ELITE Rental Properties, Inc.

I was deeply disappointed with Elite Rental Properties and all of my interactions with them. I am a young software engineer in Philadelphia and have rented from and interacted with multiple landlords & property managers within the city before. This was by far the worst experience I've ever had.
It started when I saw a property Elite advertised for rent in Philadelphia. I called the elite rental properties' telephone number to set up a time to visit the property. I was instantly greeted by a prerecorded answering machine. This set the tone for all my experiences to come: inhuman, cold, and apathetic.
I was required to submit a pre-screening form just to even see the place. I also had to look up my own credit score and provide a number for them to allow me see the place This sets another theme for my experience with Elite Rental Properties: Their business model thrives on offloading all the work and risk on the potential customer. Once I submitted, I had to again call and wait through prerecorded voice messages to request a viewing.
THEN once the viewing was scheduled, Joe said I must bring id, a credit card and a laptop to the viewing AND that I needed to call 1 hour and 15 minutes before the showing to confirm or they would not show up at all.
Despite all these warning signs I continued on with the process. I arrived at the showing and after just a few minutes of walking around Joe asks me "On a scale of 1-10 how does this property suit your needs?" These people are like robots. There is no human emotion in them and they do not care about you, only the monetary value they can extract from you.
And despite even this I eventually found a place I liked and went through the next step which was the Good Faith Deposit Form. The terms are extensive but the gist is that you pay $100 per applicant to reserve the property for 24hrs while you submit your application and supporting documents. I misunderstood one of the requirements which asked for the last 3 recent paystubs. I had instead had gross paychecks from my last employer. But I thought the term was synonymous with paycheck. After realizing the difference and that I had no paystubs to supply, I offered an acceptance letter from my new employer documenting the terms of my current employment situation. I even talked to my employers and asked them to write personal emails of confirmation of my time of employment and salary.
This was not enough for Joe. After trying everything I could to appease Joe's requirements I finally gave up. I then explained my fundamental misunderstanding to him regaeding the term "paystub" and asked for a refund of the monies I paid. He simply sent back a definition of the word paystub and that was it.
A cold, apathetic and ruthless business model all the way to the end.
I should have known better, and I should have been more careful. I hope this review was helpful and I hope we as a community stop supporting cruel businesses like Elite Rental Properties.