Chicago Apartment Finders

I don’t usually write reviews at all but I had such a bad experience with this company. I found a listing and it was only viewable by CAF. I asked the agent if the move in date was flexible, 10 days early. She assured me it was. I informed her that I needed ASAP move in due to me leaving the area for a military assignment. She verified in writing that I could definitely move in on my desired date. After I finished all the paperwork and got approved, she tells me that it’s no way possible to move in on my desired date and I don’t get a refund of my money. She stated she was unaware of all the additional requirements to move in the unit. She was very inexperienced and continued to give me inaccurate information throughout my entire experience with the company. I will never apply for an apartment through them again.

I found my apartment in Edgewater with Apartment Finders. I got exactly what I wanted for a great price and Ashley was friendly and accommodating. I’d recommend this location to anyone looking for an apartment in Edgewater /​Andersonville.

Have to take a new Job or Project (September 28’2015) in Chicago Downtown, Chicago City in Illinois. During the Process, I reached out to my Contact Paul –General Manager from Hosteling International, Chicago Branch/​Division USA (where I was one of the Non Profit Board Member and earlier President of Florida HI USA also).
I was referred to Chicago Apartment Finders and reached out to a person called –reference name Jerry P.
Jerry P is pretty quick, sharp and knows the job well. Jerry P does not mince words. He talks direct, talks to the point. He went out of the way to give about AIRBNB –which I have not heard before also. He gave this info, if I need to stay for few days on a reasonable basis without much Hotel Taxes… if I cannot get into Apartment or for the weekend Saturday and Sunday also… these are not his work or responsibilities. He wants to give more input whatever you are looking for.
Above all, we had a Lease signed and Jerry P went out of the way to call the owner Mr. Pablo and help me out in moving from Marriott to the Condo in a timely manner. Rather he took extra steps or extra mile/​over and beyond to make this happen. Without his help I would not have been inside the Apartment today… No kidding or jokes. Even though the first night I was without power or electricity or current. Now also no internet or so or Fob to get into the elevator nor go to 2^nd floor where we can logon or plug in… but still his Good work/​great efforts to get things done… should not go unnoticed… otherwise, I would have paid or maybe paying 2k to Marriott … I am typing after my office work is over. So that I take time to do this after my regular job here… I need to do justice for the new client. That’s honesty, ethics and integrity –which they always see in me. :)
God is watching. Truth will always win and fact will go a long way always. I am touched by all his kind gestures. He can message back even after we finish the deal. This is the difference Jerry P makes. We can read anywhere about Chicago Apartment Finders but his good work will always win/​or the truth will win.
If you send a 60 minutes crew undercover or undercover boss or ²⁰⁄₂₀ undercover reviews his work-​he will stand out ahead of lot of realtors in the market, rather the way he deals in the company as well. Compared to his other co-​workers in the closing or other department.
Jerry P is awesome and you can count upon on him anywhere. I should not forget the good help or good karma anyone does. I need to take time to review and update without fail… That’s the ultimate success or truth. Hats off to Jerry P and Chicago Apartment Finders. Please ensure to inform his management. Or we can keep saying we are too busy. Have no time… Those I do not take. It takes hardly 5 or 10 minutes of your time to send across the good work… It is all telling for outside worlds… Let us have conscious and put nice things — it is the attitude that matters. Jerry P has a great attitude.

