This review is about one of John L Scott realty's agents, Cassandra Marks. I recently sold my home…read moreand she was the buyer's agent. She was the worst person to work with and I felt bad for my agent having to deal with her directly. I realize that her first obligation was to her buyers, but she had no respect or consideration for my schedule at all. Appointments for various inspections were made on her end and I was often given only 1 day notice when I would need to be out of the house for them. I wasn't "asked" if these times and days would work for me, I was "told" this is what was happening. When the appraisal was scheduled, again without asking me beforehand, I told my agent that I would be at home as I had some things I needed to do that morning, like cook food for my lunch at work. Ms. Marks was not at all happy that I would be there, but I told my agent she should have asked before she set up the appt.
On January 25th, she and her buyers set up a home inspection through Balanced Inspections based out of Sandy, OR. I am sure this is an inspector that Ms. Marks recommended. The inspector checked my furnace, and found it to be fine and in working order. By the time I got home from work that same day, it was no longer working! No one would take responsibility for it, not even an "I'm sorry to hear that." The inspector called it "unfortunate timing", while I called it "suspicious timing". I had to wait for a week and a half for the part that was needed, at the end of January, with overnight temperatures in the 30's. I had to buy several space heaters that barely kept my house at around 60 degrees, and ran up my electric bill. The final cost of the repair was nearly $1300.
After the inspections, it was determined that the sewer line needed to be replaced. Two companies were sent out to give estimates for the repair; both were recommended by Ms. Marks. Both came back with outrageous bids of $12K-$15K and I told my realtor that I would be looking around for more bids, as is my right. Less than a day after I told him that, Ms. Marks was hounding him to get me to set up an appt with one of them for the repair! I reiterated that I was not paying those prices and that it would take a couple of days to secure other bids. In the back of my mind, I was trying to figure out why Ms. Marks was chomping at the bit to get me to hire one of these companies--a possible kick back for her, perhaps? Within two days, I found a bid from a smaller, local company that could do it for $5K and I set up a time with him to have the work done. When Ms. Marks found out, she called him and grilled him about the time frame and the price! He called me back and said that he "Didn't like the way she came at me" and told me he was not comfortable taking the project because he didn't want to get in the middle of whatever was going on with the buyer's agent! I saw red!! I called my agent and told him that I did not appreciate having Ms. Marks screw this up and that it was none of her business whom I chose to hire! Why was this woman so intent on going with one of the other companies? My agent spoke to her and she claimed that she was only concerned with the timing of the repair that was scheduled. It had to be more than that for the guy to back out of doing it! Thankfully, another company was found by my realtor that could do it in a specific time frame, that was more in line with a price I could afford, which was not $15K.
Since I am moving out of state and will have to quit my job and I have been very specific about the fact that I would not be giving notice at my job until closing to protect myself. I cannot afford to have it all fall apart and be unemployed. Therefore I would need 2 1/2 weeks to vacate the house. This, I am sure, is not an unusual request for someone moving out-of-state. When I brought it up again to make sure that everyone was on the same page, Ms. Marks first comment was, "This is getting out-of-control!" I was not impressed with her lack of professionalism! I jumped through all of her hoops to do most of the repairs that her buyers requested and the only thing that I personally needed was extra time to move and that was her response. If it would have been up to her, I would have also been out an extra $10K to do the sewer repair,
Needless to say, I would warn against anyone having to deal with this woman. She might be a great buyer's agent, but she was a nightmare to work with as a seller. Ms. Marks needs to realize that a successful transaction (and a positive review) means that one needs to work with both parties. This is not a skill that she possesses. It was so stressful and awful trying to deal with her that I came very close to ending the contract on more than one occasion.