Messina Property Management, LLC

Negative experience: I’ll never rent with Messina again. They were unhelpful with maintenance and completely ignored my concerns about mold in my apartment from before I moved in, and then charged me a cleaning fee related to said mold when I moved out. They were unaccommodating and rude during showings before the end of my tenancy, which was particularly challenging since I work night shift and was barely sleeping just to accommodate them. We were constantly forced to wait for maintenance teams or showings that never arrived, or had them come in when we had not received proper notice. I asked them to maintain the exterior of the property and they completely ignored me until they had to list the property again, at which point this was a selling point. Seems like they only take action when there’s money involved and don’t care that much about their tenants. I was extremely kind and patient with them and rarely ever received that sentiment in return.

Negative experience: AVOID RENTING THROUGH MESSINA. The mushrooms growing in the bathroom next to the shower when we moved in were just the beginning. This issue was not resolved for two days after being reported. Our washing machine was then broken and completely inoperable for three months. During that time, countless emails were sent and service requests were submitted. Multiple times, someone came out, claimed the machine was fixed, and left despite it remaining unusable. On several scheduled repair dates, no one showed up at all, and many emails went unanswered. We were often told we were “overloading the washing machine” and that was why it didn’t work, despite it not working with a single item of clothing in it. Communication regarding the washing machine became increasingly difficult as time went on. Toward the end of the ordeal, our emails and maintenance requests were largely ignored. It was only after we began discussing our legal rights and the possibility of legal action that we received a meaningful response. After three months, and on the day Minnesota's new right to repair law took effect, the washing machine was finally replaced. Despite having a working washing machine included in our lease, no rent reduction or reimbursement was provided for the three months we were forced to use a laundromat. Reimbursement was requested multiple times and denied. Between three tenants, we spent approximately $500 at the laundromat during that period. There was also a leak from an overhead pipe in the basement. A maintenance request was submitted roughly three months into the lease. The only "repair" performed was placing a chisel under the basement drain so water from the leak could drain away. The leak itself was never properly addressed. Later, repairs were made to the kitchen ceiling. We were assured that the work area would be taped off to prevent debris from spreading throughout the home. Instead, the entire kitchen and surrounding areas were covered in a layer of drywall dust. When we raised concerns about dust covering our personal appliances, we were told that any resulting property damage was not their responsibility. We were then told a professional cleaner would be sent to remove the silica containing dust. That never happened, We cleaned it ourselves. As an additional issue, the lawn mower provided for maintaining the yard did not work. We were then criticized for not mowing the lawn despite not having functional equipment. What made these experiences especially frustrating was the communication. Responses were often polite, professional, and reassuring in tone, but they rarely resulted in action, or just attempted to shift responsibility. Professional language was being used to manage complaints rather than solve them. AVOID RENTING THROUGH MESSINA. Their blatant disregard, lack of integrity, and overall lazy attitude towards their tenants is unacceptable. If you are already renting with them, good luck. Side note: It will be interesting to see what happens to our security deposit, as we left the house in a better condition than when we moved in. The only garbage left over is the old washing machine and the packaging from the new washing machine. Another thing we were told would be resolved, but never was.

Negative experience: This is all alleged. My girlfriend has rented from Messina for a year, and had sewage overflowing from her bathroom for 3 days before anyone came in for service. No professional cleaners were brought in and they had to scrub human feces from the floor themselves. Also skunks had been living under the floor of the basement room for multiple weeks and had enough time to give birth to a litter before anymore came to help. The service from Messinas maintenance is awful. Completely ghosts any texts you send them and will take weeks to deal with major issues. I'm not worried about them guessing which house this is because they don't read our texts anyways. I'd rather be homeless with an extra 1550 in my pockets a month than live on a Messina property.

Negative experience: Do not rent with Messina. They will charged you obsurd fees. And we asked if we would get charged for things and they said no. They took half of our deposit in supposed fixing and cleaning. If they replace something in your rental and say you won’t get charged. Don’t believe them. Regretful as soon as I rented with them. Dont rent with them unless you want to get hit with a bunch of made up fees.

Fantastic experience: Our home is beautiful! The staff here are prompt, compassionate, and helpful. The rundown of our lease and move in was excellent, fair, and practical. I could not be more pleased. Thank you all :)

Negative experience: I worked with Frank in hopes of trying to find a house to live in for the upcoming year and he was unbelievably unprofessional and rude. I'm shocked with the level of disrespect that I received. No business owner should speak in such a manner with potential clients. I left a conversation with Frank feeling ridiculed, put down, and like a disappointment. I physically cannot recommend this company less. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Negative experience: Extremely unprofessional rude, does not follow through with promises, this is extremely difficult when it comes to renting and buying homes. I I hope anyone that reads this learns from my frustrations and walks the other way.

Negative experience: I reached out about a rental property and was shocked by how rudely I was treated. When I mentioned that two roommates are 19 and still establishing credit, the agent laughed and ended the call. As someone urgently looking for housing, I found this dismissive and unprofessional. A little respect goes a long way, especially for people trying to secure a safe place to live.

Negative experience: Sketchy landlord. We moved into a house and had plumbing issues a week in, and required a plumber to come out and clear the line. He found condoms, tampons, gum, a ton of stuff that had backed it up. We had been there maybe 4 days, yet Messina accused us of "throwing parties" and causing it. We lost nearly our whole deposit. Avoid at all costs

Positive experience: Awful company. Do not rent with them. We rented from them for two years. The was house garbage when we moved in and now they’ve taken most of our deposit for problems we told them about that they didn’t do anything about. Update: They did contact me and ask what would make it right. They gave us back some of our deposit, but if they can give us back what they gave back, why charge it in the first place?

Negative experience: I rented a home managed by Messina in June 2024 with two roommates. Unfortunately, we moved into a house that was dirty and poorly prepared—there was garbage left in rooms, mold in cabinets, and general grime throughout. We documented multiple maintenance issues stemming from previous tenants and informed management right away, but many were not addressed during our lease. Despite the rocky start, my roommates and I took excellent care of the home, even making small repairs ourselves. The house had great potential, and we did our best to treat it with respect. Upon move-out, we left the space significantly cleaner than how we found it—wiping surfaces, scrubbing, and removing all trash—yet were still charged cleaning fees. We received only a partial return of our security deposit, with deductions for pre-existing damages we had reported at the beginning of the lease (such as broken blinds and hinges). Communication throughout our tenancy was minimal and often frustrating. Overall, we found the experience disappointing and felt that we were held financially responsible for issues beyond our control.

Fantastic experience: We rented with Messina for the last two years, and they made the experience very memorable, as much as renting can be! They always went beyond in helping and accommodating our needs when we reached out while being professional and beyond kind. Their maintenance team is very knowledgeable and friendly and we look forward reaching out to them first for projects on our new house!

Negative experience: I would not recommend renting from this company.

Fantastic experience: Very friendly, amazing staff & ive rented from them for about 8 or 9 yrs and theyre wonderful and respectful to my needs or any concerns 👍👍 Tina was very kind & helpful

Fantastic experience: Messina is great! They got my home sold for asking price when I was on the verge of foreclosure following divorce. Ask for Andrew Ovind if you are buying or selling!! This man went ABOVE AND BEYOND what a realtor normally will do to get a house sold. He made it his personal mission to see that the job was done! He’s friendly, helpful and driven to see you make your sale or find your perfect home!

Negative experience: Don't even bother with this company. Extremely discriminatory. Will not rent to me because I'm disabled and refused to do lawn care. They go back over 10 years in history and discriminate against singular misdemeanors. Don't waste your money or your time. Tina is also extremely rude.

Fantastic experience: My interactions with them has been very good. Everyone is very kind and easy to talk to.

Fantastic experience: Great service at a good price. They are really helping me take care of my rentals. They have provided both the tenants and me(landlord) with responsive and quality service.

Fantastic experience: Very friendly, easy to work with, prompt with answering any questions. I highly recommend

Fantastic experience: Messina Property Management has been great to work with. A very friendly team. I've worked with Jeff, their maintenance man, quite often as well – awesome guy! Everything has always worked out smoothly from communication to scheduling. Definitely recommend MPM!

Fantastic experience: Positive renting experience with Messina. As renters we were treated like customers, not like foes. I feel like we worked together on any issues and they were understanding and helpful. And there weren't many issues to be had. Maintenance issues were handled, concerns were addressed. But we also tried our best to be good renters, not make every little thing a problem.

