Ok I hope you're all ready for storytime because if you're interested in a property managed by this…read morecompany, look elsewhere. The guy who runs this company is not only horrible at his job, but is also highly unethical in his business practices. So grab a drink, get comfy, it's going to be a long, but good one...
The first time I contacted the OWNER of this company, he gave a time for me to MEET HIM at the unit we were considering renting from him. Once I arrive, he was nowhere to be found. I called him, no answer. I e-mailed him, no response. I should have known then that this guy was a disaster. 15 minutes go by, so I call him again. He answers with a tone that sounds as if I'm bothering him. I say "Hi... we had a meeting scheduled to see the unit." He says, "oh yeah, I'm not there but I'll give you access to the building." So he instructs me on how to call him from the door phone, and lets me in. After viewing the unit, I immediately knew I wanted to live there. I go home, share pictures with fiancé and we make the decision to take it. I follow up with him via e-mail only for him to tell me the place is no longer available. So wait, you just "showed" me the unit, and now no less than 12 hours later, it has already been rented? Why wouldn't he tell me someone already had an application in on the place before he wasted my time? Nevertheless, we loved the building so I asked him if anything was opening up soon. He says yes, and tells me in May.
Fast forward to May, we are still VERY interested in viewing the new, "available" unit. He again gives me access to the building and allows my family to view it by ourselves. Of course we all love it, it's directly across from a great elementary school and a brand new park, so we knew this was going to be the perfect place for our family. Shouldn't have gotten our hopes up, because he again tells me someone already has an application in on it. Why again does he do this? Well that will all be revealed later as I go on.
So he offers ANOTHER place in his building. This time the resident manager shows it to me personally. Wow, a REAL HUMAN! Turns out this resident manager is a pretty awesome guy who I wished handled the business side of the building. I digress. Of course, we fall in love AGAIN with this unit. So we again decide to move forward. However, this time I see an ad on Trulia listing the unit for a specific price. I tell him we would like the unit at that price. He says no, that he made an error which is why he raised the price, and will raise the price again if I choose not to take it in that moment. Anyone who knows business knows this is highly illegal and extremely unethical. This guy though, he doesn't care about ethics. Naturally, I challenge him on this. His response via e-mail, "good luck." I then proceed to call him. This is where things really start to get interesting. After much back and forth as to why he wouldn't rent to me for the price he originally had it listed for in the ad, he says, and I quote, "look bro, I'm just trying not to waste your time. The owners won't rent to you anyway." I then ask, "and why is that?" He replies, "Because, I know these owners, they won't rent to you." Now of course my mind goes down the rabbit hole of 'why won't they rent to me?' Then I remember that my picture shows up on my e-mail clearly showing that I am an African-American man. Could this be why he isn't renting to us? Hmmm... So, I sent him an e-mail asking him to clarify what he said. "Why won't they rent to me? Is it because I am African-American? Please clarify." I quickly receive an e-mail back asking me to send him $60 so he can process our apps, followed by 2 phone calls trying to reach me. Clearly this dude knew he was just called out for discrimination. Once we speak, he "apologizes" by saying, "I'm sorry, I thought you guys were five people with 2 dogs." Ummm... what? How did you possibly come up with that? By the way, we are 2 adults, 1 child, and 2 cats. Nevertheless, I accept his apology and agree to send him the money only under the assumption, which he confirms, that we actually have a chance of getting the place. In fact, I stated, "I'm not sending you $60 if you aren't going to rent to me." He replies, "no I think you can get the place. I just have to process everything." So I sent the $60...
The next day, he calls and says, I need to dig into the income a little more an speak to your current landlord. Keep in mind, our check stubs clearly show we can afford the unit. For some reason he can't "understand" them. He then speaks with our current landlord who gives us a RAVING reference. For whatever reason, he STILL doesn't trust us and says he needs 1.5x the rent for our deposit. I write him a message asking him to just treat us like he would any other renter. His response again, "good luck."
Needless to say, FHA has been contacted. So if you're a minority planning to rent from this company, all I can say is, "Good luck."
ZERO STARS.