We found an apartment on Zillow that we were super excited about, so we made an appointment to view it and discovered that it was being shown by CAF. In the end, we didn’t really have any options about using their service.
However, the apartment is a 15 on a scale of 1 to 10, and I figured it was worth the risks. (I do my Unilocal homework and was aware of the pitfalls of using CAF.)
If it wasn’t for the amazing apartment I would have pulled the plug on this entire mess weeks ago. The biggest problem wasn’t even a CAF issue, but that the apartment wasn’t going to be available when it was listed as available — that was a bummer but fine, we figured that we would make it work, as I said the digs are a 15.
So, we were stressed enough as it was. You know how it is when you find an amazing space and you know that it’s going to be in demand, so you want to be on top of it so it doesn’t get rented out from under you? Yeah, it was that good. Oh, and you know when your roommate has to sleep on your couch for 6 weeks while you’re waiting for the apartment to become available and everyone is ready to kill each other? Moving sucks.
Sure, it’s no fun, but you are aware of that, so you rely on a professional agency to, I don’t know, be professional and help get the ball rolling? Well with CAF, that’s a nope nope. The stress of moving alone was compounded by the stress of dealing with them.
1. Over the six weeks that this situation was going on, we went weeks without knowing the status of our application, or when our lease would be ready. I realize that much of this depends on the landlord communicating in a timely manner, but sometimes the third wheel that is CAF seems like it overcomplicates what could be a simple process.
2. The only person who can provide you with information about the status of your application/​lease is your agent. I don’t know if this is done to protect an agent’s commission or what but it means that if your agent is unavailable due to a family emergency there is NO ONE that can give you information about your account. Now, my agent was a nice guy but if he is in the middle of an emergency, I do not want him to be bothered. However, that’s the way it works. So, I can’t get any information about my account until my poor agent gets dragged away from his family? Why not just let a manager answer my questions?
3. You want a call back? Not going to happen. We had to call CAF repeatedly for information and no one called back, we escalated the issue to managers but they don’t return phone calls either. If moving isn’t stressful enough be prepared to chase down everyone at every turn.
While it’s two sides of the same coin, I think that the lack of response and the utter lack of internal communication in their office makes for a very bad experience. I don’t recommend using this agency.

Review Elaine Place Management:
I apologize for the length of this post but I felt folks needed to be warned to NEVER rent an apartment managed by Chicago Apartment Finders (AKA Elaine Place Management) with some details as to why. I rented an apartment in Lakeview, Chicago for twelve months with CAF. The apartment was a bit pricey but the location, size, and several additional features made it attractive to me. I thoroughly regret this choice as during this time I had a horrible time with CAF rental management team. The biggest issue with these folks is a general lack of communication and when communication does occur it comes across both unprofessional and passive-​aggressive. Requests for maintenance would take forever to process, questions couldn’t be addressed quickly because only one person there seems to have any information, etc. The biggest frustration is you don’t know who you’re talking too… I got first names but no last names, there is a general phone number but no individual phone numbers, email account was answered by the management «team» and the emails were never signed.
For the first 10 months I wasn’t impressed (but not too irritated) with CAF and then I saw how awful they are when my company had me move to CA with two months left on my lease. CAF was extremely unwilling to do an early termination of my lease or let me go outright giving me only the options of 1) paying them the two months or 2) finding a sublease. During this email exchange as I asked for details on my options they made sure to remind me of the penalties of breaking said lease despite the fact that I hadn’t even brought this up and I have a perfect credit and rental history (10+ years of renting without missing a payment, skipping out of a lease early, or breaking a lease). These sorts of comments are rarely appreciated by one’s customers (duh!).
After finding a young lady to sublease my apartment they added insult to injury and informed me I would still have to pay them directly and she would then pay me. So in other words I assume all the risk, responsibility, and time commitments while they get their check… gee thanks guys! During this time I made a mistake and told my sublease she had my permission to park in my rented parking mistake while not informing her of the need for a tag. Of course her car got towed and after telling her I would make this right I contacted Elaine Place Management. They proceeded to stonewall and ignore my requests for them to intervene with the towing company despite several phone calls resulting in me making it right with my sublease out of my own pocket. Amusingly (in retrospect) the apartment finding part of CAF was calling/​texting me if I (or my sublease) would give permission to show my apartment as it was one of the nicer units in the building… I declined.
I’m a technical sales professional with four years of experience that knows how to take care of people and as a result they come back to me time and time again to ask for support and to buy. The reason I bring this up is to emphasize I know what good customer support and bad customer support looks like. Elaine Place Management (aka CAF rental management) has horrible customer facing skills, can’t fix any issues that come up, etc. They are incapable of doing anything to help you if something goes wrong, which inevitably it does in real life. If sign with them pray that nothing ever goes wrong with your place or your life situation doesn’t radically change because they don’t care… they just want their rent check. I’m posting this on every website that reviews CAF to help others avoid these jackasses, and I’m advising my sublease to not sign a full 12-​month lease.

I gave them a deposit on an apartment plus the cost of two application fees. 16 days later they say it’s still processing and have no answer on if I can move on or will have to keep looking.
I talked to a «manager» who talked over me and couldn’t be more annoyed that I had the audacity to even call. Still no answers. Just, «we are busy with other people. It’s the season.» No sorry, nothing. Couldn’t be more upset with the level of careless treatment. They don’t care about their customers. Where has all my money gone in the meantime? How long does it take to process and app?

