WILLINGHAM LOAN & REALTY CO

I have a home for rent in Macon Ga. We live in Charleston, S.C. On Monday,April 24, 2017 we met with Jim Smith of this company about rental management for our home. We discussed our previous rental difficulties and talked with him for almost 2 hours. He took notes as we talked about the contract. He made us think that he was writing the stipulations for the property. He met us at the property on April 25 and we walked and talked. He promised that we would be notified upon having an application and we would be able to review the information before securing a renter. Also promised was that he would do a great job of protecting our rights and property. On April 26, he came to the property and handed me the owner/management contract He said "if you want to add anything, just write it down". It was added that we were to be called when repairs were needed in order to call our own repair people and if I could not be reached in a timely fashion that they could call a repair person. We had no understanding that my wife was to hand write into "our" contract the stipulations that we had discussed on the two previous days. We talked to him about his personal issues and thought that we had a great rapport. He touted himself as a great Christian man. We left and went back to Charleston where we live. We heard nothing until my wife called on May 9 and asked if they had any activity on the house. A secretary advised that they had alot of "noshows" but there was a contract pending. She asked that Jim Smith call us. We never got a call back. On Friday, we were advised by close by family members that there were alot of people in the yard and going in and out of the house. I called Jim and left a message. Two family members went to the house and were met by a black man in a hoodie (91 degrees outside) and he was carrying a gun. He advised that his brother had rented the house. We then called the Jones County Sheriff who went out and said that the renter had a valid appearing lease. Finally, Jim called. We were very upset and asked about why he had not called us, and asked who they were and what did he put in the lease? He stated that he did not know their names right off but that they had met the guidelines for renting. He stated this..."look! I'm in a bad way. You know that I have been going through a divorce. I messed Up! OK? This one is on me, I will talk to the attorney and see what I can do to fix this." On Monday, we called all day and at 4:30p.m before they closed, the secretary told me that an email was sent from their attorney. The email said that they were TERMINATING our agreement AND said to come get the money and the lease and handle it ourselves. Thirty minutes later, we spoke to Jim. He lied and said that he told us that the stipulations (don't use the fireplace, cut trees, park over the septic tank) wouldn't work and we were supposed to have hand written that in our contract with him. His last words were "sorry you are disappointed, have your attorney call my attorney". On Wednesday May 17, we had to go back to Ga, get the lease where we were made to stand outside of the office and have the lease handed through the hole. We had to make another trip to get the keys. Here is the bottom line: tenant paid $50 for application fee. Client stated on app. that he was in bankruptcy. NO CREDIT CHECK WAS DONE. WE SPOKE TENANTS PREVIOUS L.LORD. No one from Willingham had called her. She had nothing good to say. Tenant had skipped out owing rent and had been a big problem. We are still verifying his employment but it is obvious that his yearly salary is bogus. JSmith signed the approval of the app. We tried to talk to the staff who of course could say nothing because they just "work there". We had to consult an attorney who called his attorney. We were told that "his attorney basically said that he wanted to wash his hands of it". What kind of professional does that? We are left with a 12mo lease.