Rudulph Real Estate

I was extremely happy with this company up until just recently (hence the 3 star). I have been renting with them for around 14 months now.

If you qualify and meet their standards they are wonderful to work with. If you are paying your rent in full and on time, they will go above and beyond to meet your needs. However, if there is an unexpected life turn, even notifying them will not help. I was laid off at work and could no longer afford the rent.

Even their qualifications say that you must make 3x the rent in a months time. I now make less than 2x the rent.

I notified them of my life changes thinking that was right thing to do, but as I had forgotten, just remember they have a contract in place and that is what they will go by like any other business. They are still a great company despite my disagreements and misunderstandings on some of their business practices, but if are going into renting with them knowing there is even a possibility of financial changes in your life, I would not recommend them.

I also had a bad experience with Rudulph. They are the stereotypical landlords; only in it for themselves.

I rented a house from them despite people telling me not to. Everyone told me that I wouldn't get a deposit back and they were right. They charged me for damages that I didn't do, basically using me to cover wear and tear. I made the mistake of not doing an initial walk through and final walk through.

When I talked to a lawyer, he said it wasn't worth the fight because they make a living at keeping deposits, so they have it down to a science. Basically they were prepping to keep my deposit all along.

I hired Rudulph Real Estate to manage my rental property in one of the most prestigious areas of Birmingham, AL, Stonehedge in 2001. The house is large (3650 sq. ft.) and beautiful. The first tenants only stayed a year and there was no problems.

The new tenants were in the house until October 2015 as I was thinking of selling it. Rudulph had said they were not going to list anymore houses in that area since it was too far for them to manage. He gave me the name of a new property manager. I contacted the new property manager and signed a new contract with them. I decided to re-rent the property

The new manager entered the property and was horrified by the condition of the house and sent me pictures to verify everything he was telling me. Rudulph Real Estate did not enter the property during this time frame of 13 or 14 years and told me he was not responsible since it has been over 10 years and the courts would not side with him. The pictures showed the house had been incredibly abused.

Parts of the ceiling was falling down, the walls needed to be repainted and were damaged, and the carpets were heavily soiled. The outside was missing screens, the wood was damaged and needed to be repainted. The downspouts were missing causing water damage in the basement. The brand new air conditioner units were in bad shape and the indoor filters were never changed.

The house took several months to repair and at great expense. The house is finally ready to move into and is on the market as of the date of this report. Each month the house remains vacant we are losing money since there is a mortgage on the property.

Rudulph Real Estate takes no responsibility for this. I have other properties in other states and the property manager enters the property every so often and whatever needs to be fixed is fixed promptly.

If you have rental property in Birmingham, Alabama think twice about using Rudulph Real Estate. Before the contract is signed the make sure everything looks good. When, of course, it won’t be. They were hired to do a specific job managing my house and they did not do that. A house is an investment whether it is a rental or a primary residence.

Thank You!