Berkshire Hathaway Home Services

Your letter dated 1/28/indicated that you had already attempted to contact meI did not receive any communication from you until the certified letter arrived In response to this complaint: [redacted] has in fact received her $deposit hack from the landlordThis was the desired result that [redacted] (the complaintant was attempting to achieve.) Please close this complaint and do not show that it is damaging to my office Thank you Dean [redacted] Owner Prudential Now DBA Berkshire Hathaway

Account Details*** and *** *** signed a management contract with BHHS The Preferred Property Management Company on 3/Anita J*** was the agent representing our companyThe owners moved out of the property on 3/25/When Anita met with Mrs***, Anita suggested that they
paint the home. Mrs*** painted the home herself and the outcome was unacceptable. Anita then arranged to have it painted by a professional. Mrs*** also had the water turned off and did not tell usAnita had the water turned back on so that we could rent the property. Mrs*** claimed that we left the hose on and blamed us for wasting waterWe have no idea who turned the hose on but we did have it checked several days after we had the water turned on. JJ Landscape also credited her the cost for mowing the lawn on two occasions.Anita J*** was able to secure *** and *** a year lease with a tenant that ends on May 31, 2019. The new tenants complained about certain things including filth in the home and repairs that they wanted to have taken care of. At this point The ***’ complained to BHHS The Preferred Property Management Company and wanted a new agent to manage the property.We received the owner’s complaint on June 5th, and Denis T*** took over managing the property.In September the owner wrote a letter to Denis, Susan R***, and myself requesting repairsDenis sent a repairman to the home and had some issues getting him into the property because the tenants were busyThe repairman did the work on the property and an invoice was drafted and submitted to be paid. At that time, the repairman did not give us his Wand therefore, we could not pay him at the time the work was done. The Preferred Property Management Company was not able to pay for the repair until March of 2018, several months after the work was completed. Once the payment for the repair was taken out of the ***’ account, Mrs*** was very upset and wanted her money back, even though the work was approved and ordered by her last fall.In the fall of Mr*** fired Denis T*** and I took over managing the property. *** ***, who does contracting work for our Property Management Company, gave her estimates for work that needed to be doneMrs*** only signed page of the contact, not the second page and she wanted to pay with an American Express, which we do not accept as payment. There are still outstanding repairs on the property that have not been completed. One of the remaining issues is a leak into the living room of the home and it was determined that that leak was from the bathroom aboveThe owner hired her own plumber (*** *** ***) to go in and verify the problem. I scheduled the appointment in January to let her plumber into the property, however, the owner never gave me permission to authorize the repair, to the plumber nor to usThe last communication I had with the owner was in an email dated, January 8th, regarding the occupancy permit for Murrysville Borough. The owner wrote to me in April 6, very upset and said that money had been taken out of her account, and did not know why. I assumed it was for something else but once I had done some research, I discovered that the money was taken out to pay the invoice from fall from the repairman that was hired. Again, there was a delay in payment, due to the fact that we did not have a Wfor him. The owner also said the tenants had to find her on social media to contact her about the outstanding problems with the house. Mrand Mrs*** have cancelled our management contract as of April 30th and we will return her the security deposit she has held with us. We do not feel that Mrand Mrs*** are due the requested disputed about of $3780.00.Thank you,Helene P***Berkshire Hathaway HomeServicesThe Preferred Property Management Company

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2016/01/05) */
As the Broker of record for BHHS Lovejoy Realty there are some key issues that need to be brought to the forefront in regards to this complaintI am going to hit on them briefly, and also include a forwarded copy of detailed notes from Lisa
***, since she was the agent that was involved in this transaction
We represented the seller in this transaction, a seller who was in a "short sale" situationMeaning that the seller had very limited funds to make any repairs or concessions towards this transaction
The buyers did a final walk-thru prior to closing, they had an opportunity to not close on this sale at that time
The buyer's agent sent a message to Lisa after the walk thru acknowledging that the buyers said everything looked great
