Home & Garden What do you expect from your realtor

[ccbaggirl89]

my house just closed last week, hooray... sold and done. one, i did not do a cleaning before leaving because you don't have to. that's not a law anywhere. the house was spotless, but still... there is no requirement for a seller to clean up for the buyer. when you initially toured the home you should have asked for cleaning or whatever on the contract, or your agent should have advised you to do so, or to ask for new carpeting. if it's not in the contract the seller is under no obligation to do any cleaning. did you have a home inspection done? if so, that would have been another opportunity to see what is wrong with the house and what you wanted fixed. your final walkthrough is when you have the chance to make sure the home is in the same condition as when you first saw it, and to check on any repairs that were done. sellers are usually advised to not touch anything in the home once an offer is accepted (except to have items repaired) b/c a buyer wants the home in the condition they initially saw it in. if you saw the carpet that way and then made the offer and didn't ask for new carpet, then how is that the realtor's fault. they are there to advise you but when buying a property you have to look out for yourself and know something of what you're doing. lesson learned for next time, right? just clean your new place and move on. the realtor seems kinda nasty but not sure she did anything wrong.

 

[Staci_W]

my house just closed last week, hooray... sold and done. one, i did not do a cleaning before leaving because you don't have to. that's not a law anywhere. the house was spotless, but still... there is no requirement for a seller to clean up for the buyer. when you initially toured the home you should have asked for cleaning or whatever on the contract, or your agent should have advised you to do so, or to ask for new carpeting. if it's not in the contract the seller is under no obligation to do any cleaning. did you have a home inspection done? if so, that would have been another opportunity to see what is wrong with the house and what you wanted fixed. your final walkthrough is when you have the chance to make sure the home is in the same condition as when you first saw it, and to check on any repairs that were done. sellers are usually advised to not touch anything in the home once an offer is accepted (except to have items repaired) b/c a buyer wants the home in the condition they initially saw it in. if you saw the carpet that way and then made the offer and didn't ask for new carpet, then how is that the realtor's fault. they are there to advise you but when buying a property you have to look out for yourself and know something of what you're doing. lesson learned for next time, right? just clean your new place and move on. the realtor seems kinda nasty but not sure she did anything wrong.

When we did the buy sell agreement, I reminded the realtor about the carpets, a couple times. She didn't know what she was doing. Kept getting up and walking to a different room with the document to ask an experienced person questions. Once it got left out, she told me the seller agreed to have them professionally cleaned. She should ha e got that in writting. When we did the inspection, I pointed out specific things. The realtor assured me they would be cleaned. I took her word for it. She didn't tell me about the walk through in time for me to make it.
I'm not mad because the house was a little messy. I'm mad because it was gross. I'm further mad at her because she said she'd take care of it, then backtracked.

 

[ccbaggirl89]

When we did the buy sell agreement, I reminded the realtor about the carpets, a couple times. She didn't know what she was doing. Kept getting up and walking to a different room with the document to ask an experienced person questions. Once it got left out, she told me the seller agreed to have them professionally cleaned. She should ha e got that in writting. When we did the inspection, I pointed out specific things. The realtor assured me they would be cleaned. I took her word for it. She didn't tell me about the walk through in time for me to make it.
I'm not mad because the house was a little messy. I'm mad because it was gross. I'm further mad at her because she said she'd take care of it, then backtracked.

i agree she should have got the cleaning in writing, but you shouldn't have signed anything until you double-checked that she did. it's a lesson learned. don't rely on other people working on your behalf 100%, be your own advocate and read your own contracts

 

[mundodabolsa]

Yes, the realtor should have gotten in the offer contract what would be or not be done on the house before the closing. Or as often works, you present the offer "contingent on inspection" and then after inspection you renegotiate based on what you want to be worked on or replaced or whatever, and a new offer contract is drafted. Or you get to back out of the purchase at that point if the sellers won't agree to what you want.

And then the final walk through is your last chance to make sure everything you wanted is done before sealing the deal at the closing.

So yes, the realtor should have gotten these things in writing but the fact is that she didn't and you still went ahead with the closing, so it's simply too late. Sounds like the realtor isn't good at her job, but also sounds like you put too much faith in someone you barely knew. I bought my first home 2.5 years ago and I knew NOTHING about the process. I found it overwhelming and confusing. But I googled and googled and read threads here an PMed with people to get clarity on every little thing. When it came time for my closing and things I had asked for weren't done, I didn't want to delay the closing because I had come from out of town for it. So the lawyers drafted addendums to the paperwork about what the sellers had to get done and by what deadline even though the house would be owned by me at that point.

Unfortunately it's just too late at this point. You can post a bad review of the realtor, not recommend her, and make your complaints known to her bosses, but otherwise it's simply a lesson for the next time you're buying or selling real estate.

 

[ap.]

I am going to echo what has been posted before: everything you wanted done should have been put in writing in the offer, so that if at the walk-through it wasn't completed, you could have delayed the closing. We had a list of things that needed to be done before closing and we literally had everyone (lawyers, agents, notary, etc...) around the table waiting for confirmation that they were completed before we put pen to paper. Unfortunately, once you signed the documents, you lose all leverage.

Your agent didn't represent you very well, but you didn't protect yourself either -- you should have read the offer. And it's not a good idea to schedule the move on closing day. Give yourself time to get things cleaned, little things fixed, or the entire house remodeled if needed, before you move in. Call this an inconvenient lesson learned. Hire a cleaning crew to go over your new house from floor to ceiling, forget the bad experience, and hopefully start enjoying your new home.

 

[Staci_W]

I was supposed to close on Thursday, move Friday. Because the bank screwed up (not me) i had to switch movers last minute. Moving in on the new closing day was the only option at that point. Having that thrown in my face with the realtor ****ty little texts made me really angry. She was way out of line.

