FirstKey Homes

"Steve was awesome! We are in the process of moving to our new home, and had a plumbing issue that caused a big leak in the basement. He was extremely informative on not only what he was doing, but also why it was important and how to keep the house in good shape. On top of that, he gave additional advice (since we were moving in) on some other things that he wasn’t even called out for. Extremely knowledgeable, professional and overall kind."

"We rented from FirstKey for nearly 2 years. We always paid our rent early, took care of the house, and left the house in BETTER condition than when we moved in (we fixed handrails, deep cleaned appliances, etc. When we moved in the house was dirty, carpets not shampooed, and hadn’t been painted so there was still putty patches everywhere from previous renter). For the second year, they sent an email 3/4 way through our lease asking if we wanted to renew. Of course with renewing they raised the rent. If we agreed early the rent would only raise $150. But if we waited it would raise $300-$350 so we felt we had to renew early to avoid paying much more. Then we found a house we wanted to purchase in October and I called FirstKey to ask about how to get out of the lease early to which I was told a THIRTY DAY notice would suffice along with having to pay the $3830 early termination fee, no biggie. When we put an offer in on the house and found out it was accepted we went ahead and gave our notice. They then tried to charge literally THOUSANDS of dollars in “insufficient notice” fees. I called and spoke to someone and said that I had talked to someone on the phone who said 30 days notice will work for buying a home — they basically told me too bad it’s not their fault the employee told me incorrectly. I told her they can listen to the call and hear what was said because it didn’t seem fair that their employee gave out wrong information and they should honor it. She again pretty much said too bad. After that, I left a bad review for the agent helping me as she made me feel like it wasn’t her problem and really did nothing to help resolve the issue. After I left the review, that same agent called me back and told me they’d cut the insufficient notice fee in half and she then asked if I’d change my review. Cool. Still dumb but cool. I paid the fee along with our prorated rent. Once our notice was in, we had to set up a move out inspection where someone comes by before you move out to help tell you what to “fix” to maximize your security deposit return. When someone showed up to do the move out inspection, he snapped a few photos and said the house was very well maintained and the only things we would need to take care of to get our security deposit back was putty over any holes in the walls (from hanging photos, there wasn’t any other holes!) change batteries in smoke alarms, replace any burnt out lightbulbs, and shampoo the carpets. I asked the guy if we needed to have the carpets professionally cleaned, he said no we could shampoo them ourselves, so we did! We did all of those things. When we left the house I took photos of everything to have “proof” of how it looked when we surrendered possession. A few weeks later I get a bill in the mail to my new house and it’s an itemized statement showing we owe an additional $4600+!! They had things on there like $300 for shampooing the carpets, $1833 for painting. $75 for replacing a blind that WASNT broken when we moved out — and the list goes on. What didn’t make sense was on the list it showed where they credited back our entire security deposit — but then charged us even more to where we’d still owe money. How are we getting our security deposit credited back if you’re going to turn around and say the house was in bad condition needing all these repairs? I called and filed a move out dispute WEEKS ago. I finally got an email back today 11/26 telling me I needed to reach out to someone else to resolve the issue. This company only cares about how much money they can screw you out of — even if you’re the “perfect renter”. We have been charged nearly $10,000 just to move out when it was just supposed to be prorated rent and the early termination fee. I’ve added photos of what we left the house looking like and a photo with the carpet shampooer to prove we shampooed the carpets."

"I rented with FirstKey for 2 years. Never missed a payment, took care of the house, didn't complain over piddly stuff... I feel like we were pretty good renters. As the first year was coming to a close, they sent us an email and told us that if we renewed, the rent would go up. They offered us a step plan that was like, "if you sign a new lease right away, your rent will only go up 110 per month. If you wait until your lease ends, it goes up like 300 per month." I don't have the exact email anymore for exact amounts, but I remember it was enough that we definitely didn't want to wait. So we signed a new lease right away. 3/4 of the way through the 2nd year, we get the same email, this time the amounts are even higher. Ultimately, that was our limit. We had to move. So, we found a new place, and signed a new lease. Up until this point, we hadn't minded our time as customers with firstkey. The house was a bit small and overpriced... yes. But they weren't a bad leasing agency. But, the calls became non-stop. Begging us to stay. Offering us a no-rate increase to stay, but we had already signed elsewhere, so we couldn't. The move out process was awful. The house looked better when I moved out than it did when I moved in (I can, and will, provide pictures as proof) and yet, they decided it was necessary to not only take my entire deposit, but say I owe them even more. Despite my attempts to contact them to resolve it, they do not respond. We requested to be involved in the final walk through, and that was ignored. I plan to fight it, and with the proof I have, will hopefully win, but just don't expect to get a deposit back if you decide to rent with this company. You won't."

"Everything so far with our new home through FirstKey Homes has been top notch. We've had to call for maintenance a couple times to repair our refrigerator and dishwasher. They responded quickly and their service technician (Michael R) was awesome. He was kind to my children and friendly to have in our home. We were hesitant to rent a home but with the crazy market it's what worked best for our family. We have not been disappointed with the process. FirstKey Homes almost sounded too good to be true but so far it's been the easiest and most comfortable experience."