If the buyers have an issue with the transaction, then the issue should be with the agent that represented them, not the listing agent that had fiduciary responsibilities to the SELLERIf the buyer had an issue, than that issue should have been handled agent to agent prior to closingIf there were misunderstandings in regards to communication, it again is not our responsibility to make sure that the buyer understands every aspect of the transaction, that is why they hired their own agent/representative
Our agent, Lisa *** did nothing wrong in this transaction, in fact she went above and beyond to get this transaction closed, including paying for repairs on her own, and taking a commission reduction in the amount of $4,to make the transaction move forward to closing
Please see the notes from Lisa:
12/6/at 10:am text received from Selling agent Cathy *** indicating "Buyers said everything look great" after the buyers walk thru for closing
11/28/Buyer did their initial walk thru and indicated that they felt the sheetrock repairs where not done to their expectation, the dishwasher, stove and refrigerator were not cleaned appropriately and that the carpet pad and white closet cabinets were not removed
Discussion of the dishwasher was that the model of the dishwasher was the same year as the one removedDishwasher was tested and installed by Matt Massoglia who also removed a garbage disposal that was not in working order, fixed plumbing under the kitchen sink and repair holes in the sheetrock on 11/23/Also on 11/23/carpets where shampooed and cleaned by Mark's Carpet and Upholstery who was the recommended vendor by the Selling agentThis is the only time he had available since he was completely booked for the holidays and we were expecting to close on 12/2/
On 11/12/a carpet installer also recommended by the Selling agent Cathy *** from ***, ***'s Carpet estimated carpet replacement at a higher dollar amount for three bedrooms than our original bid of $which was set aside for the short sale transactionHis bid came in at $2,due to the fact that he was replacing all the pad and estimating for a better than builder grade of carpetThe Selling agent insisted that she would pay for the $for the third bedroom if the sellers paid for the majority of the carpet for the second and third bedroom or $2,because she wanted to make sure her clients were happyFurther discussions happened with ***'s Carpet on 11/30/indicating that he would be paid at closing directly $from the sellers and Cathy would be paying for the third bedroomI also asked him if he would like the sellers to remove the pad as the pad wasin good condition and perhaps could be used and he said it was fine to leave the padI also told him that the buyers were worried if they decided on new pad that he would charge them for removal and he said no I will not as we recycle it
On 11/29/Nick *** was hired to do further sheet rock repairs as the prior repairs did not meet the buyers satisfactionNick estimated $to do the repairs and I indicated that we only had $left in the budget on the short saleHis repairs were completed on 12/01/
On 09/13/the home at ***, Isanti, MN was listed at $264,as a short sale which means the sellers owed more than the home was worthThe seller's originally purchased this home in for $275,on 7/28/The home was financed on a Contract for Deed as the buyers were not in a position to buy conventionally as they had just went through a short saleOn 09/30/the buyers made an offer of $239,on the property and the offer was countered on 10/02/at $249,and all terms were agreed upon on 10/07/The buyers chose not to do an buyer's inspection of the home and the original closing date of 12/17/was moved to 12/02/The buyers requested that the carpet be replaced in the upper level bedrooms and did not specifically ask for pad or a dollar amount per square foot for replacementBuyers were fully aware the sellers had no money and were in a short sale position on a contract for deed financeBuyers never asked to have white cabinets removed from the third bedroom or the loft above the garage bedroom on the contractThe cabinets were specifically installed by the builder so the loft bedroom could be classified as a bedroom as the bedroom did not have a closet, therefore the cabinets are a built in feature on the appraisal and the listing as the loft is categorized as a bedroom and referred to as a bedroom on the contract
Carpet did not need to be shampooed again as the is nothing in the contract that indicates that the carpet needed to be shampooed after the sheet rook repair -remember originally sheet rook repair was done and then carpet shampooed, however buyers requested further repair of sheet rock
Sheetrock repair was done to the best of the ability of the contract and there is nothing in the contract indicating that the repairs needed to be done to the buyers satisfactionIf the buyers were not happy with the final repairs then the selling agent should not have text 12/06/at 10:am that the "Buyers said everything looks great"--as there were a number of days to repair additional items if the buyers requested as this home did not close until 12/15/2015, which cost the sellers additional money for the delayed closingIt is Buyer's responsibility to check everything prior to closing with their agentThe sellers pre-signed this transaction because it was a short sale and with their schedules they were not able to attend closingThe contract for deed holder also pre-signed as this property
