January 31, 2008

Today show report on desperate homedebtors suing their RE/MAX realtor for fraud



Gee, what a surprise - an agent who deceived the buyers for a commission - hiding neighborhood comps, rushing the close, etc.

At the same time, do f*cked buyers like this have a case? Caveat Emptor anyone? Regardless of how this turns out, reports like this are helping change the collective consciousness in America. Realtors = bad.

Home prices = dropping. Housing bubble = over.

Oh, you'll also notice on this video that the poor husband barely says a word.

Suzanne!!!!!!

43 comments:

Frank R said...

Oh, you'll also notice on this video that the poor husband barely says a word.

I'm sure it was the wife who pressured him into "buying" that house, all so she could have the status of "ownership." Typical.

This case is a joke. They're suing because the realtor didn't tell them that comps were selling for less? WTF? All they had to do was get off their lazy asses and spend 15 minutes online looking up the comps.

These people are nothing but looters who want anything they can get free from anyone. Realtors may be scum but people like this are even worse.

Frank R said...

I forgot to mention - San Diego has an unusually high amount of so-called "friendly fraud" - i.e. people who willfully make a purchase and then try to weasel out of it.

In my business, San Diego County accounts for well under 1% of my total sales, and yet it somehow accounts for over 30% of all returns and fraudulent transactions (i.e. people who order, accept delivery of the merchandise, then try to dispute charges saying "I never received it.")

When I noticed this trend I asked some other marketers and retailers and they all confirmed that San Diego has an unusually high number of problem customers and "friendly fraud" transactions.

So, it's no surprise to me at all that this b*tch from San Diego is suing her realtor because she was too lazy to spend 15 minutes online looking up comps. I wouldn't doubt that she's screwed over lots of other people too. I wonder if her credit report could be introduced as character evidence in court to show she doesn't like to pay her bills.

Let's take it a step further - from my experience in dealing with San Diego customers, I wouldn't doubt that she KNEW she was getting a sh*t deal while planning all along to sue over it.

Anonymous said...

Did she just say that the other house had air conditioning????? WTF...don't tell me this b!tch payed 1.2 mil for no A/C...LOL......... 1.2 million for a tract home, but wait.....it has granite...hahahahahahah

Anonymous said...

WC Fields was right,
There's a stupid bitch born every minute.

A Clinton supporter no doubt.

Can't wait to cross paths with her during the upcoming die-off.

Anonymous said...

This realtor probably made at least 3% or (from 1.5m)45thousand from this sale, minus prob 30-36% to remax=31,500@30%. $31,500 and the agent could not give proper comps??? It doesn't matter what one person to the next thinks their home is worth. I can pull comps, come up with an average within an area and then give you the bad news in an offer. If they don't accept fine, I tell my buyers there are many other homes to choose from, etc. I went through this crap a few months ago with some "friends" that wanted me to sell their home at a super low % and they would have their "buyer agent" another "friend" split the commish. Okay fine, so I get their home sold in less than 2 mos (amazing here in TPA) once he reduces to my recommended price and other agent finds them home, I happen to notice a foreclosure across the street and mention to buyers, other agent can't seem to find it on his end (whatever) they continue to pay almost 500k for a tiny 27yr old, termite ridden home on the agua, I get screwed on the buyer's end cause I'm a rug but two months letter there are 4 foreclosures around them and the one across the street is almost 100k less and bigger than theirs. I don't think crazy lady will win but I think realtors will think twice before they decide to withhold the comps (basically lie), karma's a b*tch.

Anonymous said...

go girl!!! stick it to those bastards!

Anonymous said...

Geez Frank, you act like you've known this woman all your life! And you just met her, right? Oops! You've NEVER met her?
I guess creating your own reality makes you king of your own little world, huh?

Anonymous said...

All I have to say is "Caveat Emptor". When she was on the Today show, Ann Curry did ask if she had done her "due diligence" and the beyatch said well, that was the job of her realtor. Really? Your job as a consumer is to know what the hell is going on around you and know that there was a housing bubble, you fool. What a pathetic soul.

OC beach dude said...

Wait a minute... listen to me!!!

IT'S NOT MY FAULT I DON'T HAVE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!!!

Anonymous said...

She wanted to say she had a million dollar home and she new other homes were selling at lower prices. Only 20 homes and 3 for sale. She did not look at the other homes? She just walked up to first home and put in a contract?
My wife would have looked at every house within a 1 mile distance for sale. She did not care because houses were going up in value in her mind and it did not matter what she paid. Now that prices are dropping, it matters.

Anonymous said...

This old bag needs to just DEAL with it, and take the loss.

SUCKER !

Anonymous said...

