Trudo Realty, which has been on our rental service do-not-call list and our top ten ad-spammers list for years, currently has more than 5,100 apartment ads at Craigslist. Some of those ads violate the Illinois Real Estate License Act requirement that brokers have written authorization to advertise a property.
More than 2,500 of Trudo’s ads were placed by agents whose name cannot be found in a search of the IDFPR licensing database. It’s possible that some of those agents are so new to the business that their licenses haven’t yet appeared in the database.
According to their LinkedIn profiles, Absalom Givens (324 ads) and Kyle Kaspar (84 ads) have been with Trudo since April of this year, and Brandon Tudisco (343 ads) has been with the firm since August. On July 2 of this year, Nathan Stoll (389 ads) reported on his Facebook page that he was working as a leasing advisor. Gerry Romero (462 ads) received a Yelp review on August 29. According to Trudo’s website, Yonatan Aguilar (74 ads) has been with the firm since 2016. We found no record of how long Mariah Butler (305 ads), Victoria Golden (266 ads) or Kenny Petitfrere (344 ads) have been associated with Trudo except for their having posted Craigslist ads 24 or more days ago.
In our view, contacting any of Chicago’s rental services amounts to placing yourself in jeopardy. Work directly with management companies and landlords when you’re looking for an apartment.