 Posted 10/30/2006 7:54:46 PM
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Hello,
It's a lot of reading, I'm sorry...
We hired a licensed realty company to sell our home here in Victorville California. We've never sold a home before so we put a lot of faith in our Realtor to make sure things were handled correctly.
We were on the market for approximately 3 weeks and we dropped the price twice, in an effort to get the house sold quickly so that we could get up to Washington before winter hits. We made sure to allow enough in the price of the house to be able to pay for our son's Autistic schooling when we get to Washington state, amongst the other expenses.
We received an offer from a very nice family in Adelanto (through another licensed realty agency) and we accepted the offer, which included us paying the Buyer's closing costs of $9000, which still allowed us enough to pay for our son's special school.
During our accepting of the offer and our signing of the contract, we were told by our Realtor that we had a 30 day escrow. This would put us on the road about Nov. 27 and in our new home by Dec. 1, with just four days in hotels with our two kids and two dogs.
When he left our house he took the copy of the contract with him with promise that he would send us a copy.
Over the next several days we had several emails back and forth with our Realtor about many different things including figuring out exactly what day escrow would close and how soon we had to be out. We still didn't have a copy of the contract, it was a couple days later before we finally received our copy.
In his emails (and I have saved every email) he continually reassured us that it would be the 23rd or 27th of November and that we would receive a letter telling us the actual date (which by the way, we still haven't received this letter he mentioned).
Unfortunately it turns out that he was wrong. Whether he deliberately lied to us or he missed that it was a 20 day escrow we don't know.
All we know is that he continued to reassure us that the escrow would close on the 23rd or 27th of November.
Then he emailed us on October 26 and told us that, per the contract, it was a 20-day escrow and it is due to close on November 10 and that the Buyers were really pushing for it and that we would have to be out by November 13!
Then it turned out he was wrong about that as well. The next email he sent us said that according to the contract we were supposed to be out the 10th, the day of escrow closing!
We were scrambling trying to figure out what were we going to do. If we closed escrow that early we would have to stay in a hotel for two weeks until the house we're supposed to move into in Washington is ready for us. The people that are in that house won't be out until Nov. 30.
Because of our son's Autism, and health issues I have, we have to have special accommodations. We priced what the extra two weeks would cost for the four of us for a hotel stay up in Washington, kenneling for our two dogs, and all meals out. It's almost $7000!
After paying the Buyer's closing costs there's no way we can pay for our son's special school AND an extended hotel stay. If we'd realized it was a 20 day escrow we never would have accepted it.
We decided to ask our Broker if he would reduce the commission from 6% to 4% to compensate us for the fact that now we'd have this huge hotel bill due to his Realtor having wrongly told us that it was a 30-day escrow.
Apparently our Realtor had been point-blank lying to his broker about what he'd been telling us. He told his boss that we knew all along that we had to move on the 10th but that we were unhappy with the amount we made on the sale so we were trying to cause trouble.
The broker's reaction to our plea was basically "Oh well, shame on you for signing the contract, you shouldn't have signed it if you didn't want 20 days". He didn't care one wit. Matter of fact he called us cry babies and said we were whining because we didn't make as much as we'd hoped to on the sale of our house!
He's right in that we signed the contract but we sure wouldn't have done so if our Realtor had told us it was 20 days rather than 30 days, or if we'd caught it as we were reading and signing the paperwork. A 20 day escrow would put us in a hotel for two additional weeks and we didn't have the money to do that because we had agreed in the offer to pay the Buyer's closing costs of $9000.
Since we finally had our copy of the contract we decided to look at it to see if there was any way out of this nightmare.
Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the other realty agency hadn't filled in the section regarding transfer of occupancy, and that our Realtor had missed the mistake! Actually, the other realtor filled in the time which is 5:00 pm but it doesn't say anything about what day and no boxes are checked.
Our "take" of this situation:
Because they left this section blank, the sales contract is actually null and void. In addition, if the contract weren't nullified then it would put title of the house in the Buyer's name with no provision for us to turn occupancy over to the Buyer.
In essence WE'D be living in the house legally rent-free while the new Owners would be paying the mortgage and having no place to live. The Buyer's agent and broker put the Buyers at this risk by leaving that section blank.
So, we don't have to sell our house if we choose not to because the sales contract is null and void.
Are we correct in our assumption that the contract is null and void and that we don't have to sell if we don't want, even though escrow has been opened?
The thing is, the Buyers HAVE to move out of their apartment by Nov. 10th and the only place they have to go is here to our house.
We don't want them to end up without a place to live but our broker and realtor are saying "so what, they're not our concern".
We want the Buyers to be able to move in here and we want to be able to move to Washington and get our son enrolled in his new Autism school but if we have to pay to spend two weeks in a hotel then we won't be able to pay for his school.
We're even willing to leave on the 10th so that the Buyers can move in but we can't if we have to pay for the unplanned hotel stay.
