Two realtors from this outfit were involved in my purchase of a house from a truly disgusting mortgage broker back in September. One represented me and my wife; the other represented the mortgage broker. Nine days after I moved in, I discovered a leaking underground oil tank in a small concealed shed, back-to-back with the main shed. I first asked for the standard NJ seller's disclosure form, which the seller's realtor had advertised as available for inspection on the MLS. "Whoops, " I was told, "there really never was a disclosure form completed. Oh yeah, and nobody knows anything, so don't ask anymore questions." OK. I then asked just for a list of prospective buyers, who had looked at the house, probably found the tank, and balked at buying. Things got contentious. "Look, " they told me, "Take a hike, sucker. You own it now."
Well, I later found out that my realtor, Mark Arbeit had a career in education before he reinvented himself as "realtor to the stars." You can read about how that career came abruptly to an end in The Washington Post archives for June 20 and 25,1987. Suffice it to say, these articles detail some incidents in which Mr. Arbeit was involved with some young boys when he worked as an assistant elementary school principal. New Jersey requires all licensed realtors to possess "good character, " so I took my information on Mr. Arbeit to NJ's Real Estate Commission and asked it to revoke his license. Unfortunately, I live in NJ, and this commission is so apathetic or— more likely— corrupt, it told me to beat it. It knew all about Mr. Arbeit's "troubles, " but, hey, Prudential Fox Roach vouched for him, and in NJ, Pru-Fox gets what it wants.
These two high fivin' Pru-Fox realtors and their disgusting mortgage broker pal put a severe strain on the first year of my marriage. At this point, I just want to get out the word on them. My name is still a punch line among these three and their high-flyin' associates. We'll see who laughs in the end, though.
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