As a result of a job transfer from California to Texas, my 3 year old son and I had been living in a hotel for 17 days and searching for a home, when finally, I found a beautiful home in a great neighborhood that I wanted to rent; 10346 Tiger Paw, 78251.
The company Home Locators showed me the home, and gave me the name of the realtor to contact. I promptly filled out all the applications, paid the fee, and told the realtor, Pamela Montano, that my son and I needed a home as soon as possible, and if she could expedite the process I would be very grateful. She passed off my application to a verification company. Everyday that went buy I would call Pamela to check on the status. Everyday she said it was waiting on landlord references. Then I would call my previous landlord to tell her to be available when they called. They NEVER called. 6 days went by (2 of them weekends) and my previous landlord never received a call or voice mail (according to Pamela they don't leave voice mails). On the morning of the 5th day, I called Pamela who said she would take care of it herself and bypass the verification company (which would have been helpful 5 days prior). She told me she was showing homes and would make the call around 3. She also asked that I hook up the water so when the application was approved, the cleaners would have water for cleaning (not my responsibility to pay for water before I live in the home). I once again called my previous landlord to tell her to wait by the phone.By 6:15 that evening, the landlord still had not been called, so I contacted Pamela who was at home and she said she would go into the office that night and try and contact the landlord (kind of late for a phone call). The next morning, day 6, I decided to call management and tell them the situation. I made sure to keep it as impersonal as possible and only express my urgent need to get my son and I out of a hotel. I made sure to say several times that Pamela was always very cordial, but the process was slow. After this phone call, Pamela became enraged. She told me the receptionist (who is also very rude and lackadaisical) passed the phone off to an employees girl friend and had her pose as the manager. Pamela yelled at me in an extremely disrespectful manner for over 5 minutes. I listened and did not engage in arguing back because I was desperate for a house. I assured her, I said she was cordial (clearly a p.C. Move and not the truth), and didn't want to argue. Miraculously though, she finally had successfully contacted my prior landlord and had approved my application. She then stated that she recommended I do business somewhere else if I didn't like the timeline. She forewarned me that if I wanted something to be repaired, I would be subject to a long wait. She also made it clear that the time she took to get me into the home would be based on her schedule and she would prioritize in whatever way she chose, and the soonest I could sign the lease would have been that Friday, day 8. Then I would be without power until at least Monday.
Never have I ever experienced renting a home to take longer than a day or two. I am active duty military, have a security clearance, have great credit, no negative landlord tenant history. My application should have been approved right away. I decided to let go of the beautiful home on Tiger Paw that I wanted so bad, and shop around, because I was really upset with the way Pamela disrespected me, and didn't really appreciate being yelled at and belittled.
Luckily, I found a home from a great Realtor/property manager Jason Bridgeman of Bridgeman Properties and Keller Real Estate. The day I looked at the home, he got me in. He also left the water and electricity on until I was able to transfer them over. This saved me 5 days at the hotel. I am very happy with the home I am living in!
I feel sorry for the home owner of 10346 Tiger Paw. I wonder if he knows what he is paying Pamela Montano for. The home has been for rent for over 120 days. She may be a good business woman when it comes to selling a home, because clearly she is in it all for the money and not for the customer.
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