It is my opinion that all terms of the contract were fully met by the sellers with limited funds and sellers repaired more and beyond the terms of the contract to make the buyers satisfiedBuyers did not understand the transaction because the selling agent is inexperienced with short salesIt is her obligation to inform them to not close the property if they are not satisfiedBuyers and Sellers have both signed off on the Arbitration Agreement in Real Estate transactionsWe had a hour closing and the buyers were concerned about the keyless entry and setting up service with ADTI worked with the seller during the closing by phone to make sure the keyless entry code could be changed for the buyers smoothlyAt the closing I explained to them they did not have any warranties on the home as it was a short sale and if they wanted to purchase a home warranty they could but on the original contract they never requested a home warrantyUnfortunately the buyers thought they had a one year warranty as the selling agent had not explained that to them either and they refused to purchase for $The white loft bedroom built in cabinets were also discussed and I explained to them they are not referenced in the contract anywhere and they were considered a built in according to lines 17-page of the purchase agreement
I am also including some appropriate documentation for your review:
A picture of the label of the dishwasher showing the age, same as previous dishwasher, so an older unit was NOT installed
Invoice for sheetrock repair
Invoice for carpet cleaning
Invoice for new carpet & padding
Again, I believe that we as a Brokerage, and Lisa, as an agent, have done nothing inappropriate in this transaction
Please feel free to contact Lisa or myself with any questions regarding this transaction
Respectfully,
Tony
Tony ***, Broker/President
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Lovejoy Realty
***copied and pasted from email
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2016/01/05) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
First off I was never informed this was a short sale! On 12/06/we did not perform the final walk throughSo right there that is informationI will start at the top
Lisa did a lot of things wrongHer professionalism should be notated here as wellShe showed up at a house closing with one key...with no idea how many others there were and if it even opened the front doorShe also acknowledged that we asked to have the cabinets removed but took it upon herself to tell them to leave themWe had things in the purchase agreement that were not followedThis home was never listed as a "Short Sale" I am sorry but I would have never even looked at it and for sure never would have made the offer I did on a short sale property!
The white cabinets are not a built in unitThe baseboards would have not been behind a unit that was a built in unit and the carpet would have not been under themIn fact Lisa's exact words were "I told them to leave them" these are personal belongings as they are not part of the houseThey agreed to remove them and they failed to do so
Yes they were to replace the carpet in the upstairs bedroomsAccording to *** the carpet installer when I asked him about the pad he said the price was for the pad tooThat is where all the fluids and smell comes fromAnd again the price and the payment of this is a them problem it was agreed to by the sellerNOT DONE
As for the dishwasher they replaced it with a used dishwasherYes the wording in the contract said "replace dishwasher" but it also said "replace upper bedroom carpet" I am so glad they installed new carpet and not usedOr carpet from
I do not think $for a dishwasher is out of lineThe model that was installed is no where near the model that was taken out
As for the sellers limited funds that is not our problem, they agreed to the conditions knowing full well what their funds were, that is not an excuse for poor repairs and not replacing things that were agreed to
Yes we had a hour closing and the agent for the sellers was late
If it was not for the fact I was going to be homeless with my wife and two children, I would not have closedFor the most part this was the worst home buying experience I have ever haddealing with this company was a jokeAfter all the papers were signed we had to ask for keys and then she gave us ONEBut she did not know what door it was to! And in fact the alarm company did turn off service and we did not have a way into the home the following dayCarbon monoxide detectors were not installed and working, notice Tony did not mention thisI could really go on and on but I don't think this shady company gets it at allSo with that being said:
I will settle for the following:
$for a new dishwasher
$time and labor dealing with this problem
$labor to remove personal items from home (white cabinets)
$labor and disposal fee of carpet pad
$for carbon monoxide detectors
for a total of $
I will accept a check for this amount, legal action will be my next stepMy realtor has all text messages from Lisa and herself and I have all of my texts as wellI would hope they really consider this offer I do believe that in a court of law the judge will side with me on these mattersThank you for you time and if you have any further questions please feel free to contact me
