Monalisa T.

*warning long review
If there was an option for no stars or negative stars, that's what I would have chosen. There are no words to describe the level of frustration we been through with Invitation Homes in Arizona. Regardless of accommodations offered after the fact.
We planned to move from Utah to Goodyear, Arizona for over a year. We trusted going through a property management team verses a private owner because we are making our decision solely off of pictures and description of house via their website and advertisement due to the fact, we didn't have extra funds available to travel and look at potential homes to lease in person.
On April 23,2019 I applied for a 4-bedroom 3 bath home in Goodyear, AZ and paid for the application fee of $100 for my husband & I. On April 26,2019 I received an email from Invitation Homes saying my application has been approved. Shortly after, I received an email from our leasing agent saying "Congratulations." I have SINCE been in contact with our leasing agent, Valerie Ronquillo via email, text and phone calls.
Fast forward to the morning of May 28,2019 I texted our leasing agent to remind her of our anticipated 12-hour road trip. She texted me back saying I needed to pay the move in costs 24 HOURS before our arrival & they can send me a lease via email to DocuSign. I immediately paid $2,911.50 which included $300 administration fee, deposit, rent and prorated rent for last 2 days in May of 2019 (May 30 & 31).
ON MAY 29,2019 at 9:55 PM, 1 Hour before our anticipated 12-hour drive to Arizona from Utah, I received a text from our leasing agent that she has bad news and if I could call her. This was at 9:55 PM MST in Utah which would make it 8:55 PM PST in Arizona. She said I'm at your house in Goodyear doing my walk through and I can video you if you'd like but it's a 2-bedroom 2 bath with a den, NOT a 4-bedroom 3 bathroom as described in your lease. I was so $#*!in pissed off! I told her "I am a family of 6 in the truck getting ready for our long drive and you call me 1 hour before we leave to tell me this bull$#*!? That 2-bedroom 2 bath is definitely not going to work for my family of 6." She kept apologizing and what not, but I didn't care at this point. She was the leasing agent who sent me a congratulations letter on April 26th. It is her responsibility to be knowledgeable of what she is leasing, how incompetent! Not tell me about 15 hours before I plan to move into our home. I said I will be up driving through the night; you need to find me a 4 bedroom before I arrive in Arizona. She sends me text messages, but I can't see it until our pit stops. Hours later leasing manager mentioned to leasing agent suggestions on converting den to a 3rd bedroom and asked if we would rent it still. That was an easy no.
She did offer me a full refund which would take 10 days to process. I laughed in anger. Refund me and then what? Throw a family of 6 somewhere, anywhere because you don't care, you're refunding my money and don't want to hear from me. You think I have an extra 3 grand that I can just throw out to another property management and find a house within hours? We were already on the road with our ENTIRE LIFE packed in the U-Haul and our truck. If I accepted the refund, we'd have nowhere to go, Completely homeless with a family of 6. This was definitely not an option for us.
During our road trip, I been receiving messages from our leasing agent. She said she only has 2 houses available for me to choose from, both not in Goodyear where we planned to live. One in Avondale (3 bedroom) and one in Surprise (4 Bedroom). At this point, the level of frustration and anger tired me. TWO HOUSES? Just 2! You had over a month to do your part as a leasing agent and it boils down to hours where I as a tenant have a decision to make because of your incompetence. I like to be prepared, educate myself on the neighborhood, schools, crime rate, pedophiles, sex offenders, do my research and I had absolutely no time to do so. She sent me pictures but at this point I do not want to give an answer until I stop and talk with my husband and we also go and look at these houses because she and Invitation Homes lost my trust.
As the morning business hours approached (Remember were still on our road trip to Arizona), I messaged our leasing agent to get in contact with a manager. Which she (Chelsea Sain) didn't call me until maybe 6 or 7 hours later in the day. I felt we needed to be compensated in every way possible. I felt like our situation should be number 1 priority on this day given the circumstance. This is the worst nightmare to go through and I wish this never happens to anyone else. Let's face it, were a family of 6,4 children, one of which is special needs.
Moving along in the day, we first stopped at the house in Surprise, Arizona and arrived at about 4:05 PM Thursday May 30,2019. We were provided the code to enter the house and was greeted by the leasing agent, Valerie about 15 minutes later. Kids immediately fell in love. We decided to go with the 4-bedroom house in Surprise, Arizona. Which had stairs I didn't like but the other house in Avondale was only 3 bedrooms. We had to make the crucial decision of accepting this house because Leasing agent said their office closes at 5pm and they needed to write up the new lease and have us docu sign before we unload our truck. If we didn't agree to this house, it's after 4pm, where would we have gone? That was a floating question we had.
