We entered into a rent-to-own agreement with them in May 2006. Since then, they have harassed us with inspections of the property every 3 months. Our contract states they can enter to inspect twice a year. Furthermore, we have started financing of the house to purchase, and now they are nit picking us to terminate the contract on fabricated statements. If they find a way to do this, we will lose the $5000 we put down - and we will have to find somewhere else to live. In the last 2 weeks, they have said that we didn't pay rent or HOA fees. I have had to incur the cost of copies of canceled checks to prove payment. Paid for them to send us 4 certified letters (at $35 each). And they are charging us $600 for late fees that didn't occur- since we made our payments and they didn't post them to our account until they received the copies of the canceled checks. Now, we have 5 yorkies, and on Wednesday, 9-26-07, I had a discussion with them with them claiming we had 5 rottweilers. I thought that was settled when I offered them pictures of the dogs we have. Today, 9-29-07, I rec'd yet another certified letter from them stating that they are terminating our contract and would like us to move based on the fact that I now have a pit bull. I have never owned either a rottweiler or a pitbull. These people are just scared that we are actually going to fulfill the contract and purchase the house, and they are going to lose their monthly service fees. If they succeed in getting us thrown out on the street, the previous owner gets to keep all of the money we have paid into it (to date, approx $17,000) and they can turn around and sucker someone else into this same contract, then turn around and keep doing this over and over again. I would advise anyone to seriously reconsider entering into a contract with Home America or GoRenter.com. They just want your money - they don't really want you to have the house of your dreams.
Interesting because I have read/observed many complaints from those people renting from this organization. I only wish that they had even attempted to collect a bounced check and broken lease from my tenant. It looks like they are not for one side or the other (owners or renters). Their approach has to be self serving.
I have sent them certified letters and never received a message back. It is as if you don't exist, once they get what they want. A lot of frustrated people need to get to gather and hold this company responsible.
Ive had no problems so far. The GoRenter agent was very thorough and respectful. I'm sorry, but it went great for me and I'm happy with what I have. Thanks.
On behalf of Home America Property Management, I offer the following rebuttal to the posting by Bonnie Thomas complaining of our company. Unfortunately, without the express written consent of Ms. Thomas, we are unable to respond to the specifics of her complaint without revealing private information from her file. We urge her to send us such written consent so we can respond in kind to her complaints, including the specifics that will show that there truly is another side to this story. That being said, following is a general response.
Our lease purchase contract does not limit inspections to only twice a year. Neither does the Arizona Residential Landlord Tenant Act. Rather, we are entitled to inspect any time we have reason to suspect a lease violation has occurred. Such information may come from neighbors, who have clear view of the dogs from time to time, or from other sources. It is our policy to send a letter when we suspect a lease violation has occurred. The tenant should respond to that letter with evidence supporting their position.
We are anxious for every lease purchase tenant to purchase the home. We receive a real estate commission if they do…and NOTHING if they don’t. In fact, for those tenants who pay their rent on time, we even credit anywhere from 50 to 100% of their rent toward the purchase. We want them to buy the home so bad that we put our money on the line to motivate them to clean up their credit (if needed), get financing and buy that home.
We do charge a $35 certified mail handling fee when we send out notices of HOA violations and rent due. We only charge that fee when the tenant has violated the agreement and we are required to send out such notices.
Ms. Thomas, we stand ready, willing, able and anxious to facilitate your purchase of this home from the owner. In fact, we have put thousands of dollars of our own money on the line to assist you in completing this purchase. We urge you to abide by the terms and conditions of your agreement to take advantage of this opportunity. We look forward to serving you through this process.
I agree, GoRenter is a horrendous organization who is family owned and operated. They are in business for benefit to themselves and have no regard or care for the wellbeing of either the tenants or the owner of a property under contract with them. My parents recently went through an ordeal with them that basically ended in GoRenter evicting my parents and giving them 24 hours to pack everything and move before the locks were changed. After moving for just about 24 hours to ensure the deadline was met, they were still unable to get everything out. Despite the obvious effort they were putting forth to get everything out as soon as possible, GoRenter would not budge and my parents had to pay an insane fee to have the constable come back out and let them back in to retrieve the last of their property. The owner of the property was even on my parent's side and was also attempting to get out of his contract with GoRenter as he had not received his portion of the monthly payments for the property for the prior 3 months.
WARNING TO ANYONE CONSIDERING GOING THROUGH THIS PROPERTYMANAGEMENT COMPANY - DO NOT MAKE THE SAME UNFORTUNATE MISTAKE MY PARENTS AND MANY OTHER HAVE AND FIND OUT WHEN IT'S TOO LATE.
Ok, Its little to late with me also, How can I break my lease with company ASAP without my credit suffering?
I wholeheartedly agree with the complaint. The people to who I explain the horror stories are appalled at the actions of this property management company. They not only send out certified letters and charge $35 to your account, they send them to alternate addresses and not to the property that they manage.
They also have complaints filed with the Arizona Department of Real Estate: http://services.azre.gov/publicdatabase/DetailEntity.aspx?Id=27878
One example, we received a notice from HOA. We resolved the issue. Home America was contacted. They denied any contact and sent contractors to the property who did no work. They sent a certified letter to an old address, charged us $35 for it, and tacked on $115 for the landscaping service for no work done.
After hours of attempting to resolve the issue, we are left with no choice but to pursue civil action against them.
This example has been one of many hair-pulling teeth-grinding experiences and we thank god our lease will soon be terminated.
Avoid GoRenter like the plague!
We had an excellent time in Terrace Ridge. Everything was in great shape and Jackie and Trish made our stay so much easier. We were on our very first trip to Orlando and the girls did everything to help us by giving us directions so that we could get some medical attention, to getting our tickets to the theme parks. We looked forward to their visits and enjoyed visiting with them. If we ever come to Florida again we will certainly use Home Away and Easy Choices. Thanks for a great and memorable trip!
Mary Kay
I myself have just almost made a bad decision to do business with these people- thank God I am smart enough to ask questions with neighbors! We went and looked at a house listed on Craigslist for $800 down, $479 a month which included taxes and insurance. When we got to the house a sign posted said $800 down, $399 a month, when my husband called SHE said $1000 down, $525 a month- bells sounding off in my head, we look inside anyway- stripped down to nothing with a flood in the basement! My mom said New Goshen, IN floods a lot because of the Wabash River being so close- so okay- it floods here, so I see people out next door and ask about flooding- nope never floods here! Okay, why is there water in the basement? An old unplugged well under an old part of the house that has to be tore down and plugged up! Okay. Asking Cash price of $13000- I can deal with all this. So I tell her the horrors, she gets payment down to $501 a month- for 30 years-WHAT? $181, 362.00 total price for a house that isn't worth $8000? I'm not stupid or hard up- sorry! So if you want to get real and finance it for what it's REALLY worth, I will take it- she said sorry- I just sold that house! I said okay by me- I just emailed Indiana DNR about the unplugged well under the house I told you about! If you know nothing about wells- its State Law they have to be plugged before selling a house when you are aware it is there. It causes contamination of drinking water and natural water supply. People- talk to neighbors about the properly you plan on buying- and don't waste time with these schemers! They will rob you blind!
Feeding on your Dreams while robbing you blind!
This is the best property management company I have had in the phoenix valley because it is not a mill. The company does not just put anyone in there to grab a commission. they really look to place the best perspective tenant at my property.