Michael Bifano is rude, obnoxious, hostile, abrasive, unfriendly and a nightmare to deal with. Have as little to do with this man as possible. He can be very manipulative and lacks basic people skills. I echo the other reviewers and cannot emphasize enough how difficult it is to deal with him.

My experience with this agent was deplorable. She used intimidation and threatening emails to wear me down during the sale of my house to get what she wanted for her deal. She originally was my agent, after I tried very hard not to have her involved in the sale of my house, and then without even so much as a small discussion became the buyer's agent. Talk about deceitful behavior and adding stress to any already extremely difficult situation. This agent is pushy and mean and I would not recommend her to anyone. Santa Barbara has so many wonderful agents, please chose another!!

I an attorney in Santa Barbara and a property owner. Both in the context of selling my own property and selling that of estates/trusts which I represent, Mark is the finest real estate agent I have encountered. He is extremely imaginative and well-connected -- this means knotty problems get solved. Ca recommend no one else in town as highly.

Mike Bifano is rude, argumentative, uncooperative, and an all around unfit agent. I hired him as a property manager and found him to be complacent when I needed to find new tenants. He blamed the bad economy for what was most likely his lack of effort, but ultimately, I ended up doing all the work to find tenants in less than one week of searching! He also has questionable accounting practices, as he claimed to be spending money on expenses/services that he obviously didn't! For example, I sent him money to replace a sink, but when I went to visit the house two months later, the sink was still in disrepair and he claimed I didn't send him enough money! He also claimed to spend money on bi-weekly pest control after the previous complained of such problem, but when I talked with multiple neighbors, they had no such problem! I also called the pest control company he claimed to have hired, but we didn't have an account with them. I could not fire him fast enough. STAY AWAY!!

After 3 straight days of looking for a new place to call home. Im making a huge life change by moving from chicago where I was pretty much born and raised. Anyway after 3 days of looking at apt after apt meeting landlord after landlord I was about to give up and then I called Monika. She gave me a address and a combo for the key lock and I opened the door and said within 2mins... I WANT IT. Most brokers are so lazy they charge you 20dollars a key and you can only check out 3 keys at a time and blah blah. Monika looked at my not so great credit report and looked me in the eyes and said okay ill rent to you. I almost broke into song and dance. Im a ex- Marine and a 2 time Iraqi Veteran. One landlord met me and I explained that I get money from the gov't and he no lie said "well your a Marine? Does that mean your angry and gonna wake up in the middle of the night and stab another tenant". Exact quote. Monika on the other-hand thanked me and gave me a great deal. I was blessed!

My experiences with Michael Bifano have been terrible. He is rude, sarcastic, short-tempered and even though one tries to be nice and have a normal conversation, this guy goes out of his way to be a jerk. If you remind him of things he has said, he accuses you of lying and says something sarcastic (i.e. the only time I would've said that is in your dreams). Literally, he will say things like this to your face. I am surprised this guy is not in a straight-jacket. Buyer/renter beware. Can you imagine trying to get anything fixed by this guy? Sheesh. After reading the other reviews on this page, it appears that he is like this with just about everyone.

He is a one man show, and a bad show at that. I applied for an apartment with perfect references, a credit score of 761 and a positive attitude and got no response in return. After the 5th call to him and 2 weeks later, he rudly told me to just wait for a response with little to know ides of when I would hear or how my chances were. He treated me as if I were a crazy person, who had no business calling him. It is unfortunate because the apartment is great. The best apartment in the world couldnt make up for Mr. Bifano's attitude and God complex. Steer clear of this guy!

I have worked with Kevin twice in buying properties in Santa Barbara and referred him to several friends who were more than pleased with his service. He is incredibly knowledgeable about the real estate market in both the buying and selling arms. Most important to me in a realtor is someone who is diligent about knowing the business, has a genuine interest an understanding of a client’s needs, and is responsive without being pushy. Kevin has these attributes in spades and stands alone among other realtors in the excellence of service to his clients.

Mr. Bifano is very unpleasant and rude. Dealing with him proved to be an exercise in sheer futility because he was extremely uncooperative and rude to the point of belligerence. It is unclear that renting properties and conducting business professionally is important to Mr. Bifano and I would recommend that you save yourself the h****le and steer clear of this guy.