Reed Real Estate & Constr

We have been renting from Reed for the last 10 years. We have stayed in several houses and only once have we been disappointed with the quality. I talked to them, and because they had availability, we were able to move into another home. There were two options - one at no additional cost, and one for a slight fee.\r \r I think it is important to take some perspective on individual rental homes. While reed may ""manage"" them, individual owners control the major upkeep. The house we were so disappointed in - ""Sandy's Dune"" felt like had not been truly updated in years, and was generally worn down - from squeaky beds, to cheap TV's and pillows, the deck was splintery, and the kitchen had a rusty hood and cruddy pans. My hope is that after taking a careful look at the home, Reed will discuss things with the owner and call for updates- or suggest the owner find a new management group.\r \r We chose to move to ""Absent Minded"" - a whole new world - the owner obviously is aware of the conditions, and you can feel the quality that was put into the details. TV's in every room, clean updated appliances- a great fridge with a new crisper drawer, beds that did not squeak, and really clean carpets.\r \r Once again- Reed may make the owner aware of comments and complaints about their properties, but the owners have to choose to reinvest in their homes. Reed bent over backwards to help us. The fact that, even in low season, it can be hard to find a home in Ft. Morgan unless you book well in advance, speaks to the professionalism of this real estate management team. While some people feel that they ""own"" the house for the week, we have always recognized that we are a paying guest and responsible for our treatment of the home and the people that are trying to help us.\r \r We will return and use Reed in the future.. more

First bad experience with renting a house for summer vacation was this summer with our rental through Reed Real Estate. We were looking for beachfront, decking across the back to sit and enjoy the waves and relax, and being away from the crowds. Oh Me By The Sea looked perfect (on their website), especially that there were no houses close to us on the west side of the house, so we could enjoy unobstructed views of the beach and water. I'm sure it says somewhere in the small print of the contract that the homes may not be as they appeared on their website, but I didn't read all that carefully (lesson learned). We booked the house in March for our July vacation. Our granddaughter flew in from Seattle and we all arranged time off from work for that week. Within a few weeks of our arrival, a new home was started on the west side of our house. By the time we arrived a construction crew was working on the 2nd floor framing (at the level of our quiet, peaceful deck. So, at 7:00a.m. each morning we were awake, because of hammering, sawing, men yelling, a bobcat going back and forth with a loud motor and constant beeping, and sawdust covering our deck and porch. Our complaint was that we felt that we should have been informed that this was happening and that it would affect our vacation. We probably would have been more understanding of the situation if we had known prior to arriving. But, not a word from them, not even when we stopped by their office to pick up our keys. They let us find when we drove up to the house. Of course, they say that they cannot control what is happening next door to the property or when a owner decides to build or remodel their home. When we complained we were told that there were no other homes available that we could move to, so our options were to leave, or stay and deal with it. Since we had planned this vacation for months and scheduled our time around that week, we felt we had no choice but to stay and deal with it. The homeowner did call and offered a one day refund (which we accepted, but would have gladly given back if it made the problem go away). But, we felt that Reed Real Estate didn't really care about us as renters. No one even came out of their offices when my husband went to complain. Needless to say, we will never book through them again, and I hope this review helps you with your rental process. We did make a video of the construction and noise and tried to put it and a negative review on their Facebook page, but you will not see it there. They control what is allowed on their Facebook page and you will only see positive comments there. They did send me a private message in response with the same things that they told us that week, that they had no control over what happens next door to their properties. We just wanted them to understand that what they did have control of was ""information"", and their choice was to not to share that information with us. more

This is in reference to the comment to Steve W. about the beach home ""Absent Minded"". I am with Reed Real Estate and I just wanted to clarify a couple of items. I personally went to the home after this guest checked out when the maintenance man called about damage. When I arrived, the twin bedroom upstairs had numerous colorful spots on the carpet, which the guest said was hair dye which they allowed their children to play with. We had to have the carpet cleaned and are still trying to get these spots out. As for the refrigerator drawer, we have the same housekeeper who goes into this home every Saturday to clean. She went into the home and cleaned the Saturday before this guest checked in and went back the Saturday this guest checked out. She pulls the crisper drawers out each time she cleans to clean the refrigerator therefore she would know if the drawer had been broken. When I was at the home, looking at the damage, I took photos of the refrigerator drawer and the piece of plastic that was broken off of the side was still in the drawer? It was obvious that someone had forced the drawer shut which caused it to break. As I explained to Steve when I spoke with him about these items, Reed Real Estate does understand that our homes will have receive normal wear and tear and this is expected, however the broken refrigerator drawer nor the new hair dye stains on the carpet fall under that category. Unfortunately, he didn't agree and yelled a very nice ""F"" you before hanging up on me. For everyone who reads these online reviews, please remember one thing. There are 2 sides to every story. My family has been renting beach homes for over 25 years in the Ft. Morgan area, and I can assure you that we do everything we possibly can to make sure everyone enjoys their vacation. If we are made aware of any items that need to be repaired, cleaned, replaced... we do everything we can to get it done as quickly as possible. I really wish we could make every guest happy, and we do try our hardest, but unfortunately their are some that can not be satisfied. However, we have so many happy and repeat guests, some which have been staying with us for over 20 years, that make up for the negative comments. I will have to say that seeing the happy families checking in and checking out of our beach homes, enjoying our beautiful beaches, and making the most out of the time with their family is by far the best part of my job! more