I had the WORST experience with Chicago Apartment Finders! If this review will help you to decide wether or not to go with this establishment I would highly suggest AGAINST going to them!
My whole story starts off with my agent showing my husband and I an apartment that we really liked! Upon filling out paper work I noticed that the apartment was through Chicago Apartment Finders. I was really hesitate to move forward with them as I’d had mildly bad experiences with them. Because we really liked their apartment we decided, what the heck let’s give them a try.
Upon filling out the application our agent let us know that we’d have to pay a $ 79 application fee and first month’s rent up front. We did so without hesitation and she quickly submitted our application the day of (June 10, 2015). At the time our agent also let us know that it would take maximum 3 days to be approved or denied but since the weekend was near we gave them an extra 2 days. On Monday since we hadn’t heard anything from our agent and the company I decided to contact them. Quickly the receptionist, when I called, barked at me and told me that I should not contact them, yet I should contact my agent. I let her know that my agent did not work for the company and she gave me the name of Brett who my agent answered to, to go through him. Brett would never even answer the phone. Therefore I had to go to his manager. While talking to his manager, whom was very rude and eager to get off the phone with me, told me that the application was still pending and I should have an answer in 2 days.
I waited another 2 days and still didn’t hear back from them. After 8 days of waiting and vigorously contacting everyone in the office for just an answer, I was told that the landlord had no internet for 9 days and that they would be reviewing the application and giving us an answer the next day. On the 9^th day the landlord decided that they didn’t want us as tenants, so they declined our application. My husband was really reluctant about letting the apartment go so he offered 6 months of rent upfront! The landlord accepted and the message relayed to us was that we were approved! After waiting 5 more days to get the lease and calling the office (because I still wasn’t 100% comfortable about the situation) we got a quick and curt message from Brett that we had again been denied, due to the fact that the landlord had decided to rent the apartment to different lookers, although he had APPROVED us! At this time we NOW had 7 days to find an apartment! We of course panicked and couldn’t believe our ears at this answer. Not only did they waste our time but they couldn’t have cared less about us. We called Chicago Apartment Finders to figure out what had happened and why they didn’t care that they screwed us around for so long without an answer! We of course got the run around and I demanded to speak with someone in charge! Finally we were passed over to the the District Sales Manager. Upon speaking with him and telling him our situation he acted like he didn’t care and was pushy to begin with. After explaining and my situation to no avail I begin yelling at him, because he was making a mockery out of me and defending his agent’s poor practices. Not one time did he listen to my frustrations he only ridiculed the situation. He just didn’t care which made me mad and I couldn’t believe it. Because I could not get through to him, I passed the phone to my husband. He managed to also piss my husband off as well and my husband then understood my hesitation to work with this company! After breaking through to the district sales manager and making him feel bad he agreed to try and help us by looking into the situation.
Of course he stuck by his story and concluded it was the landlord who screwed us over and that he could not do anything about it. We accepted that and quickly searched for a new apartment in which our agent was able to get us the same apartment but better in the same complex!!! After being in the apartment for 5 days now, we’ve noticed that there is no one living in the apartment that we initially applied for and got approved, so we were wondering what really was the issue! We plan to seek legal actions, possibly for discrimination!

Do not bother with them unless u like subbing applications and wasting $ without results. Absolutely no professionalism and no tangible help of any kind. I’m actually surprised they are still in business. Enough said.

Gibron provided excellent service and got us into our new apartment with ease. Also provided clear and frequent communication about the status of the process. I would use them again for sure

We were told we could work things out even if no credit history, we visited some places, most of them very dirty. Had to pay fees to apply and had to wait 10days to finally hear from them, and our application was denied. We were told the fees would transfer to another application, but it seemed pretty obvious that the agent didn’t care much, and that our application would be denied again and again.
Agents were friendly but the process made us lose time and money.

Here’s a fun update… Before moving into our place, we made sure the carpet would be cleaned. Pete assured us it was steam cleaned but a few «stubborn spots» remained. Yet another complete lie. I spilled a glass of water on the carpet the other day and after sopping it up with a towel, the white towel came away brown. BROWN. So yeah, no cleaning was done. At all. Gross. Thanks a lot, Pete.

