Update: They are now sending people into our apartment with keys without giving us any notice they are coming. Renting an apartment is such a simple matter in comparison with buying a place--I just can't imagine dealing with them when making such a significant transaction. Hopefully, our experience is limited to the one realtor.
This review is just related to one realtor. The rest could be better. Be aware: this apartment is currently for lease (again) so pm me if you want any details regarding the current condition of the apartment.
When we were looking at the apartment, this realtor made many statements that I feel were misleading/untruthful. She told us that Willow Ave was a "quiet" street (we had already driven past the hospital and saw the fire dept/police cars driving up and down the street). She also told us that the apartment would be cleaned and given a fresh coat of paint. We didn't have this written in the lease (stupid, I know, but I had, in retrospect, always had great experiences with other real estate agents). So, needless to say the apartment was not painted or cleaned. When I called about whether the apartment had been cleaned, she changed the story to say that in NJ, landlords are only required to deliver the apartment in broom-clean condition. My apartment had crumbs all over the kitchen, feathers all over the bedroom, hair lining the shower tiles in the bathroom and chunks of dirt in the living room. In my opinion it wasn't even broom clean. She then told us that she had a receipt from a cleaning service (which I doubt) but refused to show it to us. Also, when we rented the apartment, she gave us a headache over including the pets in the lease and just wanted it to continue to say no pets even though the LL okayed the pets and the listing said pet friendly.
She also told us that she only had one set of keys in spite of there being 2 people on the lease. When we moved out, she emailed me to say that I didn't need to drop off keys if I hadn't changed the locks because she had held onto a set of OUR keys for AN ENTIRE YEAR. WTF? Why does the strange woman have keys to MY apartment for one year, after she said that she didn't have them?????
Now she is telling us that we may owe $2600 for refinishing wood floors. We've sent her pictures of the wood floors show paint, buckling, uneven floor boards, etc. from the prior to us moving in. Reasoning with her isn't working.
So, my advice if you rent an apartment from her:
1. Don't believe her when she talks about the neighborhood; she will tell you what she thinks you want to hear;
2. Get everything in writing;
3. Take careful pictures when you move in and move out;
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:
4. Change your locks. read more
