First Choice Housing

Raj Kumar

Don't bother staying, it's the worst housing agency that exists around the campus. They don't care about tenants and have horrible leasing agreements were you can't do anything. Whatever happens don't rent a property from this agency.

Georgia Samuel

In terms of living at a First Choice Housing property, I had no issues, and when I did have small repair needs they were well met. In this sense I can recommend First Choice Housing. However, I cannot recommend them as a series of strange events have occurred with their administration of my lease. About 3/4 of the way through the lease, I had a random man come to my door (getting through the gate through apparent asking of a resident to let him in which is very unsettling) and accuse me of squatting / staying past my lease has ended (which is objectively untrue with significant documentation to the contrary), and telling me that I need to leave. He also stated that every other apartment had moved out and we were the only people left in the block, which again is objectively untrue considering that at least four of the seven other apartments are currently occupied. I have received zero follow up information, and was unable to elicit the name of the real estate company he represented or his own name, which again was very unsettling. When I immediately tried to contact First Choice Housing for explanation I was told that my lease had been given to another company. Full stop. No further explanation, no contact details, no apologies for the confusion. Five emails and many calls later, I am no closer to understanding what has occurred, and I have yet to elucidate the name of my new real estate agent. The only reply I received was an aggressive copy and pasting of another real estate company's google page, no email, no names, nothing. The complete lack of information from this company as to who I am in a legal contract with, as well as the apparent passing on of my contact details and private information to a totally unknown third party who so far have been deeply unprofessional, is why I cannot recommend First Choice Housing. As a student real estate company, customer service is their bread and butter. I don't think they've worked that out yet.

C G

This has been the most poorly run rental companies I have encountered in my life. The company clearly takes advantage of the fact that there is limited supply around the USC campus but plenty of demand. They also prey on students who do not fully understand tenant rights, or have the funds to sue this company. Issues I've encountered in the 2 years I stayed on First Choice property around the USC area: - Washer/dryer machines had multiple issues during the year and needed repairs. Management ignored 3 request for repair emails, and then finally responded with a curt one-liner, suggesting I reach out to the washer/dryer leasing company and get things fixed myself. - Lights in the hallway and basement of the building went out and management took more than a month to replace the bulbs. - Had a leaking faucet that I requested repairs for. Management responded 2 weeks later and outright lied saying they had fixed the problem (nobody ever came to the apartment). Finally, after following up 2 more times, someone actually was sent and the problem was fixed. - Electricity went out 4 times in a month (for several hours). Management did not provide any guidance until half the building complained. The response: someone wrote something to the effect of "we apologize for the inconvenience" on a piece of cardboard, and stuck it on the front door of the building. - Management/maintenance took over a month to take action on another maintenance request, and I had to physically go into the office at least 5 times before I was finally given an answer. - The icing on the cake is that the company held my security deposit for over 21 calendar days - violating California tenant laws.

Aadhya Ishani

Being International students our hands were tied because we had limited time to find a place. When we were given a virtual tour the house seemed absolutely perfect and we were promise all the fittings to be in place by the time we arrive. It’s been almost 2 weeks and even after raising multiple work orders, physically visiting First Choice Housing office and constantly calling them we so far are still on square one. We just get one answer IT WILL BE DONE SOON! Our smoke alarm has low battery and it has such a sharp sound that none of the flatmates have been able to sleep in a week! The bathroom door doesn’t close, so privacy is out of the question! Half of the bulbs don’t work, our main door is still struggling to get locked from the outside and when we were promised AC’s and a Microwave, that still seems distant! Being an agency which deals with students, they are insensitive and very laid back. They do not understand that we are students who need to study and sleep in a peaceful environment without any disturbances! It has been a horrible experience so far. If this is how the services are even after paying all our dues on time then their professionalism is deeply questionable.