When I first approached this company, I was nervous due to some of these reviews on here, but with a full time job during normal business hours, I felt like i couldn’t search for an apartment to my satisfaction on my own.
First things first. My agent, Gibron Lockheart, was AMAZING in coordinating apartment viewings, was honest about what was available, and clear in what was expected. He put up with all my nervous tics about being worried about what other people here said about other agents. Moving is a very stressful experience, and he did everything he could to quell any fears. Want to see an apartment after normal business hours? No problem! Need to do an extra inspection before signing the lease? Man, Gibron had us covered.
If I had any questions, requests, or concerns about anything, he was quick to reply with any information he had available.
So why four stars instead of five? (seriously, I want to give Gibron five stars, but alas, this isn’t a review for him but for the company as a whole)
The closing department is what took that last star away.
There were some minor damages to the apartment that I wanted acknowledged were there. I was told they were taking care of it, so I signed the lease (they were sending me a reminder every day to sign it)
I sent CAF an email explaining the situation (no mention of the damages in the lease) expecting at least a short «We’re looking into it, here’s an update» reply.
They ignored my emails until finally I just called the location and they told me to contact the landlord. I finally got an answer, but got a very «the lease is signed, it’s not our problem anymore» attitude from that department.
Gibron did what he could and stayed in contact with me the whole time, though. Props for that.
Luckily, I got in contact with the landlord and they are very helpful, so after some stress, I can finally relax and focus on the move itself.
Story with a good ending. :)

I rarely write reviews unless I have had repeated interactions with a business, as I try to give businesses the benefit of doubt. However, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Chicago Apartment Finders is the worst realty experience I have ever had.
I applied for an apartment with them in early February, and besides the unusual fact that they charged me a $ 79 app fee, $ 40 cosigner app fee, and $ 1300 for the first month’s rent WITH the application, everything else seemed fine. On the application it requested I initial next to a box that says «all move in fees will be the responsibility of the tenant», and I refused to do so, asking my agent is it usual to charge both a security deposit AND move in fee. She (and her boss) said no, (and mind you they work for Baird and Warner, one of the most reputable realty agencies in the USA). Also, the listing itself never mentioned these extra fees either, neither did the app itself state what they might be in specific amounts, and AT NO POINT IN TIME DID THE AGENT IN CHARGE OF THE LISTING COMMUNICATE THESE FEES EVEN THOUGH HE SPOKE ABOUT EVERY OTHER DETAIL ABOUT WHAT NEEDED TO BE SIGNED AND INITIALED ON THE DOCUMENTATION FOR THE APPLICATION!
When I was approved for the apartment it took an entire week before anyone sent over a lease, even though this is a time sensitive manner. When I finally received the lease, suddenly they wanted $ 750 in fees which included: 350 rush processing fee, 100 move in deposit and 300 move in fee! My broker that I was working with was just as surprised by these charges and when she contacted them, they refused to explain them, simply stating «you should have asked if there were fees.» WHAT!!! When I refused to pay the fees because they were not disclosed at any point in the application, they said they would refund me the $ 1300 rent but still offered no explanation for the fees.
I called the closing department directly to ask what is going on, and the closing manager rudely said «what’s going on is you’re getting $ 1300 back.» NOT THE WAY TO RESPOND TO A SERIOUS INQUIRY ABOUT YOUR SHADY BUSINESS PRACTICES! I asked if there is someone in the office who can explain the fees, she said my broker with Baird and Warner can, but my broker got the same run around as me. I asked to speak to the listing agent in charge of the rental, she said she couldn’t give me his number or transfer me to him.
I have never been so disrespected by supposed professionals in my life. I purchased over $ 3000 in furniture anticipating this move and now I have five separate deliveries that I have to cancel and one week to find a new apartment as I was trying to move in before starting my new job. This is my first apartment, and what an awful experience it has been with this company! Not only did they fail to disclose important financial information about the apartment, they also took forever to get me the paperwork I needed, and to top it all off were extremely rude to both me and my broker.
To everyone out there searching for apartments, especially if this is your first apartment like it is for me, please use another company. These people just want your money, and they don’t give a RAT’S A** about you or your needs. They have the most reprehensible business practices I have ever encountered, and I have been searching for an apartment for the last 3 months. Use another agency and save yourself the pain and frustration.

