Lyon Real Estate

Review: Possible Ethics and Non-Disc. Violation(s)involving RE Agent, [redacted], Lyon Real Estate.

Possible Ethics Violation(s):

Agent claimed she would get so much for repairs or have repairs done by seller. Claimed to be an "[redacted]" resource claiming connections w/ contractors, painters,handymen and she stays connected with her customers for life and after closing, our business would not be over until all items outlined were fixed.

Referrals she gave; handyman was not a "handy man" Painters; one never called back, one had disconnected #, other was not available. Only referral, (lock smith), did recognize Lyon RE but did not know who she was. Week of move, she assured me she would get her people in to do a run down of what needed fixing & cost; that was where part of the credit came in to cover those repairs. Never happened, she avoided my calls. Never delivered my home warranty information in a timely manner; had to call her several times to find out if she had purchased the policy,if not, to give me my money back so I could. Needed the rest of the house keys; never got back to me only by text saying she wish she knew about the keys earlier?

Called again to ask when the items outlined in contract were going to be fixed since she did not get full credit for me. Responded rudely saying that was never the case and gave me a different story. During the call she disclosed some information that she held back from me prior to sale. had I known prior, I would have never bought the home. Called her Mgr, [redacted], at the Folsom Lyon RE office. Explained what happened, she covered the agent and blew me off, said that sellers and people say allot of things in neggociations.

Possible Non-Disclosure Violation(s):

In agent's last conversation with me, she revealed that seller was not going to give more credit because he came down 19k on home and that seller said he could just go on renting out home if no deal. If Agent disclosed this info prior to sale, I would not have purchased home.Desired Settlement: I don't want this home knowing what I know now after the fact. I am seeking legal council to sue for damages both agent [redacted] and Lyon RE Folsom CA Office. I feel I got tricked into the final sale because information was not disclosed to me prior to sale by the agent. Had I known, I never had bought this home and I am sure agent knew it as I was in no hurry to purchase. I can prove/ have witness to our last conversation. I want complaint to go on record.

Business

Response:

Our company regrets that our former client feels that she was not well represented in this transaction and regrets purchasing her home. The sales agent worked diligently to find the client a home for and was able to negotiate a contract that was $19,000 below the Seller's asking price and included a $5,000 credit to go towards the client's closing costs. After the client did her inspections, she asked the sales agent to ask the Seller for an additional $5,000 for upgrades/repairs. The sales agent relayed the request to the Seller's sales agent and was told that the Seller was willing to give a credit of only $2,500. Our sales agent communicated that to our client and explained to her that she had the option to take the $2,500 credit and pay for any additional repairs herself or she could cancel the transaction. Our client was not happy about the reduced credit, but liked the home and chose to move forward with the purchase. Upon close of escrow, our sales agent gave the client referrals for a handyman, painters and a locksmith. These were professionals that sales agents with our company had used in the past. At that time, our client was very happy with the home purchase. It was not until the handyman was not able to do the work within the client's time frame because of other job commitments that she became upset and called our sales agent. The client did not ask our sales agent for another referral, she just told the sales agent that she would take care of getting someone else out there. Our sales agent bought the client a home warranty as a closing gift right after close of escrow and sent the information via mail to her shortly thereafter. The property had been tenant-occupied and our sales agent delivered the only key that she received from the Seller's sales agent to our client. Any remaining keys were in the possession of the property management company, with which our client was already in contact. Our sales agent recommended that the client change the locks ASAP since there was no way of knowing who else had a key to the home and recommended a locksmith that she had used in the past that had done a good job for her. Shortly after close of escrow, the client called our sales agent's manager to communicate her complaints. Our manager spoke to the client on two occasions regarding her concerns. During the second conversation, the client did state that she was upset because she found out after close of escrow that the reason the Seller was only willing to give the $2,500 credit (as opposed to the original $5,000 requested) was because the seller had already come down $19,000 on the price and that if he couldn't sell the property on the final terms offered to our client he would just take it off the market and continue to rent it. Our manager explained to the client that our sales agent didn't communicate the reason behind the Seller's decision because it wasn't relevant to the client's decision whether or not to purchase the property. The only thing relevant to our client was the fact that the Seller was only willing to offer a $2,500 credit, and that fact was appropriately disclosed to our client. Since our client already knew that the Seller was renting the property at the time it was being offered for sale, and given that our client accepted the final purchase terms offered by the Seller (including the $2,500 credit, not the $5,000 credit requested), we cannot understand the reason for our client's current complaint.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: It is incorrect as well as parts of it are untrue.To begin with [redacted] Absolutely did not find this home for me. In fact, none of the homes that I ended up putting offers on were found by [redacted]. In the beginning I told the agent that I was looking for something move in ready or close to it because I did not have a lot of money for repairs and I was getting down payment assistance, however I took it upon myself to look for properties because most of the properties she was sending via email were run down or no at all what I wanted. So, this is the first untruth in this statement and I can prove that is was I, not her who sought out the home as she had no clue it was even listed as I have a witness. Furthermore [redacted] did not tell me prior to the close of the home, but after in our last conversation when I inquired about certain items in question and when they were going to be fixed as she led me to understand, that the seller had com down 19K or that the seller said that they could go on renting it out if I did not like the deal. These statements were only made by [redacted] after closing in the last conversation I had with her about the repairs and no time before. Regarding the credits, I was aware and understood about the 5K credit towards closing cost, however what is incorrect about the rest of this state is as follows: After the inspection I did respond by stating what I would like to see certain items fixed, I responded by asking what the seller was going to fix. It was Mrs [redacted], and not me, who suggested asking for an additional 5K towards repairs that included paint and carpet. [redacted] went back and forth with the buyer's agent negoticiating the terms. It was at this time I began to get exhausted with the back and forth and not knowing what was going on or getting a straight answer nor was I getting anything in writing so I made the call and told [redacted] that I was exhausted with it all and I was going to withdraw and I have a witness to this conversation I had with her. [redacted] then began to say the following and I quote: "Let me finish this for you. I know I can do this. Let me go to work for you. You go and pick out some paint and I will get my handyman in there to get an estimate on everything and take it back to the seller, but let me finish this for you." Mrs. [redacted] kept on assuring me that she would see this through with me even after closing. Mrs. [redacted] then approached me again and said that the seller was willing to give the credit because he did not want to hassle with fixing things. Under the assumption that she did get the $5000 additional credit for repairs, carpet and paint I agreed to go forward. Then when I went to the downtown office to sign the initial paperwork at Lyon Real Estate Office, it was at that time story changed; now certain items were outlined by Mrs [redacted] that the seller would fix, however she still never made mention of the credit going down to $2500, so how could I 'not be happy" about a reduced credit when I did not know about a "reduced credit" until after the fact when she gave me the check and key which I still believed even then that the seller was going to repair items she outlined. And yes, it is true I liked the home home because I found out the home was for sale, I researched it, I found the layout plans and the builder online, and previous rental pics of it; Not Mrs. [redacted] as she claims. We were out in the Natomas area looking a 3 other homes I again found, and I pointed this one out to her as well; she did not even know it was on the market let alone find it for me. Now, I was