Excel Real Estate Management - Bloomington, Illinois

As H.

My husband and I moved across the country for Rivian and used excel to rent. After living there happily for 2 years they suddenly decided that our rent needed to go up by $600. They wanted to charge us $2200 for a year lease. They provided no warning, in fact on a phone call I was assured they'd raise it only $200. They lied. No matter, they didn't care. This was in addition to the fact that on repeated occasions throughout our lease term with them, they'd call and warn us that so many other people wanted to rent our unit and they wanted to "check" if we wanted to stay through another lease. They also suggested that we simply raise our rent mid lease because there was so much interest. This is illegal and manipulative. It felt almost like the $600 increase was retaliatory because I didn't want to raise our rent in the middle of a lease term. The same home they wanted us to rent for $2200 for a one year lease is now barely $1970 market value on Zillow. This rent increase impacted our lives severely at a time when I was expecting a child very shortly, gave birth, and was then postpartum. Our very literal dream to live in IL was shattered and had to move back home with an infant. We tried to negotiate with them explaining that we didnt want to move at such a vulnerable time but also couldn't afford their increase, to no avail. This was incredibly stressful. We signed the lease and then broke it, at which point we paid a ridiculous termination fee and we're still charged $700 for a microwave handle after leaving our home in absolutely impeccable condition. Be warned. Specifically the property owner at Shepard Rd. Will harass and try to intimidate you into rent increases mid-lease.

William R.

Literally from beginning to end with this company, completely disappointed.
Paying 1685 a month for rent, carpet was dirty and crunchy from move in on. Was told it was cleaned the end.
Ceiling fan in bedroom wasn't working upon move in. Electrician told them I must of worked on it, for 1685 a month, im not working on anything. Excel called me a liar and said I must have.
5 tile were cracked in master bedroom for 2 years. Was told they couldn't find someone to do job.
Now, after being rushed out to do final walk through, I'm told my deposit is taking so long because they need an estimate on replacing a window that is broke, btw wasn't on my final walk through check list as something wrong so don't know how it is holding up my check.
Company is only worried about company. Customer service is poor due to only being worried about their bottom line.

Timothy A.

Typical Management agency, mid level experience. Poor customer service. Don't expect management to ever do you any favors. Maintenance crews seem cool.

Taus

I have recently rented an apartment from excel. I originally wasn’t going to write this because I was glad to be done with my horrible experience, but figured I should give my honest review to let potential newcomers know what to expect. Firstly, I must say the apartments were nice, at the very least they were well kept. However, upon the tour of the apartment we were going to sign for, we had noticed the carpet was disgusting. We were assured that the carpet would be replaced by the time we moved in, so we went ahead and signed. We moved in and the carpets weren’t changed, so we called the manager, Sara (Sarah?). She basically said that the carpets being replaced were not in the contract we signed, so they wouldn’t do it.
At the end of the year excel attempted to charge us for the carpets.

There was also an issue with one of the toilets constantly running water that my roommates and I could not have possibly detected, since there were no signs of any issue. Excel shut off our water after monitoring it for two weeks, then shoved a $500 bill in our face. They forced us to pay the fee before turning our water back on.

For the sake of time I’m not going to go through all of the small problems we encountered throughout the year with Sara, I’d rather sum it up to what we were charged at the end of the year. Not only did Excel keep all of our security deposit, we were charged a $3,000 bill for the following:

fingerprints on the phone, several lightbulbs that hadn’t been changed, 10-20 needlepoint-sized holes in dry wall from darts, a small piece of plastic under the couch, several bent blinds, the carpet, and several small areas throughout the apartment that “weren’t cleaned well enough” including the backside of the toilet, the oven, and the closet (we spent hours cleaning the apartment). Keep in mind, the carpet wasn’t even the biggest expense. They attempted to charge thousand of dollars for the other items listed on the bill.

Upon receiving the bill we realized that the owner of excel was the same owner of the cleaning company excel uses (do you see a conflict of interest?). It didn’t take long to realize that the owner set ridiculously high rates for the cleaning company, then charged the tenets. We had also tried to contact the owner but she was conveniently unavailable for months. We ended up settling for an amount of money that I cannot remember, but it wasn’t fair by any means.

Excel was the worst living experience of my entire four years living in normal, and I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.

J. P.

I'm going to start of saying GREAT SERVICE, GREAT PRICE, GREAT PEOPLE! Comparing across the same price we got a much higher quality and larger space than I saw anywhere else. They also worked with me to help me get into our new apartment very quickly.

I originally had an agreement with a duplex through craigslist, but the landlord gave the place to someone else without letting us know. I was moving from Denver and needed to get into a home that would be right for my family very quickly. The Excel Real Estate Management team got the place we were interested in cleaned and painted over a weekend for us. They were also very neighborly letting me know about the area and fun things to do with our family.

Again, GREAT SERVICE, GREAT PRICE, GREAT PEOPLE! Thank you Excel Real Estate Management!

E P.

Prior to moving in and a week after being in my home, my experience with Excel was great. Now that I've been in my home a little over a month, i started seeing things that needed to be repaired. When I called the office, I provided a list of things that needed to be repaired and was told we will get these items done. After a week, I called back and shared some of the things were done but not all. One of the things on my list, was to remove a large green paint bucket that is buried in my backyard which is preventing me from enjoying my backyard space & is difficult to mow around. I was told in a very rude way, we will not remove it and if you want it removed, it's your responsibility. When I asked why, i was told, if the bucket is there, it must be for a reason. I asked "what is the reason" but didnt get a answer. I personally can't think of any reasons why a paint bucket, buried upside down in the ground would be serving a purpose. I thought renting was an advantage due to not being responsible for repairs but apparently this is not the case with Excel.
Needless to say, I will be moving at the end of my lease due to poor management & they are just rude to their tenants.

Kate J.

I just renewed my lease to rent with excel for another year! I have loved renting from them. The office staff is kind and helpful and every maintenance request or question I have is taken care of promptly and professionally. Highly recommend 🙂

Bhanu A.

TONs of issues with this property and the customer service. The property looks good from outside, but I have lot of issues.

Induction burner not working. When I requested service, they charged me around $140 and did not even fix the issue. The management grossly misuses their powers and leaves the tenants helpless. They advised me to try to fix things myself before calling management.

Complained about mold and probable water leakage 3 weeks back and its still not fixed. I have been paying water bills to the amount of $250 for the last 3 months and the management says that its my fault to not report it early! When one of my friends who lives in the same complex called about high water bill, they refused to even show up and asked my fiend to find himself of any water leakage!

The management keeps arguing with (high attitude) tenants and always blames the tenants for everything!

Not enough garbage bins, so the bins are always overflowing. Also, rain water gets stagnated at the garbage bin.

Its a big mistake that I got struck here, but I would never recommend this property to anyone.