Robert S. Griswold

Currently active as a day-to-day hands-on, licensed practitioner, consultant and expert witness in all aspects of real estate (except valuation) - standards of care, standards of practice, best practices, industry standards, and custom and practice for real estate transactions, property management/ownership and fiduciary duty issues for all types of residential and commercial real estate – ownership, management, operations, maintenance, health & safety, habitability, roaches, bed bugs, mold, water intrusion, personal injury, trip & fall, slip & fall, premises liability, balcony collapse, wrongful death, lack of security, failure to maintain, property inspection, due diligence, wage/hour, negligent hiring, security deposit issues, broker or agent failure to disclose; misrepresentation; negligence/fraud & association board duties, and real estate receivership.
* Certified Property Manager (CPM), CRE, RPA, ACoM, CCIM, PCAM, CCAM, GRI, ARM - all current
* National Faculty Instructor and Lecturer - Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) since 1988
* Chair of Workgroup for IREM 2020 Best Practices publication/Standard of Care for landlords & property managers nationally
* Author - Property Management Kit for Dummies and Property Management for Dummies (4 editions)
* Co-Author - Real Estate Investing for Dummies (5 editions); Landlord's Legal Kit for Dummies (2014 & 2022); and Mortgage Management for Dummies (2017); Home Buying for Dummies (2024); Real Estate Investing - Back to Basics (2018)
* Featured columnist - SF Chronicle/San Diego Union-Tribune/LA Times/Washington Post + 40 other major newspapers for 15 years
* On-Air "Real Estate Expert" for NBC News This Weekend (KNSD-TV NBC 7/39 San Diego) for 15 years taking live, impromptu calls
* Court-appointed receiver & bankruptcy custodian

A 3-time graduate of the distinguished Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California with a BS ('81), MBA ('86) and MSBA (2nd Masters) ('88) in real estate and related disciplines.
Also holds the top professional designations in the real estate industry, including Counselor of Real Estate (CRE®), Certified Property Manager (CPM®), Real Property Administrator (RPA®), Accredited Commercial Manager (ACoM®), Accredited Residential Manager (ARM®), Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM®), Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM®), Certified Community Association Manager (CCAM®) and Graduate, Realtor Institute (GRI®).

1988 - Present - President and owner of Griswold Real Estate Management and recognized expert on management of all types of residential real estate, including apartments, community associations, single-family homes and individual condominiums and townhomes. Also, a very experienced property manager of all types of commercial properties, including office, retail, industrial, medical/dental, self-storage, mobile home parks, student housing, timeshare, parking and hospitality.

Author of the nationally best-selling book on real estate management "Property Management Kit for Dummies" which has sold over 750,000 copies. Co-Author with Eric Tyson of “Real Estate Investing for Dummies” published by John Wiley & Sons has also been the bestseller in the category with over 500,000 copies sold. Co-Author with Lawrence Harmon of "Landlord's Legal Kit for Dummies" published in 2014. Also, co-author with Eric Tyson of "Mortgage Management for Dummies" published in 2017. Since 1995, the Real Estate Expert for the NBC-owned affiliate in San Diego (NBC 7/39) and appeared on-air weekly on "NBC News This Weekend" answering live impromptu questions on any aspect of real estate from viewers. He was the host of the longest running weekly 2-hour live real estate news, information and advice radio show in the country for over 14 years. The show Real Estate Today! with Robert Griswold (along with his work for NBC) has won 5 national journalism awards and is unlike other real estate radio shows as his show is non-advertorial in nature.

The lead columnist for a California syndicated real estate column on tenant-landlord issues called Rental Roundtable where Robert and attorney Steve Kellman (the Executive Director of The Tenant’s Legal Center) go head-to-head over the best advice for reader’s questions. This popular column appeared from 1995 till 2009 every Sunday in the San Francisco Chronicle Real Estate section, bi-weekly in the San Diego Union-Tribune Sunday real estate section; and periodically in the Los Angeles Times. From 1995 to 2014 - Robert is the columnist for a similar nationally syndicated column called Rental Forum which is found in 30 major newspapers around the country, including the Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, Orlando Sentinel, Tampa Tribune, San Antonio Express News, Grand Rapids Press, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Daily Oklahoman, Dayton Daily News, Denver Post, Arizona Republic, The Oregonian, and many other major newspapers around the country.

Robert’s real estate advice in both print and broadcast journalism have provided a wealth of experience and practical knowledge in explaining complicated real estate issues to lay persons (and even an attorney or two!).

While Robert clearly stays quite busy, he is a hands-on property manager who personally manages several residential and commercial properties plus works closely with his clients to handle the occasional challenges that often occur with the management of real estate assets. But Robert is just one of 70+ great team members at Griswold Real Estate Management and it is these fine professionals that make the company an industry leader. Robert is extremely proud of his great staff of competent real estate management specialists that can truly boast that they are “Setting the Standards Others Follow”.

In the last 30+ years, Mr. Griswold has consulted on over 4,000 litigation matters, has been deposed over 750 times and provided sworn testimony in trial or arbitration on over 200 occasions in both state and federal litigation matters throughout the United States, including California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, North Dakota, Iowa, Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. His case work is evenly divided between plaintiff and defense work.

Serves as consultant or expert witness on real estate standards and custom and practice for real estate issues involving all property types (Office, industrial, retail, both large and small apartments, community associations, condos, single family, mobile homes, hospitality, mixed use, self-storage, medical/dental, land)

Court-Appointed Receiver and Bankruptcy Custodian

Specific issues include, but not limited to: premises liability; habitability, mold, maintenance or failure to maintain; "slumlord" allegations; health & safety or personal injury; wrongful death; property inspections; water intrusion; roaches, bed bugs; Fair Housing, discrimination, HUD management issues, criminal acts; class action, security deposit issues, skylights/falls, mini-blinds, management/receiver fees; fiduciary duty; transfer disclosures, misrepresentation, negligence, fraud, negligence in hiring/supervision/termination; property manager or broker fiduciary duty; transactions; lease/CAM disputes; lease mitigation, wildlife encounters, Association board duties and negligence.

Griswold Real Estate Management has a large portfolio of residential units, plus numerous community associations, commercial, retail, industrial and self-storage properties. Robert Griswold has actively managed over 70,000 residential units and several million square feet of commercial property nationally in the last 40+ years. Currently Griswold Real Estate Management has properties in CA, NV and TX.

He is a member of:

· Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) - CPM®, ACoM® and ARM®

· American Society of Real Estate Counselors® (CRE®)

· BOMA - Real Property Administrator (RPA®)

· San Diego County Commercial Association of Realtors® (SDCCAR)

· Southern California Rental Housing Association (SCRHA)

· California Apartment Association (CAA)

· National Apartment Association (NAA)

· Community Associations Institute (CAI) - PCAM®

· California Association of Community Managers-Management Firm Council (CACM) - CCAM®

· California Association of Realtors® (CAR)

· National Association of Realtors® (NAR) - GRI®

· Forensic Expert Witness Association (FEWA)

· Lambda Alpha - San Diego Chapter

· California Receivers Forum

Please contact me at (619) 719-7761.