If the two Realty agencies would each reduce their commission by 1% we'd be able to move and get our son enrolled in his Autism school and the Buyers would be able to move in here and get started with their new life.
The agents would still net $7260 EACH for less than 3 weeks work and a 4% commission is definitely not unheard of, especially when WE took the pictures, WE wrote the description and WE lowered the price of the house to facilitate a quick sale).
A sad irony of our story: We're supposed to avoid stressful situations because of our son's high anxiety and here we are in the middle of this real estate deal that has us having no idea if we're going to be here through the 13th or the 27th or when! He's afraid we're going to end up without any place at all to live or that we'll never get up there so that he can start his special school. Of course we keep reassuring him but he still worries, as does our daughter.
Thank you for any feedback!
Diane Dennis
http://www.aspergers-and-pdd.com
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Posted 10/31/2006 11:08:25 AM
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Diane,
That's quite a story and too complicated for a simple answer.
I would highly recommend you:
1) Contact the local real estate board and file a complaint. The agents are supposed to work for your best interests, NOT theirs.
2) Tell them you're going to consult a real estate attorney and actually consult with one to sort out the issues. The couple hundred dollars you pay the attorney may save you thousands in agent commissions and/or hotel bills.
That said, can the renters extend their time in the apartment? It would cost much less for them to stay there than for you to pay for a hotel.
Best of luck to you.
-FSBO Guru
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Posted 11/7/2006 9:38:24 AM
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Hi!
We held our ground and the broker has now agreed to pay our expenses.
We're staying here until the end of the month and the broker is paying the rent for it.
The buyers are staying in a hotel.
We still don't have completely signed papers though so we're still somewhat on pins and needles...
Thank you for your help and have a great day!
Diane
Diane Dennis
http://www.aspergers-and-pdd.com
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Posted 11/7/2006 2:27:10 PM
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Congratulations Diane!
I'm so glad you held your ground.
Best wishes for a quick close.
- FSBO Guru
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Posted 12/18/2006 10:29:56 PM
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That's an awful experience! Your realtor violated so many ethical standards it's unbelievable. As a realtor myself, it really upsets me when others in my industry don't live up to their fiduciary duties to their clients. It gives all the rest of us a bad reputation.
I'm glad you were able to get some satisfaction through the broker. If that had not worked out for you, you could have pursued it through the Department of Real Estate. I know some states have stricter guidelines than others and are more "consumer friendly." Here in Arizona, the agent is expected to adhere to a very high Code of Ethics and the Board doesn't hesitate to take disciplinary action against an agent that violates his fiduciary duty to his client.
Hope your story has a happy ending and that your move was a good one! Best wishes to you.
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Posted 1/1/2007 4:33:52 PM
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That was definitely a nightmare. I hope that you never have to experience that again. I have a child w/ autistic features and any kind of transition is difficult. I agree with Try My Best post. People have to realize that Realtors are independent contractors you will get great ones you will get not so great ones. We are like a bunch of small business owners working under a franchise name. Some of us have better franchise agreements than others. Some of us have better fee arrangements. Some of us do this full time and unfortunately others use it as part time or hobby.
You have to really do your homework and know how to ask the right questions when choosing a representative for any service. Even being a Realtor, I have had nightmare dealings with mortgage companies and title companies. No one is immune. It really is a shame when one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.
It is a fact though that since we are commissioned sales we often are put in the same category with retail and car salespeople. Well, just like those industries, there is a way to maintain professionalism and integrity in this business. You just have to hope you walked into the right door when you choose someone to assist you in your home sale or purchase. Even then if you ever have any concerns about documents or something in the transaction don't hesitate to consult an attorney. If the Realtor or agent objects then that is not a good sign.
Brandi Lockhart
Quality Service Certified Platinum
RE/MAX Gold III
(314)333-4824
http://brandil.stlgoldhomes.net
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Posted 4/17/2007 3:45:44 PM
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DianeDennis:
Your experience is quite regrettable and as a MA real estate agent, I hate to hear anyone go through such turmoil and disappointment when purchasing or selling property. Your story is a classic example of one real estate professional who mismanaged your transaction which now gives those good real estate professionals in our industry a bad name. As the other real estate agents have pointed out, there is good and bad in every profession. Ever heard the horror stories of people getting terrible representation from an attorney?…Or the doctor that never returns your calls and doesn’t keep you updated on your test results...? How horrifying is that!? There are many, many good real estate agents out there. You were unlucky to have a poor experience. At least you convinced your real estate agent to pay your expenses. If you genuinely feel he mismanaged your transaction, then it was the very least he could do to compensate for the confusion and unnecessary expense you endured. It sounds like the worst is moving behind you. Keep in mind…we always hear the bad stories, but take heart in knowing there are far more wonderful success stories that you don’t hear about. People buy and sell homes every day and are very pleased with with the service their real estate agents provide. In your situation, I hope things will continue to work themselves out for you.
Best of luck - hang in there - you're almost home
Agent 99
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