Here is a story about a Realtor who, in good faith, brought his client to visit a beautiful new apartment complex in North Austin. The first sign of trouble might have been that the staff seemed to turn over awe fully fast for a new complex. The people I met the first time I went on the pre-visit were mostly all gone.
The second red flag might have been the fact that everyone who worked there seemed to have trouble returning phone calls. When I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE! From the Mangement team to the leasing staff, everyone remembered I called but forgot to call me back.
Red flag number three was my inability to get with the manger. To this day, I have not met her and I have been to the complex more than 10 times. I am beginning to wonder if she really exists. I spoke with her a couple of times by phone and was promised each time that she would call back. No such luck. She has been at meetings and on vacation and just left the office, it is incredible how I miss her every time I visit.
The assistiant manager seemed nice enough. However she too promised to pass messages on to the manager and to call me back. As recent as Tuesday, I spoke with her. She promised to get back with me by 2pm. At 4pm I called (made the mistake of telling the leasing agent that answered the phone,my name). I was told she was busy closing and would call me as soon as she wrapped that up. Are you holding your breath? Don't waste your time, there was no call back.
So what was the problem you asked? In the beginning it was just information about the process that I needed. My client loved the complex and the apartment he was shown. The leasing agent was nice and helpful. As we started the leasing process the problems began. It took a week and a half to get word that his application was accepted and to get a date for move in.
Once my client had moved in I went to the leasing office to inquire about the brokerage fee. I was told they worked through a warehousing agency that certifies the brokerages they are making checks out too. None of the leasing agents seemed to know how to get the process started they just referred me to the this third party company website. It took weeks and much frustration for me and my broker to discover how to get listed with this third party company. Three weeks and $65.00 later we were registered. I asked this "third party" company if I needed to inform the complex. I was assured that my registration was enough.
Two weeks later, I called VERDE OAKS again for what seemed like the 100th time. The manager was of course GONE. I spoke with the assistiant who told me that as near as she could tell they had not sent my information to billing. Don't bother asking WHY, I just wanted to know WHEN. That was when I was told I would hear back from her by 2pm.
Soooo, here I am still waiting. This process started in August, with our initial visits. The down payment was made in October and the client moved in. Here is my recommendation to Realtors. There are too many great Apartment complexes in the Austin/Round Rock area to put up with this kind of frustration.
