One of Joe's agent's, Cassie Sutherland, was the listing agent on a home I was interested in purchasing. I've purchased and sold many homes in the Seattle market and am very experienced in the process as well as with the general ethics and professional standards followed by excellent agents.
I submitted a strong, full price, offer to Cassie on a Friday through my (seasoned, vetted) agent. She informed us she would hold the offer over the weekend because of a planned open house but would notify us immediately if a competing offer came in so we could modify ours to remain competitive.
We proactively checked with Cassie daily for other offers, to which she indicated none had come in. By the Monday morning following the weekend, we again confirmed there was no other offer and Cassie informed us she had a meeting to discuss our offer with the seller at 4:45pm that afternoon. We eagerly awaited a response from her with the status of our offer, prepared to enter negotiations if necessary.
We were *stunned* when we finally heard from Cassie later that evening with the news she'd "successfully sold the house to another buyer." Not only were we denied the opportunity to remain competitive as this agent had agreed, but imagine the position the sellers were put in due to her antics.
I do not know if she had the other offer all along and was sitting on it (which I suspect since her business page now boasts the 'multiple offer' situation she was able to create for her buyer--that's not exactly how that works, Cassie), if she simply doesn't know her job, or if she knew the other buying agent and had already chosen the offer for that reason.
Whatever her reason, it was unprofessional, novice, unethical, and resulted in a win for her, but a purchase loss for myself and loss of additional financial gain for her own seller!
When the matter was brought her broker's attention (Joe Blade), he was defensive and dismissive, with Joe citing I was simply "mad [I] didn't get the house," stating "my agent did her job." Predictable response avoiding the issue at hand, but speaking volumes of normalcy of this behavior from his agents. With no resolution expected from the broker, I will be filing a complaint with the state against both agent and broker. I sincerely hope the sellers do, too.
Go with a vetted, seasoned, Realtor to avoid a young agent playing games with your nest egg as this one did. A better broker would have sought resolution, not absolution. read more