BEWARE! NC real estate commission does not protect consumers! (Charlotte: brokers, attorneys)

[Bill Hitchcock]

I own a real estate agency in Morehead City and take the "letter of the law" quite seriously.
The residential disclosure form that has been mentioned has three categories that can be checked by the seller in regards to "known" deficiencies of a property. They are Yes (I know) No (I don't know) and No Representation (I'm not saying either way).

Please Note: A licensed NC Real Estate Broker is obligated by law to look after their clients best interest, even above their own.

Contact the Real Estate Commission immediately. If they are Realtors-Contact their local board immediately.

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by NCSC

Ideuterdu --- I posted this earlier and an interested in your answer:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't understand that if the max of repairs in the contract was $5,000, and the costs for repairs is above that, what basis do they have for not returning your deposit? We have had this happen before and we got out of the contract b/c the repairs were more than we had allowed in our offer to purchase. We had no problems with either agent (ours or theirs). Or course, we got several contractors to give us estimates on repairs for proof. Have you gotten written confirmation of the costs of repair? You REALLY need that.

Yes, I am also interested in how many quotes he got and what the amount actually was. I predict in the absence of creditable contractor's quote, the fight to get earnest money returned will be harder to win.
This sentence indicates guesswork is as likely as a quote:
"The amount needed to repair all deficient items was easily above $5000 (the max allowed amount) but the sellers refuse to release our deposit."

I get emails all the time from "investors" who want me to be their "eyes and ears" to buy homes sight unseen to fix and flip.
Not interested. It can be hard enough to agree on the condition of a home when standing in the kitchen together. If it isn't important enough for them to see it, why would I want to get tangled up in a mess like this?

[Steve McDowell]

I am truly sorry you had a bad experience with an agent. I happen to be one and when I hear/read stories like yours it makes me feel so ashamed of my chosen profession. Again, sorry for your bad experience.

Moderator cut: manual signature/personal contact info

[jbird22]

Originally Posted by Bill Hitchcock

I own a real estate agency in Morehead City and take the "letter of the law" quite seriously.
The residential disclosure form that has been mentioned has three categories that can be checked by the seller in regards to "known" deficiencies of a property. They are Yes (I know) No (I don't know) and No Representation (I'm not saying either way).

Please Note: A licensed NC Real Estate Broker is obligated by law to look after their clients best interest, even above their own.

Contact the Real Estate Commission immediately. If they are Realtors-Contact their local board immediately.

It's those darn "No Representation"s that can get you into hot water.

It is unfortunate that this person had a bad experience, but those are the ones that you will hear about. For every 100 real estate transactions, 99 may go well, or very well, but it's that darn ONE BAD ONE that you'll hear about... and loudly.

I know a bunch of real estate professionals in my part of the state (Western NC) and they do a fantastic job. When I lived in Eastern NC, I found great agents there, as well.

[Bill Hitchcock]

The residential disclosure form is to be given to the potential buyer BEFORE the offer to contract and purchase is made. If it isn't-then the offer has a built in contingency so the buyer can get out of the deal.
The purpose of the disclosure form and why it is required to be given to the buyer before an offer is so the buyer knows of any defect or has time to find out about any defects before making an offer.
Here's something else-All NC licensed real estate brokers are required to give their clients a brochure on Home Inspections and why they are important before you buy.

[Packer Fan]

Originally Posted by deuterdu

No duh...I did and they dropped the ball too.

(stepping on soap box.....)

I have never in my life delt with such a bunch of low life, no mind, self centered people as I have with real estate people in North Carolina.

They all say that this will be the easiest transaction I have ever had. Nothign could be further from the truth.

Examples:

First house..... Went to do a walk through. It was real hot out and someone had turned up the air conditioning system full (down to like 55 degrees(!!)) so the system froze up. I told them exactly what needed to be done and if they didnt there would be troubles. A week later went into the house with an inspector to find that they did not do anything, the air conditioner on the second level overflowed and ruined a 25 X 15' area of ceiling -- the plaster was coming down even. The air conditioner was ruined as well. After some more research we found that the selling agency (and stupid me I was working with the buying agent from the same agency) tried to cover up some problems with the house. Bottom line it was going to cost the selller $65,000 in repairs. Just because the agency could not be honest and do their work right.

We passed on that house.....

SECOND HOUSE.....
Buying agent did N O T H I N G to help us. Though we were told again that this would be a piece of cake. She left the day before the closing to go to some real estate convention.... We were to do a walk through of the house the evening before. We had no one to walk us through! We told her not to come back for the closing as we saw no use for her and I would do all I could to prevent her from getting commission. She also made suggestions to mortgage people that tried to rip us off. We ended up with a mortgage a FULL PERCENTAGE POINT lower than the best the other guy could offer (!!). The inspector guy she suggested was more interested in playing with the stuff in the house than really doing an inspection.

The Selling agent was nice to us, but that changed as well. Here we are TWO MONTHS after closing and the seller wants to come back to pick up stuff they left behind.... the sellers brother came to pick up a garden trailer left behind, threatened us that it was HIS.... and we STILL dont have all of the keys and garage door openers. Turns out the selling agent is friends with the seller.... and she is trying to cover for him. Oh and we found out after we moved that they left a dead plant in living room to cover 8" diameter damage to the floor. The selling agent said that she told the buying agent but we were never notified.