Paid $3,800 to stay in the run down ""Absent Minded"" property. Then had the pleasure of being charged $160.00 for a refigerator drawer that we did not break in a refrigerator that cools slower than an Alabama Turtle. Make sure you take a picture of every broken item when you check in and call them to document or they will try and profit from normal wear and tear items. We made the mistake of not doing this as it would have taken half a day to list all the things wrong with the propety. They are very well rehearsed in this strategy as it is your word against the maid if things are broken or not. If you try and make your case without documenation you will basically be told that you are a liar. Oh yeah and none of their properties have outdoor grills. That's anti-American! more

Rented the Summerscape from this company last week and the house was awful! Paid good money and didn't get what we paid for. The house we got was DIRTY! Moldy shower curtains, food on the carpet and in dresser drawers, everything was sticky. The bunkbeds were missing parts, broken box springs, drawers were broken. My son cut his foot on nail sticking out. Dishes and silverware had food on them. The wi fi didn't work and took them days to fix and it didn't even work right then. Broken dinning room chairs and patio chairs. Here's the worst part so many cockroaches we almost considered sleeping outside. I mean we seen and killed 5 to10 daily. Imagine what we didn't see. I could go on and on but bottom line is don't rent!!!!!\r more

Our family tried this management company (Reed Real Estate) this year and we were very disappointed. The beach house that we $$$$$ paid for was not accurately portrayed on the company website. The house was in dire need of a paint job (inside & out), it had rust and mold around the windows, the ceiling had water stains (which we were told that it was from the hurricane, and how many years has that been????), the carpet was also covered in old stains, the wooden railing on the balcony had come loose, the wallpaper was peeling in numerous spots, some bedroom doors didn't close, the bathrooms had shower liners for shower curtains, the windows were dirty and the blinds were non-functioning. This home was in poor condition and being rented at a regular price. We know better now and will be sure to pass this information on to our friends, relatives and other folks that love visiting Alabama beaches. I hope this helps other families when planning a vacation to the beach and find yourself in a dump with no recourse (8 people arriving for a 3pm check-in and no other place to go). Always research the property management company and the property that you are interested in, we have since found out that others have experienced the same nightmare.... we should have done our homework. Always take pictures of your rental when you first arrive so you are not charged for cleaning/maintenance that the rental company does not want to do, it will be your word against the maid. more

My family and I stay here every year sometimes twice... my kids even call it OUR PLACE. Two of them have been going since they were babies. We love it always clean and peaceful and my kids can run around the beach without being worried about dodging other groups or crowds. The beaches are huge so there is lots of room. The best part is that there are no condos in sight just beach houses and lots of undisturbed beach. We love this community because it is usually middle aged families with young kids and there are two pools and a basketball court... this keeps my kids busy and lets me relax a little more. We love the people and businesses and Reed Real Estate. Thank you for years of great memories we will always think of you guys as family and will continue to recommend you as long as we can. Merry Christmas... we will see you in the Spring! more

Sorry, there was no rating below 1 star...... I am a highly decorated US Army Officer with over 27 years of dedicated service and a licensed real estate inspector. We normally do not complain and we have stayed at numerous beach and beach view rental homes over the past 10 years and this was the worse by FAR. We stayed in the Ocean To Bay rental home in Heritage Shores. \r \r We had several problems ranging from dirty sheets, inadequate number of towels bath clothes, TV's not working, defective DVD player, missing blender, non-functional can opener, dirty dishes in dish washer, dirty utensils, dirty utensil drawers, loose decking boards, no bathrooms at public pools, inadequate hot water, hostile security guards, rude property managers (Don Baker), guest with glass bottles in swimming pools (security said it was OK????), numerous non-functional outlets at pool & club house, exposed wiring at club house perimeter, nails protruding from decking at club house and poor maintenance of pool/club house area. Forgive me, I may have omitted a few items, it is 2AM in the morning.\r \r This was by far the worse vacation experience we have ever had, do not go to Gulf Shores, do not use Reed Real Estate (Gulf Rentals) and definitely avoid Heritage Shores sub-division.\r more