Texstar properties

[Des]

Don't rent from Texstar, I found out the hard way and I want to pass it on. They will screw you when your lease is up and charge you with a ton of bogus cleaning fees and "estimated maintenance fees". Even if your house if left perfect. It's insane how many soldiers and people in Killeen they have ripped off. If you notice, their rental list keeps getting longer and longer because no one is renting their properties. Also, they won't give back a deposit, no matter what, because they are losing out big time from people moving out of the houses they rent. Also, their customer care is horrible. I was in there today disputing a bogus cleaning fees ($95)and "estimated maintenance fees" ($700) No joke,$795 worht of bogus charges, and when we did my move out inspection, Dewayne (the inspector) said everything looked great except a few things in the vent of the fridge and a spot or two on the stove, and that was it! They are totally screwing people. If this happens to you, fight it. I am also turning them into housing of Fort Hood, in hopes that some day they will be band from renting and ripping off us soldiers.

[aries_angel03]

I totally agree. When I rented texstar properties my plumbing was messed up and I had a leak and they charged me for the plumber coming out and claimed it was from tenant neglect. They took $100 dollars off of my deposit when I moved out and another guy had already come to my house and said that he wanted to rent it. The guy who moved in said that it was clean and they still charged me to clean it. After I had already paid to have the carpets cleaned and an exterminator come out and spray which was a total of almost $200 dollars. I moved out in February and it took them up until April for me to get my deposit back. They didn't even mail it to me I had to go up to the office and get it after I argued with the people on the phone because they said that I had already gotten my deposit back. They didn't give it to me until I threatened to sue they and report them to BBB. They are a bunch of crooks and they should be banned from doing business here in Killeen.

[Concerned Homeowner]

I am a homeowner who uses these guys to manage my property, so this is a good story from the other side of the coin, owner satisfaction. This is quite possibly the worst company in Killeen. I have had nothing but problems with customer service in that town, and this house investment is no different. I bought the house in 1997, moved out in 2000 and rented it out in 2001 through Texstar. They were good for the first year or so but have been pretty lousy since probably mid-2002. I didn't complain much because they kept my property rented almost non-stop; that is, until my last tenant was evicted after stopping payment in May. I have had to call them repeated times to get any information (mostly to no avail or promises, unfulfilled, to get back to me) about the eviction. Finally I drove the two hours back to Killeen from Dallas and inspected it myself. In our agreement the company is supposed to visit the property periodically to make sure everything is OK. I asked them to check on things in July 2004 when I visited upon return from Iraq, and they didn't contract for any of the repairs at that point or at any time since. My last tenant did about $16,000 worth of damage counting my receipts and lost rent. Zero help from these guys, and I had to ask them to get the power back on, and water as well. I left some cleaning supplies in the house, which were stolen in the two week period between my first and second weekend of painting the entire interior of the house. The fence had blown over, the chimney siding had fallen off, the weeds were 3 feet tall; I mean come on, who will ever rent my house looking like that? They certainly didn't mind absorbing my 10% fee for the last five years, to the tune of about $5000. BBB here I come.

[Property Owner in Killeen]

I own a multi-family housing complex in Copperas Cove and use Texstar and have had horrible results with them. They do not keep me posted about vacancies in my units, and I have given them numerous incentives to pass along to residents to retain them, including free rent and Christmas-time incentives, and they fail to give them to the residents. I want to drop Texstar, but who could I switch to as a property manager? It doesn't sound like anyone in Central Texas is very good at managing properties!

[Tammy]

My husband and i found out the hard way as well, renting from Texstar... We are currently in a lease with the aweful company.. We recently just got stationed here, and the housing waiting list on base was like 10-12 months so we had to find a house fast without really doing any research on this company. Boy that was a big mistake... so we found a house that they said was ready to move into, it was far from it, but we had no other place to stay so we tuffed it out. they "hired" a cleaning lady, and all she did was throw tash out one of the bedroom window's.. since living in this house we have had to deal with termites, cockroaches, our sliding glass door falling apart, carpet coming unglued from the floor, no locks on bedroom windows and lots more misc things..
PLEASE NEVER RENT FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!!

[MAC]

Some of the same problems, when I moved in to a house that was supposed to be ready, it had grass 4 feet high and the pool was dirty. Then after I mowed the grass and figured out the pool did not work they did not want to have it fixed. I had to get the city after them for stagnet water being in my yard before anyone was willing to fix it. The house was in bad shape windows were all messed up with moisture in side which means the seals were bad on about all of them, the carpet was dirty and coming up in spots, bad patch jobs to the ceiling and the fence was falling apart. They in no way were any help in trying to fix any of this. Also any time I went into the office they were very rude like they had better things to do then talk to me, there customer?? They also have no Idea how you should look at the office. Casul attire is ok in this day and age but flip flops and sweat pants and your favorite old dirty Tee shirt does not work.. plus getting them off there personl phone conversations on there cell phones to talk to you was like pulling teeth. I am about to deploy at this time and expect to see about none of my deposit back not because the house is in bad shape it is better then when I moved in, but because Texstar is a bunch of crooks!
Never ever rent form them!