There is nothing you can solve with a lawyer that you can't solve with patience, a good perspective, and a high powered sniper rifle.

Justice from the rooftops, peoples....

Anonymous said...

"This case is a joke. They're suing because the realtor didn't tell them that comps were selling for less? WTF? All they had to do was get off their lazy asses and spend 15 minutes online looking up the comps."

OK, where? Zillow is late and not accurate.

What the hell are agents doing for their 6%?

Anonymous said...

The whore $1.2 million for a crap house with no air conditioner. She should be institutionalized.

Anonymous said...

America... The land of the lawsuit!

Yes, realtors will be sued.

Sometimes they'll win... and sometimes they'll lose.

But then... if some of these home debtors are willing to burn their beamers or homes, what do you think they would do to the people they feel cheated them, ruined their lives, and threw them into the poor house for 6% ?

I mean... if just 1% of these home debtors get violent - that's what?.. 50,000 violent crimes?

Being sued is worry enough, but it's probably not the biggest worry that these bankruptcy facilitators should have. But still, I would definitely not want to be in a realtor's shoes right now.

In fact, if I was a relator, I'd pack up, move to another state, change my name, and then move again.

Oh... and I'd make sure to have nothing to do with houses, or finance - just so I don't accidentally run into anyone I knew back in the 'good' old days.

Maybe 10 years from now it might be ok to go back...

Anonymous said...

FB: we feel...we think...we wonder...we hope...he ought to have.

judge michael: GET THE FRACK OUT OF MY COURTROOM BIOTCH!!!!

Anonymous said...

This is like sueing a used car salesman because the next lot was selling the asame cart for cheaper, but he didn't tell you about it.

Besides, what does she want? The difference in price between her overpriced house and the other house on her block that was less overpriced?

Chris said...

Yeah, the husband's "supportive" alright, like he says in the video....most people would use the term "pu**ywhipped".

I typed "san diego county property sales information" into Yahoo. Bam, first thing that comes up is the link right to the page where you type in parcel numbers and addresses to look up sales info. Also typed "san diego county recent sales information" and got the same thing. Sorry honey, but you can't shit all over people and expect them to do everything for you.

I looked up comps before I bought in 2004...I was armed to the teeth when I talked to my agent, but she had all the comps anyway. If a comp was really low or high compared to what I thought the price should be, I would have asked her to contact the selling agent and find out if something was unique about the sale. But Queen Pristine couldn't do that, could she? Bet she delegates every stupid little thing, then pisses and moans when something isn't completely perfect.

Anonymous said...

When the interviewer finally asked the husband a question at the end, I'm suprised he didn't ask his wife's permission to speak before answering the question. How could someone so dumb even had made enough money to afford a million plus home. I'm betting she inherited it.

marinite2 said...

Realtors may be scum but people like this are even worse.

These people moved from marin county, ca. So they are "special".

X-er said...

The fact that you would go on TV and blame the Realtor for not doing any leg work of your own.

How do you get to the point in life where you can buy a $1.2 million home and not learn to do some of that stuff.

Oh wait, I forgot the fact all you had to do was fog a mirror to get the loan. Sorry.

VectorzSigma said...

frank@scottsdale-scuks.com:

That's not a big surprise considering how close SD is to the border. SD is just one notch better than the Inland Empire imo. That's not saying a lot considering the IE is the bottom of the barrel. Right there next to Detroit.

Faulkner said...

WTF...don't tell me this b!tch payed 1.2 mil for no A/C...LOL......... 1.2 million for a tract home, but wait.....it has granite...hahahahahahah


Exactly. You choose to live in an area that sells that kind of home for 1.2 mill you should be prepared to take a loss. The attorney hit it on the head when she said the value of a home is what people are willing to pay for it. This couple were obviously willing and able. You don't get a do over when you loose money in the stock market for making poor choices. Home ownership is the same. All that being said, the realtor should have at least disclosed the lesser value down the street and negotiated or attempted to negotiate for a better deal. A little CYA never hurt anyone.

Anonymous said...

That's what realt-whores are hired to do... due-diligence (research properties) on behalf of the buyers. Six percent on 1.2 million is a lot of money, and this case definitely seems the realt-whore deliberately steered this couple into a higher-priced house when comparables with better features sold for a 100-175k less.

Who are you all cheerleading for, the people or the NAR? Realt-whores a very much to blame for pushing up prices.

Goes to show you that realtors are bottom feeders of real estate. How difficult should it really be to buy real estate?? If I like the house/property, and there are no liens on it, title goes to either me or my bank... plain and simple. There are a lot of bottom feeders (middle-men) when it comes to real estate. Therotically, buying a house should be no different than buying a car... and depreciate like cars do... a house is a place to live... not an investment.

