Sellers beware! I recently had a negative experience with a sales agent employed by this real estate agency. He was funny and nice at first but, shortly after the listing posted, he began to dislike me apparently. Even worse, he failed to do a decent job. I wanted to sell a vacant Hemet rental property AS-IS with no repairs or cosmetic changes -- an older (1969) mobile home on its own lot, an obvious fixer-upper, if fixing was even possible. Since I live 105 miles from Hemet, my agent and I didn't meet, but we communicated via phone, text and email. Maybe our personalities clashed. Maybe he was stressed by my tendency to ask questions about details in the documents. Maybe I offended with my lack of blind trust. He became defensive when I asked for information or clarification, as if I was attacking him personally. He sent me angry emails, and I reciprocated.
Aside from our stressful exchanges, my agent presented me with two offers quickly -- a week after the 60-day listing began. The second offer was from an investor who outbid the first buyer. Actually, the offers were emailed to me by my agent's son (same office), who was acting as my substitute agent while his Dad was recovering from knee surgery; and, by the way, I later learned that my agent's son was a dual agent: also acting as the buying agent for the investor, who was the broker's son. It's a bit circular. I wasn't informed about all the connections until I noticed in an online search that the agency and investor had the same address.
Per both my agents' recommendations, I accepted the investor's offer. Near the end of the 20-day escrow, my agent called to say that the investor had suddenly found some problem (unnamed) and wanted me to lower my price by $15K (17%). When I asked him what was found, he responded, "I have no idea." After I balked at this development, my agent urged me to make a counteroffer. Following some further discussion on the phone, I said goodnight and heard him say, "What an idiot!" as we were hanging up. I responded with "You're an idiot!" and disconnected. He sent a text and email denying that the 'idiot' comment was meant for me; he said he was calling his nurse an idiot instead of me (what kind of idiot insults his nurse?). We never spoke again. I ignored his subsequent emails advising me to make a counteroffer. In a few days I received a document to sign for cancellation of the deal and return of the buyer's deposit.
Thanks to the rules allowing home buyers to have inspections and negotiations during escrow (presumably meant to protect unsavvy home buyers from hidden defects), professional buyers/investors can use the opportunity afforded by those rules to attempt to force a price reduction during escrow, at a time when sellers are likely to concede to demands rather than toss the sale and start over. It's so easy too, for a savvy buyer. It apparently only requires mentioning problems and naming a figure. I wasn't given any documentation or explanation. My agent had no problem with it; apparently did not question it. He simply urged me to make a counteroffer to save the deal. No way!
After that, I felt totally alienated from my agent and the agency, and wanted out of the remaining weeks of the listing contract. Eventually, I was referred to the broker's executive assistant, who was empathetic and helpful (what a welcome change!), and I ended up forming an agreement with the agency.
Before I end this, here's another way my agent gave me the proverbial finger: He explained at the time of the listing that I would be paying 6% commission which would be split 50/50 if there was a buying agent. However, when the escrow papers arrived for me to sign, I was stunned to see that I was actually paying 9% commission -- 6% to my agent and 3% to his son, the dual agent. It was a moot issue because the transaction crashed, but it was a shock anyway.
That's about it. Since I refused to work again with either of my former agents, a new agent was assigned to me. My stipulations were that I would not sell to any buyer associated with either the agency or its in-house investor, and the buyer should agree to forego negotiations during escrow (instead, they should inspect to their heart's content before making an offer).
This was a great learning experience. I believe that all owners selling property which is admittedly neglected and in poor condition should be forewarned that simply labeling the sale "AS-IS" is meaningless when it comes to preventing repair demands from buyers during escrow. I was not forewarned.
My property is now happily sold to a different investor. I can't say the agency let me down (my new agent was really great), but my first agent certainly did. From my viewpoint, his worst mistake was favoring his friend the investor over his client. (Did I mention the buyer/investor was the son of my agent's boss, the broker?) Thanks for reading this whole thing. read more