I quickly learned that the house was dirty and not move in ready. Our culture, we don't wear footwear in any home, so we took our slippers and shoes off. My baby's feet, hands, knees and our feet got so dirty and black. Toilets were dirty. We asked if someone could clean, they told us the soonest would be in 3 days. I said, we have a U-Haul that is due to be returned tomorrow and we need to unload and unwind. Our leasing agent spoke to manager, Chelsea Sain and arranged for cleaners to come in same day. After the cleaners left, our floors were still dirty, and we used a container of swifter wet mop pads to get it cleaned to our likings. We took pictures for reference.
In conclusion, our rent was reduced to match the house in Good year, $1475. We were credited $300 Administration fee. Credited first month's rent $1475. Refund was not an option. We were NOT credited $100 application fee & 2-day proration rent for May 2019.
When we had our first pro care visit, we bought our attention to the grout of the tile flooring and told the maintenance agent that the grout keeps coming out, leaving a dusty residue, causing floor to be consistently dirty. He took it upon himself to schedule and come out to remove the grout from the tile flooring. He came with 1 other guy and for 1 hour removed whatever grout they could on tile flooring without moving any of our furniture. The quality of work they did on YOUR (Invitation Home) house is unbelievable and pathetic. He wiped down the floor with a sponge and dirty water leaving a dusty residue. He wasn't going to mop until I asked him to. He then made a phone call and before you know it a quick trip to Home Depot and returned with a mop and bucket. The other guy said, "Sorry I have to leave to another customers house" Wait a minute, Am I not a customer too? I called maintenance to voice my concern and even told them, I know nothing was going to be done and I sure was right because no one came back to make the tile flooring look any better and no one followed up with me via phone call or email. I also mentioned to whoever I spoke to on the phone, these 2 maintenance workers that came to my house to work on tile flooring don't care because it's not their house and is not their home. That's the kind of employees you have representing your company in the maintenance department?
I never felt so enraged like I felt with Invitation Homes!
Fast forward to January 2020. I re-read as carefully as I could understand our lease. I emailed my current go to leasing agent (Wendy Hough) and tell her this is not working out for us and we need to move out. I wanted to do this the right way and asked for advice as to how I can go about leaving without any discrepancies. She sent us an Early Termination Agreement for my husband and I to read and docu sign and she also made clear of the 2 month rent cancellation fee of $1475 X2 due before we move out or a payment arrangement could also be created.
I asked Wendy if she could ask Chelsea Sain, Broker and leasing manager of Invitation Homes Arizona, to waive the cancellation fee for us given our circumstances. Shortly after, Wendy replied and said Chelsea declined to waive the fee. I replied and asked if there was someone higher than Chelsea that I can be in contact with. Wendy replied, Chelsea is the highest and has the last say and she also emailed Chelsea regarding my inquiry.
I then did my research to find out who the CEO or President of INVITATION HOMES is. Dallas B Tanner, I humbly ask that you please waive the cancellation fee of $1475 x2 for our family given the circumstances we've endured. (update: Never heard back from Dallas B Tanner either)
I reached out to the corporate office of Invitation homes and spoke to Robbie. Robbie forwarded my information to Kim Reynolds who is the customer relations director. Kim never called but her assistant, Casey called me back. Casey handles the social aspect of Invitation Homes. She listened to my story and reassured me that she will be forwarding my story and information to the leadership team. Guess who returned my phone call from the leadership team? Chelsea Sain from square 1. The Broker and Leasing manager from the Arizona office. The lady I mentioned 2 paragraphs prior to this one. She told me because I'm moving out of state, she is unable to refund my cancellation fee and she already helped me by crediting my first month's rent when we first moved in.
The very next day at noon, I unexpectedly receive a call from Tracy Valenzuela, Vice President of the entire region in the Invitation Homes Company. She told me why are you bringing up the past? You've already been compensated. We can't waive your cancellation fee because if we waive your fee, we'd need to waive everyone else's fee. I understand! I told her, all I wanted to know is if someone, somehow, someway can waive MY cancellation fee given the circumstances we've endured with the company. I was told no. So, I ended the call with a "Thank you for your time Tracy Valenzuela Vice President of Invitation Homes, it is what it is.
And I will end this review with this. WARNING: DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY.