2/3/2014

Originally Published on tumblr.com arewebeingscammed.tumblr.com/

BLOG

COMPILATION ARE WE BEING SCAMMED?

Life, Liberty

and the

Pursuit of Happiness

The Journey

As We Try To Sell Our House

The Quest for Pre-retirement

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Hello there,

Thank you for your interest in this e-magazine. This is the official compilation of

our first blog, arewebeingscammed.tumblr.com.

These conclusions are based on personal experiences, and we suggest and

hope that someone among our readers will research this subject further, or

perhaps have the resources to professionally investigate into this matter that

could be happening to other homeowners/homebuyers.

Please note that we will be continuing our postings on tumblr.com and on our

new blog arewebeingscammed.wordpress.com. Please visit each blog regularly

for the latest posts.

Thank you, have a nice day.

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About

We are homeowners who are trying to sell our house in the Los Angeles, CA

area.

We have created this blog to document our past (the last three and a half

months), present, and future (until we sell our house) experiences.

We will blog about our experiences with some real estate professionals, some

investors, contracts, our watching of the local housing market, and with

everything that this rollercoaster ride of trying to sell our home has brought upon

us.

Our blog is based on what we’ve come to comprehend about some real

estate professionals, some investors, and some who are involved in our local

housing market.

These conclusions are based on personal experiences, and we suggest and

hope that someone among our readers will research this subject further, or

perhaps have the resources to professionally investigate into this matter that

could be happening to other homeowners/homebuyers.

Please note that while we are not implying that all real estate professionals

and/or investors are involved, all readers are advised to read and/or (if needed)

to seek professional assistance to read and understand contracts, terms and

conditions, privacy policies, and any other forms of agreements before

agreeing to do or conducting business with any party.

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Why We Created This Blog

We have created this blog in hopes to help other homeowners who may not

realize that there could be a scheme out there to swindling their homes away

from them.

We have also started this blog for family and friends up north because we’ve

been posting on facebook, sending out e-mails, and talking on the telephone,

but there seems to always be more questions about where we stand and why

we probably won’t be returning to the north as soon as we would have liked.

Although the family and friends here in Los Angeles are happy that we haven’t

left yet, they are equally eager to see all the details in writing (in one place)

about where we stand in selling our home.

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In Short

Some investors seem to be snagging up two categories of houses:

1> Distressed homes that can be purchased inexpensively, and that can

usually be flipped cheaply and as quickly as possible.

2> Any homes that are not in disrepair, that can be purchased inexpensively

and need little more than cosmetic work.

These two categories have three sub- categories that seem to be targeted by

some investors:

1> » Distressed homeowners, homeowners who are in a rush to sell before

they must list as a short sale or fall into foreclosure.

2> » Short Sales

3> » Bank owned properties.

But while the above is often well known facts, we have noticed what may be

another target of some scheming investors, who issue contracts that are

dubious, cunning, and binding.

Some homeowners who are selling their homes simply because they want

to relocate and/or are selling for a reason that allows them to list their

house under standard sale.

These homeowners are not usually in an immediate rush to sell, but while some

investors want these properties simply because they are in the desired price

range, homeowners could also be targeted for what may be a scheme by

some investors who may be swindling some homeowners out of their homes.

——

Some realtors seem to have found a way to ensure twice or possibly even

three times the commission.

A realtor who sells a house to an investor may be given a second commission

when the investor re-list the house.

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And another if that investor returns looking for a new investment…etc. etc.

Of course there is nothing wrong with this, as long as it is certain that no

homeowner is being disrespected, belittled, and intimidated.

——

We will be blogging about why we have come to these conclusions, why we

think there may be a new scam going around that homeowners need to be

aware of, and why we believe there needs to be changes in the real estate

market.

Please Note: While this blog was written mainly off of memory, we did keep a

diary and have kept records of accurate dates and times.

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The Merchandise

Before we begin blogging about our experiences, we want to state; we

sometimes wonder if any of these real estate agents realize that without the

homeowner they have no merchandise.

As homeowners who are in the process of trying to sell our house, we have

often felt that some of the realtors that we have dealt with were attempting to

belittle us, but all they did was disrespect us under our own roof…the

merchandise.

We believe that some agents need to educate themselves in customer

service and business ethnics.

Some realtors come in acting as if they’re the boss, and bark orders like the

homeowners are their servants and are going to do every one of their

commands.

Some agents need to realize they are the middle person between sellers and

buyers.

The process of buying and selling real estate is a business transaction and all

parties involved need and should remain refined and professional.

Welcome to our blog, we shall try to keep our posts polite…try LOL

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Loyalty Is A One Sided Coin

(Under Contract Part One)

In 1996 our family decided to buy a house in the area of Los Angeles, CA, and

made the decision to first become pre-approved.

The banker who met with us asked if we had a realtor, and suggested a friend

of hers when we told her we hadn’t yet chosen one to work with.

When we contacted this realtor, we asked for a list of houses for sale in our

desired area (in 1996, we were not yet internet literate LOL). We figured this

would make it easier for our realtor and for us, to call only when we wanted to

see a house from the list that interested us from the outside when we drove by

(in 1996 we used paper maps, which were not interactive and did not feature

street view LOL).

That was how we came to discover our current home; by an address printed

on an actual paper sheet, and by falling in love with it when driving along the

tree-lined street and seeing the house through the windows of our van. It

needed a bit more than a little TLC, but it was love at first sight.

It seems like ages ago.

Sixteen and a half years later, we decided it was time to move.

Don’t ask why…

No, I mean it…don’t ask because we’re not even sure LOL.

What happened? You insist on asking.

Call it menopause…LOL…

…And the need to move closer to family, to where mom was born up in

northern California.

Among these and other reasons, we decided to list our house under standard

sale, a house we had purchased as our retirement home, a place to grow old

in, to hand down to the next generation.

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Than we made a little mistake, we stumbled over a little thing called loyalty.

Little hadn’t we realize that loyalty is often one sided.

We and the realtor who had sold us our house never had become friends, we

had just remained acquaintances. She sent us a Christmas card the C’mas after

purchasing our house, and from there on, we continued to exchange cards via

USPS for each Christmas during the sixteen years.

When we decided to sell our house, we e-mailed this realtor asking if she

wanted to take us on as clients. We had a few conditions and stated that if she

didn’t want to help us sell our home that we would try it on our own.

Perhaps we should have taken it as a sign when after a week we were still

waiting for a reply from her.

And perhaps we should have wondered how well this realtor had merged into

the digital era when we couldn’t find much about she nor her real estate listings

online.

We e-mailed this realtor again and stated that while we hoped that she was

well, we would assume and acknowledge that since she had not responded

she must have decided not to take us on as clients.

The next day we received an e-mail and a voicemail from the realtor stating

that she hadn’t received our first e-mail and that she would like to help us sell

our house if we hadn’t already contacted another realtor.

We would like to say that we hadn’t believed her, that we somehow had a

sixth sense that she was perhaps going to play some kind of a game with us,

that we ignored the e-mail and voicemail.

Naïve must have been stamped on our foreheads (you know, the original

account profile page LOL).

After all, sometimes e-mails become lost while they’re traveling to their

destinations.

How long did it take us before we started suspecting that she may have been

playing some type of game?

Oh, oh. To be continued…but you knew that this brake had to come along

sooner or a later…right? ;-D :-))

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The Contract

(Under Contract Part Two)

On June 03, 2013 when we met with the realtor who had sold us our house

sixteen and a half years back, we allowed her to choose her own commission

rate and the listing price that she believed best suited the value of our house.

When she chose a price that was a few thousand above what we had

originally considered, we simply nodded and told her it was up to her.

We and this realtor went through the process, and we read all the paperwork

that we had to sign and approve.

We and the realtor had no huge disagreements; other than:

» We wanted a thirty day closing, but this realtor refused anything less than a

45 day. So we settled for the 45 days.

» The last issue we and the realtor disagreed about was how to list our

attached storage room. We had purchased the house with it listed as a family

room, but we had always used it as a storage room. In the end we gave up and

allowed her to list it as a bonus room.

We were a bit taken aback that she didn’t know how to list certain features in

our house. We assumed a realtor with over sixteen years experience would have

more knowledge when it came to naming and describing household features.

In the end, we signed a three month contract with this agent and her real estate

office.

We had wanted only one photograph for our listing. The realtor said that she

was going to take a few extra for her records. She ended up posting four

photographs and asked for some more because she said her photographs did

not turn out right. Since she had posted more than just the one we had asked

for, we sent her some more and figured having more photographs was for the

better.

I should note that this realtor has an incredibly nice personality, and even

now, we continue to believe that she would probably make a nice friend (not

that we would ever want her as our friend). But as a realtor…let us just say that-

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Commission?????

