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I'm pretty experienced with real estate, but one thing I haven't experienced much of are incompetent lazy listing agents.
This one is the last straw and I want to speak with the owners to simply let them know their listing agent is terrible and if it doesn't sell by the end of the contract, get rid of them!
I called with a few simple questions regarding the HOA, questions that the owner should absolutely know. I told the listing agent, I'm an all cash buyer looking to make a deal quick, can you confirm the following information I have such as XYZ are correct. The listing agent said she doesn't know, but I should try calling the building (it's a condo that can be lived-in or rented, short or long term) and try to find out the answers. I call the building and they said, we don't have that information, the listing agent or owner of the unit would know. So, I then have a buyers agent contact the listing agent with the same questions and he gets the same answer, I don't know, you can try to find out yourself.
Without these simple confirmations, I can't make an offer, so I then found out the owner's name and mailing address, but no phone number. I'm at the point where I am willing to write a letter to explain the situation and how their listing agent is pretty much doing them a disservice.
Is this the best method or are there any websites that will show someone's phone number? I know this sounds stalkerish lol, but I would really want to know this information if I was trying to sell my place and buyers were being pushed away.
Your buyer's agent may have access to it if it's published in the MLS, but I'm not sure it would be ethical for them to call in this circumstance, and it would definitely be unethical for them to give you the number.
Couple options... one is to compose an email to be sent by your buyer's agent to the listing agent, asking the questions and asking for it to be forwarded to the owner for answer. Maybe the email can get further than a phone call with the listing agent.
I'm curious... What questions are there that someone connected with the building wouldn't know the answer? The HOA should have officers that can be contacted with questions or to request the bylaws.
Nuclear option.... make an offer, contingent on review of the HOA bylaws.
Every single offer I've ever written on a condo is contingent upon a satisfactory review of the condo documents and the HOA's financials. Why not just write an offer with a contingency like that?
Every single offer I've ever written on a condo is contingent upon a satisfactory review of the condo documents and the HOA's financials. Why not just write an offer with a contingency like that?
What he said.
Resist the temptation to right wrongs and tilt at windmills.
I don't know of any state where it ISN'T contingent on receiving the hoa covanes and bylaws. Normally you get 3 days or so to review them, and can terminate without penalty during that time. In tx there is a separate addendum for homes in hoa's that needs to be included w/the contract.
Otherwise contact listing agents broker and explain the situation.
Every single offer I've ever written on a condo is contingent upon a satisfactory review of the condo documents and the HOA's financials. Why not just write an offer with a contingency like that?
In my area, condos & hoa's can have wildly variable fees & costs, and the condo docs aren't required to be provided until you're well along in the purchasing process - for an investor, that's an intractable situation & an incredible waste of time & energy.
That said, to the o.p. - you have an agent, this kind of digging is *why* they get a check at closing. If this listing doesn't have the necessary info in it for contacting the management company, perhaps one of the "sold" listings has accurate contact info? When my bro bought a house with an HOA, the contact info in that listing, and the contact info for *all* of the listings in that neighborhood in the past 3 years was for the wrong HOA. Going back *4* years got me the correct HOA info. In my area, agents don't know jack about HOA's, and often just "copy pasta" HOA info from previous listings into their new listings - as evidenced by probably 100 listings with incorrect info in my (admittedly unscientific) case study. There's a way to figure this out without contacting the owner, but to be honest, the owner should have put the HOA/management co info in the listing too. Perhaps they did, and the listing agent just copy-pasta'ed an old listing without reading the listing agreement.. It's inexcusable, and common..
I'm in the Orlando area and I've never met so many agents and realtors that are so incompetent. I guess it's a popular career change here at the moment. I moved from San Francisco where listing agents were on top of things.
So a bit more information, the property is a condo, but it is in a development that has a management company where you can put your unit into their short-term rental system almost like a condo hotel type of thing. However, from my understanding, owners do not have to participate in the rental program, they can choose to either live there, rent it out long-term or rent it out short-term like Airbnb. The Airbnb route is the one I'd want to take because I have an Airbnb listing in the same area that is pretty much sold out 95% of the year. There is a monthly HOA around $510 and a maintenance fee around $310. This supposedly covers all utilities and even daily continental breakfast.
What I want to know is...
1) I want to confirm the total monthly fee for both HOA and maintenance is around $820 total.
2) I want to confirm I do not have to participate in the management's rental program.
3) I want to confirm that all utilities and services such as the pools, continental breakfast etc are included without joining the rental program.
4) I want to confirm there are no other fees or required services.
These questions really aren't rocket science. She told me to call the management company with these questions and the only thing they could answer was that I do not have to participate in the rental program, but they don't know the answers to the other questions and informed me to ask the listing agent. I'm at the point now where it's more of principal to let the owners know they have a dead beat as a listing agent. I understand making the offer contingent upon review of HOA docs plus property inspection, but I really don't want to deal with putting down the deposit and all the paperwork just to find out it won't work out. I trade stocks for a living, so it'd mean having to sell some positions, request a check, wait for the check, deposit it and then put the deposit. I'm a cash buyer and find the asking price to be pretty fair, so I don't see any reason why an offer wouldn't be accepted, so I'd rather just find the answer to these simple questions ahead of time. As one of you mentioned, I might just start with contacting the listing agent's broker.
I'm pretty experienced with real estate, but one thing I haven't experienced much of are incompetent lazy listing agents.
This one is the last straw and I want to speak with the owners to simply let them know their listing agent is terrible and if it doesn't sell by the end of the contract, get rid of them!
I called with a few simple questions regarding the HOA, questions that the owner should absolutely know. I told the listing agent, I'm an all cash buyer looking to make a deal quick, can you confirm the following information I have such as XYZ are correct. The listing agent said she doesn't know, but I should try calling the building (it's a condo that can be lived-in or rented, short or long term) and try to find out the answers. I call the building and they said, we don't have that information, the listing agent or owner of the unit would know. So, I then have a buyers agent contact the listing agent with the same questions and he gets the same answer, I don't know, you can try to find out yourself.
Without these simple confirmations, I can't make an offer, so I then found out the owner's name and mailing address, but no phone number. I'm at the point where I am willing to write a letter to explain the situation and how their listing agent is pretty much doing them a disservice.
Is this the best method or are there any websites that will show someone's phone number? I know this sounds stalkerish lol, but I would really want to know this information if I was trying to sell my place and buyers were being pushed away.
I just went through this exact issue last fall, except I was the homeowner. I ended up giving the buyer my number. In the end I was the one doing all the communications. I didn't hear from the listing agent for 3 weeks, but she showed up at the walk through. I told her go stand on the porch, I was done looking at her and she was not welcome in my house. I gave the buyer the keys that night and they settled the next morning. The agent still collected an insane amount of commission and she was useless. I now spend my days telling everyone about her and the agency's incompetence.
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