My experience with a new agent in the KW franchise should have been a swift and straightforward business transaction, based on the quality and location of my home. Instead, it dragged on for months, at great expense to me.
The inept agent, Emily Kosokar, was unwilling to list the home until her personal standards were met, in spite of the fact that she was repeatedly told that it was an economic hardship to keep delaying and that I was eager to sell swiftly.
It should be noted that she focused on the need to paint bedrooms, although I stressed that I was OK with adjusting the list price to include a painting allowance for the new owner. When that was done, then she insisted that I hire a locksmith to replace a lock she had difficulty with. Each time she "stopped by" she would inevitably find more items for me to tend to. It should also be noted that the Truth in Housing inspection had one small plumbing issue, which I rectified immediately. Good grief.
This inexperienced agent's insistance on hiring her housemate to complete task that where not required or needed in any way turned into an expensive nightmare for me. The two of them determined on their own that painting walls, swapping out five functioning light fixtures, and removing (and destroying) my office furnishings, without my pre-approval, was "in my best interest."
The agent's friend charged me an exorbitant amount that kept increasing over the course of a few short hours after I requested documentation to back up this needless expense. The KW agent also misled me about a bridge loan to help cover expenses that kept mounting up as she continued to delay marketing my house. This may or may not have been illegal, but clearly it was self serving and unethical.
Also, her blatent lack of skills and understanding of the digital documentation process was frustrating and extremely time consuming.
When she finally presented the marketing materials, the quality was mediocre, with several errors on the flyer as well as in the MLS listing. I needed to post the open house to social media as she was "really busy" and seemed unsure of how to proceed.
The first person at the open house made an offer for 4K over the list price, without an inspection. This agent pressured me to accept it, even before the second open house scheduled for the following day. She stressed that the seller's agent was "pushy, aggressive" and was demanding an answer within hours of the offer. She voiced her concerns that no other offers were forthcoming... after one open house. Again, whose agenda was the priority here???
She insisted that the buyer's pre-closing walk though had to occur during the timeframe that I had movers scheduled to remove the furniture and remaining personal effects. This was a horrific experience for me in many ways, as I was shamed for not having the house empty for the review, in spite of the fact that the movers were on site during this timeframe.
Because of her insistance that the walk through had to occur at that time to accommodate the buyer and the "pushy" agent, I was not able to maximize the time with the movers. This was embarrassing and expensive, as I then needed to cobble together additional assistance to fully clear my belongings after the movers left.
It should be noted that the KW agent had several conversations with the buyer and agent without me present and misled them about the situation. When confronted with this, the KW Agent refused to have a follow up conversation that included me. Really. Again, whose agenda was she serving? Gaslighting behavior, for sure!
When I reached out to KW Realty INTEGRITY Lakes several times by phone and via detailed email communications, this particular KW franchise in essence refused to deal with my concerns whatsoever.
I assumed that this novice agent would be supervised by broker John Butler, but it seems that did not occur, or if it did, his efforts fell far short. Aside from a brief call back, Mr. Butler never engaged with me and only after several weeks did I receive an email on a Sunday afternoon that was full of corporate platitudes and a refusal to seriously address my complaints.
Hopefully the MN Department of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau will find this of interest and be able to help me recoup some of the funds KW gleaned from the sale of my home. Gleaned, not earned.
The good news is that I made a successful offer on a new home within days of the closing, with the assistance of a seasoned Coldwell Banker realtor. Still, KW Realty INTEGRITY Lakes leadership is not interested in addressing my concerns. Hmmm. read more
