This company is predatory in combination with service that is exceptionally vague and disorganized, with an added bonus of contracts/leases that are incorrect and will require you yourself to make corrections to, even though accounting for PMI is not your job. These inaccurate documents will be sent to you via multiple email chains, by people who can't complete a coherent, professional sentence and will gaslight you into thinking it's your fault you have so many questions, even though it's them that aren't being informative or helpful.
A woman posted on FB. She asked why her place wasn't renting and if anyone had used PMI because her place just wasn't moving. We went to Zillow and attempted to apply. We had to slay dragons in a gauntlet of questions first. Pets/no pets? Do you make 3x the amount? Normal questions. By the time we got to visit the property and apply is when the dealing started to go awry.
They wanted:
2395 rent
2395 deposit
2395 third deposit
175 " lease initiation fee "
600 refundable pet deposit
300 pet fee
90 a month pet rent
They sent us two leases that were erroneous and I corrected the math. My husband had a few reasonable questions, the return email answers just got even stranger and more convoluted. As we were in an email chain going back and forth discussing money- we got a very unprofessional (it's been the ongoing theme here) and abrupt email saying that they would "hold our application and get back to us". Every email and every communication was so half-assed and information was poorly conveyed.
The numbers above were not reflected accurately in the lease. We were first told 2395 (this is what was advertised on Zillow) and then given a lease to sign with 2365 monthly, with multiple others inaccuracies in total deposits and fees. At first I tried to be cool and just let our liaison (Daniel Escobar) know what was incorrect. But then would receive email responses that made zero sense and didn't convey any real thought or effort.
After contacting the homeowner on FB and letting her know that they nearly lost some of her money and put us in the property with a signed lease documenting we are paying less monthly for rent than what was advertised, she called PMI and wanted to know what was happening. And because she called, I guess the owner was pissed off because when I got tired of the weird emails, I called Daniel and was told in not very clear English, "my boss is mad we aren't pushing it through fast enough". Okay, well, It is none of my business what you and your boss are going through concerning this transaction We have legitimate questions that need answering and you can't answer them.
Application fees (60 for my husband and 60 for myself) Which we were like ok credit check fair enough- but then they charged us $25 a pet for application fee totaling $75 to apply for pets. Are they credit checking my cats and labradoodle? They're already asking for a $600 deposit AND a $300 fee AND $90 monthly pet rent. Wild right? Exploitative as all get out!
We were to sign yet another revised lease and in the lease itself it doesn't have the second deposit printed anywhere in writing. So they want us to give them an extra $2500 in deposit without any record of it? Mystery money we'll be handing over, non recorded in the lease anywhere. Who asks someone to give them $2500 without it being documented?? When my husband emailed and said, "I didn't sign a lease with an extra $2500 deposit" we get a weird response at 11pm with "I told your wife". ONCE AGAIN- verbally telling me there's a second deposit doesn't prove anything. It's not in writing. It's no where in the lease.
Bonus! Rent goes up by 8% a year. With the potential rent being $2395, that's nearly $200 a year increase. In 5 years when we need to put our first kid in college, rent will have gone up $1000. From $2500 to $3500 in only 5 years. No one mentioned this at all until we read the fine print.
They're asking us for essentially 10k between Oct 26-
Jan 1 (2 months) AND a $1000 rent increase in 5 years. We could buy a home with $10k and get some equity in 5 years. $1000 rent increase in 5 years in Richmond is predatory. This isn't Los Angeles. I'm from LA. Even LA and SF aren't this brazen.
If you are looking for security within a rental company, these aren't your people. I don't know how they work with single people and single apartments but for an entire 4bd, 2.5 ba family home, asking us to pay near $45k at the end total of an 18 month lease, asking us to pay another $1000 a month in rent by 5 years, all while giving us lease agreements with erroneous math, and multiple arbitrary fees and deposits is such red flags.
Did not pass the vibe check. read more