We should state that while we are now trying to sell our home under FSBO (For

sale by owner), we are not implying that we are unwilling to pay an agents

commission.

It should not be attempted to make a homeowner feel that they have

somehow broken a golden rule and disrespected real estate professionals by

making the decision to try and sell a house under FSBO.

In our case, the simple fact that we began trying to sell our house with a

realtor should state that paying an agreed upon percentage of the sale to a

realtor would not be an issue for us.

It was the experience with our former realtor and with some of the other

realtors we had dealt with during the time period of a three month contract that

made us decide to re-list our house on our own.

However, while we did not want to bind ourselves to another contract with a

realtor, it does not mean that we are trying to sidestep paying a commission, as

long as the commission is paid only if and when escrow closes, at the sold price

and not at the listing price.

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The Game

We took our house off the market this past Sunday evening (Oct. 13th, 2013),

so that we could enjoy the holidays without having to deal with these realtors

and investors??

We asked for all solicitations and inquiries to pause until we place our house

back on the market in January 2014, but it has yet to cease.

We hope that by the time we place our house back onto the market, the

brick wall we seem to be facing will be down. All we want is to show our house

to every possible buyer, and not just to the potential buyers who would best

benefit a realtor.

We have come to believe that some realtors and some investors have found

a way to dominate the market in a way that better profits themselves.

And of course there are some out there who may be using this current market

flow to scheme and swindle.

We feel like we are stuck in the middle of an uncanny and deceiving game.

We feel that there is a need for new laws, rules, and strict guidelines.

Something surely needs to be done to make sure the business of buying and

selling homes is as fair as it possibly could be for all parties involved;

homeowners, homebuyers, realtors, and investors (not just the realtors and

investors).

Some of the realtors and investors that we had to deal with expected for a

homeowner to accept a lowball offer so that the investor can sell at profit, a

profit that homeowners earned through the years of owning their house (the

upkeep, the insurance, the taxes, the interest…etc).

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Broker Open House

(Under Contract Part Three)

At first, we hadn’t wanted a public open house, but the realtor asked for a

broker only open house, which she said were usually held the first Friday after

listing a home for sale. She said that brokers usually brought clients along with

them, and we said that it would be fine.

We prepared for the broker open house, which was scheduled on the 07 of

June. To the realtors in our area, we sent out about fifty invitations via USPS and

about a dozen e-mails. We made walkthrough flyers. We purchased water,

soda, ice, snacks, napkins, spoons, and snack plates. We had none-alcoholic

red wine to offer. We even purchased balloons, flowers, and some decorations

for the inside of our house.

We had never been part of a broker open house (although, many years ago

we had sold two other houses)and didn’t know what to expect or what was

expected of us. The day of the open house we were going to stay in our RV to

stay out of the way.

The realtor came just in time for when the open house was scheduled to

begin. She brought three signs (to place one on the main street and a couple

along the front of our house). She also brought flyers with the details of our

house, which had text that was incredibly small and hard to read.

We figured we would visit with the realtor until the first broker/realtor came.

We went through most of the open house without a single visit.

The realtor finally made a phone call and spoke to someone in an language

that was unfamiliar to us.

Just before the end of this open house, a group of four realtors came

knocking. We snuck out the side door and began walking toward our RV. Before

we even reached the RV’s door the agent called us and told us that the brokers

had left. I don’t even think that they had time to walk around the house; we

know that they didn’t come out to view the garden area since we were in the

yard.

We made a u-turn and walked back. The broker open house was over and

the realtor had taken her things back to her car.

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The brokers/realtors that had come left their business cards and we realized

that they were all from the same real estate company as our realtor.

It seemed like, huh, no other realtor had come along??

We assumed that maybe our realtor was possibly unpopular, or perhaps there

was some kind of rivalry between real estate companies. Or more likely, that she

had done no advertising.

Although we had sent out our own advertising via USPS and email.

This was when we began to suspect that this may be some type of game that

she was playing with us, and where I realized that loyalty was going to be a one

sided coin.

When the realtor returned from her car, we told her that we decided that we

wanted to host a public open house.

She said it would be fine, and gave us a date for June 23rd, which she would

later change to June 22nd.

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Public Open House

(Under Contract Part Four)

The public open House was June 22, 2013.

The Wednesday before the open house, when we didn’t see it listed

anywhere on real estate websites, we sent the realtor a message and asked if

she had posted about it.

The realtor said she had and would look into it.

The day after we communicated with the realtor, our open house was listed

on a handful of real estate websites. The day before the open house, it was

listed on every site that we checked.

