I sold my house. The Real Estate Agent (REA) was a complete train-wreck from the start. However, I closed yesterday (yay) and am wondering what to do now.
When I listed the house, I needed to clean/etc prior to pictures being taken (the house had been unoccupied for 6 months at that point). She (REA) said that was no problem, as she would not be able to come take pics, post signs, etc for two weeks.
Well, four days later she showed up, placed the key box, then as she walked around the inside of the house she saw that I hadn’t done my cleanup yet. She saw something I had inadvertently left out (think along the lines of a giant dildo or bong). Apparently she told a friend about this, who immediately told another friend, who happened to know me pretty well.
So I get a call from a friend who explained what she heard, who she heard it from, and who the original source of the information was (REA). Now I’'m sitting, reading a post-closing email from REA about the sale and how important word of mouth advertising is to her business. She CC’d her boss.
I have a reply typed out (reply all!) in which I explain in detail, the incident. I tell her that the only word of mouth advertising will be entirely negative. Do I send it? I assume there is nothing she can do post-closing (which is why I have kept quiet till now).
I haven’t seen what you wrote, but my advice is tone it down, then send it. Don’t say you will bad-mouth them, or anything like that, just leave it as :“I would like to relate an incident that I feel to be unprofessional conduct…”.
You don’t have to be rude or threatening for them to get the message.
OK, cleaned up the email. Writing out the details of the incident, I really need no more than the facts to get my point across. The money is in my hands, so I guess there is no reason not to hit send. Friends I’ve related this to have been horrified; thing is, I’m “unembarrasable” but I still am pissed at her lack of ethics.
Good advice above. While leaving out any threat to bad-mouth them, I would feel free to state that you will not be recommending the agent or the brokerage. I would also report it to the board of realtors, as Annie-Xmas said, because that could result in a fine for the agent, which she appears to deserve.
There aint much left after edit! For legal reasons, I’d rather not identify the situation with any degree of specificity. While I’m unembarrasable, I’m not unindictable.
You’re unembarrasable yet you won’t even tell us on an anonymous message board what this supposedly embarrassing thing is, instead being coy about it with “think along the lines of…”? I hate teases like that.
Can I ask why you waited until after close to discuss this situation with your REA? She works for you and apparently you’ve been upset about it from the start.
You really need to decide what your goals are. She’s been paid and you’ve been paid. The house is sold and you have your money. While what she did was quite unprofessional the squabble at this point is the social embarrassment you have experienced.
In this particular circumstance if you go to war with her by CCing her broker she will probably be held to account, and the real world fall out is likely to be that the embarrassing story about the huge black dildo-bong she told a few people is going to be far more wide spread as she appeals for sympathy to her entire social circle.
If you want to stop the spread send her a private note telling her you are disappointed, angry etc, and that if it reaches you ears that it has become more widespread you will contact her broker. If you want to punish her and do not care about the story spreading CC it.
You need to define your goals here. If you CC the broker the story will spread much wider. This is guaranteed.
Per your last message if it’s really a bong your claim to outrage is (real world) a bit weaker than with a dildo as people will judge your morals for possessing the bong in the first place. She should have kept her trap shut, but I will anticipate you will get much less sympathy from the broker with a large bong being talked about than a dildo. Relatively few people are going to be sorry for you and you even be privately mocked when you try to tell people about he horrible agent that yapped about your huge bong. You’re going to look like a doofus for leaving it out. Be sure you want to open the flood gates on this. It may not go the way you think or want.
Yeah, I’m not really getting it. This happened a while ago, right? Right after listing the house but before anyone actually saw the place? Sure, it’s unethical in that now a few random people might know that **kayaker **smokes pot, but what’s the harm in that? I don’t think the police really give “rumor” much weight, the people who know you well either know already or don’t care, and those who don’t know you but now know about the pot, so what? Your house still sold, right? I doubt she was telling prospective buyers, “and that’s where the bong was, right there on the table.” And astro’s right: your response email will ensure this gets talked about way more.
IMO, the way to handle this was to talk directly to the REA about it, when it happened, after you heard from your friend, not weeks later.
Seems like the email has already been sent, but there is a way to voice a complaint about what she did while remaining circumspect about the specific item. All he needs to say is that she entered the house without permission (his permission was granted for after he’d cleaned, not before), and then discussed his private, personal belongings with third parties who had no connection to the house sale or any reason to know.
There’s no reason filing a complaint needs to make the story spread wider. She can jabber all she wants, but she kind of sinks herself when she does, given that the complaint is about exactly that. If she’s unprofessionally gossiping in response to being called out as an unprofessional gossip, I know my first instinct would be to assume she’s embellishing the truth in some way to justify herself, and even if not, I won’t think much of her for gossiping more after being called on it. If she’s got two brain cells to rub together, she’d realize that doing so would probably not go over well with her boss.
