Our family had to move to Memphis, TN due to a change in employment. We had two days in which to find a house. We called an ad in the classifieds, and spoke to an agent for Brookfield Properties. He was told straight away that our priority was a good neighborhood and good schools for our children, and that we knew nothing about Memphis. He asked what we were looking for and how much we wanted to pay. He was told that we needed 3 or 4 bedrooms, and that we knew nothing about the housing market in Memphis. Additionally, he was told that we only had two days here, and we really needed his help. He showed us a four bedroom home with a large two story garage at the end of the back yard. It was nice enough, but dirty. He assured us it would be cleaned. I also pressed about the windows being cleaned because they were super dirty. He hesitated, and himmed and hawsed, but then agreed. Since this deal required a lease/purchase, not a lease/option, we were a little hesitant, but because we were very stressed about having to find a place, we signed the papers. We figured we would go ahead with the deal, purchase the house at the end of two years, and then sell it. A month later, we moved into a filthy house in which the air conditioner didn't work, along with a slew of other problems. We didn't have enough heat downstairs for comfortable living the entire winter. They did make service calls, but no one ever fixed the problem. They replaced the furnace, but it is not up to code. It has been an absolute nightmare living here. Three of their maintenance workers told me that what this company does, is buy these older homes, do some cosmetic work, and then move renter/buyers into the house, and let them find out what is wrong with it. In so many words, the owner told me I was lying, that I didn't know how to operate the thermostat, and the heater worked perfectly. Yet, their own heater man noted how cold it is in this house downstairs, while the upstairs is hot. He said the house needed two furnaces. I had a home inspector, and a heating company (not affiliated with Brookfield Properties) come in to check things out. The inspector told me the furnace installation was not up to code, he showed me a large area of heat loss, and that I needed to get someone competent in here. The heating company said the installation was a shoddy job. In about 15 minutes, he had the right amount of air streaming from all of the vents so that we had fairly good heat downstairs, without it getting unbearably hot upstairs; but the heater still needed more work to be done by the owner. This was the first time we were able to use the upstairs and downstairs at the same time. This was about two weeks ago (mid February), six months after we moved in. We suffered all winter long for nothing. There were many other problems in the house for which we had to have maintenance calls, but the biggest one was the heater.
After moving in, we learned that we were living in the Hickory Hill area of Memphis, one of the most dangerous areas in the city. I also learned that I would either have to home school the children, or send them to private school. At that time, I couldn't afford the high cost of private school, so they are home schooled, and are unable to enjoy the social life children need.
As to our selling this house after we purchase it, that will not happen. The agent overly inflated the cost that we will have to pay at purchase time. We would probably be upside down in this mortgage forever. I don't know if we could even get a mortgage on a house that is going to cost $50,000 more than it is worth. We would probably have to go through Brookfield Properties to get the mortgage, and that is a very scary prospect.
We really believed, because we told this agent what we needed, what a time crunch we were in, and that we were unfamiliar with Memphis, that he would help us.
Brookfield Properties' mission statement on their website is contradictory to what they provided to us, and perhaps other tenants. This whole experience has been a huge nightmare to me and my entire family!
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