Fantastic experience: Excellent property managers

Negative experience: I would not recommend their unit on Missouri Ave. The property owner lives above & will complain weekly about anything & everything. Forget watching movies at a volume you can hear it or talking at a normal volume after 10pm, or even using the bathroom fan. The property owner was also told about mice before the management company was involved, I mean there were literally mouse traps in the unit upon move in. When Messina became involved, we asked if they could take care of the mice, they said yes but nothing ever happened. Also, when we moved in (before Messina was involved) it was not move in ready, which we made clear to them. When my partner moved in he & his dad had to clean it. There were already broken items that needed to be repaired… but yet when we moved out & left it in a cleaner condition than we received it, they took $738 out of our deposit for deep cleaning & repairs. I know we didn’t clean everything perfectly because it wasn’t in the best shape to begin with- but we were literally charged for things like spiderwebs on the ceiling (it’s a basement unit, I had to vacuum spiderwebs every week) & dust on the top of doors. Plus we were charged for repairs on things that were broken BEFORE we moved in!! 10/10 would not recommend this company or this unit specifically.

Fantastic experience: Great property managers.

Negative experience: Overall, it was the worst renting experience in my 5 years in Duluth. Arrived at the house after picking up the keys and we were given the wrong keys. We had to wait for another 2 hours with the Uhaul due to their error. Throughout the year of renting, maintenance was performed haphazardly, there were multiple instances of pests, and we were charged unexplained cleaning fees / to mow the grass upon move out. We cleaned the house even more clean than how we got it upon move in AND mowed the grass the day before move out. This is a business and they are in to make a profit. I highly recommend finding a private landlord over ever renting from Messina again.

Fantastic experience: Messina Property Management took great care of our rental property for the past 11 years. They placed reliable tenants so that we never had a vacant month nor lost revenue over all of that time period. Maintenance issues were handled in a timely fashion (appliance repair/replacement, water leak issues, pest control, etc.) and bookkeeping was impeccable. Our experience was about as worry-free as anyone could expect from owning a property long-distance and having stewards take care of needs that arose. I highly recommend them.

Fantastic experience: Messina Property has been selling itself as “service oriented” since I became an absentee property owner and renting landlord in Duluth. Their service to me has been exceptional. Their team is responsive in ways that few people and companies are anymore….And they go far and beyond…Messina’s team helped me secure the landlord permits and assessments….They are always ready to help remedy possible problems with preventative maintenance warnings, suggesting local contractors, providing yard and snow maintenance and more. They have been exceptional with communication and caring to tenants and neighbors. My property has been successfully rented since it came on line, and I believe the credit for THAT is for the comprehensive services and care of Messina Property Management’s team. Thanks Michelle, Atle and friends.

Fantastic experience: My boyfriend lives in their property I’m so thankful for their Michelle. She is so responsive and attentive & always takes care of what we need.

Negative experience: After moving out I wait for my security deposit, I get no information about it so I finally reach out. Apparently they mindless send it to the address I had rented from them, which they obviously know I do NOT live there. Now I'm supposed to pay a $30 fee to get a check rewritten. Awful communication and they abandoned to fix electrical work in my apartment til two weeks before move out.

Negative experience: DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY!!! Management clearly does not know what they are doing. They play favorites to certain tenants, same sized apartment on same floor gets off street parking and parking for THEIR GUESTS. Even tho when asked if we could park in back they told us YES until said neighbor said something to management. A full year went by without them fixing the electrical UNTIL moving out. Said electrical problems was we couldnt use our fridge or outlets in kitchen, if we did the power would go out in OUR APARTMENT ONLY. They dont even know what tenants are at each property, this means they'll ask for you clear a day up IN YOUR SCHEDULE for whatever reason (usually maintenance) and then they'll never show up cause they never needed into your apartment anyways. A heater radiator leaked and didnt work. After all that when trying to get the security deposit, they sent said security deposit TO THE APARTMENT THAT WAS MOVED OUT OF. Mailman took said check back and for them to write a new one THE FORMER TENANT (which is YOU) has to pay a $30 fee to fix their mistake. AGAIN I REPEAT DO NOT!!! RENT FROM THIS COMPANY!!!

