We own a home in Missouri that we use as rental property and we will (hopefully) be purchasing a home here in Phoenix in the next year or two, and I have had no more reliable resource than Angie’s List!
Let me tell you a story!
When we came to Phoenix two months ago we did not want to wait the unknown amount of time to sell our home in Kansas City and purchase a new home in a state we knew nothing about. I wasn’t ready to be a (temporary) single Mom and my husband’s employer was unlikely to wait for us to “maybe” sell our home. In addition, we’d already had our home on the market for 6 months prior to the move with no offers. As a result, we decided this would be a good time to start our investment in rental property.
But, long distance? You ask. Oh, but we have help! Chrissy (yes, the other half of BeCentsable) and her husband have several properties of their own and were nice enough to offer to manage ours for us since we would be so far away! What a blessing that has been!
Of course, as life would have it, as soon as we left our home where we’d lived for 7 years with no major problem, we suddenly have roof leaks and mysterious noises in the vents, exploding toilets (well, I’m exaggerating a bit here, but only a bit). Of course, let’s add to the stress of living in a new state.
We have had several calls for repair services but one in particular led me to write this post. On Labor Day the master bath toilet overflowed completely flooding the bathroom and leaking into the garage and downstairs family room leaving a MESS that needed to be cleaned up ASAP. We had let our Angie’s List membership expire and couldn’t get online to get a ‘good’ referral for a water extractor so we had to blindly call someone from the phonebook…the WRONG someone.
This man gave us the best rate we could find, came out and proceeded to scare our renters, take advantage of our long distance situation and schmoozed his way into doing over a $1k worth of unauthorized work. He then tried to cover himself by pressuring us and the renters into filing insurance claims so he could make some extra money. Thankfully we did not authorize the work nor file unnecessary claims and he was left without recourse. BUT the whole thing took way too much time and energy and I got online the next day and renewed my subscription. Imagine though if we had believed him…we’d be out at least $500 just to cover our deductible and the work wasn’t even necessary!
Moral of the story: unfortunately we are past the times where you can count on a business being helpful and honest 100% of the time. You CAN however, rely on your friends, family and neighbors. This is where Angie’s List comes in!
Check it out – it’s worth every penny! Every one of YOUR hard-earned and SAVED pennies!
It’s not a bad price regularly ($57/annually) considering the thousands it can save you! Right now you can find reviews on any professional service you need at Angie’s List – from electrician to physician.
Click here to sign up and save $10 — get a full year for $47 ( Use promo code “SAVE TEN” for $10 off! )
