Lauer Real Estate Group - Tallahassee, Florida

Mariana V.

The experience with this rental property, particularly with the owner, has been deeply disappointing due to their entitled and rude behavior. Even during my time as a student in Tallahassee, living in rundown properties across the city, I was never treated with such unprofessionalism.

When we moved into the complex in July 2022, we had no air conditioning for nearly two weeks during the peak of summer. Despite politely requesting updates on a fix—concerned for myself, my roommate, and my pet suffering in the extreme heat—we received no consistent responses. When the owner (presumably) finally arrived with a portable AC unit, we kindly asked when the central AC would be repaired. Their response? A curt and dismissive, "Do you want this or not?" They then pushed the living room window's screen door onto the ground outside, leaving it there for us to clean up.

To their credit, they eventually fixed the broken AC unit, but it malfunctioned again shortly after. For nearly two months, we had to empty a bucket twice daily due to a persistent leak before the issue was resolved. Eventually, they did need to replace the broken AC unit after 2 months of asking when we could expect a change.

Other issues plagued the unit throughout our lease. The dishwasher was broken the entire time and never repaired. Then, upon moving out, $500 was deducted from our security deposit for "cleaning and steaming," even though my roommate and I had thoroughly deep-cleaned the unit. During the final walkthrough, we were assured there were no issues. Our cleaning efforts were even praised during apartment showings to prospective tenants, yet we were inexplicably charged. Attempts to discuss and resolve this deduction were met with rudeness, contempt, and refusal to communicate—even after offering to speak by phone multiple times.

One particularly alarming incident involved the building's entrance door hinge repeatedly falling off. On one occasion, it fell and struck my boyfriend on the head. I sent a photo to the property management team to report the issue, but it was entirely ignored. The hinge was repaired without acknowledgment, apology, or even confirmation that they received my message.

It’s clear the owner prioritizes profit over tenant safety or satisfaction, a sentiment echoed in other reviews of this business. Their responses to complaints, often berating tenants with condescension, only reinforce their disregard for professionalism and decency.

To the owner: May I suggest treating people with kindness and respect?

It’s a real shame because the unit and complex itself are a gem in Tallahassee, but the appalling behavior of the owner undermines everything good about it.

amy D.

I quite literally never leave negative reviews. But the pictures this company listed for their property have got to be from at LEAST the last time it was ready to rent. Absolutely wasted my time having me look at a house that wasn’t show-ready in ANY way, shape, or form.
I was going to take pictures to send to people who would be helping me move, and I didn’t even bother. But now I wish I had because I can’t even believe what they were willing to show.
The house reeked of both cigarette smoke and weed. The filter had been pulled from the vent in the ceiling where it hadn’t been changed in maybe two years, and tons of tiny piles of dirt/dust were all over the floor, laying next to the nasty filter. A dust bunny was literally hanging from a different part of the ceiling.
I opened kitchen cupboards to check for rodent droppings, and right after I was pleased to not find any, I realized I had just gotten grease all over my hand from that cupboard door.
I think if a company is comfortable showing a rental in this condition, it shows how they’ll let the property get and stay.
And if I’m wrong, then maybe I’d just take this as a lesson to like, run a swiffer through a place before wasting someone’s time.
The person who showed the property was helpful and polite. I feel like he was doing his best not to speak negatively of the property, while also seeking a little stunned.

Ethan M.

I don't typically leave reviews unless I feel strongly compelled to do so. My experience with Lauer definitely compels me to explain how the last two years were living at a Lauer managed property.

I will preface everything by saying that Lauer is exactly the person who you see in these reviews who attacks and belittles tenants who have had bad experiences with his company. So do not be surprised when he takes offense to this review. If you have any doubt look at my other reviews on google and judge for yourself the validity of this one. There are also texts and pictures that can be provided to back up everything detailed below.

I will start on a positive note. Property management always informed us whenever someone was coming by to inspect/maintain the property and were never there when a tenant wasn't present. We were also never hounded with phone calls or texts from anyone at the company.

At the same time however we were met with long periods of silence and vague answers on important maintenance requests.
Their office is remote so it can be EXTREMELY difficult to get in contact at all. In the summer of 2023, our AC unit went out. We put in a maintenance request and selected URGENT on the tenant portal. It took two weeks and dozens of phone calls and texts to get AC again. Tallahassee in July is a miserable place to live without AC. They also gave us an window unit AC to hold us over until the AC was repaired. That unit was left on our porch for us to install it ourselves.

At one point we were also without a dishwasher for two months which is something I figured I would also mention.

We have been over the negligence and overall lack of care from this company, but now I want to talk about the borderline criminal business practices that Lauer engages in and why someone would do themselves a service by avoiding.

Early in 2023, someone came by the property under the pretext of changing our air filter (which we were responsible for at the time). We thought nothing of it and decided not to change our air filter until the technician came by. Once the technician leaves we were notified (via tenant portal)of a $250 charge for a dirty air filter. Our filter was dirty but was going to be changed soon since it was near the end of the month. We had two dogs living on the property and the ducts were in desperate need of a cleaning.

Management was not willing to discuss or change their minds about the charge. The situation was resolved only because one of the roommates went to pay rent and $250 of their rent went to paying the air filter charge.