We had our walkthrough flyers placed out. We purchased more water, ice,

and snacks. We purchased more flowers for inside the house, and balloons to tie

to our fence, front porch, and yards.

The realtor came just in time for when the open house was scheduled to

open. She brought along new flyers with the same small font, and her three signs

to place one on the main street and a couple along the front of our house.

This time we invited some friends. From our point of view the open house went

excellent. While there was no offers made, we felt that there was a good

showing.

Before the realtor left, we told her that we wanted to hold another public

open house

The realtor said alright, but that she wouldn’t be available for two weeks and

would call us to set a date.

The realtor text about this open house six weeks later, August 03rd 2013. She

told us she wanted to hold a broker only open house on August 9th 2013. We

replied stating that it would be fine but that we wanted to make it both a broker

and a public open house.

She replied saying that that would be ok.

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Public Open House

(Under Contract Part Four)

The public open House was June 22, 2013.

The Wednesday before the open house, when we didn’t see it listed

anywhere on real estate websites, we sent the realtor a message and asked if

she had posted about it.

The realtor said she had and would look into it.

The day after we communicated with the realtor, our open house was listed

on a handful of real estate websites. The day before the open house, it was

listed on every site that we checked.

We had our walkthrough flyers placed out. We purchased more water, ice,

and snacks. We purchased more flowers for inside the house, and balloons to tie

to our fence, front porch, and yards.

The realtor came just in time for when the open house was scheduled to

open. She brought along new flyers with the same small font, and her three signs

to place one on the main street and a couple along the front of our house.

This time we invited some friends. From our point of view the open house went

excellent. While there was no offers made, we felt that there was a good

showing.

Before the realtor left, we told her that we wanted to hold another public

open house.

The realtor said alright, but that she wouldn’t be available for two weeks and

would call us to set a date.

The realtor text about this open house six weeks later, August 03rd 2013. She

told us she wanted to hold a broker only open house on August 9th 2013. We

replied stating that it would be fine but that we wanted to make it both a broker

and a public open house.

She replied saying that that would be ok.

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Notes on the Prospective Buyers

(Part One)

Nearly every person who came to tour our house during these past five

months were nice and respectful. We received direct feedback that our house

was clean, unique, that our kitchen was cute, and that our yard was large.

It was great to hear, although no one ever returned for a second look.

During the three month contract with our realtor, we felt that the most of the

prospective buyers who came seemed peculiar in one way; they seemed that

they were touring a museum instead of a house, a house that they may or may

not consider purchasing.

Perhaps we are mistaken to assume that someone searching for a house to

buy would conduct himself and/or herself differently. Possibly, lightly experiment

with doors, windows, faucets, and look inside closets, in cabinets, under sinks

and that sort, to be sure things were in working order and check out the amount

of storage space. We were expecting questions about the roof, plumbing, and

maybe questions about if anything was included with the house.

We thought that maybe we were making people feel uncomfortable by

sitting in the dining room while they toured, so we sometime sat on our front

porch.

But except for a few exceptions, most toured and left without so much as

turning on a faucet.

Like I stated, perhaps we are mistaken to assume that someone searching for

a house to buy would conduct themselves differently. Perhaps when a

prospective buyer immediately knows that a house is not for them, they choose

to be respectful and continue with the tour instead of turning around and

leaving.

Perhaps.

The one “public” open house we had while under contract with the realtor

brought on a different feeling from the people who came to tour. They seemed

to take their time and seemed to ask the realtor questions.

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Once we listed under for sale by owner we were often asked the questions we

had expected to be asked. Closets were opened and second sweeps of the

house were taken.

But it also was during our first open house that we held under for sale by

owner, when we encountered someone whom we felt was a scammer.

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Buying Low

We have been advised by realtors not to wait on re-listing our house for sale

until 2014 because we could possible loose thousands of dollars.

We are homeowners trying to sell our house at the best sales price we can

attain. We want fair market value and yet we are flexible, but not so pliable that

we are blind to insults or easily persuaded by scammers.

When we were ready to list our house under for sale by owner, we listed

$40,000.00 under Zillow’s estimated value.

The way we see it, the market fluctuates in more than just one area. We sell

high, we have to buy high (the location we wish to re-buy is in a comparative

market to our current location).

On the same note, if we must sell low, the chances are that we will be able to

buy low (which we would prefer).

When all is said and done, we want to know that (when escrow closes) we’ll

be walking away with the fair amount that reflects our area’s current market.

