More corruption uncovered (anyone wanna trade karmic jobs?)

[northernlights]

So the person who was coming to see my farm turned out to be a realtor, but I was able to ferret it out of her before I went to extremes of housecleaning. I allowed her to come since she wasn't trawling for listings, but sometimes worked had buyers and she gave me a free tip on a site where I can make one single ad, complete with pics, that I can post in a number of places.

And then she called this morning cause she couldn't find my house's address on it's former listing...because she couldn't find the listing. So I gave directions and when she got here told her the story of the realtor this summer.

When she got back to her office double-checked and confirmed it. THE RAT BASTARDS NEVER LISTED MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!

The deliberately and aggressively sought the listing...and then deliberately KEPT IT OFF THE MARKET DURING THE BRIEF UPTICK THAT I WAS TRYING TO SELL TO. :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

She asked me to report it to the realtor's commission and gave me the contact info there. They are in total breach of contract. She also mentioned (I'm not holding my breath) that the commission may also be able to help regarding the misrepresentation re: acreage.

[elleng]

1. BEST OF LUCK with that, lights!

You certainly deserve it.

[Why Syzygy]

2. Go get 'em!

Those dogs! Didn't you just know it?! I wish you the best for good results from the commission.

You surely do lead an interesting life, and no thanks on taker for your karmic load. I get plenty of those 'keep them straight' challenges; but they seem minor compared to what you face.

[JanusAscending]

3. DO IT !!

As a former Realtor in Ct.,I know that this Realtor, and her Broker pay E&O insurance for this very reason. They misrepresented themselves to you, and are indeed in breach of contract! You can sue them for a potential loss of a sale. You need to read your listing contract, and make sure they stated that they would list it on MLS. If it was an EXCLUSIVE listing, according to the law here in Ct., they wouldn't have had to list it. If it was an Open contract, by law, they had to!! If this is the case, they broke their "fiduciary obligation" to you, the seller.

[northernlights]

4. it was an exclusive listing

but the laws are different here in Maine, so not sure that absolves them from MLS. Nothing like that was ever mentioned when I took the real estate course 2 years ago. The realtor that was here Friday said straight out they were in breach, without asking was it exclusive or not. I believe they agreed in the contract to list in in the MLS, but I'll have to go read the fine print to be sure.

I also have someone who claims she called them to look at my place and they never returned her call. She wouldn't give me her contact into, but she works at the university. I haven't seen her there since then, but I know her 1st name and can ask about her schedule.

Ok, I think I'm covered right in paragraph 4, following the disclosed dual agency statement:

"In consideration of Agency's agreement to list and promote the sale...."

Right there it states the Agency agrees to list the property.

[MorningGlow]

5. No wai!

Woman, you had better sell these rat bastids down the river. Licensed Realtors? Yeah, your local Realtors Association won't truck with that kind of behavior. This came to you because you are a fighter--so get your boxing gloves on and get in that ring! You can do it! (And won't it feel good!)

[rumpel]

6. Have you checked their license?

If they were operating without it, there is no fiduciary duty to go after. I learned it the hard way - and yes, the office was an obvious realtor and mortgage broker company, with all the pictures of various listings, appreciation awards from Countrywide, etc. In my case, I went to refi based on mail solicitation. He actually wanted the listing more than refi. Ultimately, there was scam all around, and I did not learn until years later from the attorney I hired, they were not even licensed, skimmed off equity for themselves. The funny thing is that we continued to get the same solicitation mailers from them. The court said, the guy is a crook & a liar, but the court(civil) is not in the business of putting crooks away, and we should have known better what we have gotten into.
I think the lax regulation and the rampant greed brought all sorts of people into the arena of real estate in the last 8 years. Congress has to do much more to effect change.

Best of Luck, and may the Force be with you....

:grouphug:

[northernlights]

7. yup. license is active. and I checked something else

they gave me a listing sheet with the mls # on it. That sheet had numbers next to their names that I *thought* were the license numbers, but were not. So I searched by just name in the .gov licensing site and got her real license number. It's active, so she's got fiduciary responsibility. And then I looked up the mls # on realtor.com. It's a $389K house in Arizona!!!!!

Bogus MLT # on the listing sheet.No effing joke. Look up mls 936531 on realtor.com. A house comes up. Definitely not mine!!!!!

I also pulled out my real estate books from 2 years ago and looked up exclusive right to sell. In Maine, only agents with exclusive right to sell can list on mls, and with permission of seller. I looked through the list of permissions I signed off on -- yup. They were to list on mls.

So I'm ready to call on Monday.

[Why Syzygy]

8. I'm reading a book about intution ...

and your situation came to mind. I remember how you deliberated about which Realtor to sign. Probably a few of us were surprised when you didn't go with the one who originally seemed to impress you the most, the "huntress". So, I took the liberty of searching up a couple of those old threads. Maybe there are some insights there that can guide you the next time your intuition might serve you better. (hope you don't mind - I'm interested in learning from other's experiences as well as my own)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=245&topic_id=92590

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=245&topic_id=93595&mesg_id=93646

[northernlights]

9. the huntress impressed me

but not necessarily in positive ways. I've learned to wait to allow people to let superficial first impressions pass by. Almost invariably they overplay their hand and then I'm forewarned. She would be aggressive about selling...but too aggressive. She was bordering on abusive and trying to bully me into spending money unecessarily on things that wouldn't make a damn bit of difference but may well have turned into costly contractor overruns. In this market and economy, it doesn't make sense to 'invest' into property 'improvements.'