[Former Texstar Customer]

They have horrible customer service, Checks are never received on time, do not collect deposits like their contract states, and most of all they are a bunch of crooks. If you are in a contract make sure you send them a written letter or your contract will keep renewing itself. Then again if you do send them a written letter they will act like they never seen it. :)

[Mrs L]

TEXSTAR PROPERTIES has been sued in the past. Do I hear a class action suit soon?
I formerly rented from Texstar Properties also and had the same problems as you all. I had to get a JAG lawyer to threaten them to get out of my lease even though there was a military clause but not before they put a no trespassing warning out on me through the police for going to their office asking where my past rent was that I had paid and letting them know I was getting a lawyer. It has been a year now and I am still waiting for my deposit to be returned to me! There have been multiple small claims law suits filed against them. Last I heard, 10 out the 14 won! My Jag lawyer was suppose to have them barred from renting to the military but I see they still are. Also my lawyer suggested getting together people to file a class action suit against Texstar.

[TaxedOut]

It would be a real shame for Texstar to be off limit to the military, don't you think?

Fortunately, I never rented through them - I dealt with Diamond Rentals. The let a roof leak go on in my house until it shorted out all of the wiring in the kitchen. Lovely right? Oh, and did I mention it was a two story house?

[Owner]

What would be the terms of the class action lawsuit? As a property owner, I have my own huge set of problems with them, such as not even bothering to collect rent from some residents until I call them and messing up payments to me. They have also charged me for work that I did not feel was necessary since it is a brand new property, under a year old, and the work that was done was supposed to be covered under warranty.

[FORMER RENTER]

I AM ALSO A PREVIOUS RENTER FROM TEXSTAR. THEY CHARGED US FOR BOGAS THINGS WRONG WITH THE RENTAL PROPERTY WHEN WE MOVED OUT. THEY CHARGED US FOR A MISSING SCREEN DOOR THAT WAS NEVER THERE. THEY CHARGED US FOR RUINED GRASS, WE WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF A DRAUGHT IN 2000 TO 2002, THERE WERE ONLY WEEDS WHEN WE MOVED IN. THEY ALSO CHARGED US FOR CARPET CLEANING, WHEN WE HAD ALREADY PROVIDED THEM WITH A RECEIPT FOR CARPET CLEANING. ALONG WITH OTHER FALSE CHARGES, WE ONLY GOT BACK A LITTLE OVER A HUNDRED DOLLARS OF OUR DEPOSIT. THEY GOT AWAY WITH THIS BECAUSE THEY KNEW WE WERE GETTING TRANSFERRED TO GERMANY AT THE TIME. WE ARE BACK IN KILLEEN, TEXAS AGAIN AND I AM LOOKING FOR A RENTAL. I CAN ASSURE THAT I WILL NEVER GO TO THEM AGAIN. EVERY RENTAL COMPANY IS GOING TO RIP YOU OFF, BUT TEXSTAR IS THE WORST OF THEM.

[Laura]

I've used JWC Rentals as a property manager for one house in Killeen for about 2 years, and they've been great. I asked some of my friends who were renters who they liked when they were looking for rental houses, and they told me JWC, so I figured (correctly) that they would be good property managers too. No problems so far.

[Young family 4]

WoW. I am so glad I read all that about Texstar...We are fixing to PCS to ft.hood and Ive been looking and looking thank God I read this before I cam across Texstar ...does anyone have any more recomendations as far as rental companies go??? Someone mentioned JWC there really nice but they wont really help us out untill we are there soo Im kinda trying to plan ahead...thanks

[Owner]

To: Young Family 4
If you are looking for a place, even though I am a property owner with Texstar, I have only had problems with them as an owner and have not had them "scam" any of my residents. In fact, I seem to get charged for a lot of things that I thought the residents should have repaired themselves. You do not have to mow the lawn for the property but you do have to water the flowers. My property is only a year old, so there's relatively little that ever goes wrong with the property.

The problem with Texstar is that they are huge and have a lot of properties to manage, so a lot slips through the cracks. If you are vigilant in keeping up your property, then you should have few problems. If you are getting ready to leave the apartment and move out, I always recommend that you call Texstar and find out specifically what you should be doing before vacating the property (should you paint the walls? Should you steam clean the carpet?) and then make sure you get it in writing from them, too. All property management companies are going to tell you over the phone what you should be doing, but each person who answers the phone is still only a human and his definition of what you should do to vacate is going to be slightly different from the next person's in the office (I know this because each time I call about a renter not making payments, I get a different answer as to what the policy is for paying me each month). So follow up and get it in writing. There's no such thing as the perfect property management company...I have tried contacting JWC and they won't respond to me, so what does that tell you about their company? Property management companies just churn out rentals and take in money and don't worry about what's happening in between there, so it's a problem everywhere, not just with Texstar or JWC.

I also encourage renters to email me directly if they are having problems with the property manager. Sometimes an angry phone call by the owner to the property management company will get the job done. I also send emails if a renter is having problems to make sure I have the paper trail.