That said, we understand that buyers (and investors) are looking to purchase

at the best possible price. As we’ve stated above, while we want fair market

value, we are willing to be flexible…yet not so pliable that we are blind to insults

or easily persuaded by scammers.

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Be Considerate

FYI Realtors,

As we politely stated on our house’s website, we asked for you to not

continue to solicit or inquiry until our house goes back on the market. We asked

for you to please stop all house visits, calls, e-mails, and letters sent via USPS.

For those of you who are still calling us about our house, please note that our

phone number has been changed, our new number will be made available

upon re-listing our house for sale after Jan. 2014.

Please do not trash our doorway for those of you who are still leaving ads and

written inquiries, or at least place them in a more appropriate location.

We should also state that some realtors places advertisements just outside our

doorway, in placements which could be dangerous if we do not take notice of

the ads when we step out of our house and could slip. Please be more

considerate, not only with our house but with any house where you leave your

advertisement and personal notes.

Please note that our house is NOT for rent, and it is NOT a rent to own home. It

will be back on the market, for sale, after Jan. 2014 as soon as we are up to

putting our house back on the market.

We are taking this break to enjoy the Holidays.

Hope you all have the best holidays ever.

Thank You.

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A portion of the contract referred to in our post,

Notes On Prospective Buyers (Part Two).

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Notes On Prospective Buyers

(Part Two)

We had originally chosen to list our house for sale with the help of a realtor

because we were wary about having to deal with scammers.

Sure enough, we believe we met a con artist couple.

It was during the weekend of Sept. 21st and 22nd 2013 that we held our first

open house under, for sale by owner (FSBO). After the expiration of a three-

month contract with the realtor, we were excited about being free to try to sell

our house on our own.

On Sept. 21st, a woman who we’ll call Mrs. Hummmm, came to tour our home

during the first day of our open house.

Mrs. Hummmm said she had two boys and that she loved to cook. She loved

the kitchen and kept talking about how nice it was throughout the rest of the

tour. Before she left, she asked if we were firm in our price, we told Mrs.

Hummmm that we were flexible.

That evening, we received a call from (who we believe to have been Mrs.

Hummmm). She said, “We are throwing some numbers around and we’re

wondering if you’ll be home tomorrow (Sept. 22nd).” We told her that we were

holding another open house and to stop by any time between 11:00 am to 4:00

pm. If she needed to come earlier or later to just call. Mrs. Hummmm said that

she would call before she came.

After our open house on Sept. 22nd, one of us was on the way out to pick up

the newspaper when a man drove up. The man said that he was Mrs. Hummmm

husband (so we’ll call him Mr. Hummmm), and handed over a folder with

papers.

There was no contact number on any of the pages so we had to ask Mr.

Scammer for a phone number, which we wrote on the inside of the folder that

had come with the offer.

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Mr. and Mrs. Hummmm had presented themselves as husband and wife with

children, and had made comments that suggested that the house would be

purchased as a personal residence. It wasn’t until we read the contract that we

realized that this “family” was a “group.” We’ll call them the Hummmm Group

Inc.

We did not expect an offer from a group. While there’s nothing wrong with

this group presenting themselves as a family, we couldn’t help but wonder why

they would present themselves on a false personal level instead of a professional

one.

We felt that it would have been respectful to be upfront and introduce

themselves as members of the “group,” and perhaps present an offer

themselves or return with a realtor to present their offer.

It felt like they assumed we would let our guard down, that we would trust

them more as a “family” than a “group.”

We had told Mrs. Hummmm that we were flexible with the price, but we were

somewhat taken aback that Hummmm Group Inc. had asked for eighty-

thousand off our asking price. We were already forty-thousand under Zillow.com

estimate, and to take another eighty thousand off ?????

We were considering whether to counter offer or to simply decline when we

read the contract.

Mrs. Hummmm was the President and Treasury of Hummmm Group Inc, and

the “husband,” Mr. Hummmm (who we discovered had a different last name

than his supposed wife, which I guess really doesn’t matter these days) was the

vice President and Secretary. A loan company in a nearby town had funded

them for $1,500,000, and their place of business was located in the same town

of our house.

Hummmm Group Inc. offered an all cash offer with ten-thousand down.

But here’s what troubled us:

They wanted 21 days for an inspection period, that within this time (before

escrow closes and while we are still living in our home) they have the right to

show our house and sell it, and that they have the right to make changes to our

home. They wanted the homeowner to pay all closing cost and they wanted

the remaining funds in our impound.

