Complaint Review: Virtual Homes Realty - Palm Coast Florida

This was an insane experience for us!

Initially the company was great. They responded to our contact very promptly, and were quite professional. Despite some difficulty understanding the agent we spoke to (Anna Hamilton), she was very nice, and made a good deal of effort to help us. They worked to help us find a rental home that would allow us pets, and that would work with us on the pet deposit. EVERYTHING WONDERFUL!

Once they sent us the lease agreement then things went downhill.

Our agreed upon terms were not in the lease. We had established that we would be occupying the home for 1 year or less, however we would sign a one year lease - which amounted to a price increase of $50 per month. We established that we would be buying a home, or building one by early next year - which meant we would be giving them 2 months notice, and would expect to not be penalized. They clearly agreed.

However, the lease we were sent said, "you have 72 hours to respond, or you will lose your $500 witholding deposit," and immediately began by saying we were entering into a 2 year lease agreement, we would pay 1100 a month, and we had to pay an increased pet deposit. Further down, they established that we had seen the property and were accepting it as is, with no additional stipulations. WRONG! We were in North Carolina, transitioning out of the Army, attempting to negotiate a rental for our new life.

I sent a response, stating that I would not sign the lease as was, because they had too much legal jargon that made no sense, and their terms were plainly inaccurate. I further indicated that the loss of my deposit was unacceptable, because they were the ones messing things up.

The next day I get a reply from the manager that says he's aware of the terms and everything will be ok. My agent asked him to fix the pet deposit, which he did, and then they sent the same lease back to me! At the same time, Anna confirmed the terms we had established, and stated that it was all going to work out. "I think you understand the terms very well." She says....  I was very upset, and asked Anna to fix the problems, or at very least attach an addendum with our agreed upon terms. She responds back, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE YOU WANT ME TO DO! IF YOU WON'T SIGN THE LEASE, TELL ME SO I CAN PUT IT BACK ON THE MARKET."

Desperate for a place for my family, and not wanting to lose our $500, we signed the lease and sent it to them.

Once my wife got to Florida, she went and viewed the home, and found it to be too small for our household. So she asked the property manager to find us a different home. Alina became very rude at this point, yelling about legal obligations and how we couldn't just "transfer our deposit." So my wife felt that she didn't have a choice, and said she would go ahead with the lease. She later called me, and not knowing what to do, we sat on it for a week.

On July 22nd, we finally decided we couldn't stand to rent from this company, so we would buy our own home. We contacted them, and informed them of our decision. (move in date was scheduled for 18 August, 2014)The response was astonishing! They called me and very loudly explained that I had a legal obligation to rent this house and if I did not do so, I would be charged 2 months rent ($2,200)! I didn't know what to do, so I told them to wait and let me discuss it with my wife. We talked, decided that we must have more rights, did our research and contacted the company back.

We have established very clearly now, that we are not going to pay any rent. We will not move into the house. And they will keep the $500 holding fee that we had agreed on (as was established in our original agreement). They are no longer responding to us, which is fine. However none of this would have happened if we had been better informed from the beginning, and had read the lease a little better.

The company in question operates in Flagler County Florida, and handles for sale and rental properties. I highly advise that anyone working with them come with a full working knowledge of their rights and the legal system - or Virtual Homes Realty will screw you over!