The more of these stories I read, I realize more and more how Mr. SCL and I lucked out on our home. We bought his family home after his father passed away - his family was the only family to ever live in it, so we knew things like termite prevention and maintence had been done, etc.
When we sold the house we previously live in, my SIL and I sold it at a yard sale. We were sitting there and decided to put up a sign reading "House for Sale - As Is. The house needed new carpet, needed painting, etc. We had three offers on it and had a earnest money check that afternoon. We ended up getting as much for it as we would have if we had painted and re-carpeted, once we deducted for those expenses. And we were going to do the painting ourselves, unpaid, so we (meaning I) got out of a lot of work.
As a former Realtor ™ I think it’s too bad that he didn’t sue. I recall that real estate agents get hit mucho hard for that kind of stuff, and they are usually insured big, big time, so Dad ought to see a lawyer. If he can prove it in court, he may be in for some heavy duty cash!
No horror stories. For lies about a property, I wonder how much is the fault of the listing agent. When we were looking for houses here, on a house hunting trip so we were in a hurry, we walked into some real dumps - clothes scattered around, one room so full of trash that you couldn’t see into it, holes in the walls. Our realtor was just as offended by these places as we were, since his time was being wasted also. I suppose the honor code requires the showing realtor to try to explain away the lies in the listing.
Well, a) it’s our word against his, and b) while it may (theoretically) be illegal for him to choose to not show us anything, there’s no law in Japan about landlords refusing to rent out to anyone, or for realtors passing that information on to prospective tenants in as blunt a manner as they choose.
No, not really. I’ve encountered people who acted uncomfortable or ignorant, but the only folks who’ve actually been nasty about it were realtors. Hell, even the yakuza-wannabes running the strip clubs were at least polite and apologetic about their Japanese-only policies.
Even among realtors this was a minority thing. Overall, of the dozen or so realtors I’ve been to:
4 were interested in making a sale, and took us out to see different apartments. One actually ran out and dragged us in to come look at listings when she saw us browsing outside;
2 (mentioned above) didn’t want us around;
And the rest just seemed to be going through the motions. Japanese law requires all real estate transactions to go through an agent, so a lot of them don’t feel a lot of pressure to work for their sales; once a landlord has listed through them, they’ll get their commission no matter what. They’d ask what we were looking for and show us a few listings, then show us on a map where they were. If we were interested, we’d have to go out ourselves to look at it and then come back to pay them their commission for all their hard work :rolleyes: (never did. The places that did the legwork got our business). The best of these was when I got my first apartment: I discovered the place myself, talked with the landlord myself, she showed me the apartment, we agreed on the terms together, but before moving in I was still required to hand over a month’s rent to a realtor I’d never seen.
These were all when I was apartment-hunting. More recently, when my wife and I were looking to buy a condo, it was a complete 180: everywhere we went, they were falling over themselves trying to please us.
Doesn’t matter whose agent they are; they still have an obligation to follow a set of professional ethics and adhere to the law.
Not only that, but stuff like misrepresenting the property can actually hurt their own clients, the sellers. After all, if the agents keep lying to potential buyers about the property’s features, they’re likely to end up showing the property to a bunch of people who won’t buy it, and might also end up missing some people who would actually be interested in the property being sold, rather than the one being described.
My husband spotted this minor one as the (at the time) area’s postman. It’s probably more obvious to customers than some of this stuff, but part of the problem is that this deception hides the house itself.
His delivery area is in a small, well-to-do suburb with a quaint downtown. Distance from the downtown area is a selling point here, and the housing market is viciously competitive, with a relationship between builders and realtors to buy up any property, sometimes two lots adjacent, tear down everything, put up tract mansions, etc. Any edge can help. One house was being advertised as being about 2 blocks from the edge of the downtown. He ran into someone who was lost, and asked where (let’s say) 203 3rd Street was. He told them that address didn’t exist. They were disbelieving, and then showed him the realtor ad for the house. Sure enough, that was the listed address, but he showed the person that block, and that house was not there.
