First off, I want to preface this review with the fact that we did receive nearly all of our deposit back; we were charged $49 to replace a light bulb under the microwave that never worked & the standard re-keying fee.
My husband moved to the area in June 2015 & during our rental search we had a difficult time finding clean homes that met our standards (if you're moving to the area, brace yourself). We actually really liked another rental agency; however, at the time they did not have a home that suited our needs. Oddly enough, we currently rent a home from them now (more on that later). My husband found the home we eventually rented from Realty Executives & since the search had gone longer than anticipated, we quickly applied & were approved for the house.
My advice prior to moving into any home in the area is to examine the construction closely (and this is not a ding at Realty Executives). I later learned that there are some neighborhoods with poorly built homes & we happened to rent one. Our neighborhood was known for roofing issues & during a windstorm the roof lost shingles. Fortunately it didn't rain & since I reported it immediately, there was no further damage to the house. However, it was apparent from poor repairs that another portion of the roof was previously damaged & subsequently sustained water damage inside the home.
During your initial walk-through, document everything. They will examine the house with a fine tooth comb during your move-out, so do yourself a favor & do the same when moving in. I completely understand that this is to protect the homeowner's investment, but as a renter, it's important to understand their methods to protect your deposit as well. If there is so much as a speck of dirt, paint, etc. on the wall that doesn't belong there, document it because you better believe they will document it during your move-out inspection. They also do move-in and move-out videos for comparison, but I wouldn't rely on that as evidence except for major flaws with the house.
Previous reviewers commented that they lost all or a portion of their deposit for the rental being dirty & quite frankly from what I've seen in the area I'm not surprised. I literally scrubbed the toilets in this rental house for hours to get the years of mineral deposits removed as I would be embarrassed for someone to see them in the condition they were turned over to us, and waged a 10-month war against the stove to remove years of build-up. Weekly cleanings go a long way with avoiding these issues, but I digress. Whenever we called in a work order/repair, Realty Executives was fairly quick to respond & coordinate repairs. At this point you may be wondering why I'm giving them a 2 star review. It all stems from our move-out experience.
We were within the window to renew our lease with approximately 3 weeks or so remaining & had previously informed Realty Executives of our intention to renew when we received a phone call that the owners were moving back in & therefore we had to vacate the property. Honestly, we hated the house (poor construction, constant issues, really bad lot ... the list could go on and on), but since moving is expensive we thought we would ride it out for the duration of our time in the area. Realty Executives stated that they really wanted to keep us as customers and would do anything they could to help us.
I set up an appointment to see three homes we were interested in. During the appointment, they did not show me one of the homes I wanted to see & instead took me to a home that was still owner-occupied (again we had 3 weeks to move) & in an area roughly 5-10 miles outside our desired location. Strike 1. The second home was a wash, & the final home they showed me had been neglected for some time; worms (I'm assuming wood worms) fell out from the bottom of the back door when I opened it to look at the overgrown backyard. Strike 2. Following this search, Realty Executives did not one time follow-up with us to see if we were interested in the homes or to show us additional homes. Strike 3.
Regarding your deposit, you can expect to receive it in 3-4 weeks. However, we are still waiting on a refund for over-payment of rent (paid a full month versus prorated amount), & just today were informed that we would receive it once the homeowner returned the money. I'm not really sure why they're withholding our money when they overpaid the owners with the knowledge that we were being forced to vacate mid-month.
We've been in our new home for about 6 weeks & couldn't be happier! The home is gorgeous, well-maintained, well constructed, & the new location cut my husband's commute in half. Additionally, the other rental agency utilizes a great web page to pay rent & request work orders on the house. Although this may seem minor, it's 2016 and expect this level of automation. read more