Negative experience: Never Rent from them, Maintenance takes forever to show up and when they do they don’t actually fix anything. Our house was advertised to us as 4 bedroom 2 bathroom 2 living rooms with the basement housing 2 beds a living area and bath. Since we moved in water comes into the basement everytime it Rains. They have come 6 or 7 times in 18 months to „find“ the leak and on the 4th or 5th visit they decided they didn’t need to repair because it’s not a living area. They overcharge we pay twice what this place is worth easily. Especially since the wiring was installed prior to grounding prongs and none of the upstairs outlets are grounded. There is no AC, and they won’t replace the pipes which are corroded beyond repair. On top of that our oven has been problematic the entire time and despite it being ancient they won’t replace. Terrible management.

Negative experience: Tried taking random charges out in our deposit?? had to call 4 different times to get solid answer of why money is even being taken out. Finally just finished figuring it out 2 months after moving out. If renting make sure you take pictures before moving out since we got charged over $300 for cleaning and all the guy said need to be cleaned was floor and appliances. When I asked how much the hourly rate of cleaning was he said $40 which would mean it took the cleaning crew almost 9 hours to clean..no way mind you the house couldn’t be more than 1000 square feet. we left the place cleaner then when we first got it. The only positive I have to say is the maintenance crew is amazing as for the people in the office horrible.

Fantastic experience: Messina is a very professional and responsible property management team that I would highly recommend to anyone!!

Fantastic experience: Messina Property Management was exceptionally easy to work with. In any rental experience I expect to be provided with a clean property and to receive prompt action in response to any maintenance requests. Messina exceeded my expectations in this regard. I would be happy to rent from Messina again in the future.

Fantastic experience: Mia from maintenance is awesome!

Fantastic experience: Maintenance team is professional and prompt.

Fantastic experience: Always a pleasant experience. Maintenance is awesome! Always addressed any issues/repairs in timely and professional manner.

Fantastic experience: Very reliable and communicative company. The employees are thorough and communicative with renters. They laid out all directions for the move in and move out process and were available at all hours to help with any issues. Would recommend to anyone looking for housing in Duluth!

Fantastic experience: Messina Property Management has been, is, and continues to be one of the most responsive and fair agencies that I have ever encountered! Thank you!

Fantastic experience: My experience with Messina Property Management has been a good one....whenever a maitnence request was put in wheather it a small or a big job Mike was on it as fast he was able...very professional!

Negative experience: Seemed nice at first, then was charged for normal wear and tear maintenance.

Negative experience: The company wasn’t very good at communicating. Also when we moved out we were charged for just regular maintenance and were bad mouthed by the maintenance people that work for Messina. Would not recommend as they were not great with renter satisfaction and leaving a positive impression on me and my roommates.

Negative experience: This place has an established history of fixing their property with your security deposit. Beware, and if it happens to you, sue them in small claims court! You don't even need a lawyer, as MN law prohibits this kind of use of your security deposit!

Fantastic experience: Easy company to work with.

Negative experience: Casual moving in, home-inspector moving out. Lots of junk on site that couldn't be moved. Arbitrary and excessive deductions from your security deposit. I was warned about the decline of this company but I didn't listen as I had only two weeks to find a place after receiving a job offer in Duluth. Odd things around the house were never finished and there was a large amount of junk onsite that we were not allowed to move (broken down cars, golf clubs and old furniture). Service was slow unless you bypassed Michael (the wet-behind-the-ears property manager). Take careful and explicit notes when you move in (probably won't help, as you'll see) even if you're told not to worry about something. When we moved in the place was pretty dirty (appliances, carpet, cabinets, floor and fireplace). We were pressed for time so we sucked it up. When we left we were assessed a $100 cleaning fee for a potato chip and dirt inside the door (seemed a little much for five minutes of labor). We were then assessed an arbitrary and excessive amount for pre-existing damage. Though the damage was annotated on our move-in form, even acknowledged by Michael, we were still charged for it. Though Michael took pictures before and after we moved in he didn't need to look at them or show them to us, because he "knew" that the damage got worse. I asked if there was anything we could do, to which he replied that he'll "take [me] up there and show [me] the damage" (the pre-existing damage that was annotated on our move-in form). That was his one and only solution - in any case, I was made to believe I should be happy that he gave us any of our deposit back at all. If I damage something, I'll be happy to pay for it. But when a pre-existing condition is being charged to me I get a little upset. When I find out that the amount we've been charged isn't even going to be used to fix the damage that I didn't cause, I get upset enough to post a bad review. In short, if you feel like being bullied by an irresponsible kid running a company given to him by his father, rent Messina.