Anonymous said...

My diagnosis on this individual and in this marriage.

According to the husband she is tenacious? That actually means she is a bi*ch and she is the one who wears the pants on the house. She is got too much free time and this is just a pet project from her, something to keep her busy. On top of that she in a attention whor*. She knows this is something unusually, but she loves the attention that she was even willing to travel to New York and be on the Today Show and give an on location interview.

Even with the lawyer for the network present and telling her that she does not have a case, she is still arguing and behaving like she is going to get something out this. Yes she will, a lot of attention, which is what attention whor*s like her crave.

Anonymous said...

This just goes to show that realtors are....


useless.

Anonymous said...

This just goes to show that realtors are....


useless.

GT said...

yea the A/C comment made me think, huh?
she has absolutely no case and from looking at her i would think she is herself a realtor, but i'm glad she's bringing the reic reputation down

Anonymous said...

Not a very strong strike against realtors, but it does hint that RE can and will go down.

Anonymous said...

As an appraiser, this legal crack on the video is being paid by the NAR or some other org. The agent had the lender in her pocket to get the "deal done". The lender had some hack appraiser in their pocket to ge the deal done. Which is why I can not understand why someone would not pay an additional $400 - $600 to get an appraisal INDEPENDENT from the lender for personal use. Although I'm definitely not as busy as 2003/2004 I've been able to build a niche in doing independent appraisals for "personal use" and 6 out of the last 9 I've done have decided not to buy the house based on my appraisals coming in 25k -105k lower than the lender's and mine being marked as "declining" market.

Schadenfreude to all who deserve it!

Socalappraiser

Anonymous said...

It makes me happy that sophisticated, greedy, dumb buyers like this have their feathers ruffled and are huffy and engraged.

Truth be told, these people were sophisticated enough to know that housing was going up and they thought they'd really cash in and didn't care about the other $175K.

I feel sorry for the honest people, not the beautiful faux rich poseurs.

Let them eat cake!

I like that they lost money.

I'm a little devil about this case.

Anonymous said...

It makes me happy that sophisticated, greedy, dumb buyers like this have their feathers ruffled and are huffy and engraged.

Truth be told, these people were sophisticated enough to know that housing was going up and they thought they'd really cash in and didn't care about the other $175K.

I feel sorry for the honest people, not the beautiful faux rich poseurs.

Let them eat cake!

I like that they lost money.

I'm a little devil about this case.

Anonymous said...

HaaaaaaaHaaaaaHaaaa!
21 reasons to hate realtors.
21 reasons fools will be fleeced, given the oppertunity.
If they win, Gregg Swann better flee the country.

Anonymous said...

In any legal case, the real issue revolves around fact but I wouldn't rule the woman out. Check out "Manderville v. PCG & S Group" in this post over at California Housing Forecast It is a recent court case that did rule against the agent for a misleading MLS description. That agent also tried the "due diligence" defense.

Anonymous said...

Lets see....um....thats too bad you stupid bitch

Anonymous said...

She should sue her plastic surgeon instead.

Anonymous said...

yup, no doubt she made the decision to purchase the house when he didn't want to and now that she's been screwed, and will continue to get screwed for the next five years as her house price declines, she wants to save face to her husband and friends by filing and winning a lawsuit against the realtor.

i can't say she doesn't have a gripe though; the realtor should have told her about all the houses on the block, but it really does come down to the buyer to ask the questions and do the homework. the thing is tho, the differential is only about 5% from the other houses so it's not a huge difference and there are factors that could account for it.

just sounds like she purchased the house - probably way too big for them - and now that things are tanking she wants out.

Anonymous said...

Boy, can I relate to her plight. After experiencing what she has, I have learned that Realtors are NOT concerned about their clients best interest, but rather simply their own. My wife and I will never use a Realtor again. Scum of the earth.

Anonymous said...

It's not to much to expect a real estate agent to do *something* for their 6% of a million dollars commission. Are you really taking the side of the lazy real estate agent or you just can't get past the fact that you don't like strong women daring to sue anyone?

Anonymous said...

How unfortunate. This buyer is completely overreacting and people posting their thoughts are doing the same.

The Realtor does have an ethical obligation to his or her client. The following comes directly from the NAR Code of Ethics:

Article 1
When representing a buyer, seller, landlord, tenant, or other client as an agent, REALTORS® pledge themselves to protect and promote the interests of their client. This obligation to the client is primary, but it does not relieve REALTORS® of their obligation to treat all parties honestly. When serving a buyer, seller, landlord, tenant or other party in a non-agency capacity, REALTORS® remain obligated to treat all parties honestly. (Amended 1/01)

The questions that no one has thought to ask is if the Realtor did provide comps on other active listings? So what if there were sold comps for $100k less? Maybe this was the last house in the subdivision. Ever heard of supply and demand? There are a lot of unanswered questions that could fully clear up the issue of whether or not the Realtor did his job.

