While looking for a place to lease I learned that Desert Realty's staff is very bad-mannered and unfeeling. For in-depth details please read below.
After my wife passed away I needed to move my daughter and I to somewhere closer to her school. We found a condo in a nice neighborhood close to the school and contacted Desert Realty to inquire about leasing options. When we walked in we were not greeted for several minutes despite the receptionist sitting at the front desk. When we were greeted it was impersonal and cold. An older man met with us for the initial interview and application process. I mentioned that we needed to move ASAP because of my wife's passing. He could care less and told us that our circumstances would not matter.
We had all the forms fill out for their convenience, and when he reviewed them he saw I missed an item and rudely pointed it out. After we were finished he said they would get back to us in a couple of days. We called the same day to check on our status, and the woman who answered the phone said they checked our previous payment history and saw we were late a few times within several years. She pointed out my low credit score, and when I mentioned how credit scores are generally low in this economy, she disagreed and said they could rent out the property to someone with a better credit score. This property has not been leased for over three months.
I asked them how they presented our situation to the homeowner and they claimed the homeowner was not interested in leasing to someone like me. I find that hard to believe in an economy like this that a realty company would not suggest leasing to a good tenant with good history. It doesn't seem that Desert Realty is giving an accurate picture to the homeowners they represent. I'm not sure what Desert Realty has against my family and our circumstances but I'm shocked at the level of bluntness and insensitivity that we were treated with. My only advice is to avoid Desert Realty entirely along with their bad attitude and disorderly staff.