along with BREAKING our upstair sink-the 'stopper' no longer 'stops'.) The large hole was left for us to deal with (no fans to control mold, no cleaning up the left over plaster that fell from them knocking out the rest of the ceiling.) On January 15th we sent a certified letter proclaiming our desire to terminate the lease since they had not promptly fixed that damage (as stated in our lease agreement.) Since they had no made any attempt to fix the (even bigger!) hole that was now in our kitchen and with the threat of mold growing in our home, we thought this was a wise choice. We were contacted TWO weeks after the letter was sent saying they had to contact the ""owner"" of the house before they could do anything..It took them THAT long to contact the owner? I doubt it. Fast forward a few more weeks...We were contacted again saying we could leave the house for 30 days (rent free) while they repaired the damage. WHERE DID THEY EXPECT US TO GO? This is our home! Because our lease is up in April, we asked if we could just leave a month early, allowing them to fix the damage and also spare us the disaster of living in a home under renovation (plaster, dust, mold---mold which me and my roomate are HIGHLY allergic to!) The answer: NO. Not only have they faulted on the lease, they've deprived us of our right to leave this unsafe home. I'm sure if lawyers were involved we could have gotten out by now, but being young women just trying to stay afloat in this economy, we cannot afford one. I hope to spare you of the trouble we have gone through with this company. Look somewhere else. This company only has one thing one it's mind and that's money..They do not care about the wellfare of their renters..not to mention their safety..Did I mention we're allergic to mold? Do not walk, run! away from this company. This is only ONE of the problems we've had with this place....Thank God it's almost April! more

CHRISTONE MAINTENANCE: I am two months into my lease. Last month I saw a mouse in my stove. The stove is very old and has a vent just above the burners. This happened on a weekend. I was in their office on Monday. I was highly upset; apparently I was the only one upset. Maintenance came the next Tuesday and did some baiting. Since then I found a bag of flour from my refrigerator with a hole. This past weekend I was awakened from my sleep by a mouse /rat crawling on me. I called the maintenance line and was again in their office on Monday. They were very polite, filled out a maintenance request (WHAT IS THE POINT OF CALLING THE MAINTENANCE LINE) and promised to contact the owner for permission for an exterminator. Today is Tuesday 1NOV. I again called the office to report that I had actually seen rodents entering my apartment and find out about my maintenance request. There will be no exterminator from CHRISTONE and I was told by maintenance that they will PROBABLY be out tomorrow. Luckily I don more

Christone Enterprises has managed my property since May 2010 and I remain a satisfied client. Tenants just vacated my property in Fairview Heights and contacted me directly about security deposit charges that Christone deducted. Christone's charges were all legitimate - I know the property was not like that when they moved in because I had just moved out of it. The tenants said they intended to go online and post bad reviews of Christone but I am here to report that I am very thankful that Christone continues to protect my property and did hold the tenants responsible for damages. It's important that other property owners know that Christone does charge the tenants for damages and sometimes takes a hit on a review even though it is not justified. I'm a happy client. more

I was looking for a nice apt in O'fallon and I was told by a friend to ck out Christone Enterprises, I did and have been renting from them for 5yrs now, very pleased. more

*BEWARE* \r We were renting one of their properties and found black mold in the house. We went to Chris Mendola (Christone's Owner) and he assured us that we could move out, terminate the lease, and keep our deposits intact. We had a final walkthough shortly after, and they said to expect our money in the mail within 30 days. Now 60 days later they say we are not getting any money back because we terminated the lease early. We are currently pursuing legal action. \r \r Do not put yourself through the headache of dealing with these people. It will cost you alot of time, stress, and money. I wonder if Chris's retired Air Force officer father would find his decietful practices honorable? more

Terrible experience. \r Found mold in the house we were renting and had it confirmed by the city inspector. Went and talked with the company manager and came to an agreement that we could move out, stop paying rent, and terminate the lease with our deposits intact. I have asthma, and my wife is pregnant, so we moved out at the urging of our doctors, because who knows where else there could be mold. Now a month after our final walk through I had to call them to ask when I could expect my deposits because after the walkthrough I was assured to have them in the mail within 30 days. After talking to the manager again it turns out he has decided to change his mind and now I am not even sure I will get anything back. Thats over $2000 that I will be lucky to see because he thinks we over exagerated the problem. I don't see how he could think this when I provided pictures and details of exactly where it was and how much. We were considering sticking with the company on our next home but after this there is no way I could do it again. more

After conducting a thorough survey of property management companies in the area, I feel 100% confident that my house is in good hands and that I will have no worries while my property is in their hands. The staff has been more than accomodating and the fee rates are extremely competitive. I would highly recommend Christone to anyone looking for a property manager to take care of their property--be it an investment or their beloved home! Pros: Highly professional, experienced, competitive more