FirstKey Homes review: Don’t waste your time or money! ( 3 comments)

Did you receive a letter from the Resident Transition Department?

@Joi, thank you for your comment. I thought I'd been alone is this fight with Firstkey. I had been a resident for 2 1/2 years. We paid rent on time and transitioned to month-to-month after the 12-month lease was up. The reps were extremely helpful and courteous during move-in however once we moved in and upon vacating the property, the nightmare began. We realized that many of the home issues were 'patched-up' or just not working. When we attempted to put in a maintenance request, we were told that if they determine we could fix the issue, they would access us a charge for coming out. For pre-existing issues? Their customer service reps are unprofessional and uninformed. One of many crazy incidents that happened during our stay - They sent a vendor to our home to replace the front and back deck. No call, no heads up. I was at work and was alerted that someone was walking around the back of the house from our security system. The gentlemen didn't have on any identifying clothing or any company logos on his truck. I called Firstkey customer service, gave them my property address and asked if they had a vendor working on our property. They stated that they didn't. So, I immediately hung up and dispatched 911, stating that someone was trying to break into our home. Once police arrived, the gentlemen told him that they had a work order from Firstkey, to replace the front and back deck. Showed the officer the information and confirmed that they were in fact vendors for the company. Why did the customer service rep not know this? Why didn't the company or the vendor call me to notify me? Why do I have to waste valuable police time, to go to our home because of poor communication from Firstkey? And to top it off, the vendor left paint, paint brushes, nails, boards, and whatever else they used, all over the lawn. I called customer service to inform them that the vendor left all these items behind and that many of the items were flammable and needed to be discarded by a professional. They stated that they would immediately send the vendor back to the property to properly remove the items. That was 2/2024. We vacated the property 4/2026. The items were never picked up, never removed.

I would never recommend anyone to rent from Firstkey, especially in the Atlanta, GA market. We rented from Firstkey because we were waiting to close on our 3rd home. So, we are absolutely aware on how to properly maintain and care for a home. However, if we had to do it all again, we would NEVER lease from Firstkey. They are money hungry. And they will try to hit you with thousands of dollars of move-out cost. Many of the cost are inflated or unverified. There are many reputable leasing companies out there and many that will work with you. Choose any except Firstkey.

Firstkey homes are not to be trusted. They kept my holding fee $500. They put the house back on the market yesterday. The holdup was them. They moved my viewing date 4 times. I have a voucher, which they claimed they accept. I live in columbus ohio. They wanted me to pay a security deposit befor cmha did inspection. They claimed they were familiar with cmha guidelines. Took them 2 weeks to send their part of voucher information and had my move in date after my voucher expired. I am now living in a motel at $600 a week. They wanted 3rd party payment in 48 hour before inspection (government agencies don't move that fast). I have nothing good to say about their representatives. They don't call you back you get ridiculous emails from them. And supervisesors are no help and don't return your calls either.