I made an offer on a home listed by Susan Witt. She failed in many ways. First, she failed to notice the several vertical feet of obvious rot in the siding. She failed to notice that the siding had never been caulked for 95% of the siding and had one-inch gaps in the siding at every corner. In the one corner where it had been caulked, it had pulled apart by almost an inch -- but she hadn't noticed that, either. All of those gaps were indicative of foundation issues. She also said that neither she nor the sellers knew why one of the panes in the 2-pane sliding glass door had shattered. It was foundation issues for all this -- duh!! She said that the owners had a foundation report (from some little no-name company) that said no foundation repairs were needed. However, despite promising to send me both that report and the Seller's Disclosure report, she never sent me either one. (Maybe that foundation report didn't exist, or the company was nothing more than a place where you could pay for a report that said no repairs were needed?? Or, she knew that the sellers were lying on the Seller's Disclosure, saying there were no foundation issues?)
Feeling that the house had a cute enough floorplan that it deserved a better owner, and knowing that it is a sellers' market, I made a full-price offer, with no contingency, no request that they repair anything, and with the flexibility to close whenever her clients found a new home -- which they had not done yet. My one stipulation was that they reciprocate my respect for them by letting me know within 24 hours if they accepted my deal. However, despite my having discussed this in person with Susan, Susan not only failed to convince the sellers to choose from among their FOUR offers by that deadline, but Susan even failed to let me know that the sellers had decided to not make a decision in that timeframe. Susan failed to answer her phone, failed to return my call, and it wasn't until 20 minutes AFTER my offer expired that Susan finally answered her phone and told me that they'd decided to keep accepting offers for two more days.
Additionally, since it was an all cash deal, Susan had had the audacity when I presented my offer to tell me she needed a copy of my latest bank statement. While I understand the need to know that I had the means to complete the deal, whether I had $150K or $150M was none of her or her client's business! So, I got a letter from my bank stating simply that I had sufficient funds on deposit to complete the transaction; I e-mailed her a copy of that letter well in advance of the offer expiration and requested (both in that e-mail and via voice message) that she confirm that that would suffice. However, she did not respond to that e-mail until the day AFTER my offer expired, at which point she blamed her other part-time job for why she did not respond to e-mails or phonecalls in a timely manner. In her response, she also had the audacity to say that I didn't understand a sellers' market and that I should have a realtor representing me. First, when I'd originally pulled out the TREC forms and said that I didn't need a realtor to represent me, she hadn't even known that I had the legal right to do that (which speaks to her inexperience). Second, I DO understand a sellers' market, and that means knowing that her clients were also going to be buying in a sellers' market and would likely lose at least one house they made an offer on -- thus NEEDING the flexibility of my offer. And third, why would I want a realtor who didn't notice structural and repair issues, who didn't follow through with paperwork, who didn't return phonecalls, and who generally didn't respect my time?
Beyond that, her e-mail contained multiple grammatical errors, and she had shown up to the showing dressed like she was running to the grocery store instead of showing up to work (despite having agreed to the showing 5 hours earlier).
After my offer expired, I continued to monitor the listing, and even after the time when Susan said the sellers had agreed to make a decision, it was THREE more days before the listing was updated to show a contract.
Bottom line: Susan is a part-time realtor who fails to notice structural and repair issues, doesn't follow through with paperwork, doesn't respond to e-mails or phonecalls in a timely manner, and doesn't follow up with people on the other side of the transaction. I have worked with several realtors over the years, and Susan is the least professional one I've ever worked with. read more