This is, unfortunately, the very first time I'm writing a bad review on the internet.
1) If you look into the first room to the left in their office, you will see piles of folders on the floor! So, how do they keep from losing paperwork? That's simple! They don't. They lost my paperwork and it's been tough proving to them that I did turn it in. They lost it! So, save everything. Every email, every text message, every maintenance document. Request a copy and save it all! This sounds overly-cautious and paranoid, but they will try to charge you for everything when you move out and if you haven't saved everything, you will have a tough time fighting it!
2) Take photos of everything (light fixtures, windows, carpet, walls, bath tubs) right when you move in, and try to get those same camera angles and take photos right when you move out! Don't alter the photos at all, just move them to your hard drive. The EXIF data will show the original date the photo was taken and they can't argue with that.
3) Be super detailed on your move-in inspection. If there's little pin-holes in the wall, if the sliding glass door sticks, if there are no curtain rods, if the carpet looks old, etc. You should attach paper to it, listing all of the things clearly, instead of trying to fit it in the tiny spaces they give you. And make them sign a copy showing they received it!
4) Make a note of everything they tell you, even if it doesn't seem to matter. If they marketed the place has "new flooring in the main area of the house," then that means the flooring in the bedrooms is probably old and that the flooring in the main area was really bad, or else nobody would have paid to put new flooring down. So, make a note of that!
5) Don't expect Amy to talk to you, ever. Her phone rang while I was in her office and she exclaimed at the receiver, "No matter how many times you call, I'm not picking up," quite amused with herself. If you really need to talk to Amy, then go sit in her office. She'll have a hard time ignoring you then. Alternatively, you can call the office number and ask to speak with Amy about a property you found online. She'll be so eager to talk to you. Lifehacks! Literally, I asked Amy for a call more than 15 times this week. Her last email to me ended: "This email has all of the necessary information needed; therefore there is no reason for a phone call." Never mind the poor sentence structure; this was rude!
6) Maintenance issues are hard to get fixed, because I think they only have one person coordinating maintenance for all the properties they manage. Poor guy. He's really hard to get a hold of, himself.
7) Amy's assistant Lisa is actually pretty awesome. Too bad Amy's not her assistant instead. Her going out of her way to follow-up with me today was greatly appreciated! Megan's also good! She's an actual human. She showed empathy and all! These two earned one star each for the company in my review.
8) Avoid the cleaning fee on the lease! Your unit will probably not be clean when you move in. So many others have said this in their reviews and I wish I listened to them! The WORST that happens is they put a claim on your deposit for $175 because you didn't clean well enough. If you have sufficient pictures from the day you moved out, you can easily fight that, too!
9) And my last bit of advice: when you move out and they charge you for a ton of things fight them if you don't agree! Since you're following my advice, you have a paper trail and photos of everything that happened! You can confidently list everything out for them and prove that you're competent enough to win this fight!
I'm not saying don't rent from them. What I'm saying is to be diligent and keep records of everything with them, so you can get yourself out of having to pay for invalid charges along the way!
I waited until I received word that I am getting my deposit back (yay) before posting this. This company needs to learn how to communicate as human beings! And they need to hire a temp to organize their files right away! read more