edited 05.05.10 to add: Got a call from Kerr Properties today around 10:30 am to inform me that my reviews on citysearch and dexknows would be removed. Also received a ""thumbs down"" on my review. I wonder who that's from? And all the other ""thumbs down"" on any other bad reviews for them...\r
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Should have known better from the get-go. Kerr Properties would not even let me have a rental application to fill out until I saw the inside of the house. Another one of their million ""policies.""\r
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My boyfriend and I decided to get out of apartment living and find some roommates, so as to have cheap rent. As soon as I saw this 3 bedroom house was less than $1000, I wanted to move in.\r
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Here's where the problems began. We had roommates move in and, not knowing any better (we've both only lived with one other roommate before and both were on the lease at the beginning), we did not have them go to Kerr and pay $40 a piece for rental applications and to get on the lease. Without any warning, we received an eviction notice. I called, pleaded, and explained that I didn't know they had to be on the lease. Fortunately, they let the roommates go down and get on the lease.\r
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Unfortunately, every time we add or remove a roommate, they charge $100 for their precious time. They also charge each new roommate a $300 deposit - which they will refund none of until EVERYONE ON THE LEASE MOVES OUT. so, any time someone moves out and a new roommate moves in, they are sitting on another $400. And the current roommates have to buy out the old roommate's part of the lease, otherwise move out themselves (unless the person moving out is willing to wait until everyone moves out and THEN get their deposit who-knows-when). But hey, ""It's our policy.""\r
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Kerr Properties is horribly understaffed. Every time I call or am there, their phones are ringing off the hook and you can barely talk for a minute before they have to put you on hold. One lady only works from about 9 to noon, and she's the one you usually need to talk.\r
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You can't call in and talk to a person to report a leaky faucet, you have to send or fax them a written report. I recently found they have a maintenance request on their website - couldn't have mentioned it to me? But don't put in your request after hours (""Please submit your maintenance request. Note that requests are reviewed Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except for holidays."") because someone is still actually checking them and you'll get owners unexpectedly coming to your house on the weekend without notice!\r
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And don't get me started on the maintenance... most of the time the owner comes out to do the ""repairs"" himself. Which results in midnight repairs from professionals - like our dishwasher flooding the kitchen, TWICE.\r
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This house is a fire hazard waiting to happen. An electrical socket caught fire. You can't have a space heater run at the same time as anything else, otherwise it will trip the power - which means you have to pay gas to keep this whole gigantic house warm! Or ""warm"" I should say. What windows haven't been caulked shut (and there aren't a lot of them) leak out SO much heat and there's barely any insulation.\r
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Oh, and I forgot the ""six-month maintenance checks."" Their brilliant excuse to come snoop every six months. Our neighbors have lived in there place six or seven years and they STILL come out every six months. Don't you think if people have a problem they need fixed, they'll call (fax) you? And how come on your last visit, when I pointed out a bunch of stuff like a light fixture that no longer works, you don't actually get back to us and fix it?! What's the point of seeing what's broken if you don't fix it? SNOOPING, that's what.\r
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So, even though the repairs get done in a timely manner, they're usually done half-ass. Even though the rent is cheap, so is the house. And even though they have real people working for them, you'd much rather talk to a machine.
Pros: cheap rent
Cons: pretty much everything else
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