Coldwell Banker agent playing 'possum

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My wife and I recently opted out of a contract on a house represented by an agent of the Coldwell Banker office in Flossmoor, Illinois, and we will NEVER use their office and probably any other Coldwell Banker office again. The following describes our experience:

In August, we called the listing agent's office requesting a walk-through on a house on Perth in Homewood. The Coldwell Banker agent was unavailable, but another agent graciously offered to let us in. My wife informed her twice that we had representation, which made her hurry us. She knew absolutely nothing about the house and still demanded a showing fee from our agent.

Once we made our offer to the Coldwell Banker agent, he countered twice, to which we countered, but then he lied to our agent and said that he had said that his last offer was final. Throughout, he was rude to our agent point blank. I wanted to end the negotiation because of his behavior, but my wife and agent convinced me to not let him ruin our chances at obtaining this house. We arranged for the inspection. The Coldwell Banker agent impatiently waited and asked the inspector and I to return to his office to finish the paperwork. We agreed, but forgot to check two problem areas.

There was a problem with the foundation. Our inspector suggested we hire a structural engineer in his report. Our banker sent a contractor out to get an estimate, which came back negative. We could have put a cheaper brace on the foundation, but could kiss the re-sale value goodbye. To fix the problem properly cold cost between $30-40,000. We wanted nothing to do with it, especially because the entire electrical system needed upgrading, supports needed replacing, etc.

When the Coldwell Banker agent caught wind of our intentions, he harassed our loan officer, the contractor, the inspector and, of course, our agent. We gave them our quotes and they opted to declare the contract null and void (September 16).

We sent a fax to the Flossmoor office requesting our earnest money. Another Coldwell Banker agent in the office claims she never received the fax, although I have record of the completed transaction.

Another week passed without word. We called and I faxed her again. She finally explained that we needed to sign a release as did the sellers, apparently to remove the money from escrow. However, nobody ever mentioned it until a week ago.

They were playing 'possum. We signed and the Coldwell Banker agent claimed that he needed to get the sellers' signatures yet. Why he waited is obvious. The sellers signed on the option to end the contract and could have signed the release at the same time.

Furthermore, we aren't entirely sure the sellers and the Coldwell Banker agent were not aware of the foundation problem as the house was apparently sold as a "fixer-upper" four years ago. All they did was decorate.

The Coldwell Banker agent is rude, obnoxious, childish and is a poor representative for Coldwell Banker. However, the poor behavior appears endemic as even the owner failed to return our calls.

Down with Coldwell Banker. I will be advising my friends and cohorts to stay away.

Thanks for reading.

-- Doug Streitmatter (doug.streitmatter@Coldwell-Banker.net), November 10, 1999

Answers

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