Open letter to I****o Realty after a very trying time with Real Estate Agents in Scottsdale, Arizona, my experience ended up enlightening me to the dishonest and manipulative practices of Real Estate Agents.
Encouraging you about your home’s value before you sign with them, then after you are in contract, they barrage you with articles about how bad the market has gotten and your price is way off. If you don’t lower it enough they reduce service to nothing then offer you a cancellation. This keeps their average DOM listings up. Helping them lure new, unsuspecting clients into their game.
Real Estate Agent, being the only profession where after spending less than $3000 and less than a few months on classes, one can earn over six-figures in a very short time with no other formal education, or even a high school diploma. Why are we trusting THESE people to understand marketing and be aggressive sales-people? Why go to medical school?
The letter is as follows:
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I have thought very long and very hard about this. And it has been very difficult for me to remain calm about the wasted time and money with I****o Realty’s agent. I realize, after her first couple of attempts to scare me into lowering my price $30 to $40,000 below the lowest comparable had failed…she commensed a purposeful, sub-standard service on my property, intended to force me into canceling the contract, thus keeping her average DOM down and enabling her to round-up more potential clients…I have woken up…I finally did some research.
The article your agent sent me that was circulated by another I****o agent, not long after I first signed with Intero that was to convince me the market was even worse from just a few days before (before I****o had my signature), shows me this is common practice and quite possibly the policy of I****o Realty, to lure a client with 100% positive feedback about their home and listing price, then, after they’ve signed, talk the client down to an EXTREME BELOW MARKET price so the house can move overnight, I****o collects their full commissions, doing minimal work and your client takes tens of thousands in loss, AND WORST OF ALL the market takes an unnecessary, huge, fear-based hit to property values after the SOLD PROPERTY becomes a "comp" for other realtors to use to do the same and spread even more fear!!! THIS SEEMS CRIMINAL TO ME!!!
As it turns out, research shows, this seems to be common practice with agencies. Especially those that require full commissions!!! I found out today that this is such a common practice with Real Estate Professionals that there are numerous lawsuits pending in Maricopa County courts as I write this letter!!! I haven’t researched other cities, states etc. But I couldn’t believe what I found!!!
Two months of intentional neglect, and finding out from the last contact I sent her phone number to that she never returned their call. I believe she has been in breach of contract. How many missed opportunities? How many new buyers did she find to represent from the sign she planted on my property? Redirecting them to another bargain basement property she knew could be moved quickly? My loss, your gain.
I am "the little guy" and I sacrificed thousands of dollars (the 2 renters I turned away to keep it empty), full commissions, and wasted 2 months of a summer housing market. I was duped, scammed, and manipulated. This _literally_ has taken food out of my mouth.
I decided I cannot simply let this go because it most likely will hurt other people…and I****o will continue to profit from this. If I do not do my duty to report bad business practice, Intero will have no motivation to reprimand [your agent] or seek out other agents behaving in this manner or establish any new good faith policies.
There most certainly would be, yet another lawsuit pending if I didn’t have more taxing family dealings to take care of. And, of course, would not have signed and faxed the cancellation today to free myself to either list on my own or with another agency if I can find an honest one.
Nevertheless, so I can sleep at night, and not exercise apathy, resulting in further abuse of other home owners in this already difficult time we live in…a full and accurate BBB filing will have to do. Dates and subject matter of the emails between your agent, and myself will be filed with them as well as my cell phone records so they can see I am not making up stories about this "sudden and purposeful turnaround of the agent’s feduciary responsibilities" that your agency was contractually bound to.
I hope I****o finds a way to get rid of this kind of unethical, immoral behavior from their organization. I don’t have the time or money to legally pursue this. I hope the principals at your organization sleep well at night, I certainly don’t with people like this in the world.
I am reporting the Scottsdale I****o office to the Better Business Bureau in Phoenix, it’s fair play in my book. Maybe it’s a small step, but it’s the best I can do to help others.
Thank you for speaking with me today on the phone, you were very sincere and kind and I don’t blame you personally for this. I still believe there are good people in the world.
Sincerely,
Eric G
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Anyone that has had a similar experience is encouraged to PLEASE post the details of it here. Maybe we can get someone’s attention.
