Underhanded REALORS (Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Harrisburg: fit in, sales, crime)

[LCT]

Gretchen,

If I ever get my act together and move back to PA, can I hire you as my realtor?

It's been about 14 years since I've done any home buying but I can honestly say I'd rather go for root canals on every tooth in my mouth before I hook up with another realtor, lol. Present company excluded, realtors are right up their with sleasy used car salesmen in my book.

I want to ask did I see in this thread that in PA you do not lose your deposit if you back out of a sale? I live in MA and can tell you they hold your feet to the fire around here. When a buyer decides to put in an offer [written, of course] the buyer has to cough up a deposit. If I recall, it's not a huge amount. I think I had to write a check for $2K last time. The broker has 24 hours to get the offer to the seller via the seller's broker. If the two brokers can't get their act together, you can get your deposit returned but a fight usually ensues. The seller has 24 hours to accept/decline your offer or make a counter-offer via their broker & your broker, etc, etc. This goes on until either the seller accepts the offer or the buyer decides the price is too high. MA is quite strict about the time frames involved. I cannot recall exactly how things work if a second buyer puts in an offer but the first buyer gets their deposit back if they get outbid. If all goes well, the deposit is held in escrow and the buyer doesn't see the money again until the closing when everything gets tallied up. A buyer cannot just say "never mind" and walk away with their deposit.

BTW, around here, everyone recommends you revisit the house you're buying as close to the closing time as humanly possible. I can personally say I learned this the hard way when I bought my first house. I didn't go to my "new" house for about 4-5 days before the closing, and after the closing I was in for a rude surprise. The sellers had taken all kinds of things they weren't supposed to including light fixtures, digging up shrubs/plants in the yard, removing outdoor spotlights, and they swapped out the nice range that was in the kitchen for a piece of junk. The sellers also left so much garbage [literally, garbage] and junk that I had to hire a truck to haul it away. I had to use a shovel and rubber gloves to get some of it out of the house. The nicest touch was they'd let their dog crap all over the basement. I was only 24 years old and an immature 24 at that. I should have screamed and jumped up & down and threatened to sue but I didn't know any better, then.

I also learned not to close on a Friday. When whoever went to the Registry of Deeds after the closing [early Friday afternoon] they found a problem with the deed and all hell broke loose. I had no place to sleep Friday night and all my possessions were in various pickup trucks, cars, etc. [First house, bargain move, lol] It took months to resolve and a lot of grief. I dearly regret NOT suing both the broker and the seller because the entire problem had been caused by the seller years ago when he "appropriated" part of the adjoining lot [they owned both lots at the time] for a driveway. The seller was too cheap to have the two plot plans redrawn to show the change. He was an idiot, a cheap idiot.

I 100% agree about no lockboxes! Hardly anyone uses them around here any more because there's so many theft/B & E problems. Last time I sold, I also made it clear that no children under the age of 18 were to be allowed in my house. I'm slow, but I do learn. That caveat came about because the time before I happened to walk in on two brats leaping up & down on my brand new couch. They were having a grand time standing on the back of the couch, jumping onto the arms, then onto the cushions and then leaping mid-air onto my favorite recliner. The parents of these two were standing right there at the time as was their broker; none of them said one thing. I also had an incident with some little kid letting my parakeet out of his cage when I wasn't home. Then I had a hand-made [by my mom] beautiful cloth doll stolen along with an antique doll baby that was my mother's when she was little. Didn't the parents even wonder where these two dolls came from? Anyway, no more kids in my house and no more than one broker and one couple at a time during a showing. Anyone else and they can just wait outside or in their cars. People snoop in bureau drawers, etc, when your back is turned. When I sell next time, I'm sure I'll think of other restrictions because I have a lot more "stuff" now, lol.

I really want to move but the thought of going through all the nonsense just tuckers me right out. I could probably do a half-way decent job selling my home myself but I've heard horror stories about people posing as potential buyers and then casing the place or unlocking a window and later on, bingo--you get robbed.

Maybe I should just pack up personal items such as photographs and clothes and have an auctioneer come in and sell everything else, move, and start all over again some where else.

Decisions, decisions....I just want to move back to PA.....

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Thank you LCT for your support on NO LOCK BOXES.....yes, the kids are a problem because their parents do not teach them anything. Last week the people from staten island started to play with my daughters toys. I asked them nicely to please refrain from doing so......with their parents right there. We must be home for every showing....sorry, I had to fight them because they refused to take their shoes off! I wouldn't dare go into anyone's house with wet dirty shoes..........I sort of thought to myself what would happen if I wasn't home?????????????

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

FF18 pick up the dispatch, just about every real estate agency is hiring. I think you have to pay for the course which can be done online, but the broker has to sponsor you. If you decide to do this, I would align myself with a repututable broker -

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

LCT, I thought of the casing that you describe. Have you seen that much of it as a realtor?? That is scary but very true of the sign of the times. When we have a showing we follow them into every room and never leave anyone alone. If there are a lot of people my husband and I split up. I cover one floor and he covers the other.

Thanks for the heads up on the casing part of showings..........

The Hat

[bels7]

Whoa. Now you have me thinking ... until now, buying and selling houses in various states, I have never been told I could not be home when the house is being shown. BUT my realtor here insists that HERE IN NC sellers are not allowed to be home during showings. I said I've never heard of that, it must be a local, cultural thing. So maybe I was wrong in agreeing to this. On the other hand, my realtor did advise to me to remove all valuables and lock them away, which I did. AND with "screening" of buyers ( qualified to buy at $500-600K ) I am not really worried, though I realize there's always a possibility of someone abusing the system. So far so good.

