Equity Real Estate Services, Inc.

Reviews 3

KI

Kiera Griffy

In all honesty this rating is really 0 stars. From my experience with them they do not even deserve a half. I moved in 2years ago, this being my first apartment ever so I was pretty excited. BUT what I failed to do is really look at what a crappy place I had committed myself to. Upon move in, one of the ancient windows in my room would not close. There was also a huge hole in the wall that may have come from a cable cord or something that had not been patched until I called about it. BOTH winters I had issues. First winter the entire building did not have hot water for 3 to 4 days. When I called the first time to report it I was told to turn the heat on & leave my sink doors open so the heat can circulate (which didnt fix the problem at all). I called back twice Day 3 (when my shower water went completely cold) & demanded someone come out immediately after my neighbors came knocking at my door saying they were having the same issue. When the second winter came around I called sometime before Christmas about a broken heater in my bedroom and waited 2weeks for a tech to finally come out and replace it. Since I am on heat, let me not fail to mention that the heater I am referring to was just that, a heater! This company literally put two spaces heats ON the walls which turned on from the power unit. There was no thermostat at all lol smh. It would get so cold I had to put plastic on my windows the second winter. I honestly wish I could show pictures of what I endured the past two years. Not to mention during year two I ended up with a neighbor from hell! That literally sealed the deal. I know a few will say "well why did you stay two years?" I was nursing student that had to cut my hours in order to go to school and this was affordable for me at the time. I also didnt want to go back home either. After these two years, I was willing to risk going back to my parents. My experience with this company and neighbors has been a nightmare! And to think these are a small few of my issues. I also had issues with the lighting, dirty halls, no snow removal, broken bathroom door (that had to be fixed THREE times because it kept being done wrong), leaking toilet (was told if its not flooding me out I have to wait until Monday, I called Friday), clogged sinks, old wooden windows without screens, peeling wallpaper, the list goes on. Lastly, my proper manager SUCKS! Anytime I called to report something he acted as if I was bothering him. So with all that being said, I would NEVER EVER recommend this company to anyone. I learned the hard way and wouldnt want this to happen to anyone else. From reading other reviews, this company needs to hire a team to update all their units. For all the money we pay we should not be experiencing anything like this. On a positive note, the location of my apartment was wonderful but thats where it ends.

EV

Evan Pavloff

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RENT FROM EQUITY REAL ESTATE ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A STUDENT LIVING IN OAKLAND. Equity Real Estate is not only the worst landlord Ive ever had but they are easily the worst company I have ever dealt with. First and foremost you should understand they do not care about you at all. It doesnt seem to matter that you are handing them thousands of dollars you will receive no customer service and you will be treated rudely every time you contact them. When I moved into my apartment several of the windows were broken, as well as few other things (drawers, towel rack, etc). It took them over six weeks to finally send someone in and it was only after we threatened legal action. In the same vein it took them two weeks to fix our furnace in the middle of winter and, again, only after we threatened legal action. Despite this extremely slow and poor service, if your rent check arrives a single day late you will be charged the $50 fee. Fees are the only thing they are on top of at this company. We moved out a few days early which gave them time to pain the place (something they didnt do for us). The place was cleaned top to bottom before the painters arrived. The painters made a mess of the place and I alerted David Tkacik of this problem and I was assured that they would clean up after themselves. When we received our deposit back they had taken over $650 out and marked that nothing in the place was clean. Additionally they charged us for "bulk item removal" which could only be referring to the electric radiators THAT BELONGED TO THEM that were brought over when our heat broke (again after legal action was threatened). And to top it off they charged us $75 to "re-key" the place. I turned in the keys 4 hours late which is, apparently, unforgivable. I would almost be okay with this except THEY DIDNT RE-KEY THE PLACE!!! I had an extra copy of a key which I made myself (because they didnt provide us with enough keys for all of us until over a month into our lease). I went back to the apartment, knocked on the door, and got permission to try the old key in their lock. The locked turned over. That $75 went directly into their pockets. These people are crooks. And let me underline, again, how unbelievably rude they are. I dealt with both David Tkacik and Victor Novotny. If you live in Oakland these will likely be who you have to deal with. They treat you as though you are an idiot and without any rights and make petty and nonsensical threats when you confront them about their robbery (i.e "well we found an empty one gallon plastic gas can in your house so were all lucky there wasnt a fire" which they told me after I complained about the ludicrous charges on my bill as though we could be charged for damage that didnt occur). This company is disgusting. Do yourself a favor and steer clear.

MI

Mingming Zhang

I would not recommend any of my friends to rent the units under this real estate company since I had a very bad experiences with them. We lived in an apartment on 5552 Covode st. This buildings landlord is Margie Ungar. She is a private landlord but with at least this building is managed by the Equity real estate. Because of the switching location of my work. I have to move to another city and when I know this, it is already less than a month from my starting date. Then, I have to terminate the lease because of this. That is where my nightmare starts. After I told my landlord that I have to move out because of the work, she starts to ask a two month rent payment as a penalty for early termination (BTW, the security deposit is two month rent, and it is higher than most other places). After I check the lease, it is listed on it and I think it is reasonable. I also did a little research about the lease of other leasing contract from different real estate companies, it seems like a two-month penalty is quite normal. Then, the next day, my landlord reply another email says she needs two month payment as the penalty plus a third month charge for the late notice. I check back on the lease again, it does say that I have to inform them 30 days ahead and simultaneous pay two month penalty. But it does not say anything about paying the 30 days if we fails to inform her ahead of time. After consulting my lawyer friends, they also think the lease presented a penalty of two months and this was consistent with the penalty of other leasing companies. Obviously, she needed more money. We just want to pay two month as the penalty. This is not the end of the story, we moved out, cleaned everything. Later she reached out for us and told she wanted to charge us for 600 to 700 bucks for cleaning, We are shocked!!!!!!! We did clean and took picture, but she said it is not clean enough. She needed professional cleaning personnel and that will cost a lot. She also said the carpet needed to be cleaned and it will at least $250 in total for two carpets. The thing she called carpets were actually two pieces of rugs placed on hard floor, one in living room and one in bedroom, which you buy at price about $50 for a new piece in Walmart or HomeDepot. We have nothing to say but offer her that we will come back from another city to clean in front of her. The equity real estate company seems just want to sell their products and later they will not be involved in the issues between you and the landlord. Such a bad management style and harsh leashing contracts. That is what taught me to review any contract before I sign it with anyone. I hope you guys keep an eye on this. If it is possible, not rent any service or place from this Equity real estate, especially the landlord named Margie Ungar.

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