The main problem with Real Estate 1 is that they REALLY do not care about their tenants, in fact, I think they actually disdain them. The tenants are not actual people to the owners, managers, or regular employees of RE1, they are simply walking rent checks. RE1 has control over a lot of properties throughout Laramie, which means that if a person wants to rent an apartment in this town, there is a solid chance that they will have to deal with these people.
I do not like to give one-star ratings to businesses unless it is truly deserved. Here is a brief listing of the problems or issues with RE1: 1) They are unresponsive to maintenance requests, both emergency and routine. Examples: a.) The hallway outside of my apartment began to flood late one night from a drain problem. I left a message on the emergency maintenance voicemail, and got a call back from the maintenance man telling me he would not be coming out until the following day to fix the problem, and yet the hallway continue to flood throughout the night. b.) Routine calls included maintenance on my broken bathroom sink (it had almost no water pressure and did not have hot water...ever); no one was ever sent out. I did not have time to chase RE1 maintenance workers down, so the the sink and other problems were never fixed.
2) An incredibly unfriendly office staff. The office workers literally go out of their way to make you feel like you are a nuisance to them, even if you are just dropping off your rent payment. They seem to forget that the tenants are the people who pay their salaries. I have rented from plenty of places before moving to Laramie and I have never been treated so consistently rudely by a property management company's employees.
3) My apartment was filthy when I moved into it. RE1 should fire, or cease hiring whomever it is that cleans their apartments before new tenants move in. My floors had not been swept, the tile floor in the kitchen was grimy and had not been mopped, and there were fresh food stains on the kitchen counters; the bathroom was also in poor shape. I brought this to the attention of RE1 and they took no action. End result, I had to completely clean my apartment before I could move into it. I bet if your rent is late, though, they will make sure to take action then.
4) They only take money orders and will not take personal checks for rent payments. This point is slightly nit-picky, but I think it really speaks to how RE1 operates. It is not my fault that the majority of their renters might be young college kids who bounce checks. For someone like me who does not have a branch of their bank in Laramie, this was a royal pain to deal with every month; it meant dragging myself out to Wal-Mart to buy a money order to pay my rent. Until someone actually bounces a rent check, I think personal checks should be taken.
I theorize that RE1 operates in such a subpar manner simply because it can. The company owns or manges enough properties in town to the point that there is no significant competition for them to have to step up their game. There is housing shortage in Laramie and they have got the town by the short and curlies. read more
