ComplaintsforKeller Williams Realty Metropolitan

• Initial Complaint

  11/15/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired Rachel B**** of RachNH(XXX-XXX-XXXX), Keller Williams Realty Metropolitan, *** ***** ***** Rd., ******** NH XXXXX to sell my home located at ** D ********* Lane, ********** MA XXXXX. She advised me that she could sell my home so in good faith I signed a contract with her to sell my home. I did not know at the time and she did not disclose the fact that she is the only person doing her job. As I learned, she spends much of her time on the road and much of this time is for sales in New Hampshire.She clearly misrepresented and mislead me that she could sell my home when she knew it was not even physically possible to do so. A number of errors were made in the process and she did not bring in one prospective buyer or any offers. She relied on co-brokers to do this. The co-brokers advocate for the buyer not the seller so I was left at a clear disadvantage in selling my home which caused me to lose money. I sent the realtor a detailed letter regarding these issues and I sought a resolution of the issues. I again contacted this realtor today 11/12/2021 to resolve tis matter but she refused. Please see enclosed letter for further details. Thank you, ******* * ******

  Business response

  03/02/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2021/12/16) */ December 9, 2021 BBB Serving New Hampshire ** ******** Street *******, NH ***** RE: Case # ********: ******* ****** ******, Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our experience with you on this matter. As the listing agent for this transaction, I do find it really sad when clients are not happy with their level of service. I really do put my heart and soul into selling a home for a homeowner. After selling over 250 homes in the last 5 years this is my first complaint, and our office does not recall any other complaints in previous years. I realize I can't exceed everyone's expectations. First and foremost, I contacted many buyers in my database to see if they had continued interest in this condo association. It is not common for an agent to represent the buyer and the seller in a transaction. I would much rather make less money; then represent both sides of a transaction. It's generally in the best interest for both parties to have their own representation. Mr. ****** stated that I misrepresented and misled him into thinking that I could sell his home. In fact I did sell his home. My team's marketing of the home garnered 3 offers within 2 weeks. Of note, one was $100 over list price and one was $5,100 over the list price. The homeowner opted to take the one that was $5,000 less because he liked the other terms in the contract better, and that is why it was signed. They did not ask for a reduced commission at that time or make note that the frill price offer was unacceptable. The home passed *********** with no requests for repairs. It wasn't until mid way through the pending period that the homeowner asked me to reduce my commission by $5,000. I felt that since my marketing resulted in an offer $100 more than the listing agreement, a reduced commission was not warranted. Any clerical issues that were cited were rectified within an hour of the property being listed. Additionally, there were no other brokers involved or sub-agency involved, so I believe that to be a misunderstanding on the homeowners part. I genuinely feel bad that the homeowner was so dissatisfied, however I felt that a full price contract, that they agreed to instead of one that was $5,100 over the asking price, did not warrant any rebate of the real estate commission. I understand all seller's want a bidding war in the 2021 market, sometimes that just does not come to be. Sincerely, **** M****** Team Leader KELLER WILLIAMS(r) REALTY *** ***** ***** Road *******, NH ****** ************** ************ ************ Consumer Response /* (3000, 12, 2021/12/29) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I would like to respond to the document submitted by Rachel B****/**** M****** in order to clarify the facts. Line 5: " I contacted many buyers in my data base to see if they had continued interest in this condo association." I was told by Rachel B**** that she had two potential buyers in the condo complex where I resided based on an open house she had less than two weeks prior for another unit. If there were in fact many other buyers who showed continued interest then that was not conveyed to me. Line 6: "it's not common for the agent to represent the buyer and the seller in the transaction. I would much rather make less money than represent both sides of a transaction. it is generally in the best interest for both parties to have their own representation." I find these remarks shocking. They are shocking because I was never told or notified that Rachel B**** represented both the buyer and the seller. I would have never consented to this arrangement. I hired her to represent me in the sale of my home. I would never hire her to represent both me and and the buyer. How could she possibly advocated for me as a seller when she was also representing the buyer as well. I did not sign the Massachusetts Consent to Dual Agency form to allow Rachel B**** to act as a dual agent for the buyer and the seller. Her representation of both parties without my written consent is a clear violation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts , Board of registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons requirement to have a signed Massachusetts Consent Dual Agency form for such transactions. Line 9: "In fact, I did sell his home." It is true that she sold my home for $100. above asking price. It is also true that less than 10 days before she sold another unit in the condo complex for $425,000, which was $5,000 above the asking price. We had both agreed that that my unit was much better and worth much more than this unit. The average sale price of condo units in ********* Woods at that time was $427,000. My home should have and could have been sold for more than $100. above the asking price. Line 10: "My teams 's marketing of the garnered 3 offers within 2 weeks." By her admission Rachel B**** stated to me that that she did not bring in a single offer in for my home. She also stated that she spends most of her time on the road in New Hampshire