Slimy Realtor (LONG)

[Taboo]

This just has me so mad right now.

Ok, so I've been looking for apartments in <big city>, since I go to school there. I wasn't offered on-campus housing and so I need to find a place before September. I'm looking on my own, because... well, I had a roommate horror story of epic length this year (will be relayed in a thread some time if desired). It involved alcoholism, drug use, orgies, and several hundred dollars of my stuff being stolen, so I'm rather adverse to living with a stranger again.

Unfortunately I had to move out with family for the time being, so I'm 250 miles away from <big city>. It's very costly to get up there and I have to sleep on a friend's floor next to the dog to even be able to see places. I did this for a week. No fun.

I managed to find a great place in <big city> that was a decent commute from my school. I was asking about putting down a deposit on it.

"Oh, no, don't worry about that. We can hold it for up to two days for you while we run the credit check."

Hmm. A little odd but whatever. They agreed to hold it, so no problem.

I have to go back down to my family. I keep in touch with the realtor for the next few days. Everything is going smoothly, it's being held for me, he's even negotiating with the landlord for me because I wanted some minor things dealt with (one minor paint thing patched and/or permission given to me to paint it, and screens put in the windows). I've filled out all the guarantor info, had my father sign off on his part of the lease as he's acting as guarantor/cosigner, etc. Everything has been faxed to them.

All of a sudden, realtor vanishes off the face of the planet. Stops returning my phone calls for a little over a week. Today I finally get fed up and call the realty company directly only to find out:

1. They haven't heard from him or seen him in over a week either.
2. According to my file, he never even ran the credit check.

Realty company says they'll try to get in touch with him. He finally calls me back a few hours later spouting these lovely gems:

1. Oh no, of COURSE he ran the credit check, even though it's not on file anywhere.
2. Someone put down a deposit the day after you left and we let them even though we said we were holding it for you.
3. Then we signed a lease with them, the next day, and proceeded to tell you we still needed a credit check from you the day after.

He was talking to me AFTER he'd already leased the place! Then he just thought if he avoided me for a week I'd go away!

Then he tried to tell me that it was all just because he'd lost his cell phone. Yes, you're calling me from a new number, I see that. However, this just makes you even more of a jerk. My phone number is in the paperwork that you filed with your own realty office. Along with my father's phone number, and cell phone number, and both of our email addresses. All you had to do was get your ass into work like you were supposed to do in the first place and open a folder, and tell me "sorry, we couldn't hold it after all, we had to go with someone who could sign the lease faster."

Would he still have been a jerk? Yeah. But I was supposed to move into this place on June 1st. That was the date on the lease. If I'd been someone who needed to move here for work or something, that movein date could have been crucial for me! You made me waste nearly two weeks of time in which I could have been looking at other apartments and now the earliest I'll be able to move in will probably be July 1st! Thank goodness I'm doing this so early in the summer that I have the time to look again...

My father and I am complaining to the company now to refund the credit check fees, since they were run AFTER they'd leased it to someone else. We'll probably end up reporting them to the BBB if necessary but I hope it doesn't have to go that far.

Now I have to start over again apartment hunting from scratch.

Oh, and the kicker? He had the balls to suggest that he find other apartments for me to look at. After all that? No way!!

[PepperElf]

i did my hunting at various apartment hunting sights like rent.com and apartments.com as well as google.

however i was able to drive up one weekend to check them out ahead of time.

and if not the bbb then file a police report on him.

[Akasa]

I like the filing a police report, that's theft!

[taxguykarl]

I like the filing a police report, that's theft!

Agreed. Don't forget the bureacracy that licenses realtors. In the long term, consider pounding the pavement in the area you're considering. I found all but one of the apartments I've lived in by walking around and looking for the (tiny more often than not) 'For Rent' sign in the front window. I've also found quite the deals that way.

[Geek King]

Don't forget the bureacracy that licenses realtors.

Second mention for effectiveness. Get ahold of the licensing authority in that state and file a complaint--a formal complaint, if possible. That is certainly unethical practices, if not some form of fraud.

[Andara Bledin]

One of the things I did one time while trying to find an apartment for a friend that was moving into my area, was to basically do a Google Maps search for "apartment Near xxxxx" with the x's being my address.

Then I called every single one of them asking if they had vacancies and what their rates were. It's a little more legwork than going through a realtor, but I also didn't have to deal with go-betweens, either. As always, ymmv.

^-.-^

[Arm]

One of the things I did one time while trying to find an apartment for a friend that was moving into my area, was to basically do a Google Maps search for "apartment Near xxxxx" with the x's being my address.

Then I called every single one of them asking if they had vacancies and what their rates were. It's a little more legwork than going through a realtor, but I also didn't have to deal with go-betweens, either. As always, ymmv.

^-.-^

That's how I've gotten my apartments as well. Burns through gas like a whore though if you're driving. But it beats somebody who doesn't actually care about where you live.

[Racket_Man]

one of the little known facts about us delivery drivers is that "we deliver to all/most locations in a given area". with that knowledge we know about most houses for sale, apt complexes with open units, AND open duplexes.

go into one of the local delivery places and ask one/several of the drivers about any open units in their area. the driver can also clue you in about the neighborhood and most likely the viability of the building/complex itself ie. druggies, gang activity, nice place etc.

[Arm]

one of the little known facts about us delivery drivers is that "we deliver to all/most locations in a given area". with that knowledge we know about most houses for sale, apt complexes with open units, AND open duplexes.

go into one of the local delivery places and ask one/several of the drivers about any open units in their area. the driver can also clue you in about the neighborhood and most likely the viability of the building/complex itself ie. druggies, gang activity, nice place etc.

-and that's what a successful Streetwise roll is good for (I geek because I love!)

This is a good point, though. Around where I live, the people who own the apartment complexes aren't allowed to say what kind of tenants they get. It's a stupid regulation, but it is the law. Some kind of housing equality concept that most likely helps nobody. A delivery driver- or anyone not affiliated with the area- will be under no such restrictions.

[IvorTangrean]

I guess I am pretty lucky then, my aunt is a Realtor so she cares about where I live