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These terms were listed within the body of text of the contract. The terms and

conditions section were left blank (I have scanned this portion of the contract

and have attached it to this post).

Our immediate concern was for neighbors who are selling their homes

because they have to, and who may be approached by these people. Senior

citizens and/or trustful home sellers may not read before signing.

We shared this story, and we hope whoever reads this post will keep it in mind

if and when they decide to list their properties for sale. And/or be sure to warn

family, friends, and neighbors.

Read every line of a contract when you sell, along with the terms of sites you

post your home on. Beware of fraudulent flippers and investors. Don’t allow

anybody to intimidate or rush you into a deal. Remember that, no matter what it

concerns, contracts are easy to bind yourself to but hard to break away from.

We guess that we should be thankful that we don’t have to sell, took the time,

and did not rush selling.

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Shocking Encounters With Realtors

(Part One)

Before I begin with the “Shocking Encounters,” I should post a note that not

every realtor we met was horrid. A handful were nice and polite. A handful.

For those who were polite, we thank you.

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Shocking Encounters With Realtors

(Part Two)

Let us write it this way, there seems to be a universal attitude among some of

the realtors whom we had to deal with.

Some realtors arrived with a stance of authority (not in a good way), ready to

bombard with multiple attempts of belittlement, intimidation, and snobbery.

We are selling because we want to, because we made the decision to move

closer to family. However, we kept wondering what it must feel like for all those

who do not have time to deal with the issue of a discourteous realtor,

homeowners who are in trouble and who have to sell quickly. A distressed

homeowner already has enough on their mind without the added attitude of a

daunting realtor.

The manner in which some of these realtors presented themselves implied that

they could not be professional because they were uneducated or

undereducated.

In attempting to belittle a homeowner, they are only degrading themselves.

Part of a realtor’s job is similar to someone who works at an advertising agency.

An advertising agency makes bids to represent a product/service; the agency

works to create a presentation that would appeal to the client. If they are hired,

it becomes the advertising agency’s job to make sure the client’s advertising

needs and expectations are met.

In the advertisement world, the client remains the person in charge.

In the housing market (world), many realtors present a presentation package

that seems made for universal circumstances, once hired, some realtors than try

to takeover and credit themselves as the person in charge.

Some Tried…

We will not be posting about every one of the realtors who shocked and

upset us. We’ll be posting a handful of encounters, shocking encounters.

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Shocking Encounters With Realtors

(Part Three)

A realtor came with a client, and we waited while the realtor showed his

client around.

“Did you find your way to the back room?” We asked, “We use it as storage.”

The realtor looked at us as if we had spoken a foreign language before

disappearing to another part of our house with his client.

He had done the exact same thing once or twice before, so we stopped

speaking to him and simply waited.

We were still under contract at this time, and this was one of the first realtors

we had met who was impossibly rude. The first among some of the realtors we

would meet who had a, “don’t speak unless spoken to” attitude.”

When he and his client reentered our house after touring our yards, he

surprised us with a compliment. “very nice property you have here. Have you

had many offers?”

“No,” we answered.

“I’m surprised, this is really nice.” He waved a paper he had arrived with, “But

it’s probably because the house is hard to see.” He implied.

“We’re open to showing our house seven days a week between the hours of

10:00 am and 7:00 pm. How is our house hard to see?” We responded.

“Yeah, but we need an appointment to see this property.” He replied.

“No,” we corrected, “Just a thirty-minute notice so that someone could rush

home if everyone is out.”

“No, your listing says by appointment only.” He shuffled through his paperwork

and pointed to the page, gesturing for us to read. “See.”

We read the single line of text and pointed at it as we read, “Thirty minutes.”

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“No,” he looked it over, “Oh,” he said after he read it. “Still, still,” he continued,

“That’s a no, no in our line of work “appointment needed is no good.”

“A no, no?” We repeated. “It’s only thirty minutes.”

“Yeah, but we see that and we won’t deal with making appointments.” He

pointed to the paperwork, “Have your realtor remove that, just don’t let her

know that I told you about it.” He moved toward the door, gesturing to his client

to leave. “I will get in trouble if they find out that I told you.”

—

We would think that rather it is thirty minutes or thirty hours, making an

appointment would be the polite thing to do.

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Shocking Encounters With Realtors

(Part Four)

One hot summer day, a realtor walked into our house wearing a three-piece

suit and tie.

