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Realtors do this kind of stuff all the time - two bedrooms plus another space become three bedrooms, a house in X subdivision (not quite so nice but very near Y subdivision) becomes Y subdivision (which is a lot nicer), laminate floor becomes hardwood floor (not everyone will notice), kitchen reno means new vinyl floor and appliances, etc. You have to be very careful and also a little bit knowledgeable about the area you're looking in. Caveat emptor, as someone long ago said.
Agreed! - Many realtors do the same thing with mis-leading (wide-angle) photos, "Water views" or "waterfront COMMUNITY," etc..
I'm not sure what these realtors are thinking, except perhaps, "If I get a potential buyer here, perhaps I can sell them something else" ('bait and switch'); or "maybe I can persuade them to look at this closet as another bedroom" (misrepresentation); or "maybe they won't notice the tiny rooms, zero lot line and mold/water damage" (false advertizing) - I guess they figure THEY have nothing to lose ... and don't care if potential buyers waste their time.
Why would anyone lie in a listing? It just creates ill will and distrust. I understand that all properties should be shown in their best light, but staging a closet as a bedroom and listing it as such is just too much.
When I said "recourse" I was using it in one of its commonly held definitions as (Merriam-Webster):
a : turning to someone or something for help or protection settled the matter without recourse to law
Funny that everyone jumped to the "WHAT?! You want PAYMENT?!" Not at all. As a consumer, I believe that this kind of falsehood is beyond the pale and there should be some way to ask agents to adhere to facts in a listing. I could easily say the basement in my house is a "bedroom" if I added a wardrobe and called it a closet. But no one with any sense would see a stone stacked foundation, cold concrete floor and old coal shoot window and believe that this was a comfortable place to dwell.
Buyers aren't dumb. I am grateful to those who made suggestions about the right course of action. I did call the agent and let her know that this was blatant misrepresentation and that I had heard others complaining about it while I was touring. She was snotty and said "I have a right to put whatever I need to in the listing to get the house sold." I disagree.
Terrible agent. She admits she would go even further to misrepresent. And I doubt that she really has that right. If she's a Realtor, surely there is language in the Code of Ethics that is relevant to this. I think I've seen language on MLS listings that indicates the info is at least believed to be true by the agent. She clearly didn't meet this standard.
And surely there have been legal cases where some material misrepresentation was challenged and the agent lost. Why would real estate agents be unique in being able legally to say "whatever" they need to get something sold, when car salespeople, your stockbroker, etc., is not?
And the irony is that, not only would this lie NOT help her get the house sold, it probably alienates potential buyers from looking at ANY of her listings in the future.
Funny that everyone jumped to the "WHAT?! You want PAYMENT?!" .
YOU used the word "recourse". YOU have stated MULTIPLE times here that you own many properties and seem to spend a large amount of your free time looking at real estate. You are not a RE novice. You also stated you were looking at the house next door. It's hard to justify stating that you wasted your time....unless you are on a 24 clock where you can make money every minute of the day (and hey, maybe you can, good for you), the 10 minutes it took to ascertain that this was a waste of your time is, frankly, petty. I "get" that you won't own up to that.
It's just hard to believe you couldn't think what you could do here, which is basically call the RE agent and let them know of your displeasure. I'm not a believer in telling people what to post and how, but this whole thread's origin just makes no sense to me.
PS Do you really believe the agent doesn't know she is drawing people from the better listing next door with her *wink*wink* not 100% true listing? Undoubtedly she thinks she can sucker someone into thinking it's almost the same and there's probably reason for it - she's done it before. That's actually not HER problem, that most people can't say no, even on things as momentous as buying real estate. Everyone posting here is interested in RE for some reason or another and agents like this are unfortunately a dime a dozen. But you knew that....right?
YOU used the word "recourse". YOU have stated MULTIPLE times here that you own many properties and seem to spend a large amount of your free time looking at real estate. You are not a RE novice. You also stated you were looking at the house next door. It's hard to justify stating that you wasted your time....unless you are on a 24 clock where you can make money every minute of the day (and hey, maybe you can, good for you), the 10 minutes it took to ascertain that this was a waste of your time is, frankly, petty. I "get" that you won't own up to that. It's just hard to believe you couldn't think what you could do here, which is basically call the RE agent and let them know of your displeasure. I'm not a believer in telling people what to post and how, but this whole thread's origin just makes no sense to me.
