After an NBC 5 Responds report about two North Texas women who fell victim to a Craigslist apartment post, an anonymous donor decided to help.
A two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at Summer Villas in Dallas with rent paid through October sounded like a great deal to Rosa Martinez.
"I thought it was God sent," she said.
Martinez payed $300 down and was set to move in, but she wasn't the only one. The Craigslist ad that Martinez saw also caught they eye of Heather Bentz, who paid $350 down payment got her the keys.
"We walked up, opened up the door and, boom, there was somebody else's stuff in that apartment," she said.
Both women sub-leased the same apartment from a tenant who'd been evicted. Bentz went to the leasing office and found out the apartment complex doesn't even allow subleases.
Bentz was able to work with the apartment and move into another unit weeks later, but Martinez and her family were still left without a place to live.
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A viewer saw this story and called NBC 5 that day. He asked to remain anonymous, but said he wants help the family during this tough time.
"They trusted someone and they had faith and they thought it was a blessing and maybe even a God send. Well that just broke our hearts. So we wanted to do something to turn a negative back to a positive--and specifically Rosa, we wanted to bless her with a monetary gift. There are real blessings out there. And we want to bless her," the donor said.
We presented a check for $500 and a letter from the donor to Martinez, who was shocked.
We recommend all future tenants work with an apartment directly and never enter into a sublease agreement with a tenant alone. Remember, subleases in Texas require the landlord's consent.