Awesome experience! my-​Phuong was amazing, I live in Minneapolis and was coming in to town for 1 day to look for apartments. She asked about my lifestyle, she did her research on where I work and was able to find 5 apartments within my price range in the area I like.
She showed me around and gave a great female prospective (being a single male I tend to miss some details) and ultimately found me a place I love.
If you can work with her I say do it, A+++ service!

I arrived in Chicago almost two weeks ago and is currently residing in a hotel along the Magnificent Mile. The following day I went to CAF in Byrn Mawr where I met Adrienne Toledo.
I told her the specifics for a reasonable cost and decent apartment nearby the hotel. Being my first time to have stepped in the U. S soil, it is absolutely a big change. Needless to say, I was relocated due to company transfer. Since everything is new, it takes a lot of inquiries and options before I can decide on certain things particularly housing. I was given 2 weeks to stay in the hotel to find a place to settle in. Logistics wise including the budget, Adrienne showed me some units with my specifics. Also, I did my own site inspection in a nearby location but did not meet my expectations. Being the client, I was more than satisfied on how things went. In less than 2 weeks, I must say I have found the best and reasonable apartment in Lakeview. Yes, it is about 20 minutes away from my office and initially I preferred the walking distance. But when you get to find something a lot better still within your price range, then surely you will take that option.
Furthermore, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to the CAF most especially to your colleague, Adrienne, not only for finding me an apartment but also for exceeding my expectations. She explained and taught me things I ought to know about living in America too. I am working in the hospitality industry and how you set first impression to your guests is something should end with a milestone. Well, she did a fantastic job. I would definitely recommend CAF to my friends for relocation in the city. Now, I am excited to move in to my place and the keys are with me.
All the best.
Gno

Rephrasing my last review since it was removed because I did not write it in the first person…
I went to Chicago Apartment Finders to find a place to live in Rogers Park. They showed me an apartment in a building that had failed all five of its last inspections. They told me that the «move-​in fee» (which is a fee you pay and never get back, something that is illegal in numerous other states) was $ 200. After I applied, they said they were mistaken and the fee was really $ 400. To their credit, they gave me the opportunity to yank my application at that time. But it was the hustle on their part that I did not like. They do not vet landlords or buildings in any way. I was told by my landlord that Chicago Apartment Finders charges the landlord one month’s rent. So my landlord loses a month’s rent, I pay $ 400 + the $ 79 application fee. And for what? The man who me the apartments said that he only works on commission (no base pay). This company is all-​around bad.

Although we ultimately found our apartment on Craigslist, I wanted to write a good review for Tina, who works at this location.
She was really interested in finding us a great place (even on our tiny one bedroom for $ 750 budget). We went and saw some crappy apartments (mold, water damage, etc). Tina said that these were unacceptable living conditions, and she never pressured me, or tried to sell me on them just for the sale.
So we continued on to the rest of the northside apartments in our budget, and none of them really suited us. She never pressured us, she was fun, upbeat, and was sure that we would find something soon. I wish I could have found our new place through her, just so that her time with us could have meant some money in her pocket.