To make a long story short - he eventually recognized the pictured house. It was on a corner lot at (let’s say) Elm and 3rd St, but in the (IIRC) 600 block of 3rd, so actually 6 blocks from downtown, which would be less attractive to buyers who wanted the close location. It was on a corner lot, and its official street address according to the suburb was 203 Elm Street. The previous house had been torn down and rebuilt, so the front door now faced 3rd Street, but that does not magically make the street address change, in the eyes of the post office, the town, etc, and it certainly would not get a 203 number even if you did reassign it to Elm.
My husband notified the realtor and they dismissed his complaint. Meanwhile, their plan backfired - the house languished on the market, going unsold for a couple of years. Finally he just happened to let this fact drop in some friendly gossip with a customer who happened to be with another realtor (it’s not like it was a secret thing, as they advertised the house with a picture in the local paper, address included), and not terribly long after, the address was appropriate.
I once viewed a house which was touted as having two bathrooms and a finished basement. The “finished basement” was one in which linoleum had been laid (but not attatched-- it actually curled up around the edges) on the cement floor and panelling had been haphazardly nailed to the walls.
The “second bath” turned out to be (and I swear to Og I shit you not) a* toilet in a bedroom closet.* There was no sink, nor was there clearance enough to shut the sliding door if you were sitting on the toilet.
I also toured a home which was touted as having a “beatuiful view.” I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I’d imagine that it’s a rare person indeed who would consider looking at the back of a trailer surrounded by broken-down cars and various clumps of trash to be beautiful.
I don’t think I’m unusual in deciding not to even consider a home if it has been grossly misrepresented because my mind instantly begins to wonder what other things they lied about. (Nailing wood siding on a trailer does not turn it into a “ranch” and if a bed cannot actually *fit *in the room, it shouldn’t be called an extra bedroom.)
When hubby and I were house hunting, he insisted on using the guy who sold him the house his ex got. “Doug” advertized himself as an “honest christian man with solid family values” :dubious:
Since hubby knew him, I figured he must live up to his card. The first house he showed us was at the very top end of our budget. It had a magnificent view of Lake Washington. That was because it was built on the side of a hill. It had a place large enough for one car cut into the hill and 104 stairs to the patio, then another 15 to the kitchen door. The kitchen was tiny, a walk through. Once through the kitchen, you were in the rest of the house. It was one large expanse of orange carpet, with a '70s style metal fireplace in the middle. No bedroom(s), the bathroom was behind a movable screen. :eek: Oh, I didn’t mention the patio was directly under the house, it had a half basement, with the other half on stilts. The house was sliding down the hill. the front was at least 6 inches lower than the back. There were huge cracks in the ceiling and walls. Doug dismissed them as “cosmetic.”
That house was just a few blocks from where we are now. The people who finally bought it, tore it down, duh.
The next house he showed us, was a “Christmas House” The owner, proudly showed us the jackleg breaker he had installed before the meter, to steal power from the power company to light his million Christmas lights.
When we went through the house, I asked doug why he had even considered us for this house? It was built for midgets the ceilings were 7’6" except in the bathrooms where they were 5’8". Hubby is 6’3". :rolleyes:
Doug called us about the house we bought, saying we probably didn’t real ly need to look at it since it was set up for a bidding war. :rolleyes: We offered our top price, and got the house. The only thing I can think is the sign out front wasn’t from his company. :rolleyes:
When I sold my condo in San Diego, my agent was “semi-retired.” He was a friend’s father. Even though he found a buyer two days after it went up, it took over three months to close. I finally told him I was going to let it go back to the bank if I didn’t have papers to sign by the end of the week. I signed the next day. I found out later, the reason for the long wait, he was on a 36 day cruise! He had the buyers hanging on a string too. When he got back, he had “more important” properties to take care of before a piddly condo.
Wow. All these stories make me realize just how lucky we were to work with the agent we had when we bought our first house this year.
He became like a father to us. He nitpicked every house we visited, pointed out flaws, insisted on escape clauses, pulled records at city hall, did all the homework (now, he’s been in the business for 40 years!)… We worked with absolutely fantastic sellers (who are coming by for tea, soon, I hope!) who went out of their way to make sure things were nice before we closed… in fact, on the day of closing, the gentleman thought one of the drains in the bathroom was running a little slowly, so he called the plumber to come have a look, so it would all be fixed up before we moved in.
