I, too, am a single parent. Here a brief on my experience with them.
I came into this opportunity... to lease a home. I explained to the sales rep that I was having some problems deciding on a home and wanted to lease with option to buy due to being to find the amenities I wanted in a home. I was required to put down $2000 earnest money, which the rep explained I would lose if I decided not to purchase the home. She also explained that although I was not sure I was going to purchase the home, there was a separate purchase agreement that I would need to sign. I was hesitant because I told her I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy the home and I work in sales and know how companies can mislead you. She reassured me that if I didn't want to purchase the home, I would lose the $2000 only. She stated that I had 2 years to purchase the home at the price stated in the agreement and then there was an extended period of up to an additional 5 years. I am not well-versed in the real estate industry. I don't know what the formalities are in this industry. The way she explained the reasoning for me signing two agreements made sense. I casually called into Crowne Management for another issue today. However, when I casually mentioned that I would not be purchasing the home, the receptionist stated that I may want to speak with the property manager, Jamie (3rd property manager that I know of in the last year). When I called in about 3 months ago, another property manager advised me that if I broke my rental agreement, I would have to pay a 7% sales commission and other fees if I did not purchase the home. This was not in the agreement I signed. And I was mislead as to the reason I needed to sign the purchase agreement.
Latest, now they're trying to charge me $25,000. Most of the fees are from move-out fees. It's basically the same situation as the other experienced.
“wanted to lease with option to buy”
Crown has done 450 “lease purchases” never a lease with option to buy.
Party stated in her application “she could qualify within 6 months and will be able to close.
She obviously knew she was promising to ‘buy the house’. The agreement she signed said ‘Purchase and Sale Agreement” on the top. All through the document is talks about ‘buying the property, title insurance, closing dates, earnest money, home inspections, closing costs’, etc. I can’t believe she did not know she was ‘buying a house’.
The earnest money paragraph said “non-refundable earnest money … forfeited if she does not buy the house’. She initialed beside the paragraph just so we could all say ‘she read and understood it’. Don’t know what more we could have done.
“I told her I wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy”
Real estate is a paper business so we all try hard to ‘write it down’ so we can remember what everyone agreed to. I was not present when she said these things to my agent. I can’t testify as to ‘what was said’. All I can go by years later is ‘what was agreed to in writing’. If she wanted a buyers agent representing her she should have gotten one. She did not so I guess she is stuck with ‘what she signed’. Most of is are.
“this was not the agreement I signed”
If there was fraud than I want to know about it so I can deal with my agent if they committed fraud. We did not commit fraud by signing her name. The signature on the application matches the signature on the purchase agreement. This would be criminal. She has made no such claim to any authorities that we are aware of. Maybe she just lacks the evidence to substiante such a claim. That’s probably why she does this on the internet, because she is not required to prove anything. It’s always harder to ‘go to the authorities’ with a claim when you can’t prove anything.
“$25, 000”
In one complaint she say $30, 000 … another $25, 000 … actually it’s about half what she claims … but who cares about accuracy right?
Conclusion: People go to the internet because they usually have no evidence to substantiate their accusations in front of a judge. There has never been a court filing from this person. It costs $56 to file and get in front of a judge. If she really has a legitimate claim she should get her day in court and see what the judge says. I suspect she doesn’t because the evidence does not support her claims.
i dont have to go through that long story to have him come back and say "hey we dont practice deceptive business practices" because CROWN REALTY DOES! Long story short. They kept giving away homes i wanted. Finally a great home over looking great views. The home was in FORECLOSURE because i received notices within the first week of stay and a host of maintenance problems. never fixed. after owner received over 6k of earnest monies he wanted to stop the contract (no knowing what really was going on with me and the middle man... crown)... now i broke MY contract and owe over 25k... u do the math ...
sad... this has been going on since 2002...glad they have a home they own and work under those conditions...
“Kept giving away homes”…. Have no idea what this means … we don’t give away homes… we rent homes to qualified tenants, who will complete an application, pay an application fee and sign a lease. We’ve done this for 30 years to about 7, 000 good paying tenants. We lease 30+ houses a month so why not this person? Have no idea … she does not give enough information to figure out what she didn’t do to qualify.
We don’t know when (or if) owners are loosing their home in foreclosure but the law allows the tenant to remain in the property to the end of their lease if the property is foreclosed on. If she “brokers her lease” she has no one to blame but herself. She may owe the new property manager $25, 000 but not us. I think she is very confused. I am always happy to meet and discuss any grievances she has. We have a “comments” button on our home page. I have received nothing from her so I don’t know how to help her.
-Robert Locke
My family and I had a great experience with Crown. They worked really quickly with us, literally we contacted them and moved in the next. We found their staff to be extremely helpful and knowledgeable in assisting us in our endeavors to move into one of their properties. Once we were in, we had a plumbing problem (running toilet) that they had their maintenance man over to fix the next day. We have found Crown to be very good landlords and would recommend them to friends and family. More importantly, we would live in one of their properties again.
We were lucky to come across Crown and able to lease a fabulous home with them. The staff has been professional and friendly in every way. My wife and I along with our children have been extremely happy with the service. in fact, I would say that our experience with the Atlanta area was a little rocky when we moved down here from St. Louis Missouri but when we saw the house on Crown's website and when we called to get a showing I knew right there we were where we needed to be Crown played a significant role in making that happen.
Now we got lucky again and we found a lease purchase to die for ON Crown's WEBSITE again! The staff and agents are going out of their way again to help us get the home we were meant for. Not only would I choose Crown again as a buyer, renter or otherwise I will use them to manage my property as well when I purchase some investment property. That is right Crown you have done it again! Great service, great relationship.
Duane S.
We have had a great experience with Crown. From the beginning the agent helped us find a home within a good school district. The application and lease signing process went smoothly and fast. We had one problem needing a repair and they responded promptly and took care of it. My husband and I are satisfied and would recommend them; we would rent with them again as well.
Muriel RC
Crown Mgt. is a bad company. I had 7 property mgrs. in one year. They each resigned from Crown. The Employees tell you a lot, by walking with there feet. Bob Locke and his team do a horrible job. I got my property back with $15K in damage, that they Failed to communicate during their " Proerty inspection". I have NEVER written a negative review about a company until today. Look at Yelp and you will see a ton of 1 ratings, enough said, if you give Crown your property to manage, you will have a horrible experience.