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Sorry to hear about you're experience. That's pretty awful and makes me feel lucky to have found good agents for our last two homes. Not in NEPA though. My parents have lived in the area for ten years so I'll ask them if they know anyone.
My other suggestion would be a google search and find reviews of agents affiliated with national agencies. Keller Williams and Berkshire Hathaway and such. Don't be quick to sign with someone. I interviewed 3 agents for our home in MN, which is now under contract. One was a recommendation from our neighbor, one we met an an open house and one I found in an internet search. I met our previous agent in FL on City-Data He was a regular poster and his knowledge and standards were well respected there.
Don't let the crappy agents scare you off. If my folks know someone I'll let you know.
Thanks for the encouraging words! I appreciate it.
Ell, hopefully you'll give my old eyes a bit of a break next time.
My husband and I didn't always have much luck with realtors. It was about 50/50. The two very best ones found a place for us to rent in a tight market. One was a vacation home which had never been rented, and the other one was a town home which wasn't moving.
Buying and selling was a completely different story. I can't figure out how to word what I'd like to say without being attacked.
I wouldn't trust any one else's inspection. I'd want want my inspection from someone who had nothing to do with the contractor guy.
Ell, hopefully you'll give my old eyes a bit of a break next time.
My husband and I didn't always have much luck with realtors. It was about 50/50. The two very best ones found a place for us to rent in a tight market. One was a vacation home which had never been rented, and the other one was a town home which wasn't moving.
Buying and selling was a completely different story. I can't figure out how to word what I'd like to say without being attacked.
I wouldn't trust any one else's inspection. I'd want want my inspection from someone who had nothing to do with the contractor guy.
Thanks to all who responded. My husband had decided that NEPA is not the place for us, so our NEPA adventure has come to an end. It is always nice to get to know another parts of the country, so it was not a complete waste.
I did not reply to argue with you about Wilkes Barre. I was simply sharing MY experience moving to WB from the south and MY experience with drug addicts, rehab, and the water. And MY experience is that there are FAR more heroin addicts in North East Pennsylvania than anywhere else that I have lived... The Suez water that I had at MY house in Dallas burned my skin. The drug addicts that I ran into at the hospitals and at the park (people with puke all over their cars and nodded out at the wheel) is MY experience of living there and we do NOT have a thing called SCHOOL TAX anywhere I have EVER lived which is Virginia, California, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Colorado...
And YES I am going to say something about the MOLD in Pennsylvania because for one it is not something you really think about coming from the south. MY house in FLORIDA did not FLOOD so I did not have MOLD in my house. MY experience of WB is that a LOT of the basements had MOLD in them.
So if you dont mind I would like to share MY experience without you having to criticize everything I said. There are a LOT of drug addicts in WB, there is mold and flooding, the water is bad and the taxes are high in MY experience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerania
Yeah, but Ell's husband would be working in Scranton. I like Forty Fort and Swoyersville, but I don't think that they have to live that far away.
The water in Wilkes-Barre isn't bad. If you have something, tell me. It smells like chlorine to me. Years ago, I bought a pitcher with a filter for my mother. Problem solved. I didn't notice it when I lived there, but when I moved back for a while, I thought it smelled terrible.
She would be moving from the South and you're going to tell her something about mold that she doesn't know?
I'm sorry. I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania, then moved to Southeastern North Carolina. It was the first time in my life that I had to hire an exterminator.
Well, fine and dandy. I don't know a thing about the water in Dallas. The water in Wilkes-Barre is OK, but smells like chlorine. A cheap pitcher filter takes care of that.
There has definitely been a noticeable increase in addicts this decade. Was it 2013 that there were a lot of murders? Most of them were shootings by people who didn't live there. I guess they were delivering drugs?
I don't give a flying leap where you used to live. I've lived in a few states and stayed in a few others. Stayed means one year max. The South is the only place that I had to wash the damn mildew off the house every year and have an exterminator on speed dial.
I've never lived in a home which had been flooded--anywhere. That's your mistake.
School taxes? They were part of your county taxes in other states. If you didn't know that going in, then you didn't do enough research or ask enough questions.
I cant begin without saying that this is my experience with realtors and home inspections or I will be reamed by people who feel that my experience is incorrect.