I ended up with mixed feelings about *all* the realtors I interviewed. Only one had integrity, and I didn't think she'd make any effort to sell the house, and her 'integrity' might not have lasted very long anyway.

The bottom line was *all* of them left me with a knot in my stomach. It's just that the ones I went with were able to cover their shit until after the contract was signed. One of them was decent and that's who I really wanted to sign with, but they were working as a team. As soon as I signed the contract, he went into the hospital for surgery and I was stuck with the liar as lead broker. Within 5 minutes of her planting the sign in my yard, I knew I was screwed. I just didn't precisely how.

There's a little more to the decision than I'm going into right now because I want to see how it turns out.

Even the woman who came by last week I wouldn't sign with because she lied to get into my house. I caught her in the lie before she came here, but allowed her to come anyway expressly to get info.

[Why Syzygy]

10. Interesting.

Do you feel good about FSBO? I know that knot. I signed a lease for an apartment one time, and I had to FORCE myself because my gut was screaming, NO! Just one example. The gut always knows.

[northernlights]

11. there are a lot of sharks out there

FSBO or realtor -- everybody is sniffing for blood right now. In the case of the realtors, if you aren't bleeding already they try to stick their knives in to start the blood flowing.

The difference with FSBO is that some of the calls are legit. By email, I can get more info before I run myself into the ground. The realtor of last Friday is an example. Even though she never once said she was a realtor, by the 2nd email of setting up the appointment I knew she was and could put her on notice.

[Why Syzygy]

12. Did you talk to them this morning?

Keep us updated.

[Why Syzygy]

13. You know what else, though?

It could be that their negligence was to your advantage. Maybe it would not have served your highest good to sell over the summer ... Another perspective.

[northernlights]

14. Why am I not surprised

and this is what worries me about the administration courting Olympia Snowe so much. Maine consistently protects businesses no matter what they do to their victims. Victims can be employees. Victims can be customers. Doesn't matter.

Talked to the commission director this morning. I realize she's supposed to stay impartial and not take sides. I realize their first goal is to push for "mediation" eg try to make you go back to the scum one more time. But I'm soooo far past that and I really didn't appreciate her very incompetent (it is Maine :eyes:) attempts at same.

First pushback is her claim that I a. don't have a contract or b. don't have right type of contract. Blew through that when I pulled out the contract and read the title on it. (she could have just asked me to pull the contract and read it, but that would have ruined her fun in implying I'm too stupid to have a contract and too stupid to be able to read it.)

Second pushback is "why don't you just call the realtor and ask them" to which I responded, "They've lied to me all along. What makes you think they won't lie to me again?"

Third pushback is 'just because the realtor gave you a listing sheet with an MLS number on it doesn't mean they put it on MLS.' Or something to that effect. Whatever the hell it was she was trying to say just made no sense, and eventually she figured that out on her own.

Fourth pushback is you don't know how to use the realtor.com search engine and "some realtor telling me it's not listed" doesn't mean it's not listed. Blew through that with "actually the other realtor *emailed* me -- as in I HAVE IN WRITING from her -- that is was not listed and *giving me your number* plus my search on realtor.com yields a house in Arizona.

Fifth pushback is hearing that realtor didn't give call back prospect is not evidence. Blew through that with "Have as a witness the prospect, whom I've tracked down, who tried calling the realtor to see it and was never called back.

"And exactly how much evidence do I need? I have repeated emails asking them to correct misinformation, which they ignored. I have a witness who tried to see house, whom they ignored. I have a statement in writing from buyer realtor who did realtor's search in realtor's system and couldn't find listing. I have written listing sheet provided by seller realtor with MLS # for house in Arizona."

To which she said well I could file a written complaint and they'll send the complaint to the realtor for the realtor to respond and they'll send the realtor's response to me. And so on. And if it's not "resolved" it may go to a hearing and they could be reprimanded or sanctioned or lose their license or fined.

And I get nothing but aggravation.

I ended up so pissed off by her "tough break sucker" approach I ended up saying I'll do whatever it takes to get out of this hellhole of a state and hung up.

Also, the attorney never called me back. But it is Maine. I think what I'll do is if I'm able somehow to sell in next few weeks, I'll file the complaint just to keep them too busy to try to claim some percentage as theirs. x(

[Why Syzygy]

15. Definitely file the complaint.

I might even place an ad in the RE section of the paper telling the story. Brushing me off is the wrong way to go. I get LOUDER.

(I am baffled by the importance the Obama administration places on Snowe.)

[northernlights]

17. it's not likely that I will

my concerns are that 1. it will suck up a lot of time that I don't have and 2. I'll get blackballed by all other realtors around, incase I can't sell myself and need to try to get it listed again in the spring, and 3. Maine being Maine, they'll somehow find in favor of the realtor emboldening all realtors to follow suit and up the ante.

But next time I may modify the contract to include financial penalties if the realtor violates fiduciary responsibility or breaches the contract.

[conscious evolution]

16. I agree with WS

Keep pushing this.Its time for people to start standing up to corruption and incompetence.To do otherwise is to let fear rule.

[northernlights]

18. I'm torn on this simply because I have limited time and energy

I simply don't have time or energy for more on my plate.

And now to top it off I've got a bug. Hopefully will recover quickly -- I skipped school this morning which concerns me because we are responsible from getting notes from other students, who are also overwhelmed. So to keep from getting sicker, I had to add another time-consuming and difficult task to my plate.

[conscious evolution]

19. This what they are counting on.

[northernlights]

20. oh I don't doubt that for a moment

but I also know that I can't change the culture of an entire state. And that seems to be the culture of this state. I really just want to sell this place, get the hell out of here and never, ever come back. Ever.