I have purchased a number of properties in a couple of different states. Everywhere else I have been treated with respect and professionalism. Here in NC, I would be ashamed to suggest any real estate person that I have met so far!

Sorry about the ramblings.. I feel better already.

[Packer Fan]

Originally Posted by Bill Hitchcock

I own a real estate agency in Morehead City and take the "letter of the law" quite seriously.
The residential disclosure form that has been mentioned has three categories that can be checked by the seller in regards to "known" deficiencies of a property. They are Yes (I know) No (I don't know) and No Representation (I'm not saying either way).

Please Note: A licensed NC Real Estate Broker is obligated by law to look after their clients best interest, even above their own.

Contact the Real Estate Commission immediately. If they are Realtors-Contact their local board immediately.

How do I contact them? (See above post). Will I get action or is this too a "good ole boys network"???

[Packer Fan]

Originally Posted by deuterdu

I put in an offer on a home fall of 06. We were unable to walk through the home so we used the property disclosure report and a licensed home inspector to be our eyes for us. This is becoming common in buying homes out of state. We received the residential property disclosure report and there were no deficiencies noted. After inspection from our home inspector he told us that the property was a pile of !@#$. There was deferred maintenance everywhere and he discovered toxic mold (stachybotris). 4 roof leaks, leak in the wall from a bathroom to name a few. The amount needed to repair all deficient items was easily above $5000 (the max allowed amount) but the sellers refuse to release our deposit. The listing agent has over 20 years experience and is on the realtor board. I won't say which city or county to avoid naming names. Somebody with this much experience must have done a walkthrough of the property before listing it. This agent willfully/negligently omitted the property condition. In NC real estate law it states " A listing agent is held to a higher standard with regard to negligent misrepresentation about material facts about a listed property to a buyer than is a selling agent who is acting as a seller's subagent. This is because 1) The listing agent is in the best position to ascertain facts about the property, 2) the listing agent is expected to take reasonable steps to assure that property data including with the listing is correct and 3) it is considered reasonable for a selling agent (buyers agent) to rely on the accuracy of the listing data in most instances. It also states that the listing agent has a duty to insure that the residential property disclosure statement is filled out accurately even if the sellers do not fill it out accurately. As a result I am in litigation to try to get my deposit back from the sellers. Although it will cost me more than I will get back it is the principle of the matter for me. I filed a complaint with the real estate commission along with pictures proving he must have known along with the property inspection report. THE NC REAL ESTATE COMMISSION DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THE PUBLIC. IT IS MY BELIEF THAT THEY ARE IN BED WITH THE AGENTS IN HIGH POSITIONS. BEING IN A HIGH POSITION DOES NOT GIVE THE AGENT A RIGHT TO BE LAZY, SLOPPY OR DISHONEST! I will take this to court and i hope the judge will have more common sense than the real estate commission. I have come to the conclusion that if you use a real estate agent - don't! Unless you know through personal experience that they really have their !@#$ together. I say hire an attorney instead. If an agent tells you that you MUST be represented by an agent, that is a lie. (I checked the law). If they refuse to let you see a property because you don't have an agent and won't let them represent you, don't bother complaining to the commission because they probably won't do anything about it anyway. You can report it to HUD and the Federal trade commission. Hey, maybe I will become an agent, I will fail to do my job and nothing will happen to me. There are many good agents out there so I am not saying they are bad. I am saying that if there is a problem with an agent the commission won't do anything about it so cover your you know what! To the agents who will go up in arms over this post, I have ($)7,500 reasons why I don't care.

I was told that lie that a buying agent must be present. From now on it is an attourney. Real Estate agents in this state are the lowest of the low!

We have thought about becoming real estate agents because we would be the only honest ones out there! People should flock to something like that!

We plan on buying a lot more real estate. Too bad these agents didnt have a clue. Their agency loses, they lose, and North Carliona loses. Perhaps we need to start pushing in the State Government about the way the real estate business is in North Carolina.

Now to find an honest lawyer........

Oh yes, to those real estate agents that CLAIM to be honest... I am out about $5000 myself. Do give me that crap about how the real estate business is honest. Look out because I will take your free lunch away when I do get into real estate!

[Bill Hitchcock]

North Carolina Real Estate Commission
http://www.ncrec.state.nc.us/default.html
(919) 875-3700 and ask for Legal Services Division 3

About the Real Estate Commission
The North Carolina Real Estate Commission ("Commission") is an independent state governmental agency. It should not be confused with the North Carolina Association of REALTORS® (or its local Boards) which is a trade organization whose members are known as "REALTORS®".

The Commission’s primary function is to license and regulate real estate agents (persons and firms who sell, lease, etc. real estate for others). North Carolina’s 80,000-plus real estate agents are licensed as brokers.

[CharlotteAgent]

Originally Posted by Packer Fan

(stepping on soap box.....)

I have never in my life delt with such a bunch of low life, no mind, self centered people as I have with real estate people in North Carolina.

I love the way you just lumped us all together!