ComplaintsforGTA House Buyers

• Initial Complaint

  03/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Received a phone call May 26, 2021 from Michael at GTA House Buyers stating a number for buying my home pending an inspection. May 27, 2021 16 hours later he calls me tells me the offer is now one hundred thousand dollars less than the day before and likely would not be coming for the appointment made unless I am willing to consider the lower offer from the day before. There was no inspection completed so HOW does the offer go down $100,000 overnight? This is going back a few months a week ago in December 2022 I receive a text from Michael asking if I am still selling my house. I remind him what had transpired he then replies he will get back to me. This business is ********* and very unreliable.

  

  Business response

  11/01/2023

  This experience should have been much better for the customer. We acknowledge this experience is off purpose with our company mission. We have worked diligently in 2022 to improve the seller’s experience and are doing everything in our power to avoid these types of situations moving forward in 2023 and beyond. We have improved and increased the training we do with our team regarding communication with sellers and giving estimates over the phone.
  
  We do not give offers over the phone before viewing a property. We do give ballpark estimates over the phone based on what we know about a property, but we don't finalize a price until we view it. An estimate could sound something like "Under $X" or "Between $X - $Y". We have improved our communication with sellers to let them know that there are many factors that affect our offer price and that's why we cannot give a specific number over the phone. These factors can be with the house and property and include such points as the amount of renos needed, upgrades done, layout, quality of construction, wear and tear, landscaping, usability of the back yard, and much more. Our offer is also affected by factors with the neighbourhood and what surrounds the property. Property values can change street by street and values are affected by the pride of ownership of neighbours, proximity to train tracks, hydro corridors, commercial buildings, etc. 
  
  The initial estimate was not accurate and was not communicated well on our end. Real estate prices have been declining for much of 2022 and giving estimates has been more challenging. During 2022 we became more and more conservative with both our estimates and offers. We and our investors had losses on more of our fix & flip properties in 2022 than in recent years. It has been more challenging to do accurate estimates with prices falling. It has also been challenging to communicate with sellers about how we can't offer prices close to what houses sold for several months ago. 
  
  Some notes for clarification:
  - Our company never viewed this property.
  - We never gave an offer. That would have been done in writing after viewing the property.
  - We have two Michael's on our team. 
  
  Our first Michael did the initial communication in May 2022 and booked an appointment. Prior to an appointment the team does deeper analysis on properties. In this case the team wasn't comfortable with the price Michael had estimated in a prior phone call. Please keep in mind that numbers over the phones are estimates and based on limited information.
  
  We give estimates on the phone to be respectful of the seller's time and our time. If our team determines that any ballpark estimate is too far apart from the seller's expectations, then we want to let sellers know this prior to an appointment. Many sellers appreciate this because they feel there's no point in us coming to view their house if we're going to be too far apart on price.
  
  The December communication was done by our second Michael who is a newer team member. That contact was a mistake due to having a duplicate record in our CRM for this seller. We do make mistakes. Michael was contacting the seller to see if they still wanted to sell, and Michael was not aware of the past experience the seller had.
  
  As a company we are improving our communication with sellers and improving the estimates we give on the phone.
  
  

  Customer response

  17/01/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  To be clear we are only requesting GTA House Buyers follow though on their verbal offer. Attend our home and inspect based on the offer of $700,000 we were given by Michael May 26, 2022 for our home. 

  There are eight Better Business Bureau Standards for Trust that is expected of its accredited businesses to adhere to: build trust, advertise honestly, tell the truth, be transparent, honor promises, be responsive, safeguard privacy
  

  Will cut and past our response to GTA House Buyers below their response:

  GTA House Buyers-This experience should have been much better for the customer. We acknowledge this experience is off purpose with our company mission.

  This was a traumatic experience for our family. For a very long time we were trying to figure out how to afford renovations to facilitate selling our home. We had also stressed about living in our home and going through the process of having these renovations being completed. As per the conversation with Michael we were willing to accept their verbal offer of $700,000 pending an inspection of our home. We knew our home was in good shape so this was life changing news for us. It appeared GTA  House Buyers would purchase the house as is pending an inspection the following morning unless there was major issues with the home of which we knew there were none. The traumatic part transpired the following morning prior to Michael coming for the inspection. Michael called us stating he would no longer show up for the inspection unless we considered an offer of $600,000. Apart from being devastated that the offer was now $100,000 lower than the day before we definitively felt pressure sales tactics that he would not be attending the scheduled inspection unless we considered the lower offer. 

  GTA House Buyers- We do not give offers over the phone before viewing a property. We do give ballpark estimates over the phone based on what we know about a property, but we don't finalize a price until we view it. An estimate could sound something like "Under $X" or "Between $X - $Y". We have improved our communication with sellers to let them know that there are many factors that affect our offer price and that's why we cannot give a specific number over the phone. These factors can be with the house and property and include such points as the amount of renos needed, upgrades done, layout, quality of construction, wear and tear, landscaping, usability of the back yard, and much more. Our offer is also affected by factors with the neighbourhood and what surrounds the property. Property values can change street by street and values are affected by the pride of ownership of neighbours, proximity to train tracks, hydro corridors, commercial buildings, etc. 
  