led to believe that certain items were getting fixed, (and I can show this on paper), as well as an additional credit for paint and carpet and that she was going to get her handy man out to assist and that is why I agreed to move forward. So this is the second and third untruth in this statement; again it was Mrs. [redacted], not I, who suggested asking for an additional 5K credit for repairs, carpet and paint because Mrs. [redacted] knew full well that I was in no rush to make snap decisions and that I had been looking for over a year and that I did not want to go into a home having to make a lot of repairs. Mrs. [redacted] knew fully that I would continue my search if this deal did not work out for me as I stated that many times, and that is why I believe she did not make full disclosure until after the fact in our last conversation about what she claims the seller said because she did not care. So, if the seller, as she claimed, was not in a hurry to sale and I was not in a hurry to buy, and if the deal did not appeal to either of us, I wonder what else she said that was not true to both parties.Regarding the "professionals referred to me"; Mrs. [redacted] stated that she would have her handy man come out and go through the home. She gave me a name and number and when I called the "handyman", the man stated that he was not a handyman and that he only did a favor for Mrs [redacted] because is wife was friends with her and she needed a repair done on a home she was selling. Mrs [redacted] gave me the names of 3 painter; one referral phone was disconnected; another referral was way out of my price range as he and his team were painting the "Govenor's Mansion" and 6500K was not in my range price wise as I had a 5K credit, so I thought at the time. The third referral was reachable and affordable, however they were not available. I let Mrs. [redacted] know about the handy man and also asked her if she hand any other referrals; she said she was surprised to know that her referral was not in the handyman business and said she would get back to me but she never did. Regarding the locks and locksmith referral: Mrs. [redacted] did state that usually when people move in to a home they change the locks, but she never ever "recommended ASAP" as stated. I explained I had planned on doing just that but only after the property management finished their walk through, removing junk the tenants left behind and cleaning because they still had to get in prior to my move-in to do things so I would not be changing the locks until I physically moved in. After the signing and and dropping off keys, Mrs. [redacted] dropped out of communication. I tried to call her several times but she never returned my calls. The weekend that I was having painters come in, it was then I discovered that the garage door had a different lock and I never received those keys. I called Mrs. [redacted] about the situation several times and she finally returned my call and it was at that time, and not sooner, that she gave me a number of a locksmith because my painters were present and needed to get into the garage. She only stated that she wished she knew about this earlier. It was the seller's agent that promptly returned my call, went to his office to retrieve the number of the renter and asked the renter to drop off the keys. It did not matter that I was in contact with the property management, it was the agent's job, in my opinion to know about, and ensure I had all of the keys.Regarding what I found out after close of escrow: This is yet another untruth. I was upset because after close of escrow I was still under the impression and believed that certain items were going to get fixed. I had already gotten over the fact that I did not get the full 5K Mrs. [redacted] suggested and said she was going to get because I figured that at least they are going to fix what was outlined to me. Also, Mrs. [redacted] never ever told me until our last conversation that the buyer said he would go on renting if I did not like the deal or that the seller had come down 19k. Both of these statements were made by Mrs. [redacted] when I called her to ask when the rest of the work would be finished. She became short and rude with me and that is when she stated the above. I was in shock. I told her that is not what she said in the office. She again said that it was never the case and that she was sorry I misunderstood. Regarding the so called "gift". Not one time did Mrs. [redacted] identify or tell me that she was giving me a gift; in fact it was expressed to me that the cost of the home warranty was covered by the down payment credit which did not turn out to be a full 5K in the end; yet another discrepancy that I let go, along with not getting the full 5K repairs credit she said she would get but only 2500K because I was led to believe that more repairs were to follow. Finally, the manager at Lyon R.E. did not say to me, as stated, that Mrs. [redacted] did not communicate the reason behind the seller decision because it was not relevant to (me) the client's decision, is both untrue and very relevant. This is not what the manager said. The manager stated that she would pull the paper work, put a note in the agents file at the very least about the matter, and that people say all kinds of things. Further, this information was VERY relevant to my decision to purchase because if I would have known that the seller chose not to make repairs and come down on the 5K credits and would have been happy to keep on renting, I would have never purchased this particular home. I would have been happy to let him be happy to keep renting and happy to go on looking for a home. Also, Mrs [redacted] never ever told me until after the fact, that the seller came down 19K. First of all, I don't believe that to be true; I believe that she only stated that after the fact to get me out of her hair as if she did me some kind of favor. If it were true then the time to have said it is during negotiations and not after.Mrs. [redacted] did not represent as an agent should. I am not sure who wrote the enclosed statement to my complaint, but rest assured it is both inaccurate and untrue as I have outlined. Mrs [redacted] did not disclose very important and relevant information that a I had a right to know about and be advised about accurately to base final decision on. Further, besides Mrs. [redacted], Lyon Real Estate, (this specific office and Manager) has also proven to be inaccurate and untruthful in their dealing with me. I am not sure what relevance, for that matter, me knowing that the property was a rental, has anything to do with the purchase- people purchase rental properties every day. I was led to believe, by the agent, certain criteria as fore mentioned which is why I moved forward in the purchase and that is the reason for my complaint. In closing, as reminder, whomever is responding to this statement and the Manager I spoke to, were never a witness to any of our conversations; however I do have a witness, text and recordings of vital conversations I had wit Mrs. [redacted]. I find this behavior unethical and bad business practice.