by How It All Started
If spelling and grammar are your thing, you may notice a few imperfections here and there. That’s okay. I’d rather tell the real story than worry about writing the perfect blog post.
This story is very personal to me.
Over 14 years ago, people laughed when I decided to help clients with background issues find luxury apartments. Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t listen.
I still remember working at the old FindIt apartment locating office at Jones Road and Highway 290. (How I got into apartment locating is a story for another day.)
One afternoon I noticed apartment leads coming out of the printer, only to be picked up and thrown straight into the trash.
I asked the office manager, “Why are you throwing those away?”
She replied, “They’re not workable. They have broken leases, evictions, or background issues.”
At the time, I had a family to support. I couldn’t afford to let opportunities go to waste.
So I started pulling those leads out of the trash and calling the clients.
I knew there were people on the other end of those phone calls who were just like me. Regardless of their past, they simply wanted a nice place to live.
I’ll never forget my very first client.
He had a misdemeanor assault on his record. I had just started apartment locating and honestly had no idea what I was doing or where to begin.
He pulled up in a brand-new Corvette convertible.
Meanwhile, I was driving a minivan with leather seats. We loaded up, and I still remember him looking around and saying, “Dang… this is clean.” We both laughed.
What he didn’t know was that I had already made up my mind.
I didn’t care if we had to visit every apartment community in Houston. I was going to find him a beautiful apartment that would work with his situation.
Back then, very few apartment locators specialized in helping people with background issues. Every “no” taught me something new.
After being turned down several times, we pulled into another gorgeous apartment community. We looked at each other and said, “It’s worth a shot.”
The leasing consultant’s name was Mindy. (Yes, Mindy… if you ever read this, you’re officially part of Apartment Gorilla history.)
After listening to the situation, she smiled and said, “Yes, I think we can work with that.”
That moment changed everything.
It wasn’t just about finding one apartment. It was the beginning of relationships with leasing professionals across Houston that continue to help our clients today.
Back then, I met clients anywhere they needed me.
Many apartment communities told me they had never seen an apartment locator actually drive clients from property to property.
It almost became a shuttle service.
A client would be denied at one community, the leasing office would call me, and I’d be there within minutes to take them somewhere that was a better fit.
Little by little, people started recognizing what we were doing.
Eventually, Apartment Gorilla became known as the luxury second-chance apartment experts.
I built the very first Apartment Gorilla website in Adobe Dreamweaver.
There was no spell check.
If you’ve made it this far, you can probably imagine how that went.
We also started uploading our very first videos to YouTube.
Looking back today…
They’re definitely cringe-worthy.
But every business starts somewhere.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll be adding old photos, videos, and stories from those early days. It’s amazing to look back and see how far we’ve come.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
If you’re looking for a luxury apartment and you’re worried about a background issue, broken lease, eviction, or other rental challenge, don’t give up. There are often more options than you think, and we’d be honored to help.
Apartment Gorilla
📞 Office: 832-410-8487
We don’t just locate apartments—we help people get a second chance.