Real estate is fun. You work with so many people with whom you have a conflict of interest, and everyone is all smiles. There’s no black and white, good and bad situations — everything happens in shades of gray. And everyone promises you that they make money when you make money, so they’re going to do what they can to make you money. It’s bull.
I have a condo that I’d like to get rented and managed. A friend of mine, who also owns a condo, recommended CAF — he told me they were super nice and always took care of things. His payments were always sent to him promptly, and he never had to deal with a tenant.
CAF was very prompt and attentive, and have been very polite and responsive to all my concerns.
But here’s the situation: my condo’s rental value is perhaps around $ 1400. Someone else in my building just rented hers out for $ 1325 (she used Prudential Rubloff) since it was important to her to have people with good credit, and she picked a sweet couple with stellar credit over a few folks who were willing to pay $ 1400.
So imagine my pleasure when a nice pair of agents from CAF came to my door with all these compliments about the space and light and the romantic vintage bathroom fixtures ($ 30 at an estate sale) and said the place was at least $ 1550, perhaps more.
Now, as a greedy evil landlord, it’s tempting. I can just hand over the keys and let CAF be the bad guys on my behalf, and never have to worry. But landlords get screwed over too.
Here’s how it works: If you allow CAF to find you your tenant, they charge you one month’s rent and 7% to manage the place each month. If you find your own, they charge you 9% to manage it. After doing a bit of math, it was clear that if their price was $ 1550, I’d only be better off getting my own tenant if I got one paying $ 1476 or more per month. So all signs point to letting CAF find me my tenant, right?
Wrong. Once you sign a nonexclusive agreement with them, you can still continue to look for your own tenant, which is great — however, you’re locked into the high price they set. You can’t go lower if the date is getting close and you’re getting a bit desperate. Two, they get one month’s rent for finding a tenant NO MATTER WHAT, once you sign an agreement with them.
And therein lies the conflict of interest — they would rather sit on an empty apartment for months, waiting for a sucker to overpay, because they still get the SAME AMOUNT of money. They have nothing to gain in getting your place rented out sooner rather than later. And you’re locked into the unreasonably high price, so you can’t compromise and just get your own tenant.
After putting some thought into this, I went back to my friend who had recommended CAF in the first place. He’s a good dude — really likes being friends with everyone. Pretty naïve. And I asked him some further details about how CAF has been good. Turns out, he’s been using them for years, and they’ve been super cooperative each time he needed a good tenant.
«Each time?» I asked. I wondered how many years he’s had his place.
Turns out, each year he needed a new tenant. And each time, he paid CAF a one month finder’s fee to get a new tenant. Jesus. He’s lucky he’s so cute.
And here we have the second conflict of interest. It’s also in the best interest of CAF to have miserable tenants who want nothing to do with them, because that leads to high turnover and unrenewed leases, and a new commission fee when they find the next tenant — and come on, there will always be a new tenant, because folks are always moving to Chicago who don’t know much. But they wise up quickly. And each time one moves out, you can sit on your empty overpriced apartment and earn nothing for it, while CAF gets another finder’s commission. The scores of angry reviews you see from other Unilocalers — it’s their actual business model. They make money when tenants are too angry to renew.
A couple other small things that set off an alarm: They wanted to charge some fees I wasn’t on board with with regard to pets, move in fees, etc. They do absolutely no work when a tenant moves in — why the hell would they charge a move in fee to the tenant? Also, they told me if I found my own tenant, they’d do a full credit and background check for $ 250 — it costs $ 20 to do that on your own. That’s a ridiculous price.
I ended up just going with Fulton Grace. They have a ton of great reviews from happy tenants, and they charge 7% whether you have them find you a tenant or not. Additionally, if you do ask them to find you your tenant, you can continue to look yourself and not be locked into the terms they set. They don’t charge crazy pet fees or move in fees.
So, landlords, beware — it’s not just good karma to have happy tenants — it’s good business too. Doing a little extra leg work right now will not only save you money, but save you time, too.

Chicago Apartment Finders is very helpful! My partner and I found out we had to move but had no time to look for a new place. I informed my rep of what we could afford, what areas we preferred to live in and what was most important to us: parking and laundry.
On the day of our meeting, my rep had four places picked out that were ready to be viewed. All four met our requirements.
What I liked most about our showing was that our rep asked specific questions that I would have never thought to ask! We found the perfect place and moved happily. I would highly recommend their help for your next move.

I had the worse experience through this company.
I won’t go into too much detail, but STAY AWAY from this company. They are in it to take your money and run, and they will say anything to get it. I was lied to and pressured into giving money to just see if the owner would go down in rent. The lies just continued from there, not to mention the way I was treated on the phone by the agent (B.D. After that encounter, I only communicated through email, which is a good thing for me because everything is documented.
The worst part (well, there’s two that I’ll mention) is that the closing manager must also get a portion of the money because she never chose to speak to me, instead taking the agent’s word and tried to get around the situation knowing that they were in the wrong. She then sent a «nice» email saying she would not give me back my money, and that she would talk to B.D. about his attitude (well, I’m sure that’s going to help). Oh, and she was «nice» enough to mention that I could use the amount as a transfer if I chose to use them to find an apartment within 13 months (as if I’d want to work with such an unprofessional company).
The second worst thing is that it was never mentioned to me that the agent has a criminal record which means I trusted someone with my private information, and got into a car with them, not knowing this.
My advice, stay away from them! Or, if you have been cheated and lied to by them, do not let them run over you. Report the agent to the IDPR, the BBB, write the reviews here, and take legal action. There is no way that normal people should have to be submitted to such horrendous practices.
And, my best rule of advice, go with a licensed Realtor who doesn’t ask for money until a lease is signed, or pressure you to try to take a place. I deserve better, and most importantly, YOU DESERVE BETTER.