“Hi, welcome,” we greeted this realtor, “How are you today.” We handed him

a flyer but he said that he already had one, which he accepted only after our

informing him that it was our personally made flyer and therefore he probably

did not have it.

“I’m just going to take a quick look around,” he carried a chart and began

marking it with his pen.

“Alright, if you-“ we did not have a chance to finish our sentence of, if you

have any questions or need a guide to just ask.

The realtor held up his hand to our face and barked, “I said that I was going

to just take a quick look around.”

We waited by the door while the realtor sped around our house and marked

his chart.

Two seconds later, he asked, “Is this the back door.”

“Yes, and there is-” and here was another sentence that we were not able to

finish. There were not many realtors/home shoppers who realized that we had a

side yard, but this realtor was out the door before we were able to tell him.

We may have had more to this story…but he was in and out of our house

before we were even able to say, “thank you have a nice day.”

Not LOL.

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Shocking Encounters With Realtors

(Part Five)

The realtor stepped into our house, a frown on her face as she began to

move about the house.

“What is this suppose to be?” She asked as she stepped into a back bedroom.

We looked at her, silent for a moment, “A bedroom.”

This realtor continued the tour, sighing along the way.

“Well,” she finally said, “I’ll tell you the truth,” sigh, “I don’t think this house is

right for my clients.”

Alright, that didn’t bother us.

Then she continued.

“You have to understand that my clients are young,” she was looking at

paperwork in her hands. “This house is already out of their price range.”

We nodded as we wondered if the realtor really believed an explanation was

necessary. We also wondered why she would have even came by when she

already knew what the price was.

“Well this house is not for my client.” The realtor said.

“Understood.” We showed the realtor the door.

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Shocking Encounters With Realtors

(Part Six)

Excluding the one realtor who straight away (and politely) stated that he

worked with sellers and not so much with buyers, we should make a note to

those of you who pursued and constantly tried to persuade us.

If some of you realtors have a buyer who is truly interested in our property,

than show us their offer and we will look it over.

If some of you realtors truly have clients whom you claim may have interest in

our property, we know we gave the opportunity for interested parties to come

and tour our home. Where were you and your clients?

When under contract we were open nine hours a day, seven days a week.

When we decided to try and sell our house under FSBO, we showed our house

only on weekends 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.

It seemed odd how when we where under contract, many agents tried to

come for a tour either before 10:00 am or after 7:00pm (which was before or

after our target hours). And then when we where listed under FSBO, some

realtors tried to come on (and many only called us on) weekdays.

That seemed more childish than odd.

Speaking of childish behavior…

We even received a letter sent via USPS from a realtors explaining how “top

realtors” usually only work for the homeowners who employ them.

We pretty much figured that one out for ourselves when we were under

contract with a realtor.

It makes me wonder if there are realtors out there who realize (if we are not

mistaken) that a group of realtors originally created the MLS to help one another

sell properties.

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Crude politeness is false civility. For those of you who attempted to make us

false promises, we were only annoyed by the fact that what you seemed to

imply was that we needed to comply in order achieve.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to allow homeowners to be able to use the MLS,

and be able to checkmark the percentage rate that they are willing to pay a

realtor.

We do believe seller agents are unnecessary. By allowing homeowners to

access the MLS, there would therefore be only a need for buyer agents. When a

house is sold and escrow is closed, the “buyer agent” who brought the “buyer”

receives the full (agreed upon) commission.

Until this time comes along, we wonder if realtors realize that helping other

realtors sell “inventory” and making 50% along with seller agent may be more

profitable than trying to win a homeowner over and trying to receive the entire

commission for themselves.

e.g. If a realtor had found a buyer for our house when we were under

contract, they could have made about $10,000 (half the contracted

commission rate of 5%).

If more realtors worked at finding buyers for at least one house a month at

50% commission, they could make more than most people earn while working a

fulltime job.

But we suppose there are conflict of interest issues that cannot be put aside

until the MLS is open to all homeowners (without the aid of a realtor).

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35

Shocking Realtor Phone Chats

A realtor called on the telephone, wanting to make an agreement on a

commission rate if she were to bring us a client.

After answering some of the realtor’s questions, we agreed to her percentage

if she brought a client who would purchase our house.

“Are you firm on your price?” The realtor asked.

We stated that we were flexible.

A few days later, we received a call from this realtor. She had found an

investor who gave a cash offer of $50,000 below our asking price.

When we told her we wouldn’t be accepting the offer, she seemed to

become offended.