A few days later, too, he came by with a spare lawnmower, knowing we didn’t have one yet, and gave it to us (complete with a can of gas for it, too).
Couldn’t have had a greater experience.
I’m insanely grateful, especially after reading these horror stories!
Our realtor misled us at every opportunity. It was not until our mortgage fell through (the broker was her fiance) that she started acting in a professional manner. I did all of the legwork, finding all of the homes we toured. She merely showed up to let us in.
And quite unethical. You should report this agent to the local Board of Realtors, and they will investigate.
I had a recent deal where the seller, which I represented, was presented with several offers at once. Some would have been more profitable to me, but my job as outlined in Board ethics and contract language is to get the best deal for my client, the seller. I presented them on their individual merits and let the seller choose which one she wanted to accept or counter.
Note that representing both buyer and seller by the same agent or company is allowed, at least in my state, but both parties must consent, and ethics require both parties to be handled fairly without a bias towards one or the other.
A recent state law change in Wisconsin (July 1, 2006) has made possible a status known as “designated agency,” where two agents working for the same company can each represent one side of a transaction. In this case, as one attorney described it, each agent is “in the ring, fighting for their client.” In the case of a single agent with both buyer & seller clients, the agent is acting as a referee instead of a fighter.
Thanks. It’s good to hear from someone “on the inside” who thinks this guy was out of line. I really wish my father had complained to someone other than family, be he does not like to make waves. Even if he had sued and won, I honestly don’t know if he would know what to do with the money. He would probably think it was not his (because he didn’t earn it).
If you feel professional ethics have been violated, the first place to go is the local Board of Realtors. They have the power to prosecute and impose fines on members. If you feel ignored by a local board, appeal to the state or national level. AFAIK each state has a government licensing board as well with even more awesome powers. The court system would be the last resort, and the most expensive one, where the burden of proof would be entirely on you in a civil suit.
The Realtors Board can fine a member or remove him from membership, but not yank his license. The state board can fine, suspend or revoke a license, and courts can probably do all these and more.
One thing about making waves, specially when you can do it through a Board, College, or similar (that is, outside of court): it may prevent other people from being stung.
There was one case where my own waves ended up becoming company policy for a 30000 employee company.
Jeez, I’m just starting to look for a house to purchase for the first time, and all this is giving me pause. My agent is someone I’ve known for quite some time, so I don’t think I’ll get screwed too badly there, but I’ve already seen a bit of shysterism from property sellers.
The main one so far was a house, with street address and accompanying photo, advertised as a new-build in the local multi-list service. My agent calls the property developer to arrange a showing and the guy on the phone says, “just come on over when you want, it’s open.” Huh? So we head on over, and it turns out the place is indeed open. That’s because it’s only half-built: no doors, no interior walls, most of the siding not yet installed, etc. None of the five or six other houses in the development were finished either, and there were no models visible. Not sure where the photo came from, but it sure as hell wasn’t from anywhere in that development.
Don’t be worried, just be informed. Get the tax ID # for the properties you’re most interested in and check them out on their county’s website. You’ll see what taxes were owed and sometimes what the property was bought for. I was ready to make an offer on a piece of raw land unitil I checked the tax record and saw that the owner had twice asked for re-assessment because the land just wouldn’t percolate - couldn’t build a house. You can bet THAT wasn’t in the realtor’s listing. He didn’t even know.
Don’t be afraid to talk to neighbors, either. You’d be surprised what they know…Maybe they’ve seen something you should know about it!
The courts can recomend to the state real estate commission that an agent’s license be suspended or revoked, but only the Commission itself can actually do this. I can only speak for the state of New Jersey, and they really really take their job seriously. I’ve had a few interactions with them, and only once did we escape without paying a fine, simply because the agent came to our office, was presented with six files file of materials (keep copies is the first rule of my office, and I throw shitfits when it is not obeyed), and everything was filed out as required.