And to all the comments about a 6 percent commission and about how Realtors are scum and do no work, I would challenge you to put in an offer on a home without a Realtor or sell your home without a Realtor. It is probably the biggest financial deal you will ever do, and you want to do it without any professional guidance? Have you ever reviewed a title policy? Do you know how to research and remove encumbrances from a title? What sort of Errors and Ommission Insurance do you carry to protect the deal should something unforseen happen shortly before or after closing? What if you sold your home and the foundation collapsed because of a problem you did not know about? Would you want that buyer to come after you or the Realtor you used?

Here's the short list of what Realtors do for their clients: Marketing (a small brokerage and agents will spend about $200,000 a year marketing listings), market research, contract negotiation, title review, closing scheduling and timelines, staging homes, driving clients, touring properties, hosting open houses. Realtors will often work with a Buyer for over a year to find the right property or home and they MAY get a 3% percent commission that they then have to split with the brokerage AND pay taxes. Listings can take 1-2 years to sell. Most homes are not 1.2million, so for a $400,000 the Realtor will be making around $3,000 to $5,000 for a year of work. Then there are all those clients who will make the Realtor research actives and solds, tour dozens of homes, make calls, research property history, etc. and then decide they really aren't ready to buy. The Realtor makes a whopping $0 for that six month ordeal. If you think being a Realtor is such a cake job and the pay is so incredible, why don't you go out and get licensed? Oh, but here is another fun fact you may want to consider; you'll be spending at least $5,000 a year for continuing education, licensing, and other fees. Add on the marketing money that you'll be spending to the tune of $5,000 to $10,000 a year on the low end.

There are bad Realtors that don't do their jobs. There are also bad retail employees, bad accountants, bad dentists . . . .

Educate yourself about what questions to ask and then interview prior to hiring a Realtor to assist you in the biggest purchase you may make in your life.

Anonymous said...

What happened to the intelligence on this blog?

Calling this girl a bitch and making judgements on the relationship between her and her husband is childish. Grow up people.

I am all for personal responsibility but when you pay $30k+ to have someone represent you, you should feel responsibly secure that this person is going to do their job and be ethical about it.

The realtor is someone you hire to help you. If you can't trust them or have to worry about them withholding information, what's the point of having them involved?

If you hire a lawyer, you expect them to be on your side and if they don't do a reasonable job, you can sue them for malpractice. There should be some standards that realtors are also held to.

Anonymous said...

That husband is a sickening cow-towing, sycophantic mangina. Was spinless shit. And the wife is an obvious bitch. Perfect pair. No one else want her annoying shit. What a couple of dumbasses.

Chris said...

"It's not to much to expect a real estate agent to do *something* for their 6% of a million dollars commission. Are you really taking the side of the lazy real estate agent or you just can't get past the fact that you don't like strong women daring to sue anyone?"

Sounds to me like the agent probably did do something. I mean, if that client is a 'strong woman', don't you think she made the agent work for her money? Problem is, it doesn't appear like she grilled the agent about the comps. Then she might have a better case, because if she got a dishonest answer, then she can say that the agent lied. Not sure how or when the comps issue came up, if at all. If the Internet didn't exist, I would have some sympathy for that woman, because it would be harder to look up sale prices.
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"And to all the comments about a 6 percent commission and about how Realtors are scum and do no work, I would challenge you to put in an offer on a home without a Realtor or sell your home without a Realtor. It is probably the biggest financial deal you will ever do, and you want to do it without any professional guidance? Have you ever reviewed a title policy? Do you know how to research and remove encumbrances from a title? What sort of Errors and Omission Insurance do you carry to protect the deal should something unforeseen happen shortly before or after closing? What if you sold your home and the foundation collapsed because of a problem you did not know about? Would you want that buyer to come after you or the Realtor you used?"

LOL...ever heard of a lawyer? I get one for my closings, and they're much cheaper than any damn realtor, plus they actually know the law instead of these realtor posers. When I lived in Wisconsin, I had a realtor point up her nose at me and say, "You have to be licensed if you buy or sell more than 8 houses in a year." Oh really? I asked her to cite the statute which says such a stupid thing. I already knew the answer.
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"If you think being a Realtor is such a cake job and the pay is so incredible, why don't you go out and get licensed?"

The only reason I would get licensed is to get MLS access from the NAR cartel. Anything more than that and I would have to shoot myself in the head.