The WORST real estate agency I`ve ever dealt with. I strongly DO NOT recommend them. Its close to impossible to reach them.

My husband and I made an offer on a property that Area Wide Realty owned. After the financing fell through, per the contract, Area Wide should have returned our earnest money if full. Plus the $150 fee they required to turn the water on at the property. The water was never turned on - and over a MONTH later we are STILL waiting for our $3,150.



My realtor, my attorney, and myself have tried to communicate with this company, but they do not answer phones, they do not respond to email, they seem to only communicate via fax, and even then you're not likely to get a response. The made my realtor fill out additional 'internal' paperwork to get our funds returned, and three weeks later, we still haven't seen it. We are DAYS away from closing on another property, and we cannot get this company to respond, or to return our money. The only thing we've heard from them was about three weeks ago they said we could drive up to Cicero and pick up the check at any time. We live about 2 hours from Cicero - we requested that they mail it. No word... nothing. But, we were forced to overnight the check to them when we made the offer. The deal was made around 5pm on a weeknight, and they required that they check be in their hands by Noon the following day.



Of course, when asked to simply put a check in the mail not only did they fail to do so, but they have not communicated and refuse to communicate with anyone regarding this issue.



DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY. THEY ARE TERRIBLE... IF YOU DO PREPARE TO NOT HEAR BACK FOR WEEKS AT A TIME, SAVE YOURSELF TIME AND MONEY. RUN AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!!