  We agree and feel that any reasonable individual who is told $700,000 pending an inspection understands it as an offer contingent on the house being in good condition upon being inspected. That promise was never honored as we were told by Michael he would not attend the scheduled home inspection unless we considered $600,000 the following morning without even inspecting the home?? **** ***** *********

  
  GTA House Buyers-The initial estimate was not accurate and was not communicated well on our end. Real estate prices have been declining for much of 2022 and giving estimates has been more challenging. During 2022 we became more and more conservative with both our estimates and offers. We and our investors had losses on more of our fix & flip properties in 2022 than in recent years. It has been more challenging to do accurate estimates with prices falling. It has also been challenging to communicate with sellers about how we can't offer prices close to what houses sold for several months ago. 
  

  We agree the estimate was not communicated accurately on GTA House Buyers end. During 2022 if you had become more and more conservative with your estimates how did our verbal estimate we received drop $100,000 in approx. 16 hours??
  

  GTA House Buyers: Some notes for clarification:
  - Our company never viewed this property.
  - We never gave an offer. That would have been done in writing after viewing the property.
  - We have two Michael's on our team. 
  
  -We had no choice but to not have our property inspected by GTA House Buyers when the offer was reduced $100,000 over night.
  - We received a verbal offer of $700,000 pending a home inspection **** **** *** ******
  - The "other Michael" contacting us many months after the fact is secondary. However brings up an important point how did the other Michael have our contact information many months after this transpired? **** ********* ********

  
  GTA House Buyers: Our first Michael did the initial communication in May 2022 and booked an appointment. Prior to an appointment the team does deeper analysis on properties. In this case the team wasn't comfortable with the price Michael had estimated in a prior phone call. Please keep in mind that numbers over the phones are estimates and based on limited information.

  Obvious question being why would the deeper dive not be completed prior to a verbal estimate being given to the consumer?

  GTA House Buyers- We give estimates on the phone to be respectful of the seller's time and our time. If our team determines that any ballpark estimate is too far apart from the seller's expectations, then we want to let sellers know this prior to an appointment. Many sellers appreciate this because they feel there's no point in us coming to view their house if we're going to be too far apart on price.

  The "ballpark" estimate was not too far apart we were agreeable to the $700,000 offered and awaiting our home inspection the following morning. **** ***** ******
  

  GTA House Buyers-The December communication was done by our second Michael who is a newer team member. That contact was a mistake due to having a duplicate record in our CRM for this seller. We do make mistakes. Michael was contacting the seller to see if they still wanted to sell, and Michael was not aware of the past experience the seller had.
  

  To reiterate why was our information still in your Customer Relationship Management seven months later after what had transpired? We did not sign a PIPEDA agreement or give any sort of permission to have our personal information be used. **** ********* ********
  

  GTA House Buyers: As a company we are improving our communication with sellers and improving the estimates we give on the phone.

  It is our hope that  GTA House Buyers well adhere to the standard of trust expected by the Better Business Bureau. As acknowledged by GTA House Buyers "This experience should have been much better for the customer. We acknowledge this experience is off purpose with our company mission." We are requesting remedy with what transpired with our family and would request GTA House Buyers follow through with their $700,000 verbal offer pending a home inspection.  **** ***** *********
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *******

  

  Business response

  10/02/2023

  There was no offer given. All of our offers are in writing. An offer is very different from a ballpark estimate on the phone that is made prior to viewing a house. Every purchase and sale we've ever been involved in had a written offer with all the details and conditions clearly spelled out on paper.
  
  We corrected our inaccurate estimate quickly and communicated this to the seller the next day. This estimate occurred during one of the worst market declines in recent years. According to *****.ca and their ****** ***** report, GTA prices dropped over 3% from April to May and then over 5% from May to June. 8% on $700,000 is $56,000. With such big price drops and so many houses sitting on the market and not selling, it was more challenging to calculate accurate estimates.
  
  We are a small company and your information is kept within our Company. Our privacy policy is here: https://www.**************************

  Customer response

  10/02/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  On May 27, 2022 Michael from GTA House Buyers gave us a verbal offer of $700,000 for our home after he had researched the value of the home and had gotten back to us from a previous conversation. He stated this offer was contingent on the home inspection the following day there being no major issues with the home. We agreed and accepted this offer and made the appointment for the home inspection the following day. Any reasonable person would interpret that as an offer contingent on the home being in sound condition which we knew it was. If GTA House Buyers had come and inspected the home and the roof was falling in, or there was water damage, or mold something major wrong with the house that would be acceptable because the offer was contingent on a home inspection. It makes no sense why would they give a number they are willing to pay for the house contingent on a home inspection if that is not their intent? To give a number contingent on a home inspection and then drop it $100,000 with no home inspection the following day that is unacceptable.  

  GTA House Buyers have admitted they have badly wronged a customer in this matter yet there has been zero offer of any sort of resolution. Only back tracking and stating that there was no offer on paper and how they will improve going forward. 

  ** ** *** *** ***** ***** ** *** ****** ******** ****** ** **** ********** **** * ******* *** ******* * *********

  We have previously requested GTA House Buyers follow through on their verbal offer given of $700,000 which we accepted contingent on a home inspection as resolution. 

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