To start from the beginning, my parents had actually seen the house we were renting before us since they were driving to Texas and asked to stop by before we could move in. The house was a mess, so my parents told me to contact Sarah to have her get the place cleaned since we were leaving that week and driving from Southern California to Tulsa. She said she would have someone come out to clean... (Remember that)
We arrived at the rental after 20 hours of driving and were excited to finally be there and to see the new house. We get there and the door is locked and the lockbox code did not work. We contacted Sarah and she told US to call the lock box company (why can’t you?). So we did. The company said we need the key since it was after hours. We called Sarah again, to which she said “I can’t, I’m at a rodeo.” girl, be so for real.
So there we stand, outside of our new home, locked out. With my fiancé’s skills, we managed to break into the side door. We get inside to a disaster. Melted wax on the floor, trash and food in the kitchen cabinets, sticky drawers, dirty floors, holes in the walls, broken shower, DIRTY shower, dirty window sills, door frames falling apart, chewed up trim…so to go back on what I said previously, SHE DID NOT HIRE ANYONE nor did she even bother to clean this place up in the slightest. (Pictures below). Side note, fridge and washer and dryer were also not included for some reason, our house we bought even came with those lol.
My parents and sister came from Dallas to help us clean and patch holes and paint; they had brown paint on all walls and ceilings. It felt like a dungeon and this took almost a week with no AC in June. (Sarah said that the owner of the house did not do those so it was up to us. Remember that too.) Also the air conditioner did not get the house below 86 degrees in the summer. The house has 0 insulation and we spent a fortune on utilities.
We did not have much contact, if any, with Sarah while we were there for a year. She never really answered so we stopped trying to get a hold of her.
Towards the end of our lease, we bought a house! Yay!! I cleaned that place like it was my job. Spotless I tell you, new white paint, floors were steamed and cleaned, baseboards cleaned, bathrooms spotless.
Now, tell me why we just received our security deposit with only $375 of the $1,925 coming back to us. The following is what we are being “charged for”:
Paint $750
Professional cleaning $500
Replacement of blinds $300
First…I know Sarah said that the owner, or herself, is not responsible for paint or patching holes (which we did when we left) so why are we being charged for new paint…? Secondly, that place has never seen a professional cleaner until I lived there. Blinds were already screwed up, half of them didn’t work when we got there so we replaced one set with curtains so we’ll let that one slide.
I really wish her the best, but she really screwed us on so many levels in what was supposed to be an exciting time in our lives. I had left a review after we left the house and she asked us to “Take it down” ? Unprofessional if you ask me. So I waited until this was all said and done to speak on what happened.
Sarah, you might be a great realtor, but you are a terrible property manager.