Moving from Florida to Louisville area (short sales, rent, loan)

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by joanie55

DO be careful with your realtor. I went with a realtor with Keller Williams, a very reputable company as I'm sure you know. However, she was "in bed" with the seller's realtor. I ended up paying list price for a house that appraised at more than it will EVER be worth in my lifetime. Comps for houses equivalent to mine in the area I live are around $13000 LESS than what I paid for it 7 months ago. Part of the problem, I believe, is that was during the period of Obama rebates so I think realtors jacked up the prices on the homes. I can't prove it, but I DO suspect it.

I should have gone with TOMOCOX, who works for REMAX and IS reputable. The reason I did not was I was under a time crunch and he was going to be out of town during much of that time and would not have been my primary realtor - he manages the office I believe but DOES act as a real estate agent as well. I made a big mistake. I would suggest giving him a call. Good luck to you!

The board is not to be used for realtor business solicitacion, but Tom does have an excellent reputation, especially with OC and east Louisville where he is an expert. Should you change your mind and want to look in the city, I can recommend other names.

To Joanie, your circumstance is quite unfortunate. However, you, as the buyer, should have probably done some simple research yourself. The MLS is available online and certainly the census and other websites show the value of homes, along with the County PVA. Let's just let others learn from your unfortunate mistake (and misfortune with a dishonest realtor as there are bad apples in EVERY profession).

[mojolico]

Joanie,

If it's any comfort, I think housing prices went down quite a bit in the last 7 months. I know the value of my house did. And a word to the wise, never, ever pay any attention to the Jefferson County PVA. What a joke! Their valuation of my house was completely off.....not close to reality.

[joanie55]

Originally Posted by stx12499

The board is not to be used for realtor business solicitacion, but Tom does have an excellent reputation, especially with OC and east Louisville where he is an expert. Should you change your mind and want to look in the city, I can recommend other names.

To Joanie, your circumstance is quite unfortunate. However, you, as the buyer, should have probably done some simple research yourself. The MLS is available online and certainly the census and other websites show the value of homes, along with the County PVA. Let's just let others learn from your unfortunate mistake (and misfortune with a dishonest realtor as there are bad apples in EVERY profession).

I was not trying to use the board for solitication, merely to give what I believe is helpful advice. However, I do understand your point and see how what I said could be misconstrued. My realtor did a CMA for me which appeared plausable. I was trying to make an out of state move in addition to buying a house, so it was quite a stressful experience and perhaps I did not do thorough enough research. The MLS, however, is NOT available on-line to anyone but realtors - they pay board dues, in part, for the use of this. Realtor.com is available to anyone but does not necessarily list all the inventory that is out there. Plus, there are rules for MLS users that are not in place for the other sites. They must delete sold or rented properties within a short specified time period. The bottom line is that real estate is a profession, which,as you said has both good and bad realtors associated with it. If everyone of us had the expertise to do what good realtors can do, the profession would not exist. That is what they are paid for and how they stay in business and make money.

[joanie55]

Originally Posted by joanie55

I was not trying to use the board for solitication, merely to give what I believe is helpful advice. However, I do understand your point and see how what I said could be misconstrued. My realtor did a CMA for me which appeared plausable. I was trying to make an out of state move in addition to buying a house, so it was quite a stressful experience and perhaps I did not do thorough enough research. The MLS, however, is NOT available on-line to anyone but realtors - they pay board dues, in part, for the use of this. Realtor.com is available to anyone but does not necessarily list all the inventory that is out there. Plus, there are rules for MLS users that are not in place for the other sites. They must delete sold or rented properties within a short specified time period. The bottom line is that real estate is a profession, which,as you said has both good and bad realtors associated with it. If everyone of us had the expertise to do what good realtors can do, the profession would not exist. That is what they are paid for and how they stay in business and make money.

Just as an aside, if this forum is not to be used for solicitation of realtor, why are you offering to give names of other realtors. Does being the moderator of this forum afford you special priviledges?

[Off Topic]

Originally Posted by mojolico

Joanie,

If it's any comfort, I think housing prices went down quite a bit in the last 7 months. I know the value of my house did. And a word to the wise, never, ever pay any attention to the Jefferson County PVA. What a joke! Their valuation of my house was completely off.....not close to reality.

The feeling used to be that PVA was 5-10% low. In the new exocomic atmosphere, I think that has reversed. They really should be lowering assessments but obvioulsy that's a tough thing to do since it would crush our tax base.

[Off Topic]

Originally Posted by joanie55

Just as an aside, if this forum is not to be used for solicitation of realtor, why are you offering to give names of other realtors. Does being the moderator of this forum afford you special priviledges?

Er, I'm pretty sure he was just trying to be helpful. Also, anyone here can make a recommendation for a realtor or plumber or whatever. It's the realtor or plumber themselves who are not allowed to solicit. So the moderator wasn't breaking any rules by offering to make a suggestion.

[joanie55]

Originally Posted by Off Topic

Er, I'm pretty sure he was just trying to be helpful. Also, anyone here can make a recommendation for a realtor or plumber or whatever. It's the realtor or plumber themselves who are not allowed to solicit. So the moderator wasn't breaking any rules by offering to make a suggestion.

Yes, but neither was I.

[joanie55]

I will not be posting on this forum any longer. I received a DM from the moderator that if I posted any more "condescending messages toward me" that I would receive an "infraction" from him. I considered his message as condescending toward me and responded in kind. Never had any problems on the other state forums. BTW, I expect this message to be deleted by him. So much for freedom of speech. I was merely trying to be helpful.

[mojolico]

Just a clarification........I think Zillow and other such public websites get their information about housing valuations from the Jefferson County PVA......which is a bogus! No one should pay any attention to them.

Joanie......don't go away! You give an honest two cents' worth and the Moderator, who I think lives in FL?, needs to be replaced.

[mojolico]

Joanie, I think it's pretty obvious the condescending messages have been toward YOU. I too have never had any other problems with so-called MODERATORS on any other state / city forums. VERY troublesome.