I almost never write negative reviews, but I feel compelled to after recently renting a home from this Coldwell Banker. I have moved around a lot and lived in many different apartments, and I have NEVER felt so frustrated with a rental agency. In short, the communication from Coldwell was VERY poor all throughout our lease, both in quantity and quality, and it caused my wife and I considerable stress and financial loss as a result.
My wife and I moved to Yucca Valley from Portland, OR, and, as a result, we were not able to view the home we were going to be renting from Coldwell. As we were driving down from the PNW, less than a day before our scheduled arrival, we got a call from Coldwell asking us if we had turned the water and electricity on in the rental house. No one had mentioned anything about doing this up to this point, so we had no way to know that the water and electricity would be turned off upon our arrival. I expressed great frustration to Coldwell over the phone, and instead of an apology for the late communication, I got a heartless, flat, unapologetic, and defensive response telling us that we "should have known" and that Coldwell assumes their tenants "know these things". Really? Then why did they even bother to reach out and call me last minute? Clearly someone just thought of this lapse in communication and felt compelled to call us.
In a moment of panic, my wife and I called to quickly turn on the water and electric so that we could inhabit the home upon arrival. Because it was a Friday, Hi-Desert Water was closed (until Monday). If the water was off, we were basically screwed and would now need to rent a hotel room for 3 nights until being able to reach the water company. Fortunately, Coldwell's mindlessness also included an unawareness of whether or not the water was turned on or off in our soon-to-be home, and after one of their employees drove over to our home, we were essentially told, "Just kidding. The water is still on."
This initial drama and poor communication with Coldwell would, unfortunately, prove to be more the rule than an exception. With a bad taste still left in my mouth, I insisted upon doing a walkthrough of our home-to-be PRIOR to signing the lease agreement. Coldwell never offered us a courtesy walkthrough to make us feel at ease, given that we had never been able to see the property. In fact, when we asked for them to meet us at the house PRIOR to signing the lease, we were suspiciously asked, "Are you considering not signing the lease?" What rental company puts their soon-to-be tenants on the spot like this when they simply ask to view their new home before signing for it?
The home was fine and we returned to the office to sign the lease agreement. I took note of the fact that Coldwell's lease agreement made the tenant completely responsible for all landscaping under 6 feet tall. I had been a landlord for many years prior to this and I never made a tenant take care of my landscaping. But, with that aside, this was the desert, after all. The entire property was bone dry, all sand, and the landscaping appeared virtually negligible. So when Coldwell's employee briefly breezed over the part about landscaping anything under 6 feet tall, we thought nothing of it.
Fast-forward to late-December. After the fall and winter rains, our yard is now covered with weeds and grass everywhere. What used to be a sandlot is now a patchy lawn. Surely, Coldwell doesn't expect us to remove ALL of the grass, right? Wrong! That is exactly what Coldwell expected of us, and they e-mailed all tenants to say they'd soon be doing drive-bys to ensure all weeds/grass were removed. How could Coldwell not have let us know that grass would grow in the winter and we would need to stay on top of it? Infuriated, I argued with Coldwell about the absurdity of trying to fight nature in the middle of the rainy season and attempt to restore the yard to its dry, summer appearance. I again got a cold, unapologetic, defensive position from Kelly who seemed incapable of exhibiting anything close to empathy for our situation. The end result: I had to pay $600 to a landscaper to return the yard to its original, sandy appearance.
After we purchased a home, we opted for a lease take-over by finding new tenants ourselves to replace us. When it came time to move out, Coldwell had told us we were "all set" to move out, that the new tenants would be moving in in two days, and that we would stop paying rent then. They made no mention of any potential issues that could arise. Then another surprise Coldwell call: "Just a little hiccup... The tenants got delayed and can't move in yet, so you guys are still responsible for the rent until they sign the lease, which should be a week from now." I again calmly but sternly complained to Coldwell about their poor communication. The result? I was told to not call back and to only e-mail them in the future. UNBELIEVABLE. read more