doing sales. She is the only person to do her job so she knew she could not possibly have the time necessary to properly sell my home. The offer mentioned that was over $5,100 above list price was filled with contingencies. The lady had recently lost her husband and included among these contingencies was that buyer sell her home. This potential buyer had not even prepared her home for sale or hired a real estate agent let alone put her house on the market. Additionally this potential buyer wanted a closing date approximately 2 months from then with a closing date 2 weeks before Christmas . This was not a viable choice because it would have effectively kept me out of the housing market for at least 2 months with no assurances that the sale could ever be completed. Curiously the 3rd "offer" was never mentioned. This was an offer by an investor for $40,000. below the list price. This"offer" was quickly discounted as being totally unrealistic. I now know that the actual buyer was represented by Rachel B****. This buyer made one offer and did nothing else despite knowing there were two other offers on the table. The buyer did not have to make a counteroffer because she would have known that the other two offers were not legitimate offers and that I was moving out of state and had a timeline to meet. This left me with only one offer not 3 offers and a clear disadvantage in selling my home. Line 14: "It was't until mid-way through the pending period that the homeowner asked for a reduction in my commission y $5,000. At this point I called Rachel B**** and expressed my concerns and displeasures at the errors made and the lack of effort made on my behalf. The details of which I have previously submitted to the Better Business Bureau. During this conversation it became even more apparent to me that these errors and lack of effort were even worse than I had realized. I subsequently sent a letter to Rachel B**** detailing the errors and lack of effort made on my behalf and at this time I requested a partial refund of $5,000 of the commission. Line 16: "Any clerical issues that were cited were rectified within an hour of the property being listed." This statement is simply not true. When my property was listed on MLS it contained all the wrong information which was copied from a previous listing that was used a week before in the same condo complex. Both units were totally different in a number of ways. When I saw the listing on Friday night just after 5:00 PM I recognized immediately that this was the description of the previous listing and not my home for which I had given a detailed description of the property. I immediately. contacted Rachel B****'s office and explained the problem to an employee and asked to speak to Rachel B****. I was told she was in meeting. Approximately 1 1/2 hours she returned my call and said an employee had put the wrong information in and it was now fixed. Later when I confronted her about this incident, I told her that I thought the original description that was used with the inaccurate information was not an accident and the reason she kept me waiting for 1 1/2 hours was to give her time to write a description of my home for the MLS listing after I discovered what she did. She did not deny this accusation. There was much more than hour of time that was lost on my MLS listing on a Friday night during a critical time when buyers look at first time listings and plan their weekends. I have to wonder how many potential buyers were lost as a result of these glaring errors and deceptive actions. I have submitted information detailing errors, omissions, deception, lack of effort and failure to comply with Massachusetts Real Estate regulations in the selling of my home by Rachel B****. Based on this information I have substantial reasons for requesting a partial refund of $5,000. from the commission paid to Rachel B****. Sincerely, ******* * ****** Business Response /* (4000, 20, 2022/02/18) */ There seems to be a significant misunderstanding of the events that have transpired and a general understanding of the elements of a real estate transaction. I mean no disrespect to Mr. ******. I have been licensed since 2005 and never had a public complaint. I also ask Mr. ****** to consider that both I and my broker are willing to make public statements about my actions, therefore they are clearly common place practices. There is nothing to hide and nothing was intentionally kept from Mr. ****** during the sale of his home. I also feel, with every explanation there is additional misunderstanding and anger that I feel **** have no resolution. I am disappointed Mr. ****** was not happy with his transaction. To summarize, we did receive an offer over list price and Mr. ****** did not like the terms, therefore he selected a full price offer. I don't feel continuing to dissect events that happened nearly 6 months ago **** change either of our positions on the matter. Line 5: I contacted approximately 7-8 open house attendees from the previous open house I had held in ********* Woods on another unit. This was a service to Mr. ****** to generate interest on his listing. Line 6: I only represented Mr. ****** in this transaction. The buyer had their own buyer's agent from an unaffiliated, separate Keller Williams Franchise. Line 9: Mr. ****** did receive an offer for $425,000. Line 10: My team consists of professionals I hire. I edit my remark to "My marketing". My comments about driving are taken out of context to build a narrative that is completely inaccurate. No list agent can control the terms of an offer submitted. It was unsatisfactory to Mr. ******, but other seller's would have considered or taken the offer. All 3 offers were presented to Mr. ****** including the third offer which was below list price and therefore not considered by Mr. ******. Again, I DID NOT represent the buyer. The buyer had a buyer's agent. All of Mr. ******'s personal information was held confidential as I never discussed with that buyer's agent. Line 14: No Change. Line 16: None of the integral information regarding the home was inaccurate. The marketing description was accidently copied over. The marketing description was the clerical error. I apologized for this snafu when I called to tell you it had been rectified. You were satisfied with the speedy change and we moved forward.

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