Houses4Rent.com Scammed out of $150 of application fees without any true reason for rejection. New Port Richey Florida
We paid out $150 ($75 for 2 adults) for an application for a rental property. We asked to view the property beforehand but were advised that we couldn't because they have been "scammed" by people not actually coming to the property. (their office was too far away to take that "risk"). They said we should watch the walkthrough video and go to the house, but IF it was occupied, we could look around the properly. We should have thought something was up when they said "IF" ... They didn't know that they had tennents living there?
We placed, in good faith, $150 for the application fee on Friday. The following Tuesday (giving enough time for the charge to clear the bank) we were contacted and advised that we were not approved because of "3rd party risk factors." I asked what that meant and how that factored into everything. Basically saying that rental history and credit history played a part. On paper, that sounds understandable...but 1) Our credit was never checked - there were no inquiries on our credit, and 2) we have never been late or had problems with eviction.
After further research, we found multiple people had very similar issues with this company and their dirty practices. You should never be asked to pay this much for an application fee without being able to step onto the properly. I wanted to place another report to keep this from happening to other people.
We researched the BBB on the company as well, and they noted that many of their properties are not even owned by Drake or Joe. No last names were ever given by either person.
Do yourself a favor and stay away!