Any Realtors Out There--I Need Your Opinion - Page 2

ATM9000

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In reply to cjsag94 • 8:28a, 6/2/22

AG

cjsag94 said:
ATM9000 said:
cjsag94 said:
Gotcha.

I'll be honest, I think "We would like to renew." And the realtor responds with the rate and "Thanks!" Would probably hold up as an agreement in court, but I'm no lawyer.

Realtors nearly never hold decision making rights on stuff like this so not sure how you drew that conclusion.

You may be technically correct, but as an agent of the owner, they are there to manage the relationship. If the owner of this property actually knows went on, maybe they told the agent to slow play because owner had other people he wanted in. Don't know why as I'm sure the owner could have simply said we aren't renewing.

More likely, the owner doesn't know, and the agent just didn't do their job very well at all. Either that, or supply and demand presented with an offer they couldn't refuse, and suddenly the agent and owner realized nothing was ever signed, so they can take the new deal. Also points to the hearing through the grapevine aspect of this.

My comment was directed towards what works a court/jury interpret the communication as. The rebuttal to me above was very valid, but I'm not in agreement with letting the realtor off as they don't make these decisions...
I think that's a moot point (communication and administrative duty of care is the issue).

Even if this is the case, the agent's liability would be to the leassor and not the leasee.

Regardless, if the leasee never agreed to the price itself then I'm still unsure how you can draw the conclusion that there's an agreement with that email exchange.

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unmade bed

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10:04a, 6/2/22

Kind of a crappy situation but hopefully a good learning experience for the kids. I think the agent could have been more clear and followed up with the renewal since they were the "professional" in the situation, but really the kids as the party needing to take the action to make their intention clear should not have left room for ambiguity.

Not gonna blame the kids though, to be honest I got myself in a similar situation trying to lease an apartment near where I lived for my dad several years ago and I'm a full fledged adult and an attorney.

Basically found the perfect place for him but units were very hard to come by, the leasing agent emailed me and said a unit had become available and to reserve it there would be a $100 application fee and application had to be signed within 5 days. I replied with something along the lines of "Sounds great, my dad should be in town Friday to sign application." I contacted my dad and told him to plan on coming to town Friday (he lived about 5 hours away) and that he would need to go by apartment and sign application and pay application fee.

Well he came to town and when he got to the apartment they told him sorry they had already taken another application ahead of him because we didn't pay the $100 fee. I had taken the email to mean both could be done within 5 days, but leasing agent meant the $100 fee needed to be paid immediately and then the application needed to be filled out within 5 days.

I was pretty pissed about it but realized it was really more my fault because even though in my mind we had every intention of paying the $100 and signing the application and as a result I assumed my email confirmed this, the leasing agent probably is used to dealing with all kinds of folks that say they are going to do something and then never do.

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hopeandrealchange

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In reply to unmade bed • 10:16a, 6/2/22

unmade bed said:
Kind of a crappy situation but hopefully a good learning experience for the kids. I think the agent could have been more clear and followed up with the renewal since they were the "professional" in the situation, but really the kids as the party needing to take the action to make their intention clear should not have left room for ambiguity.

Not gonna blame the kids though, to be honest I got myself in a similar situation trying to lease an apartment near where I lived for my dad several years ago and I'm a full fledged adult and an attorney.

Basically found the perfect place for him but units were very hard to come by, the leasing agent emailed me and said a unit had become available and to reserve it there would be a $100 application fee and application had to be signed within 5 days. I replied with something along the lines of "Sounds great, my dad should be in town Friday to sign application." I contacted my dad and told him to plan on coming to town Friday (he lived about 5 hours away) and that he would need to go by apartment and sign application and pay application fee.

Well he came to town and when he got to the apartment they told him sorry they had already taken another application ahead of him because we didn't pay the $100 fee. I had taken the email to mean both could be done within 5 days, but leasing agent meant the $100 fee needed to be paid immediately and then the application needed to be filled out within 5 days.

I was pretty pissed about it but realized it was really more my fault because even though in my mind we had every intention of paying the $100 and signing the application and as a result I assumed my email confirmed this, the leasing agent probably is used to dealing with all kinds of folks that say they are going to do something and then never do.

My wife and I own 5 homes in the Southside historic district that we rent to students.
I have learned not to get upset when a group of students don't show up for an appointment. I have learned to be happy when they do. The courtesy of a phone call is not even considered.
When they call back to reschedule a day or two later they can't understand why I will not show them the house.
The students that shine really shine. The ones that don't never will.

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cjsag94

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12:18p, 6/2/22

AG

Is it common place to rent these sight unseen? I'm assuming no showing was ever scheduled.

The more i think about it, I'm leaning towards what someone mentioned earlier that rents are going up rapidly. Somewhere along the way, they got some fantastic offer and found a way to accept it.

warreng

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9:16p, 6/4/22

Since you asked if there were any agents on here and wanted their opinion as an agent I thought I would chime in. I'm a local broker and have been in property management for a long time in the area. (not for this property luckily. If I am, the property manager has kept me out of the loop!!!) First, I completely understand why from your side of things you would be upset and peeved at the agent. You do have to remember though, they are one set of tenants out of hundreds or thousands (depending on the co) that this agent may be the property manager for and the agent does not know your or your kids like you do. Knowing your girls and the situation it seems clear cut to you that a $25 a month increase per tenant would never be enough for them not to renew.

