Rhodes, Van Note & Company Realtors®

Tim M. _{on Yelp}

Jun 7th, 2015

I employed Rhodes, Van Note & Company Realtors two years ago to rent out my property.  There were good and bad points to this experience.  The particular agent I used was Daniel De Picciotto.  He did better than some other realtors, but the bar has been set very low in the world of real estate agents.  I would not trust Daniel to market my property again.Daniel met me in my home and I explained that I wanted to find a trustworthy renter for my investment property.  I wanted a renter who had at least a credit score of 600, and that I would need to check other things in the background of any applicant.  He understood and he showed me a comparative analysis of other similar properties.  The analysis looked good and it turned out it actually was.  Daniel provided advice about what rental price the property should be listed at.  His advice seemed reasonable.Daniel found a number of applicants and the way things worked between us he would run a credit check on the applicants and share these results with me.  This worked well as a first step to vet clients.  However, I later I understood Daniel was not actually concerned about finding a responsible renter (always pay the rent and not damage the property).  He eventually tried to get one couple past me without showing me the credit report, even though he knew this was mandatory, because he insisted the husband was employed with the Department of Homeland Security and therefore must be credit worthy and responsible.  I countered that the credit check must be done regardless.  That paid off because the credit score was 525 (pathetically low).  This couple had not paid their mortgage in 36 months and the husband was rocking a late model Camaro, which he drove to the property.  This couple's application process became even weirder given the current address they claimed they were living at did not exist on Google Maps and they wanted to pay the rent through an insurance settlement due to claiming their current property had suffered a fire and the insurer, a company I had never heard of, would be paying compensation until their home was repaired.  In the end I had a realtor who had no concern for my best interest.  Although he came across as well mannered his motivation was purely to collect a commission.  Everyone should demand their realtors be more than this.  This flies in the face of the only other review currently listed here for Rhodes, Van Note & Company which presents them as a company that supposedly does not operate in this manner.  That same review was written by a realtor named Kevin K.  If necessary, go get some finger paint and do the math on how Kevin rated them five stars.  In my experience there is nothing especially strong about Rhodes, Van Note & Company.  On a relative scale they are slightly better than some realty companies, and on an absolute scale they could do far better.  This is the case with most realty companies and realtors.   Tread carefully.  Good ones exist, albeit they are few and far between.