I'll present all the FACTS I've experienced, good and bad, and you can decide. For me though, I'm…read morejust NOT a fan overall, mainly because of what happened when we moved out.
Pros:
During our rent, things went ok. Sometimes they'd even follow up if the maintenance they sent fixed things well.
When our fridge was out, they managed to send us a mid-size fridge for our temporary need--though it was after I kept asking "can the maintenance come back and take a look again? Our fridge isn't working and our foods are going bad" for a while. But at least they showed they care about it... though some food did go bad. I don't know what other realtors would have done.
When they wanted to show potential renters around, I asked them to wear masks and use hand sanitizer. At least their attitude was positive and promised they'd do that.
Cons (from least concerning to most concerning):
No annual free bug-spray like Smith does. We had not only roach and ant problems, there were centipedes up to 7 inches crawling around!! My daughter wouldn't dare to sleep in her own room. We sprayed ourselves but only partially effective.
When we were moving out, they said we had to leave utilities on for extra 7 days. I asked why, and proposed that if we moved out a week earlier, they could do whatever they needed to do a week early. But they said no again. I asked why again but they simply kept saying "that's the rule" without explanation. If they gave a legit reason I'd be perfectly fine; it's this dismissing attitude that makes me not happy.
Now, the most concerning part.
When we were moving out, they gave us a list of things for cleaning, which we appreciated. Smith Realty didn't even bother to do that. But after our whole family put all the effort to clean everything they asked, they checked and gave us a list of things to improve--and quite a few of them were NOT on the first list.
Since 2001 we've been renting houses, and we got good recommendation letters from landlords. I felt like they were asking us to give them a new house instead of the house we first moved in. But okay, how clean a house is can be subjective. But at least they should stick to the list instead of giving us new items (we asked a lawyer and he readily agreed). We felt it was unfair, but we ok'd them sending a cleaning professional and billed us from our deposit. Enchantment told me it shouldn't be more than $100.
When the invoice for the cleaning, along with the rest of the deposit, came in the mail, however, the items the cleaning lady did again deviated from the 1st AND the 2nd list!! So what's the standard? And it was nearly $130.
But that's not the most upsetting thing for me personally. There was an item: "Without running water." I was boiled: I texted them there was a leak in the laundry room and kept on asking "when will someone come fix it?" without getting replies, so finally I told them: "I turned off the water at the street, tell them to turn it back on when necessary." The reply was: "Ok." So they KNEW it and was ok with it. And now they CHARGED me for NO RUNNING WATER!?
I called the phone number on the invoice for cleaning, the lady said she estimated it cost $10. Not big money, as I said, but it's unfair. I emailed and explained my reason for upset. Now suddenly they wouldn't use emails; they kept calling despite me asking several times "read the emails! Let's use emails for communication!" And strangely, they even told me: "You shouldn't contact our cleaning lady, she's under our contract..." I right away fired back: "First, then why did you give me her phone number? And second, I believe I have the right cause it was ME who paid the bill!"
After I shot down all their nonsense excuses, the one on the phone said: "Let me see what I can do." And guess what? Their "what I can do" is the old trick: doing NOTHING and NO response. Zip. They simply refuse to explain why the changing items on the different lists, and refuse to acknowledge their mistakes.
Take home message: when you move out, just give them the cleaning money, cause no matter what you do, they'll find excuses, honest or dishonest, to take the money anyway.