I bought a house in Dallas PA over tow years ago, from out of state. The realtor just wanted to sell the house and they are in a good old boy club in this area! They want to pigeon hole you into a house and do not want you to talk to anyone in case you change your mind. If you told your realtor that you walked away twice after an inspection God help you. I bought my house and the inspector "inspected the house" and basically said everything "appears functional". He didn't turn anything on if it wasn't plugged in, he did not flush a toilet if the water was turned off. He walked around and took pictures and his biggest "inspection concern" was that the patio stairs were "too tall", It was a joke... The realtor downplayed everything. We bought the house in a hurry because I had to start a job soon and when we arrived and were able to really take a look at things there were water problems (leaks), over 90 nail pops (big ones about 3/4 inch out of the dry wall). Do not use the realtors inspector!!! and trying to find your own inspector is almost impossible also because they will ask who your realtor is and they are basically in it to sell this house.
When I sold this house and went to buy another one, they tried to convince me to sell it for the SAME price that I bought it for. I dont know if realtors just dont care anymore and they do this everywhere but the inspection in Florida was 8 pages long and detailed every defect in the house big or small, the inspection in South Carolina was moderately thorough, the inspection in Virginia was fairly thorough (it was a brand new house) and the Georgia inspection was similar to the Florida.
I dont know what the solution is other than to expect problems and make your offer based on what you think you might have to repair once you get there. I know a really good roofer if you need a roof...also know a great mechanic but thats it.
Again this is my experience with real estate in NEPA and I hope others have had better experiences than mine!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ell9677
I am the OP. I don't know if anyone is going to see this or respond to this and maybe I should have started a new thread, but I have a question about real estate agents in the area. We have been through several and haven't found an honest one yet. Example, one agent tells us a house is under contract, we call the listing agent and find out the house has no offers. Another agent tells us a house is going to be taken off the market because the owners decided to stay, so there is no sense looking at it. Two days later the house posts an open house and we are actually in the area on the day of the open house. We go and the house is empty and the real estate agent tells us that the family moved out over a month ago and are motivated to sell. Fast forward to now. We placed an offer on a home we saw at another open house while we were up north. The inspection report comes back very strange. We have bought 5 houses in several states over the years. We've also walked away from 2 houses after an inspection, so we are familiar with inspection reports. There is no mention of how the water, plumbing or toilets work, no mention if the heat works, no mention of the condition of the appliances, no real electrical report except a photo of live wire hanging. There was no live wire hanging at the open house, so we find this odd. We call the inspector. He tells us that he didn't test the water pressure, toilet flushing, furnace or electricity because the listing agent was present and told him they are working on the electricity, furnace, getting a new kitchen baseboard, etc. He was under the impression we knew about these items, but ordered the inspection anyway. We, in fact, were told that the furnace and electricity were all brand new, that even the dry wall was redone to install new electricity. We were told the hot water baseboards were all new. In summary, the seller (a contractor) and listing agent both tried to conceal all the defects of the house until after the release of contingencies. The disclosure stated there were no known issues. So, we would have then been stuck with a house with no heat and faulty electric if we hadn't called on that photo of the live wire since we would have never known about them. I bring all this up to my RE agent but he doesn't want to discuss what happened to the listing agent or give us an opportunity to have these items addressed. He just sends us a termination agreement to sign. No phone call, no negotiations - nothing! Is his how "outsiders" are treated in NEPA? Or are real estate agents there crooked and unprofessional to everyone? They all seem to want to do business by text only. Please understand before responding that I am not whining. I have a serious question.What is up with the RE agents there? Of course there are good ones and bad ones everywhere, but when you consider we have dealt with 5 (6 when you include the shady dealings of this listing agent) and 100 percent have been unprofessional or unhelpful, it indicates NEPA has a higher percentage of unprofessional or unhelpful RE agents. Please don't take this as a personal insult either. My husband says we have to be done considering relocating to this area. I have a genuine concern and would like genuine thoughtful answers please. So far, y'all have been great doing that.
I cant begin without saying that this is my experience with realtors and home inspections or I will be reamed by people who feel that my experience is incorrect.