“You said that you were not firm on your price,” The realtor said, “So how

much below your asking price were you talking about?”

We were thinking a reasonable starting point would be $10,000 to $20,000

below our asking price (since we were already $40,000 below valued price), but

before we were able to share this, the realtor continued her tantrum.

“So your asking price is it? You’re not willing to go any lower?”

“No, we didn’t say that,” we replied.

We never heard from this realtor again.

We were left to wonder how a realtor or an investor could make an offer

without seeing our property????? Time after time this has happened with one

realtor or another???????

36

Ads in Our Mailbox and

Ads Dumped at Our Door

One sure thing many realtors are good at is advertising themselves.

Based on most of the ads we received, we were often left to wonder if some

of these realtors realized that their ads did not lure us in the way a good

advertisement should (if we were interested).

Often times we received letters and ads that only added to our convictions

and theories.

> “You may wonder why we didn’t sell your house when it was for sale,” one

letter stated, “What you need to realize is that many top realtors (such as

myself), will not work for a homeowner unless the homeowner employs us.”

> One postcard we received from a realtor was an announcement of

gratitude, acknowledging an investor for employing her for eight business

transactions…buying, selling, leasing, and renting…Humm

> “Keep calm…” this postcard first arrived after we started are blog…perhaps

just a coincidence, but we still found it amusing.

For us, the ones who assumed we were in some form of trouble insulted us the

most. Even if a homeowner is in trouble, does a distressed homeowner really

want numerous advertisements arriving that constantly reminds them of the fact,

as if picking on their wounds?

> Foreclosure

> Short Sale

> We’ll buy “as is”

> Probate

The probate was an advertisement that arrived at our door delivered by a

group of three or four people. It was eerie.

Perhaps in these economic times one may feel it safe to assume that there

are many who are in trouble or are in need to sell quickly for whatever reason.

37

Perhaps those among the agents we spoke with in person, who directly asked

the delicate questions and we answered that we were selling not because we

have to but because we want to move closer to family, were the agents who

insulted us the most.

Not because they asked the questions, but because a moment later they

hand over (or a day or two later they mailed to us) their flyers with headlines like,

“foreclosure assistance,” and “foreclosure specialist.”

It was as if they were accusing us of lying. We’re selling our house, therefore

we must be in trouble.

Perhaps rewording the advertisement would be wisest, or at the least stick

with the universal approach that could apply to any homeowner in any

situation.

The universal approach is not ideal, but perhaps it would be the better

choice.

Thinking back to the way some of the realtors treated us, we began to

wonder if they had done so because they believed we were in some form of

trouble. Which I hate to think about some of the homeowners who were/are in

trouble and had to take this mental abuse (aka bullying).

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F.Y.I.

We are not impressed by a cash offer.

We would prefer a pre-approved offer.

Either way, at the closing of escrow, we receive a check.

We’ve notice that it seems to take longer for a cash offer to close.

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Go Back To School ;-D

As an endnote, we should write a message of suggestion to some of you

realtors.

Go back to school.

No, that was not sarcasm.

If real estate is your job, than be professional about it.

Studies in marketing, salesmanship, bushiness management, and sociology

would be great. Studying a bit of architecture would seem appropriate.

Dabbling on the subjects of website building, photography, and videography

could save you money and time. And if you truly are a foreclosure or probate

specialist, courses such as psychology and human ecology may help you be

courteous and understanding. Studying OSHA may make you think twice before

leaving your advertisement in a hazardous way. And a course in civility would

be much appreciated.

Perhaps a class on acting would be helpful.

We believe there needs to be new rules in the real estate world. And new

laws, including conflict of interest regulations.

We feel that there should only be buyer agents, not both. Especially with so

many investors who have entered the housing market.

There was a real estate website that launched, offering free MLS listings to all

homeowners. They claimed that they were going to historically change the real

estate market.

There were many realtors who were frantic about such an opportunity for

homeowners because it would coast them $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

The website was sold.

As far as we can tell, it no longer exists.

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Recalling what a realtor stated in a letter addressed to us, “What you need to

realize is that many top realtors (such as myself), will not work for you unless you

employ us.”

How can a homeowner know whom their realtor really works for.

In the end, it seems that some realtors work for whoever will bring them the most

money. The truth is, they are business people, they are trying to make the best

deals for themselves.

And where does that leave the rest of us homeowners?

What runs through some of these realtors minds to think that they can behave

in the way that we have witnessed???????

Go back to school.

Yeah, this time it was sarcasm.