I can tell you from experience though, that that is definitely not the case. Also, no response is college kid speak for "no: or "I am not ready to make a decision". Since they never responded after the email with the price increase I don't think there is any way you can expect the agent to make a determination as to whether that amount is significant enough for them to not renew or not. I would say out of the tenants who tell us "yes we want to renew" only about 50% of those actually do. Not 50% of tenants, 50% who say in the fall they want to renew the next year. It happens because of a variety of reasons. A student fails out, roommates fight, they find a place closer to their friends, on and on and on. I have had tenants I trusted lead me on for months saying they were going to come sign the extension only to tell me in July "oh sorry we found another place that works better for us".

The last thing I would say is the statement "The realtor is the grown up in the relationship, and I expect much more out of her than we received." is a little one sided in my opinion. I believe you said the girls were 21 or so. Both parties here are grown ups. If you sign the lease and live on your own it is not the job of the agent to be the grown up for the students" I know that sounds harsh but I would bet this agent has allot of properties they manage. I doubt there was anything on purpose here to try and screw the girls out of a house (its a whole lot easier on the management co to keep the same tenants and make readies suck) I am guessing they were just really busy, checked the file and said "they never emailed us back or returned the extension so we need to get this leased". Anyone over the age of 18 who signs a legal contract is responsible for what they sign and knowing what they signed. I honestly cant tell you how many times I have had a conversation with a tenant who is arguing about something that is clearly stated in the lease. They have actually said to me "I'm a college kid, you cant expect me to read the whole lease and know what is in it" and my answer is "absolutely I do". The contract is what is there to guide the transaction. Both sides should know what was in it and be aware of the terms.

I will say, it really sucks for your daughter. I am surprised they are just now finding out about it. It is not required but normally once we rent the property to another tenant we send some sort of notice to the current tenant. Again, not required, but we just want to make sure they are on the same page. I also know this late in the game it is tough to find a good place and that adds allot of stress to it. I hope you guys can find something that works out for everyone. There is always stuff that comes on last minute when a group of tenants bails out so who know you may even luck out and get something cheaper.

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hopeandrealchange

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In reply to warreng • 9:32a, 6/5/22

warreng said:
Since you asked if there were any agents on here and wanted their opinion as an agent I thought I would chime in. I'm a local broker and have been in property management for a long time in the area. (not for this property luckily. If I am, the property manager has kept me out of the loop!!!) First, I completely understand why from your side of things you would be upset and peeved at the agent. You do have to remember though, they are one set of tenants out of hundreds or thousands (depending on the co) that this agent may be the property manager for and the agent does not know your or your kids like you do. Knowing your girls and the situation it seems clear cut to you that a $25 a month increase per tenant would never be enough for them not to renew.

I can tell you from experience though, that that is definitely not the case. Also, no response is college kid speak for "no: or "I am not ready to make a decision". Since they never responded after the email with the price increase I don't think there is any way you can expect the agent to make a determination as to whether that amount is significant enough for them to not renew or not. I would say out of the tenants who tell us "yes we want to renew" only about 50% of those actually do. Not 50% of tenants, 50% who say in the fall they want to renew the next year. It happens because of a variety of reasons. A student fails out, roommates fight, they find a place closer to their friends, on and on and on. I have had tenants I trusted lead me on for months saying they were going to come sign the extension only to tell me in July "oh sorry we found another place that works better for us".

The last thing I would say is the statement "The realtor is the grown up in the relationship, and I expect much more out of her than we received." is a little one sided in my opinion. I believe you said the girls were 21 or so. Both parties here are grown ups. If you sign the lease and live on your own it is not the job of the agent to be the grown up for the students" I know that sounds harsh but I would bet this agent has allot of properties they manage. I doubt there was anything on purpose here to try and screw the girls out of a house (its a whole lot easier on the management co to keep the same tenants and make readies suck) I am guessing they were just really busy, checked the file and said "they never emailed us back or returned the extension so we need to get this leased". Anyone over the age of 18 who signs a legal contract is responsible for what they sign and knowing what they signed. I honestly cant tell you how many times I have had a conversation with a tenant who is arguing about something that is clearly stated in the lease. They have actually said to me "I'm a college kid, you cant expect me to read the whole lease and know what is in it" and my answer is "absolutely I do". The contract is what is there to guide the transaction. Both sides should know what was in it and be aware of the terms.

I will say, it really sucks for your daughter. I am surprised they are just now finding out about it. It is not required but normally once we rent the property to another tenant we send some sort of notice to the current tenant. Again, not required, but we just want to make sure they are on the same page. I also know this late in the game it is tough to find a good place and that adds allot of stress to it. I hope you guys can find something that works out for everyone. There is always stuff that comes on last minute when a group of tenants bails out so who know you may even luck out and get something cheaper.

Well said.

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