In January of I called Buy Owner to help us sell our home because of financial problems. I spoke with sales who would not provide fee info over the phone and insisted in meeting with us. We met with her a few days later at our home and went over the different packages of advertising and what they included to help us with the sale of our home. She said we would get advertising on the internet until our house was sold, 3 months advertising in the Real Estate magazine, an ad in the newspaper, and when my house did have a buyer they would do the contract and assist with closing.
I told her I needed time to think and would see how we did with showing our house on our own in a few open houses. She called me continuously about using Buy Owner and finally about 2 weeks later we decided to go with Buy Owner.
She said we had to make payment of $3,000 up front for the advertising package. I told her we couldnt and she said they offered financing packages. She took my credit application over the phone and I told her I had been out of work for 3 months and was only working a temp job. She said to lie about my work and put down that I had been working at my place of employment for 3 years (I had only been there 2 weeks) in order to get me approved.
Then she had me sign for my husband as Power of Attorney since he was not there. She told me that I would make payments and once the house sold they would take the balance due out of the closing profit. This led me to believe I was paying them off (like a credit card). I signed the loan papers on January 28.
After you fill out your loan paperwork they give you a Procedure Checklist which is an outline of what they do to get your ad ready for the BuyOwner.com website. She said they also had a realty service (MLS) that would help me with the sale of the house (This turns out to be an additional cost and is not the actual MLS that most realtors use).
She went through each point extremely fast and just had me initial each line so that she could get me up and running. She said there was a Money Back Program through their MLS service (which I originally believed to be part of the package). She NEVER went over the No Refund policy and what would happen if I decided not to sell.
In March, I secured permanent work again and my husband received a promotion and we are back on our feet and decided NOT to sell the house. I called Buy Owner to ask how to pay only what I owed for the advertising portion of the package I had used: Website for 4 months (February May), the cost of the Real Estate magazine ad, and the photography fees. I spoke with the General Manager. He said the same thing, that they had a no refund policy. I told them I was not asking for a refund and was willing to pay for what I used but since we no longer want to sell the house I will not be using said 'Services' (for contract and closing) and should be released from the balance of package amount. He said I was not paying them off and they could not change the amount of what I owed because I was now paying the bank for a PERSONAL LOAN. They get paid up front, they only helped fill out the application. They do NOT tell you that up front... NOR do they tell you about the NO REFUND policy before you sign the credit application!
If I had known we were not at liberty to stop the process I never would've signed up with them. I'm not asking for money back but I want them to pay the bank back the money they received for the services I will never use and get my loan paid off. I am willing to pay for the photography and magazine ads but that's all I've used. I haven't had but 1 phone call from their services as well.
His only other offer was to take down all advertising and we would just have a credit with BuyOwner.com. I told him we no longer wanted to sell the house at all and he said well maybe youll change your mind but the loan is with the bank not us and we cant cancel it
I have filed a formal complaint with the Attorney General and Kentucky Real Estate Commission.
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