***
Final Business Response /* (4000, 12, 2016/01/21) */
After further review of his response dated 01/05/it is very apparent to me that he does not understand who he has a contractual relationship with for buyer representationMr*** is the buyer in the transaction and had hired Cathy *** from ***, which is the broker to represent his needs, desires and to ensure a successful closing of a home for him and his wifeI, Lisa ***, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Lovejoy Realty represented the seller and the sellers needs in marketing, selling and closing their home for the best price possibleThe agency disclosure should have been explained to Mr*** upon initial contact with Cathy *** per Minnesota LawAfter his review of agency he must have decided on a contractual relationship with Cathy *** and her brokerThe fiduciary duties of an agent are the following: Loyalty-the broker/salesperson will act only in the client's best interestObedience-the broker/salesperson will carry out all the client's lawful instructionsDisclosure-the broker/salesperson will disclose to client's all material facts of which the salesperson has knowledge of which might reasonably affect the client's use and enjoyment of the propertyConfidentiality-the broker/salesperson will keep client's confidences unless required by law to disclose specific material factsReasonable Care the broker/salesperson will use reasonable care in performing duties as an agent and finally Accounting which is the broker/salesperson will account to the client for all client's money and property received as an agent
The initial offer wrote by Cathy *** for Mr*** was submitted on September 30, and for $239,and at that time the list price of the home was $264,I presented the offer to the seller and the seller asked me to present it to the CFD holder to see if there was anything that could be worked out with such a low offerInitially when the property was listed the seller was not expecting such a large negative bottom line and was willing to take a note with the seller for the differenceI contacted the CFD holder and explained to him the situation and asked him to consider the offer submitted by Mr***The CFD holder countered the offer and I went back to Cathy ***He also asked that the seller sign a promissory note and for the broker to reduce commissions by 4KI also spoke to the lender and told him about the situation on the home as it would have theoretically two sellers as my sellers had a CFD to pay off and I needed the home to close ideally at the end of November at the latest with the numbers negotiated with the CFD holderCathy *** was made well aware of the fact that there was a CFD on the property to be paid off and also that the offer her clients wrote was not enough to pay off the contract and obviously the loan officer was also made aware of this alsoI was able to get the CFD holder to agree to a lower pay off which then resulted in a counter offer to the buyers of $249,and the contract was completely signed off on October 7, I do believe that Cathy *** did tell her buyers this situationThis home was not advertised as a short sale since the sellers were not going to even consider that low of an offer in the beginning and it is my assumption that Cathy was disclosing to them everything I was telling her since that is her duty as their agentTypically a short sale is listed when a bank is involved and the sellers are relieved of their debt and a short sale transaction takes up to 3-months to negotiate and this transaction took one week to negotiateThe sellers did sign a promissory note with the CFD holder in order for Mr*** to purchase at the lower priceI have attached the purchase agreement and the listing for your review and the listing shows a CFD financing on the home
Mr*** states that the sellers agreed to remove "white cabinets" -this idea is not found anywhere in the contract and was first brought to my attention on November 29, item (Email copy attached)As previously explained to you the White cabinets were installed by the builder so the loft above the garage would be counted as a bedroom for appraisal purposesMy response can also be found to Cathy explaining to her that the sellers will do per the agreed upon purchase agreementIf the buyers wanted the cabinets removed after the appraisal it was Cathy's responsibility to put that in the original contract or add an amendment to the contract after the factI did tell the buyer's at the closing on December 17, that we did not remove the cabinets as it was not part of the written contractPlease also note that Mr*** states the cabinets could be removed but left in the garage in his email but now is asking for $compensation for disposalItem on in his email also addresses the dishwasher stating it is an older model than the one that was removedThe home was built in and the dishwasher replaced was a and the reason the dishwasher was replaced is because the plastic on the outside was worn even though it worked perfectlyThe buyers asked that the dishwasher be replaced per the contract never specifying make, model, year ect...and this is their agent's responsibility to put this in the contractThe sellers replaced the dishwasher with a like kind model and they replaced it to the best of their abilityI did not buy the dishwasher nor would have seller's ever been able to agree to purchase a new dishwasher for them as they did not even have the money to do the repairs in the home or make any further payments on the home
