SOUTHERN HOMES REALTY INC

I had a negative experience with Southern Homes Century 21. I arrived and found the property was in bad condition. It was filthy: kitchen covered in grease, nail holes in the walls, carpets vacuumed but not washed. The sink leaked. The refrigerator leaked. The master bathroom shower sprayed in every imaginable direction except down. The ceiling fan lights didn't work. The furnace filter was hadn't been changed in a very long time. The dryer vent was completely blocked with lint. I took care of the last two myself, but I was told that I was responsible for fixing all of the other things myself even though they were broken when I arrived. I asked about the house cleaning and was told to call the person who had "cleaned" before I came. I was given her name but she didn't return repeated calls and Faye at Southern Homes told me (without ever coming out) that the house WAS clean and that my standards were "too high." Finally I had a professional come out to clean on my own dime. When she sprayed a degreaser on the kitchen cabinets, an ooze of brown slime dripped onto the counters. It was beyond disgusting, but she did a great job. The cleaning cost me $225 because it was so dirty. After going around in circles with this unprofessional company on all the other repairs, I finally wrote to the homeowner. A few days after mailing the letter, Southern Homes called and offered to fix all of the problems, though I still had to pay to have the house cleaned and carpets washed on the way in and out. Upon preparing to move out, I was told that even though the house wasn't pressure washed and carpets weren't washed when I arrived, I was still responsible for doing those things on my way out as well as cleaning the house again despite its filthy condition when I arrived and despite carefully documenting those things on my move in checklist. I did those things, not for Southern Homes benefit, but because I didn't want the next tenant to be taken advantage of in the way I had been, especially during the stress of their moving in. Southern Homes did send my full security deposit back with minimal difficulty - just one phone call from my lawyer, so at least that was a plus. I do not recommend this company. Pick someone else. In response to their comments: I was perfectly happy with the landlord I had prior to moving to Pensacola and am delighted with my property management agency at my new location, so I am not a disgruntled person in general; just when a company fails to do its job. I agree that after I wrote the landlord and Southern homes responded back to me, at that point, they did fix all of the things that were broken, but they did not pay for the housecleaning or carpet cleaning when I arrived, nor did they pay for those things or power washing when I left so I paid for them twice. The JAG lawyer did call, but did not threaten. She simply educated Southern Homes on the Florida law stating that they had 15 days to send an itemized list of damages or a check. The JAG told me that they had believed they had 30 days. I received the check only 2-3 days later. Again, that part was not an issue. They returned the money in a timely fashion.