Goldleaf development will try to rip you off period. They use high pressure sales tactics to make students feel obligated to sign the lease before they realize that they will end up in a run-down apartment managed by a horrible staff. If you don't sign a lease after one apartment showing, their fake niceness will quickly turn into incredible rudeness. They will just view you as an annoyance getting in the way of opportunities to scam other college kids who are often signing their first major contract (and goldleaf knows it.)

If you "waste" more than a half hour of their time, they will try to get you to sign a lease that has some sort of "catch," which they tell you is in your best interest. I wanted to see the actual unit that I would be renting, and he convinced me to go through all the paperwork and sign the lease first, but he said he'd include a clause saying I could void the lease if I didn't like the condition of the unit. First, he FLEW through the paperwork and lease with the clear attitude that he had better things he could be doing and wanted to get done with me as fast as possible. He then just handed it to me and told me to sign it. However, he (mistakenly') forgot to include the clause giving me the right to void the lease. Then he scribbled it in, and I saw that it said I could void it before 11:30AM the next day. I was scheduled with him to see the apartment I was signing for and 8 other apartments at 10:30AM the next day! There was not nearly enough time for me to see all those apartments, go back to his office, and make a good decision. When asked to have the voiding time extended just one more hour, he just said "no." In fact, he shot down any such reasonable request or suggestion I had, by just saying, "I'm being more than generous here," or simply, "no." Good sales tactics, because for a second I actually did feel bad that I wasn't letting him just take care of everything, but then I realized that he was just trying to push me around. He was clearly trying to have my time run out so I would be stuck in the lease. They also tricked a friend of mine into a similar scam type situation, except she signed it. Her parents had to get involved and basically had to threaten goldleaf development, since they really took advantage her daughter. When they finally agreed to cooperate, my friend motioned to pick up her security deposit check off the desk, and the guy rudely swiped it away. Goldleaf development may seem nice at first but once they realize that you aren't another stupid college kid that is going to throw money at them in 10 minutes, they quickly turn impatient, temperamental, and rude when. Once you sign, they will treat you this same way, since they no longer need to trick you out of your money.

If you MUST rent from them, make sure you see the exact apartment that you will be renting. They like to bait and switch you by tending to only show apartments that are in much better shape than average.

Do not let them make you feel rushed in your decision. They make their money by getting you to sign before you realize what jerks they are and how crappy the apartments really are. They will do anything to make you make a hasty decision, and if being extra nice doesn't work, then they will try being rude and tempermental. There are also always many more availabilities than they tell you or make it seem. That is just another tactic to get you to feel rushed and sign right away or to get you to sign a lease with one of their "catches."

Be aware that they allow smoking in their buildings (stinks), their pool is freezing, their hot tub has no jets (useless), and you can hear loud traffic noise in most rooms. Almost all rooms have a view of a busy road, a building right next door, or a brick wall between 5 and 20 feet away. There is no action in this part of town, unless you really like going to the octopus car wash, watching cars go by, going to the cemetary, or visiting sick people at the hospital. You will need a car or a lot of patience with the busses to get to any good food or any fun activities around state street and the real city of Madison.

No matter how good you think the apartment is, there is no way that being managed by goldleaf development is worth it. If you ever have a problem, they will not treat you like a valued customer because they could care less about your business. His attitude the entire time was for me to either just sign or get the hell away from him. He even said that he'd sell out the building with or without my business. Gee, that made me feel like a valued customer, and it also now makes me wonder why he was SO desperate to trick me out of my money.

Bottom line - don't rent from goldleaf development. If you MUST, read the contract, don't let them put you on a guilt trip - it is their job to help their customers, see the exact apartment you will be living in, and try to talk to people living there - they'll agree with me.
Also, their prices are quite ridiculous, so ask for $10 off or new carpeting or something and they'll give it to you - why' because they ARE desperate for your business, even though they act like they could care less about you.

Thanks for staying with me, and I know that I am not the only one with this opinion. This happened a week ago, and since then I was randomly talking to a person who had the same experience with goldleaf development. They got her to sign a lease in 20 minutes, and when reality hit her afterwards, she literally started to cry.

I would actually really like to talk to the goldleaf development owner to discuss the unprofessionalism of their campus managing staff. Maybe they are the same type of people as the management, in which case I can just conclude that it is a bad business overall. However, if they are any sort of normal person, I think they need to hear about the people on their payroll. Sure, the management may produce sales, but there is clearly more involved than the numbers. If anyone knows their contact info, email me at samiller19@yahoo.com

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