Item on the email from Mr*** dated November 29, references carpet padIt was my understanding from ***'s carpet that they were going to either recycle the pad or reuse the pad and save the buyer's some moneyMy sellers would have been happy to remove the pad as they were already going to the dump with the carpet and if Mr*** really wanted that removed he surely would have let Cathy know and ultimately sellers in an email as he is not short for words as you can see in his emailI have also attached documentation of the text stating " Buyers said everything looks great" dated December 6, so I have no idea why he is stating that he never did a walk thruIf his agent sent that to me in error then he needs to speak to her as I had no idea he was not pleased with the progress we had made on the home since they initially walked thru on November 29,
Mr*** has also addressed keys and this was explained to him at the closing tableI was given one key and one key only to the propertyThe sellers do not know where any other keys are and used the keyless entryThere was a key pad on the front door which is monitors the entry and exit through the security system which I helped them with at closingATT security would not be able to lock them out of the home since they do not choose the access code and the only way he could have been locked out of the home would have been if he changed the code and then forgot what he had changed it toIt was my recommendation to the buyer to change the locks as it is always my recommendation to any buyer at closingHe also mentions carbon monoxide detectors, per the purchase contract, it states that all CO detectors and smoke detectors are in working order and tested.(Line of the addendum to the purchase agreement dated September 30, ) This home had was appraised by a VA appraiser for Mr***'s financing and the smoke detectors were all in working order the day of the appraisal or there would have been a work order called by the appraiserCarbon monoxide detectors are not required by the VA and according to the appraiser they do not require them in an older home as the city does not require themHowever if there is a CO detector in the home if must be in working order during the appraisalIf Mr*** wanted additional CO detectors installed by the sellers then he needed that to be part of the contract he signedPlease see lender email on appraisal with no work orders attached
Cathy *** was well aware that my sellers needed to pre sign as the sellers and the CFD holder were not even in Minnesota the day of closingPlease see text message Dec 1, with Cathy about the pre sign"Late for closing" the only one late for closing was Mr*** as I had already been to closing twice with the sellers and the CFD holder and the only reason I needed to be at closing was to deliver the key as I do not represent Mr***
At one point, Cathy called me regarding the "abandonment of the home" by the clientsThe loan officer called me regarding a conversation he had with the buyer late in OctoberThe buyer told him that the sellers had moved out of the home and owed hundreds of dollars in water bills and he was concerned the house would freeze up as he talked with the mayor who was the neighbor to the propertyHe had major concerns that the home was abandoned and not being monitored since the sellers could no longer make payments on the contract for deedI assured Jeff ***, the loan officer that all utility bills would be paid in full at closing and that the home had a security system that monitored the temperature of the home digitally by sending a signal to the seller's cell phone if the temperature fell below degreesAt that time the buyer wanted me to call him directly per Jeff ***I explained to him that I would call Cathy and relay the information we discussedEarly in November Cathy brought Mr*** through the home for an energy audit and at that time Mr*** told Cathy that he would do the sheetrock repairs to the home if the sellers purchased the material and that would help out the sellers since they were low on fundsI told Cathy that I would relay that to the sellers but was not in favor of that idea since it would create huge liabilities for both brokers if someone was injured in the houseAt this time I received the amendment to the purchase agreement accelerating the closing date to December instead of December 17, Furthermore Cathy told me that it did not matter to the buyer's when they closed in December because they had a lease until the end of DecemberLastly, I have attached the binding Arbitration signed by all parties for the residential transaction as part of the purchase agreement, which binds us to review in front of an arbitration panel for any disputes regarding the condition of the home or illegal disclosure
***copied and pasted from email

Your letter dated 1/28/2016 indicated that you had already attempted to contact me. I did not receive any communication from you until the certified letter arrived.