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Bel, lol, now you have me thinking......how do you get them to prove they are qualified in the price range you are looking for. Do they hand you a document. Here in PA - I can't get a straight answer as far as proof goes. They are supposed to be qualified or pre-approved but here is the other issue. People are coming out and spending a vast majority of the time looking at houses when they do not even have their house up for sale. We had one lady come back twice just to find out she has to sell her house. Maybe I am wrong....but it seems that prospective buyers are wasting the agents and homeowners time if they are not ready to do anything. A house that is available now may not be available a week from now.

Now, back to being home, I would not have it any other way. Being home, I have had buyers play around with knobs on the furance, hot water heater, etc. Are you moving back to PA? Down South, there might be an entirely different culture.

The Hat

[bels7]

I'm not sure exactly how they do the screening, but I do know that when I put my house on the market here in Greensboro and started looking at listings in Raleigh, the realtors in Raleigh did a credit check and verified that my house here was listed for what I said it was, and they said they would only show me a few houses so I could get a sense of what was available, but wait until I have a contract on my house here before showing me any more there. Which makes a lot of sense to me.

In my experience, there is a lot of variability in "culture" from various parts of the country, from state to state, and from neighborhood to neighborhood. But in many ways, I have found the "south" to be not much different from anywhere else I have lived ( I was in the USAF for years and lived in a number of different parts of the country ).

Not sure about PA. Thinking about it. There are parts of PA that I really like. But mostly I want to be closer to my three kids, and they want to be fairly close to both parents ( their mother, my former wife, lives in PA ). Two of my three kids graduated from Pitt and are now in graduate school ( NC State and Vanderbilt ) and the third lives in northern VA. Problem is I don't really know where they will end up, but probably closer to PA than not.

So. For sure I am leaving here, for many reasons. But not entirely sure where I am going.

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Bels,

Good luck with your move. It is a tough market now, but things are moving if they are priced right. The houses are just on the market a little longer than before.

[LCT]

Bels,

I sincerely doubt someone can forceable make you leave your home while a broker shows it. After all, it is your home! Are the Real Estate Police going to evict you? If the broker fell inside your house & was injured I'm sure they'd have no problem suing you or your insurance company. I suspect it's just a local "custom". Here in MA, most brokers "prefer" the seller not be home or at least either be outside or in a den, etc. I think it's about not wanting to say something negative in front of the home owner, perhaps making the prospective buyer hesitant to speak up, etc. Tough. Put a Walkman or IPod on your head and tell the broker to deal with it!

Also, in an early post I think you said you were dealing with a "listening challenged" broker. You might want to try a somewhat obnoxious "no-fail unless you're really stupid" tactic. Get out 3 large sheets of lined paper. Call one "Must Have", another "Would Like to Have" [think a wish list you can actually afford, lol] and the last one, "Absolutely DO NOT WANT!". Then, make your lists, be very specific and give a copy to your broker. Tell the broker if a perspective house doesn't match your lists, don't waste everyone's time.

As an insomniac, I had a lot of spare time to make my "list" when I was shopping for my current home. I started with the "Don't Want" list and backed my way into the other two. Examples of what I could not tolerate were: a basement that leaked; no property in a flood zone, no septic tanks, no well water, nothing on an airport's approach/departure path. The "Would Like" list: backyard that could accommodate a pool some day, paved driveway, at least 1/2 bath on first floor, decent storm windows, neighbor's house not an arm's length away, porch or deck. "Must Have" included up-to-date/code plumbing & electrical, bathroom that was at least tolerable until I could afford to update & located near bedrooms, natural gas either in house or available in front of house, min. 2 decent-size bedrooms & one with generous closet, be located on public street vs private way, move-in condition [no fixer-uppers please], price no higher than $XXX,XXX.

Not to be pessimistic but just because someone claims they're "qualified" to buy a $500K-$600K house is no guarantee (a) they are truthful (b) aren't 5 days away from bankrupcty (c) honest. Lots of drug dealers and other creative criminals can afford those prices..... My last broker told me if I was putting down 45-50% he could care less where the money came from.

Speaking of drugs, make sure any prescription medications are hidden away with the good silverware when someone is coming to show your house. According to the TV, abuse of prescription meds is quite popular these days and those little bottles are really easy to pocket in an instant.

Good luck trying to figure out where to relocate. I've been doing the same exercise off/on for over a year. I spend hours online looking at REALTOR.com - Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale and a few sites that have all kinds of city/town info and demographics. I want to get away from the winter weather, but for assorted reasons, I keep coming back to PA. I'm thinking Lancaster County, around Hershey maybe or back home to Pittsburgh. I don't have the same issues as you [kids] but my mom is here in MA with me, a brother in RI and one in Orlando. A lot of extended family in greater Pittsburgh. Wherever I finally decide on, I figure as long as I'm within reasonable distance to a major airport, or in the case of Lancaster, good rail service, my family will find me. My other big issue is my mom is elderly and has health issues and I'm no spring chicken so I want to be near decent medical facilities. I'm beginning to suspect, after all my research, etc, that I'd do just as well to throw a dart at the map, lol.

Best of luck to you. I personally think, all things considered, it isn't a bad time to buy. Lots of homes on the market and interest rates are decent. My house will sell OK as I live in a "desirable" town and I'm willing to be realistic about the sale price vs greedy.

[FYI - I'm not a R.E. broker]

[Boris]

I was looking in the lower price ranges through Realtor.com and found that sometimes they didn't respond to my e-mails because a low-priced house didn't offer a big commission. My house was listed by Nasser Realty who did a poor job of marketing it. It was shown to me by an agent working for Prudential, which takes a minimum commission, not a percentage. The Nasser agent did such a poor job of marketing the property that it sat on the market for a long time and the seller lowered the price by 1/3! So the agent inadvertently did me a favor!