As much as I dislike Jo Ann on a personal level (she's an atrocious person with no accountability), I'll keep this about our business transaction.
When my fiance and I decided to make our first home purchase together, we gave Jo Ann the opportunity. This quickly backfired. We had 1 requirement: we wanted a house, not a townhome/condo. This was because of two things. First, we wanted a garage. Second, we didn't want HOAs.
Of course, Jo Ann doesn't like business dealings; she looks at realty as a way to force friendships, so instead of using the fairly open parameters we had set, she started us off with a very nice town home. We liked it a lot, but the price was at our limit and with another $350 a month going to HOA, we didn't feel like the price was what we wanted. Essentially, with that HOA, we were losing out on $50k of house.
We declined that house and continued looking. Every couple days, as we looked at houses that fit us more, she would tell us to go back and put an offer in on the town home. We politely declined, so we cold pursue our family's needs.
The search continued like this. We would find houses; she would delay or flat out refuse to show them to us and instead drive us to town homes and condos. Her reasoning: HOAs provide value to HER. If you are unaware of my history, I'm handy enough. I just remodeled our bathroom on a whim because I was unhappy with how it originally came. An HOA means I am paying money for a service I most likely won't use. The value she finds appealing isn't there for me.
Over the course of our 3 month search, we put in 9 or 10 offers. We missed out on a few houses because she didn't advise us well on the price. We missed out on some because she didn't get us an appointment in a timely fashion. We missed out on others because she refused to show them to us.
One house we missed out on was because the asking price was just barely above where we were approved to. We loved the house. We loved the location and she probably could have reduced her commission to make it work. She didn't, and based on circumstances that I don't need to share here, it would have been well within reason for her to give a slight discount in commission to make it work. Just trust me on this.
Finally, a great deal came into my sight. I found the house. I sent it to Jo Ann. I harassed her to get us in and after some time, my fiance and I settled on a price we were comfortable with. We submitted the offer and went through escrow having to pressure Jo Ann for everything we needed our realtor to do.
What part did Jo Ann assist in, you may ask? I have asked myself that numerous times. It was so bad that when the previous owner decided she wanted to take the fridge days before closing, we had to broker a deal and Jo Ann tried to talk us out of it and didn't want to send the email to the other realtor. This was a problem because we spent 3 days shopping and couldn't find a fridge that would fit in the fridge hole in the kitchen. Not a single one. It was less than pleasant.
At the end, Jo Ann received a tidy sum for a lot of work we had to drag her through kicking and screaming. We finally got a house we love at a great price (that we decided on with no help from Jo Ann) and looked forward to putting our new life together together (intentional double use of together). Unfortunately, what we saw as a business transaction with less than stellar application, Jo Ann saw as an invitation into our lives. It was not, but she started showing up at our house unannounced. She started walking in the door without knocking.
It got so bad that one time, she strolled in our house uninvited and I told her to leave. Her eyes went red with anger and she said "Excuse me??". I quickly said "You were not invited in. You do not get to come in out house uninvited." She refused to leave. I told her I would call the police. She got more angry and refused again to leave. I had to dial 911 before she finally got the message that I meant it.
Did I react too quickly? Perhaps, but after months of someone walking in your house completely unannounced and uninvited, at some point, you can't take it anymore.
Now when we see her around, she acts like we're old friends and tries to chat with us like it's nothing. We don't share the enthusiasm, but she doesn't have enough respect for people to step away. She is a parasite who uses her business as an excuse to burrow her way into your life and try to take command.
If you lack the ability to make decisions, have money, and don't have a good enough personality to create your own friends, Jo Ann Poole is your realtor. If you have a shred of dignity, there are better people and better realtors who will leave you far more satisfied. read more