PS Do you really believe the agent doesn't know she is drawing people from the better listing next door with her *wink*wink* not 100% true listing? Undoubtedly she thinks she can sucker someone into thinking it's almost the same and there's probably reason for it - she's done it before. That's actually not HER problem, that most people can't say no, even on things as momentous as buying real estate. Everyone posting here is interested in RE for some reason or another and agents like this are unfortunately a dime a dozen. But you knew that....right?
Please familiarize yourself with the various definitions of the word "recourse"-- there is more than one. How would I expect to get money back when I didn't lose any in the first place?
I am fed up with bad agents who lie. You are right I am not a novice. I have noticed a disturbing trend in my region in recent years and am getting tired of it. So yes, I am beginning to explore calling out some of this BS.
If you don't like my question, as I have stated many times-- DON'T ANSWER IT. I see absolutely no point in complaining about what others post just to add to the noise.
Just recently I have come upon listings where 1 of the bedrooms wound up being little more than a bed parked in a corner of a basement (not that it mattered to me). But until recently you could never do that. It was a "rule of real estate." Number of BR's had to be the actual BR's. Rewritten rules.
Just recently I have come upon listings where 1 of the bedrooms wound up being little more than a bed parked in a corner of a basement (not that it mattered to me). But until recently you could never do that. It was a "rule of real estate." Number of BR's had to be the actual BR's. Rewritten rules.
Yeah, I agree the rule book seems to have been torn up. With such an expensive purchase, you would think people would try to be a overcautious about telling something close to the truth to build trust. But i guess not.
Because it's false and misleading. It's not a third bedroom and it's a waste of time to go see it. It can't be a bedroom if the only way out is thru another bedroom which is what it sounds like.
That's incorrect. There are plenty of houses that require walking through one bedroom to get to another - pretty common in story-and-a-half bungalows.
Quote:
Originally Posted by emotiioo
I am fed up with bad agents who lie. You are right I am not a novice. I have noticed a disturbing trend in my region in recent years and am getting tired of it. So yes, I am beginning to explore calling out some of this BS.
Well, I guess this is why we don't buy property without inspecting it in person, isn't it?
That's incorrect. There are plenty of houses that require walking through one bedroom to get to another - pretty common in story-and-a-half bungalows.
That's not actually correct that it's ok that you have to walk through another bedroom to access, at least not where the property OP saw was
Quote:
For a single-entry room in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, DC to count as a bedroom, it must be accessible without passing through another bedroom. This also ensures each bedroom has access to a bathroom without having to go through another bedroom.
Agreed! - Many realtors do the same thing with mis-leading (wide-angle) photos, "Water views" or "waterfront COMMUNITY," etc..
I'm not sure what these realtors are thinking, except perhaps, "If I get a potential buyer here, perhaps I can sell them something else" ('bait and switch'); or "maybe I can persuade them to look at this closet as another bedroom" (misrepresentation); or "maybe they won't notice the tiny rooms, zero lot line and mold/water damage" (false advertizing) - I guess they figure THEY have nothing to lose ... and don't care if potential buyers waste their time.
A realtor in Alabama gave all the good points about a nice house in the country but was not misleading.
Price , location, condition, all had me interested.
The last picture of the back yard was from the deck and clearly showed a neighbor's large chicken barn in the distance.
In my area, all the houses have a 2-bedroom deed restriction due to the high water table and septic systems. New houses have a gigantic second bedroom with an obvious place to put a wall, and some people have done so. But they still have to list the house as "room being used as third bedroom is not officially a bedroom due to deed restriction" or some such. Like one poster said, "third room used as office" or something.
The town was very cautious about the unusual layout of my not-square house, for fear I was trying to slip in a bedroom. I guess they've loosened up a lot- there are now two-bedroom new houses (big bedrooms) with a huge loft over the two-car garage, labeled "loft area", obviously with windows and plenty of space to build a closet or walls.
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Agreed! - Many realtors do the same thing with mis-leading (wide-angle) photos, "Water views" or "waterfront COMMUNITY," etc..
