My Move-Out, but not Move-In Day in Ames

ISUAlum2002 · 08-02-2008, 03:55 PM

I'm so glad to be done with apartment living.

And I agree with some of the thoughts posted earlier regarding deposit return, or lack thereof. Ev Cochrane and his association of hoodlums charged us 2 hours of labor for cleaning our apartment in Bird Manor after I left that place **** and freaking span. Their reasoning? The little edges in the refrigerator door seals weren't clean enough and the bathroom's shower doors were a bit cloudy with hardwater buildup.

Nevermind the fact that when we moved in, the kitchen was trashed beyond belief, and we had to clean the nastiness out of the oven and dishwasher. I regretted not taking pictures of those items when we moved in as of course they did not believe us when I called to raise hell about them jacking us on the deposit.

pulse · 08-02-2008, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by ISUAlum2002

I'm so glad to be done with apartment living.

And I agree with some of the thoughts posted earlier regarding deposit return, or lack thereof. Ev Cochrane and his association of hoodlums charged us 2 hours of labor for cleaning our apartment in Bird Manor after I left that place **** and freaking span. Their reasoning? The little edges in the refrigerator door seals weren't clean enough and the bathroom's shower doors were a bit cloudy with hardwater buildup.

Nevermind the fact that when we moved in, the kitchen was trashed beyond belief, and we had to clean the nastiness out of the oven and dishwasher. I regretted not taking pictures of those items when we moved in as of course they did not believe us when I called to raise hell about them jacking us on the deposit.

Ev tried to do the same thing to us. We however did take lots of pictures when we moved in. When he tried to screw us we showed him the pictures and threatened to take him to court. I don't think there were any watery eyes when he kicked it.

agrabes · 08-02-2008, 05:15 PM

Just as an aside, I actually live in Westwood Village. That place ROCKS, it's right next to Hy-Vee and has a great place for a cheap price. It's too bad you got screwed with that room mixup. The only thing bad thing about it is that I wanted to move from the 3rd floor to 1st floor this year so I could have a grill. But, we renewed our lease too late and couldn't get a spot on the first floor. Oh well, still a great place to live.

p.s. first post, long time lurker first time poster :)

CycloneErik · 08-02-2008, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by agrabes

Just as an aside, I actually live in Westwood Village. That place ROCKS, it's right next to Hy-Vee and has a great place for a cheap price. It's too bad you got screwed with that room mixup. The only thing bad thing about it is that I wanted to move from the 3rd floor to 1st floor this year so I could have a grill. But, we renewed our lease too late and couldn't get a spot on the first floor. Oh well, still a great place to live.

p.s. first post, long time lurker first time poster :)

Great job! Welcome aboard!!!

KnappShack · 08-03-2008, 03:38 AM

Originally Posted by ia8manfan

When you signed the lease several months ago, it should say exactly what apartment you are going to be in. Ask for a copy of it. Then if there is a problem, you got it in paper to stick it in their face.

On a side note, I lived in four places in Ames and ALWAYS got my full deposit back. I lived in two apartments and two houses, landlords were Jensen, Haverkamp, etc. They key is we always moved out mid-school year for some reason, (graduation, found subleasors, etc.), and after 30 days if you dont get your deposit, you automatically get your full amount back under Iowa Code. We lived in a house on Knapp, trashed it and partied in it, subleased it out to frat guys in January, and got full deposit cause the landlord forgot to pay. I moved to an empty duplex for the semester and paid cheap rent cause it was empty.

I lived in a house on Knapp too! Next to the Frat. It sounds like you kept the tradition alive

Phaedrus · 08-03-2008, 06:04 AM

You know, I'm moving out a week from Thursday, and so far I'm batting .000 as far as German landlords are concerned with getting deposit back.

The first two were crooks who saw the deposit as "petty cash" the could spend, and then just refuse to pay, and the third was a crook who died; when they went to settle his estate, he'd "leveraged" 16 houses out of 1 house's collateral, and so we got to "eat" repairs to the house we paid for to stay in it during the winter plus our deposit.

ia8manfan · 08-03-2008, 12:16 PM

Originally Posted by KnappShack

I lived in a house on Knapp too! Next to the Frat. It sounds like you kept the tradition alive

Yep, that was the house! Right across the street from Cap Timm.

Angie · 08-03-2008, 12:25 PM

We rented a duplex on 13th Street a couple of years ago from Jon Bryant - small-time guy. He had told us when we first moved in that he'd let us out of our lease with no charge besides that of the ad in the paper if we bought a house. Anyway - we were great tenants for two years. Never complained about anything that was broken, were quiet, etc. We decided to move out a couple of months early when we bought our place - he made us pay for a $750 fence so that the next tenant could have a dog (which he had never allowed us), and then charged us with cleaning after I left that place spotless. His complaint was that I hadn't taken all of the blinds down and soaked them, even though I'd cleaned them. We ended up getting $20 of our deposit back - I sent it back to him, since it was an insult.

djkent01 · 08-03-2008, 12:34 PM

Does anybody know anything about Hunziker Property Management? I just moved my daughter back up there yesterday into a Hunziker property.

On a side note, how do college kids accumulate SO MUCH STUFF?

Angie · 08-03-2008, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by djkent01

Does anybody know anything about Hunziker Property Management? I just moved my daughter back up there yesterday into a Hunziker property.

On a side note, how do college kids accumulate SO MUCH STUFF?

I had a Hunziker apt on Welch once. They were actually pretty good - they came through for the walk-through, and actually told my girlfriend and I what they wanted us to do in order to get back our full deposit, instead of just screwing us over.

clone2011 · 08-03-2008, 12:38 PM

Another company....anyone have experience with Professional Property Mgmt? I ended up staying on campus for this year, but lightly looked into the Cranford Apts (the ones above Jeff's Pizza) on the corner of Stanton and Lincoln Way. Anyone have opinions? Past troubles or good things?

scottie33 · 08-03-2008, 01:02 PM

Whatever you do, don't EVER rent from Rainbow Properties!!! Worst experience ever on every thursday friday and saturday night she would come by the house to make sure there weren't any parties.

joefrog · 08-03-2008, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by Angie

I had a Hunziker apt on Welch once. They were actually pretty good - they came through for the walk-through, and actually told my girlfriend and I what they wanted us to do in order to get back our full deposit, instead of just screwing us over.

So, um, the question is: do you have a girlfriend, or a girlfriend?

On a serious note, I think Hunziker is ok. I live in a Furman property from Jan 03 to July 04 in Ames and they were great to deal with. Got full deposit, no hassles ever. Just assume in Ames that your landlord is going to be a creep. We rented from a family one year, Hatfield's maybe? They own several properties around town I guess. Treated us worse then Ev, if you can believe that.

KnappShack · 08-03-2008, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by ia8manfan

Yep, that was the house! Right across the street from Cap Timm.

Oh yeah. Lived there for two years 92-94. The doors wouldn't lock, had a bee hive in the attic, someone wrote "Ozzy" all over everything, gutters falling off, chipmunks etc. LOVED that place!

Oh course we called the place the "Knapp Shack"

CrossCyed · 08-03-2008, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by Flag Guy

Rented from 1st Property Management... not too many troubles with them (we'll see what I get back for a deposit here but...) They were pretty good about fixing maintence problems that we reported, apartment was clean when we moved in (could still smell the paint from them repainting the walls), etc.

Biggest complaint I had was they did a ****** job of clearing the sidewalks and parking lot after it snowed, otherwise no real problems. I was on Hyland Ave so my rent was a bit higher though

I was in the same boat.