I just tried to give zero stars, and it wouldn't let me…read more
My husband and I had to work with GMRE to see an apartment we saw on Craigslist in April. We know that apartments typically get rented within a day, if not hours, of being posted on Craigslist, so we were prepared to win.
We have been looking for a reasonably-priced (max $1300) 1+ bedroom in Somerville for over a year, and have struggled -- we currently live in a teeny apartment on Winter Hill and want to stay in the area, since my husband teaches at the high school. We are both public employees and can't afford to pay $1500 or $1600 for an apartment.
So, when we saw this place, we contacted the agent for GMRE listed on the ad, and made it clear we were serious about getting this place and were willing to do anything to see it first. It only cost $1100 for two bedrooms, and they offered off-street parking for our one car, and would also allowed our cat. Even better, they had lead-free paint, which is critical to a young couple like us that is hoping to start a family (but who are stymied by the high cost of renting a 2-bedroom).
We said we were willing to put down any amount in order to secure it -- in my experience, getting an apartment comes down to seeing it first and bringing your checkbook.
Apparently not with these guys.
When we asked to see it, we were told to come by two days later, on Good Friday. Since we celebrate Good Friday, we asked if they could show it to us sooner. After a lot of hemming and hawing, they agreed, and we made an appointment to see it Wednesday night after work. Dan told us "hopefully you'll be the first ones to put in your application -- lots of people want this place!"
About ten minutes after we made the appointment, the apartment was RE-POSTED on Craigslist with a different agent's name as an "Open House."
WTF?????? Not cool. I should have known then.
So we freaked out, we got to the appointment 10 minutes early, and even though there were about 30 people there (annoying), we were the first ones to put down an application. We put money down immediately.
We have near-perfect credit, steady income, good jobs and outstanding references from our current tenant. We were thrilled to hear that the landlords, who lived on the first floor, are Italian (like me) and speak Italian (also like me).
We waited for days to hear. After having our phone calls go un-returned, we finally got Dan on the phone. He told us it "was between us and another guy" who had gone back the next day with his girlfriend to meet the landlord.
Funny. WE were told the landlord didn't want to meet prospective tenants. And when we asked to be given the opportunity to meet the landlords, we were denied.
Yet they still ran our credit report, dinging our scores for no reason. And to make matters worse, they kept our down payment and stopped returning our calls and emails attempting to get our check back for days.
We obviously never had a chance of getting the place, yet they wasted our time, tied up our money and hurt our credit by needlessly checking our report. Who knows why they favored the other couple? I don't care -- just don't string me along and lie to me.
They never even called our current landlord for reference.
And, as you'd expect, we still haven't found another apartment.
We are quiet, we shovel, we take out the trash, we make small repairs to our unit and we pay our rent early every month. But that apparently counts for nothing.
I will never, ever work with GMRE again.