I agree, it's a lesson learned. I will not recommend this realtor to anyone. I've been in contact with her boss, we will see how that goes. If I don't get a good resolution, I'll be posting reviews wherever I can.

Right now I'm angry because I physically can't fix things, like the mountains of hair under my bed. I'm grossed out that I'm sleeping on top of piles of it. I had a tight schedule with my last minute movers. Wasn't able to get it.

 

[ap.]

I was supposed to close on Thursday, move Friday. Because the bank screwed up (not me) i had to switch movers last minute. Moving in on the new closing day was the only option at that point. Having that thrown in my face with the realtor ****ty little texts made me really angry. She was way out of line.

I agree, it's a lesson learned. I will not recommend this realtor to anyone. I've been in contact with her boss, we will see how that goes. If I don't get a good resolution, I'll be posting reviews wherever I can.

Right now I'm angry because I physically can't fix things, like the mountains of hair under my bed. I'm grossed out that I'm sleeping on top of piles of it. I had a tight schedule with my last minute movers. Wasn't able to get it.

One day between closing and move-in is not enough. Unless you had to leave your old place, I recommend at least 1 week. With my first house, I had the handyman come to fix little things. He discovered that the toilet was clogged so I had to bring in a plumber. Once he was done, the cleaning crew came in. This house was pristine, maintained very well, but I still gave myself plenty of time. Buying a house is stressful even when things go smoothly; you should not add to that stress with a tight schedule if you can help it.

 

[Staci_W]

One day between closing and move-in is not enough. Unless you had to leave your old place, I recommend at least 1 week. With my first house, I had the handyman come to fix little things. He discovered that the toilet was clogged so I had to bring in a plumber. Once he was done, the cleaning crew came in. This house was pristine, maintained very well, but I still gave myself plenty of time. Buying a house is stressful even when things go smoothly; you should not add to that stress with a tight schedule if you can help it.

I got a job offer. Was in a rush to start working. I had no income until I moved. So yeah, I was in a hurry.

 

[leechiyong]

Ugh, that stinks. It's definitely a huge lesson learned on one of the largest financial transactions of your life.

At this point you don't really have any options besides just dealing with it and taking ownership of your decision to sign. Could your agent have been better? Absolutely. But that doesn't negate you signing contracts with which you weren't comfortable and continuing with a real estate agent that you clearly didn't trust.

 

[jburgh]

I work in real estate, in a different state. If you were represented by a realtor on the buyer's side, then it is reasonable to expect that the realtor has your best interests in mind. After all, the buyer's agent is making a commission, too. Some states have clauses on their forms that explicitly deal with cleaning. If there is not a form that in your contract that dealt with this, then it should have been put on an addendum. Unless your expectations of cleanliness were specifically stated somewhere on paper, then you really have no recourse. If you had a discussion with your realtor about it, but it wasn't put down in writing, she could contribute some of her commission toward a carpet cleaning to make you happy. Real Estate is a word of mouth profession, and referrals won't come from unhappy past clients. I agree with Swanky, perhaps you should have a talk with your realtor's managing broker

 

[jburgh]

A lot of the problem is that she is a new realtor. When we were doing papetwork, she kept having to walk into an office to ask someone else questions about it.

I always wonder if I'm being *****y or unreasonable. Like should I have expected this and should I just deal with it.

Let this be a warning for the next person. A new realtor should be part of a mentoring program in her office. A good real estate company wants their brokers to be successful and has training classes (some with role-play) and mentoring programs for new brokers. Please take this into account when choosing a realtor.

 

[Staci_W]

Let this be a warning for the next person. A new realtor should be part of a mentoring program in her office. A good real estate company wants their brokers to be successful and has training classes (some with role-play) and mentoring programs for new brokers. Please take this into account when choosing a realtor.

This would be my biggest price of advice after my experience: get an experienced realtor.


It could be worse. I still have a cute house in a good neighborhood. Cleaning is something that can be done; I'll live and it'll be ok. Still, I wish this had been a better experience.

 

[Staci_W]

Broker is mailing me a check for carpet cleaning. It will be done after the 4th. At this point, I'm happy with that.

 

[leechiyong]

This would be my biggest price of advice after my experience: get an experienced realtor.

It could be worse. I still have a cute house in a good neighborhood. Cleaning is something that can be done; I'll live and it'll be ok. Still, I wish this had been a better experience.

Also, to add, not just an experienced realtor, but one with whom you feel will represent your interests best. Don't just trust an agent because they're experienced. It may also be different for selling and buying depending on your agent.

I had an "experienced" realtor, decades in real estate and he was moderately annoying when I bought (would expect me to drop everything to take his calls; would call then DBF, now DH to get him to let me know to call him). When I went to see my old place though, he recommended a selling price that was far too high and lost every potential buyer we had. That, coupled with the fact that he called DH instead of me and left me off emails when only my name was on the house and contracts.

Three months of having it on the market with only a handful of showings (in the summer, while paying for the AC to be running constantly for potential buyers to see how nice and cool it was) and I got a new agent. I'd interviewed a couple and he was far and away the one I felt would do the best job. Listed it at a competitive price, had two offers within 24 hours, was under contract by the end of the week, and closed within a month.

Listen to your instincts. These are some of your biggest financial transactions and the realtors are getting paid from it. You need to be comfortable with them.

 

[Staci_W]

How i got this realtor:

I was looking online, some website like Zillow (May not be exact site). I filled out some form staying what I was looking for. This realtor emailed me based on that. And that was that. I didn't look around. Lesson learned. A ****ty lesson .

My front room is very clean now. It's relaxing to sit in there. Once I know there's no more poop in the kitchen, that'll be ok too. Still have to wash walls and get carpets cleaned in the other rooms.