Long and Foster Real Estate

Review: We listed our home with [redacted] with Long and Foster realty and did sign a 6 month contract. She did do some advertising and did show our home as stated. We did get a cash offer on our home at $9,900 less which we did accept due to we are building and moving and wanted to know our home was sold. After home inspection the buyers decided to back out due to the fact we were not willing to fix minor repairs due to taking such a large hit on the home. After that she did not show our home NOT ONCE! I had to contact her and let her know we needed to do something. We reduced the price again and she listed wrong. She also had us listed in the wrong school district which I later found out by our current realtor. We were told we were bind to her unless we paid her $1000 for advertising. The next day we paid her $800 by cashier check to long and foster in the [redacted] office to release us from her. When we asked other realtors about this issue they were floored and said they do not do that. Even our bank questioned us getting the cashiers check and again stated they had not heard of that. I'm very upset that she had our home listed for the wrong price, and in the wrong school district which could have lead to certain buyers passing on our home due to price difference and school district. I also am angry that she felt as if she had brought a deal to the table and didn't need to do anymore since we didn't agree to fix repairs. I feel after talking to realtors whom my family had dealt with for years and the bank that we should not owe the $800 we paid her. She stated that we owed her for advertising and for her personal assistant. I feel like we were not handled the way a realtor should. A week after our release we sold our home for more that asking price, and our home appraised for a VA government loan at the above price as offered. We also in that weeks time had the minor repairs done to the home thanks to our current realtor who helped us and went to bat for my husband and myself. I fell we should be reimbursed for the full $800 due to lack of work, and false advertisement of price and school district. She had us listed as $197,000 we asked for $197,500 and she had us listed in [redacted] School district not [redacted].Desired Settlement: I hope to get a refund for my husband and myself. We don't mind paying for good working honest people. However we feel due to lack of communication, lack of work after first offer, and false advertisement of price and school district we should be refunded the $800.

Business

Response:

“My team listed the complainant’s property on [redacted]. Whenever we list a home and enter it in the MLS, we send the client the listing instantly and ask them to review the details carefully and double check for any mistakes (they live there and know it best). The price was correct. If the school information was incorrect the seller should have shared that in the review prior to the listing being "Live." In less than a month I brought the client on offer (which stemmed from a public open house I did) and they accepted. Once the home inspection was complete, on June 27th, the buyer asked for a handful of things (mostly minor repairs) and the complainant/seller refused to make any repairs. I then offered to myself, make 3 out of 4 of the repairs from the commission I would receive but the buyer still walked. The offer was released on July 1st. The reason the complainant/seller would not make any repairs is because he had a prospective buyer who he worked with showing interest in the home and he thought he would buy it. The complainant even came to me asking if they could "pay me to take it off the market and sell it themselves to this person." I told them we could not do that, as we were barely into the 6 month listing agreement. The home went back active and the seller/complainant called on the 3rd saying she wanted me to do something to sell it fast. I suggested another open house and she refused saying, "it was not presentable." At this point they were frustrated and in a panic. On the 10th (literally 10 days from the release of the first contract) they called again saying they wanted to go with a "family friend realtor instead to get new exposure." I felt this was pretextual and that they were really upset about my initial refusal to release the property from the listing agreement so they could sell it to their friend. I informed them that we didn't have to let them out of the listing but that I would be agreeable if they could at least pay for some of the money spent on the open house ads (which had resulted in the contract). Ultimately they agreed (of their own volition) and the home was relisted and sold but in a matter of days. There is a good argument that it was in fact my marketing activities that led to the house ultimately being sold. I was hired to do a job and given 6 months to preform it. I accomplished the job in 45 days and spent well over the $800.00 in question on their behalf. Had I been given the time agreed-upon I feel confident the home would have sold (as it did). It is worth noting that I was under no obligation to allow them out of their listing contract. By agreeing to allow them out of the listing agreement, I was reimbursed part of my expenses in marketing the property. Contrary to the complainant’s claims, this is not an uncommon occurrence in real estate. It was their choice to end the listing agreement almost four months early and I was within my rights to require a payment of part of my expenses as a condition for that release. Thank you, [redacted]”

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

I feel we should get some sort of our money back. We did have someone my husbands boss knew who was interested in the home however they never went through [redacted] and as our realtor we should be able to ask her questions that is her job- or so we thought! She did not contact us I text her because we had no other showing on our home since her contract that she felt so strongly about fell through. Yes we did not fix anything on home inspection due to the fact we took a $9,900 loss. She offered to fix the repairs because her husband is in construction and they have people who can do the work for little to no cost because the repairs were minor. Once we released with her we did repair roof and other bathroom repairs and only cost is $250. However she wanted us to give the buyers she brought to the table a $500 credit to satisfy them! What about satisfying us- the people she represents Since we did take such a huge loss. She also told us she didn't think our house would appraise for more than 192,000 based on what had sold around us. She was very negative about the whole situation and had poor communication. For the record- we sold our home for 199,000 and it appraised at 199,000 when listed at 197,500 because within a week of releasing [redacted] we had multiple offers on the table!!!! I feel if she won't give all $800 back she should at least give us back $400.