Let me preface by saying that we've been renting in the Keys since the late 80's without a problem. I also believe in leaving positive feedback as much as I believe in calling foul when necessary. My Google, Amazon, eBay, Air B&B and VRBO reviews are all at least 95% positive. Had the property manager, Debra Farell, done her job and had the owner invested just few dollars in this property I wouldn't be making this report. Instead, they've chosen to team up to milk this cash cow for all it's worth. It's time for that to stop and for this sham to be exposed for what it is.
With that said, our experience with Debra Farrell and Century 21 Schwartz Realty was like nothing that we have ever experienced. They rented us a vacation "home" that was dilapidated, filthy and not fully functional. The house was also poorly appointed. Everything from the furniture to the bath linens to the kitchen utensils and cookware was complete junk.
Not something one would expect when spending nearly $6000.00. I will cover it all here. This report may seem lengthy, but I urge you to read on to the end so that you may gain a full appreciation for just how quickly these people will pick your pockets and then move on to the next unsuspecting victim.
The name of the property that we rented through schwartzvacations.com is "Sunset Villa". It is located at 3703 Seagrape St., Big Pine Key, FL 33043. I felt that something wasn't right from the moment I arrived to pick up the keys. Debra Farrell's assistant, the woman from whom we collected the keys, told me that she had just come from the property. Naturally my first thought was, "Uh oh, what's wrong, what's going on here, why the need to be out there at the last minute?". But I let it slide and didn't say anything, I just collected the keys said "thank you" and was on my way.
As we're approaching the house we are flagged down by a driver coming from the opposite direction who turned out to be Debra Farrell, the property manager. She announces to me that the cook top had given out last month, but that she had some hotplates there for us to prepare meals. Well, my facial expression must have been quite visible as Debra says to me with an incredulous tone "what's wrong, you look disappointed". "Well, of course I'm disappointed", I said. "I don't like these types of surprises and I didn't spend $5,600.00 to cook my meals on a hotplate". She started going into some bullshit damage control speech, but I had already tuned her out. I just wanted to get to the house and survey things for myself.
We proceeded to the house to see just how ugly this was going to be. The first thing that I did was go on an inspection tour with my camera. I cant't even explain to you the sinking feeling that came over me as I made my way through the house. We had been ripped off. Not only were there hotplates in place of the cook top, but the cookware looked as if it had been plucked from the side of the road. The pots, pans and kitchen utensils (including the rusty fire hazard they are passing off as a toaster) were so bad that they wouldn't even be suitable as a Goodwill donation. The remaining kitchen appliances looked as if they are original to the house that was built in 1979.
The condition of the house isn't much better. Forty year old toilets that barely flushed, unstable/loose railings and bannisters (unsafe), outdated smoke detectors, a blown out storm door and a blown out wall with exposed 2x4s downstairs. To make matters worse, the AC cover from the 2nd story was laying on the ground and had broken the globe on the electric meter on its way down. The latter of which I had to report to the property manager Debra Farrel myself. It seems that a property manager who was doing their job would have noticed this. Especialy considering that she was just there!
This was not the only time that I had to do Debra's job. It was I who worked with the handyman who, eleven days later, finally installed a cook top. It was also I who had to call Waste Management in Key West to get a recycling can delivered. After 5 days of waiting for Debra to arrange this, I had to make the call myself. When I let Debra know that I had handled it she replied with another line of BS, "Awesome, I thought they charged for them so I was going to bring you one myself". Yeah, whatever Debra. FYI, there were very specific instructions as to how to sort the recycling. They threatened to charge you if it wasn't done properly.....but no recycling can! This all might not sound like a big deal, but I'm on my vacation. I'm here to relax and enjoy my time. I'm not here make calls so things get done, that's the property manager's responsibility not mine. Never I have seen such dereliction of duty.
The house was so grungy that we elected to launder our sheets straight away. It was easy to conclude from the hair and stains on the bedskirt and from the general abundance of filth that the sheets had not been washed. Absolutely inexcusable!!! Especially when you consider that there is a $175 cleaning fee in addition to the rent. Who knows where that money went, but I'm certain that it didn't go to cleaning. More likely into someone's pocket, like Debra or the property owner.
Hang in there, I'm almost done.
Something else that was terribly disappointing were the lack of appointments. There wasn't a single lounge chair anywhere to be found. I mean what are the chances that someone may want to just lay around in the sun while on vacation in Florida?! Suffice it to say that we expected to be renting a "home" but all we got was a rundown house at which we couldn't stand to spend time.
The most disturbing part of all of this is that Debra took zero responsibility. She would just give the usual bullshit realtor double speak and act like a house in this condition was acceptable. All that we asked for was a mere $670.00 in reparations. A refund of our cleaning fee of $175.00 and a $45/day penalty for not being able to cook at home for eleven days. Trust me, there is nowhere in the Keys where two people can eat for $45.00/day. Our request of $670.00 was MORE than reasonable. Her response was that they violated nothing in the contract and that it was too late as the funds had already been disbursed. There may not have been any contractual violations, but there are ethical and moral obligations that Debra ignored in the name of profit
I urge you to at least steer clear of Debra Farrell, Schwartz Century 21 and 3703 Seagrape St, (aka Sunset Villa). I wouldn't let these bandits rent me a bicycle. Moreover, when it comes time to finally plunk down a couple of million on our Keys home I will not be using any of the Century 21 family of agencies.