In response to this complaint: [redacted] has in fact received her $1600 deposit hack from the landlord. This was the desired result...

that [redacted] (the complaintant was attempting to achieve.)
Please close this complaint and do not show that it is damaging to my office.
Thank you
Dean [redacted]
Owner
Prudential Now
DBA Berkshire Hathaway

Revdex.com:
I have received my deposit back after filing in small claims against the landlord.  I appreciate Prudential trying to help in the matter.  Moving forward, I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID[redacted], it will serve its purpose and wish nothing more than to be done with this property in its entirety. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Review: I would like to take this opportunity to complain about Berkshire Hathaway Home Services (BHH), specifically the office located at [redacted] We have been vacationing at Rehoboth Beach since approximately 1990 and have rented a property from the above business for three years. This year was no different since we rented [redacted] on Oct. 19, 2014 and paid all required deposits by the required time limits. During February of 2015, we decided to look to purchase a vacation home in Rehoboth and were able to sign an agreement of sale (AOS) on March 17, 2015. The property was listed by BHH (Lewes, Delaware) who received proceeds from the sale at closing. Upon signing the AOS, BHH was notified immediately that we needed to cancel our rental agreement. The rental agent made us aware that she would need to re-lease the unit for our rental period for us to receive our deposit back, minus 15% and a $50.00 initial deposit. On May 8, 2015, the day of our settlement on our new Rehoboth Beach property, we noticed on the website for the 4D Sixth Street listing that they had re-leased our rental period. We called our rental agent when we were in Rehoboth Beach to inquire as to when we may receive our deposit monies back and were advised that we would need to wait at least a week to make sure the new renters paid their deposit. We waited the time period asked and then called and spoke with the Rental Manager at BHH and once again asked them to reconsider their decision to retain 15% of our deposit monies. I was told that they could not do that. I asked that the check be cut and left at the rental office and we would pick same up since we would be down at our new home. We were shocked to pick up the check and find that they withheld 15% of the total rental amount (equaling the total rental for the two weeks). Both our rental agent and the listing agents President (BHH-Lewes) made a request to BHH (Rehoboth Beach) to consider waiving the cancellation fees , as an exception, due to two key factors; the lessee purchased a property with their company; and the early notice of cancellation.It should be noted that we are fully aware of the rental contract terms and conditions and are not implying that BHH (Rehoboth Beach) violated that policy. However, I do believe it is a best business practice to waive fees under these circumstances when the renters are regular customers and have purchased their residence with the same company. In addition, it is extremely frustrating when the manager at BHH (Rehoboth Beach) simply states that the cancellation policy stands alone with no exceptions; this makes me think that the art of customer service and discretion is a long forgotten practice.Desired Settlement: All monies returned except the initial $50.00 deposit.

Business

Response:

Our company policy when a guest cancels a rental reservation is a 15% cancellation fee. The guestImplies In error that they purchased their property through our company. They used another company to buy the property, so we suggested they talk to that agent about their financial concerns.