Like I had mentioned before we had lived in the unit for nearly two years at that point and nobody had ever came by to replace our air filter. In my opinion it seems like the person only came by looking for something to charge us for.

While that situation just seemed like unprofessional business practices, I will now detail what the exit process was like in our experience. To give context, our lease began in August of 2022 where we moved in to a dirty unit that we spent hours cleaning before moving our furniture and possessions into it. Upon moving out on July 30th 2024, the house was thoroughly cleaned.

We heard nothing from Lauer after dropping our keys off until we reached back out on September 1st (30 days). To go about collecting what we were owed, we had to send countless emails, texts, and phone calls (a majority were not responded to). They first mailed us a check to the rental address we no longer lived at which makes no sense because we gave them our new one. It took 60 days and a final email in which we detailed that we would take further action if we did not receive the check.

We were then informed that $325 had been deducted from our security deposit for cleaning after we left the unit better than it was found. By the time we got the check, it was deducted by $360 instead.

Long story short, look elsewhere for rentals in Tallahassee

Michelle P.

Would give zero stars if I could. While I didn't have any real concerns while living there, other than poor communication, the issues arose after move-out. They decided to take almost $500 from my security deposit for cleaning and carpet steaming services. This was extremely odd to see since i deep cleaned the property before move out and have never stained any carpet while living there. After speaking of such concerns to property management, i was met with the upmost unprofessional attitude I have ever encountered. Their response was to first send a letter rather than an email explaining these concerns.... ok. So i did. After no response, i contacted again, which they responded with "Hello we had to pay someone to clean the home and pay someone to steam clean the carpets," followed with "Did you return the property in the same condition your received it in? NO you did not. I dont know how to explain cleaning and steaming further its pretty self explanatory." clearly they were not even open to having a conversation. I clearly know what the charges were FOR, my point was that the charges should'nt have been made in the first place. I asked twice to specify what damages, what uncleanliness, what stains could've possible been found. Is there any evidence of such finding? A description even? A detailed explanation for taking out $450 dollars is needed, ESPECIALLY WHEN ASKED FOR ONE. If anything i have evidence of me cleaning because they decided to walk into my property unannounced on the move out date. This is me kindly moving past the idea that three unknown men walked into my property unannounced while I was alone. Their lucky i didn't make a big deal of that! In simple terms then, THEY STOLE MY MONEY. And who knows how many other people they've victimized by doing this. Forgot to mention the most important part, the lease specifically mentions that normal living "wear and tear" is NOT considered damages. TENANTS SHOULD NEVER BE CHARGED FOR THE GENERAL CLEANING OF A PROPERTY. as a property management business, it is quite literally your responsibility to make sure the property is ready for the upcoming tenants. NOT THE PREVIOUS TENANTS. If you use this company, prepare to deal with individuals who use predatory practices to make some extra money. With all that being said, legal action will most likely be taken since the lease explicitly outlines the terms, and the actions from this company prove a direct violation of such terms. It's a shame. Preying on individuals who they believe won't care enough to lose a couple hundred or worse, those who can't afford legal representation. Whether or not legal action provides monetary relief for myself, I know the energy and character of these people/ business will definitely come back to them, in their own personal endeavors, which provides a much bigger relief than i could have imagined. Nonetheless, getting my rightful money back would be amazing.

Alex B.

I had a great experience. Maintenance orders always handled in a timely manner with no issues. Office very collaborative regarding adjustments to the original lease agreement. No hiccups during key drop off and deposit restitution.

Daniel P.

Apparently every single bad review here is never Casey’s fault as you can see from his childish responses & always the fault of the renter or some 3rd party he has no control over. The only reason I leave reviews on your other business is because you stole our money and ghosted us!! I left reviews and spam called your office in order to get some justification for you taking our security deposit after you choose to give a 1 line explanation which is not good enough. And guess what? it worked, you finally called me back after months of waiting 2 days after leaving bad reviews. I don’t care if you gave your cookie cutter explanation for taking our deposit 3 times or 3,000,000 times it’s not a valid justification for stealing $950 of our money, it’s the same one you’ve given out to hundreds of tenants. This isn’t the year 2000 anymore, there’s something called the internet that allows people to see what you really do to your clients. I want to see the evidence that you apparently have stocked in a file somewhere that shows photographs of how dirty my apartment was left. I want to see the receipt for a new HVac system. I want to see the receipt for carpet cleaning. I want to see the $300 utility fee you were charged that you passed on to us.Grow up and deal with these issues, these are real people you continue to steal from.

Anthony W.

I really enjoyed renting from this landlord and realtor company I would recommend this company to anyone and they are very professional . Also if you have any problems they are very prompt with handling any issues or concerns with their properties . Thanks Lauer Realtor for a wonderful experience renting with you !!! Also if you keep up the property you will get your deposit in full just like I have 1900 less than 30 days.

Hannah R.

My roof has been leaking and I have called several times, even had them schedule the maintenance guy to come out to look at the roof and staining all over the ceiling. However, the 2 scheduled visits that I called off work for never happened, no one showed up. Instead, 2 house tours were scheduled and no one will return my calls.