We rented a property from Impact for years. I don't recommend anyone sign a rental contract with them.
First off, our credit score was in the 700's, yet they demanded we still give them an additional deposit upon move in. We had to give them over $3000. We moved in to an unfinished unit with promises the finishing touches would be dealt with promptly. Once we signed a lease and moved in, they refused to do any of the work, saying "The owner will not be doing anything else now". It took lots of calling them to finally get screens on the windows and on the sliding back door. There were babies and kids in these units and thank god one of them didn't fall out a second story window.
They took $1500 of our $3000 deposit after we spent 9 hours straight cleaning every inch of the place, replaced anything broken or needing updates. We were very meticulous and were clean tenants from day one. We also hired a professional carpet cleaning service. But when it came time for the walls and I asked how we could best leave them upon our departure, they just threatened us not to paint over anything. Then they were later able to claim they needed to paint the entire unit over normal nail holes and charged us over a grande! I'd even gone over all the walls and removed any marks from normal wear and tear with a box of magic erasers. I was surprised when we received a blank piece of paper with some mathematical formula for what they supposedly paid for a paint job. No letterhead proving if it was done professionally, like they require of their tenants when told we must hire a professional bonded and licensed service for carpets. I envision their hired help doing a few touch ups over the course of 30 min and calling it a day on that. It would have been interesting to show a judge our 15 min video we took of the place had we not needed to give our newly purchased home all of our attention.
Be it from the owner or lazy management on their part, they did not once care for the landscaping or vegetation on the property aside from a few instances where migrant workers were used to blow everything onto neighboring property. No annual bark replenishment, so the yard areas were exposed mud and dirt.
About 6 months after move in, we noticed a change in the quality of tenants they were approving. By the time we left, we had tweekers roaming around barefoot, babes in arms, chain smoking outside their front doors, back patios, and inside their units- blasting out bedroom windows and wafting into ours. Despite multiple complaints about this, they did nothing to enforce their own no-smoking policy- which is right on the lease tenants sign and on their public listings.
We noticed when we gave our notice for move out, they used photos of another unit that looked nothing like ours to advertise the unit we were in.
We are now homeowners in beautiful Lake Stevens. I was pretty surprised when told the owner of Impact actually tried running for mayor. Judging from the negative word of mouth here, that will never happen. Even so, if he were to run again my family won't be voting for him. Treating people fairly and having integrity is a virtue.
I know the housing and rental market is very difficult, but my recommendation is to think hard before renting from Impact. I realize they are a business and the goal is to profit, but some property managers actually also have standards: they take pride in what they do and possess ethical standards. You know it when you see it. My real estate agent, for example- who would never rent to or sell a home to anyone if she wouldn't put her own kids there.
It's out there, people. Don't settle. read more