I bought a house in Dallas PA over tow years ago, from out of state. The realtor just wanted to sell the house and they are in a good old boy club in this area! They want to pigeon hole you into a house and do not want you to talk to anyone in case you change your mind. If you told your realtor that you walked away twice after an inspection God help you. I bought my house and the inspector "inspected the house" and basically said everything "appears functional". He didn't turn anything on if it wasn't plugged in, he did not flush a toilet if the water was turned off. He walked around and took pictures and his biggest "inspection concern" was that the patio stairs were "too tall", It was a joke... The realtor downplayed everything. We bought the house in a hurry because I had to start a job soon and when we arrived and were able to really take a look at things there were water problems (leaks), over 90 nail pops (big ones about 3/4 inch out of the dry wall). Do not use the realtors inspector!!! and trying to find your own inspector is almost impossible also because they will ask who your realtor is and they are basically in it to sell this house.
When I sold this house and went to buy another one, they tried to convince me to sell it for the SAME price that I bought it for. I dont know if realtors just dont care anymore and they do this everywhere but the inspection in Florida was 8 pages long and detailed every defect in the house big or small, the inspection in South Carolina was moderately thorough, the inspection in Virginia was fairly thorough (it was a brand new house) and the Georgia inspection was similar to the Florida.
I dont know what the solution is other than to expect problems and make your offer based on what you think you might have to repair once you get there. I know a really good roofer if you need a roof...also know a great mechanic but thats it.
Again this is my experience with real estate in NEPA and I hope others have had better experiences than mine!
I didn't write everything that happened with the inspection up there, but I will share a few more items since you shared your story. The inspector did not test the hot water, the heat, the electricity as mentioned. He also wrote the phrase "appeared functional." He also didn't flush toilets or check the water pressure. When I questioned him about it, he said they do not test those items in PA. I immediately called three other inspectors in that area and they told me that it is standard to test these items (of course!). Additionally, the inspector did not look at the roof. He claimed that since it was a bungalow, it would be too dangerous to look at it (how, exactly, can he not get on a ladder because it was a bungalow, I did not understand!). The wood boring insects report indicated that he could not do a full inspection due to dense vegetation and the abundance of stored items. There is zero vegetation...not a single bush or plant on the property. There is just one fruit tree far from the house in the back yard. It is also an empty home without a single stored item in it. The inspection report mentioned issues with two windows and had accompanying photos. The windows in the house have top grills but his photos had no grills at all. He used stock photos! Not to mention he provided a photo of an attic when there was none in the home. Anyone can google his reviews and find that at least 2 other people recently reviewed him and specifically mentioned that he provided photos of an attic in homes where there were none. (Direct message me and I will provide the name of the inspector). The other photos in the report were from this house, so he did not accidentally send us a wrong report. It was outright deceit. Both buyer's agent and seller's agent were present for this inspection and all three saw it fit to provide a bogus inspection to us. When I asked for an addendum to extend my contingency period in order to get another inspector in the home I was given the run-around.
Please understand that my experience should in no way be taken as an insult to anyone who lives in NEPA!!! I am not saying it reflects on them at all! It reflects on an industry. It is a fact that based on my experiences, your experience and many others that have direct messaged me, that many people in the real estate business in NEPA are dishonest with people moving there from out of state. I am so happy that some people haven't had that experience when they bought their homes in NEPA, but many people, like us, have experienced this. It's a fact. It doesn't make me dislike NEPA, but it does not make it very easy to get treated fairly in order to make an informed decision on a very large long-term investment. That's frustrating and I would hope that people could understand how it can feel frustrating.
Inspectors don't go up on the roof. They don't have to and they won't. If you want a roof inspected, that's a different guy. If you want an inspector to check the plumbing and electric in a house where they've been turned off, you pay to have them turned on for the inspection. Foundation problems? That's someone else. Wet basement? That's probably another guy. Sorry ladies, but they all seem to be guys.
Inspectors don't go up on the roof. They don't have to and they won't. If you want a roof inspected, that's a different guy. If you want an inspector to check the plumbing and electric in a house where they've been turned off, you pay to have them turned on for the inspection. Foundation problems? That's someone else. Wet basement? That's probably another guy. Sorry ladies, but they all seem to be guys.
The plumbing and electricity were on and the inspector advertises that he inspects the roof. The furnace, however, was not turned on despite us being told it would be for the inspection. . BUT, lesson learned that one should ALWAYS be present during an inspection!!
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He was a regular poster and his knowledge and standards were well respected there. 
mold, taxes, water and heroin
. BUT, lesson learned that one should ALWAYS be present during an inspection!!