Schwartz Realty, Inc. Reviews
Let me preface by saying that we've been renting in the Keys since the late 80's without a problem. I also believe in leaving positive feedback as much as I believe in calling foul when necessary. My Google, Amazon, eBay, Air B&B and VRBO reviews are all at least 95% positive. Had the property manager, Debra Farell, done her job and had the owner invested just few dollars in this property I wouldn't be making this report. Instead, they've chosen to team up to milk this cash cow for all it's worth. It's time for that to stop and for this sham to be exposed for what it is.
With that said, our experience with Debra Farrell and Century 21 Schwartz Realty was like nothing that we have ever experienced. They rented us a vacation "home" that was dilapidated, filthy and not fully functional. The house was also poorly appointed. Everything from the furniture to the bath linens to the kitchen utensils and cookware was complete junk.
Not something one would expect when spending nearly $6000.00. I will cover it all here. This report may seem lengthy, but I urge you to read on to the end so that you may gain a full appreciation for just how quickly these people will pick your pockets and then move on to the next unsuspecting victim.
The name of the property that we rented through schwartzvacations.com is "Sunset Villa". It is located at 3703 Seagrape St., Big Pine Key, FL 33043. I felt that something wasn't right from the moment I arrived to pick up the keys. Debra Farrell's assistant, the woman from whom we collected the keys, told me that she had just come from the property. Naturally my first thought was, "Uh oh, what's wrong, what's going on here, why the need to be out there at the last minute?". But I let it slide and didn't say anything, I just collected the keys said "thank you" and was on my way.
As we're approaching the house we are flagged down by a driver coming from the opposite direction who turned out to be Debra Farrell, the property manager. She announces to me that the cook top had given out last month, but that she had some hotplates there for us to prepare meals. Well, my facial expression must have been quite visible as Debra says to me with an incredulous tone "what's wrong, you look disappointed". "Well, of course I'm disappointed", I said. "I don't like these types of surprises and I didn't spend $5,600.00 to cook my meals on a hotplate". She started going into some bullshit damage control speech, but I had already tuned her out. I just wanted to get to the house and survey things for myself.
We proceeded to the house to see just how ugly this was going to be. The first thing that I did was go on an inspection tour with my camera. I cant't even explain to you the sinking feeling that came over me as I made my way through the house. We had been ripped off. Not only were there hotplates in place of the cook top, but the cookware looked as if it had been plucked from the side of the road. The pots, pans and kitchen utensils (including the rusty fire hazard they are passing off as a toaster) were so bad that they wouldn't even be suitable as a Goodwill donation. The remaining kitchen appliances looked as if they are original to the house that was built in 1979.
The condition of the house isn't much better. Forty year old toilets that barely flushed, unstable/loose railings and bannisters (unsafe), outdated smoke detectors, a blown out storm door and a blown out wall with exposed 2x4s downstairs. To make matters worse, the AC cover from the 2nd story was laying on the ground and had broken the globe on the electric meter on its way down. The latter of which I had to report to the property manager Debra Farrel myself. It seems that a property manager who was doing their job would have noticed this. Especialy considering that she was just there!
This was not the only time that I had to do Debra's job. It was I who worked with the handyman who, eleven days later, finally installed a cook top. It was also I who had to call Waste Management in Key West to get a recycling can delivered. After 5 days of waiting for Debra to arrange this, I had to make the call myself. When I let Debra know that I had handled it she replied with another line of BS, "Awesome, I thought they charged for them so I was going to bring you one myself". Yeah, whatever Debra. FYI, there were very specific instructions as to how to sort the recycling. They threatened to charge you if it wasn't done properly.....but no recycling can! This all might not sound like a big deal, but I'm on my vacation. I'm here to relax and enjoy my time. I'm not here make calls so things get done, that's the property manager's responsibility not mine. Never I have seen such dereliction of duty.
The house was so grungy that we elected to launder our sheets straight away. It was easy to conclude from the hair and stains on the bedskirt and from the general abundance of filth that the sheets had not been washed. Absolutely inexcusable!!! Especially when you consider that there is a $175 cleaning fee in addition to the rent. Who knows where that money went, but I'm certain that it didn't go to cleaning. More likely into someone's pocket, like Debra or the property owner.
Hang in there, I'm almost done.
Something else that was terribly disappointing were the lack of appointments. There wasn't a single lounge chair anywhere to be found. I mean what are the chances that someone may want to just lay around in the sun while on vacation in Florida?! Suffice it to say that we expected to be renting a "home" but all we got was a rundown house at which we couldn't stand to spend time.
The most disturbing part of all of this is that Debra took zero responsibility. She would just give the usual bullshit realtor double speak and act like a house in this condition was acceptable. All that we asked for was a mere $670.00 in reparations. A refund of our cleaning fee of $175.00 and a $45/day penalty for not being able to cook at home for eleven days. Trust me, there is nowhere in the Keys where two people can eat for $45.00/day. Our request of $670.00 was MORE than reasonable. Her response was that they violated nothing in the contract and that it was too late as the funds had already been disbursed. There may not have been any contractual violations, but there are ethical and moral obligations that Debra ignored in the name of profit
I urge you to at least steer clear of Debra Farrell, Schwartz Century 21 and 3703 Seagrape St, (aka Sunset Villa). I wouldn't let these bandits rent me a bicycle. Moreover, when it comes time to finally plunk down a couple of million on our Keys home I will not be using any of the Century 21 family of agencies.
Thank you for reading, you have been warned.