If you are looking for a property to rent, I have availabilities and offer $300 off the first month's full rent and $300 off the last full month's rent if you pay your lease on time each month on a 12-month lease. I prefer to work with my residents, not against them, as long as they do what they are supposed to do, but not if they end up trying to scam me (ie, refusing to pay to have the apartment repainted when they have left stains on the walls). If the resident follows the rules that are in the contract, then I follow the rules of returning deposits to them. It's really that simple, but you'd be surprised how many residents don't read their contracts and think that they can leave with big stains on the carpet and that it's not their fault.

You can email me at [e-mail] if you have more questions. I get frustrated with Texstar, too, but when I have talked to owners of properties around the country they all say the same thing about their property management companies, so it's usually best to keep in touch with the owner of the property should any issues arise...and as far as I know, no resident in any of my apartments has yet to have an issue with them, even having someone come out to repair an air conditioner immediately when it was still under warranty!

Feel free to email me if you want more info!

[MS M]

I am a former tenant and had a terrible experience with Texstar. We filed numerous work orders that were never followed through on, including one for the smoke alarm which is a violation of state law-we had to go and buy our own smoke alarm so that we would be safe. Now I am in a battle with them for the deposit. I am in the process of preparing to sue. If anyone is interested in providing information or copies of their move-out paperwork to provide for evidence, please contact me at my email address [e-mail]. I am especially interested in information regarding "repair and maintenance" charges that just happen to equal the deposit. Please help if you can. This company is taking advantage of the fact that this area has a lot of military people who are passing through and cannot spend the time fighting them in court.

[Jimmy Davis]

I am also a TEXSTAR hater and was pleased to find this site to vent some of my frustration with this company. I was previously stationed at Fort Hood from 2000 to 2003 and rented a house for one year from TEXSTAR. Our problems were throughout the lease with not being called back by representatives on repairs, delays in making repairs, and then continuing after they had asked in March 2001 if we were interested in renewing our lease due to expire in July of 2001. We said we did want to renew our lease since I knew I was stationed at Fort Hood for the three years. Our toilets then plugged up and we dealt with overflowing and plugged toilets for two months until the septic system was finally replaced. During this time a TEXSTAR person came and planted a FOR SALE sign in the yard. When we called them to find out what was going on - TEXSTAR said the owners were selling the property and that we had 30 days to leave or buy the property. We then called the owner who told us he had been told by TEXSTAR when he was considering selling and when he asked "what about the current tenants" that we had said it did not matter one way or the other. I told the house owner (who was also active duty) that that conversation had never happened. He was then mad and called TEXSTAR but still went ahead with the sale of the property. We thus had to move at our own expense out of the house when we were fully expecting to continue renting. We spoke directly with the TEXSTAR properties owner (I wish I could remember his name - wife and husband are owners and also real estate agents) to no avail. We then rented a house from Hunter Rentals with quick responses on repairs, full refund on security deposits to include pets and a professional relationship all around. I do feel better that my experience with TEXSTAR is reflected in many of the other comments on this site. My advice - do not use TEXSTAR properties.

[CARMEN G]

I JUST RENTED A TOWNHOUSE ON VICTORIA CIR. IN KILLEEN ON APRIL THE 1ST.
OH YES, I THING IS WAS A APRIL JOKE.I STILL DON'T HAVE A TOILET IN MY DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM--NO CEILINGFANS-NO LIGHTS-MOLD IN THE KITCHEN-NO BLINDS ETC.I THING IT IS A SHAME. I WISHED I KNOW ALL OFF THIS BEFORE I SIGNED A ONLY 6 MONTH LEASE.WHAT IS MY NEXT STEP???????
MY ADVICE-DO NOT RENT FROM TEXSTAR

[Over Protective Mom]

My advice is BUY, do not rent. That way everything is up to you.

[Str8_2_the_Point]

CARMEN G wrote:

I JUST RENTED A TOWNHOUSE ON VICTORIA CIR. IN KILLEEN ON APRIL THE 1ST.
OH YES, I THING IS WAS A APRIL JOKE.I STILL DON'T HAVE A TOILET IN MY DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM--NO CEILINGFANS-NO LIGHTS-MOLD IN THE KITCHEN-NO BLINDS ETC.I THING IT IS A SHAME. I WISHED I KNOW ALL OFF THIS BEFORE I SIGNED A ONLY 6 MONTH LEASE.WHAT IS MY NEXT STEP???????
MY ADVICE-DO NOT RENT FROM TEXSTAR

Contact the Killeen city building inspector's office immediately. They can help. You might also contact an attorney as you have an actionable case if what you say is the truth. Texstar is in considerable jeopardy for renting you a place without a toilet.

[Tig]

They rip off the home owner too, I never received the damage money they charged the tenant. They kept it. Service terrible, the tenant couldn't even get them for an emergency repair, I finally handled everything for the tenant myself.
The house was left clean and TexStar charged the tenant a cleaning fee and maintenance fee and damages that I never got...the home owner gets ripped off too. I was happy with the tenants but TexStar rips EVERYBODY off!
Tig