On November 20 I was contacted by a Nancy Brand from Catherine Hanson Real Estate at 107 S. Magnolia Ave, Sanford Fl 32771 about listing my house which I had for sale.
On December 15 I was again contacted by a Tracy Smith from the same office with promises of the many prospects that she had that were interested in my property.
After meeting with Ms. Smith and discussing how I would like to market my property we agreed on a 5 month listing. During the month of Januarary the property was shown a total of two times by other coperate franchised brokers to no interest of the prospects.
At this time I called Ms. Smith and requested that we reduce the listed price to generate additional leads. My request was refused due to the fact that she had a "hot" prospect that would pay the listed price. On Feburary 2 I was contacted by Ms. Smith that she had a Ms. Emonds that was pre-qualified and was very much interested in the property.
After showing the property she then expressed that she had many other prospects that were in the process of pre-qualifying for mortgages. On Feburary 7 Ms. Smith showed up at my property with a offer to purchase from Ms. Emonds.
Due to the fact that some of the terms were not acceptable to myself I refused to accept the offer and discussed the "open house" in which was scheduled and agreed upon for that weekend. During the open house of Feburary 9 in which I paid for all the advertising.
I was told by Ms Smith after the first day of the open house that not any new prospects were generated from it. I was then again presented with another offer from Ms. Emonds, In questioning Ms. Smith about the 90 day delay in Ms. Emonds financing approval and closing on or before May 31.
I was assured that it was "standard for the industry" and that the property would be closed in March. I also expressed my concern about my employment for the next 30 days and that I would be out of state for this time period and was presented that Ms. Emonds was willing to "rent" the property up to the closing date in March.
I was requesting some form of assurance that this would take place during March and Ms. Smith became very upset and a few heated words were exchanged. After which I called Hanson Real Estate and wished to speak with the broker, Ms. Catherine Hanson. Ms. Hanson was unavailable, I then informed a Ms. Nancy Brand that I wished to terminate my listing agreement and would seek another broker. Ms. Hanson telephoned myself approximatly 5 minutes later.
I requested to meet with Ms. Hanson and Ms. Smith and I was informed that her schedule would not allow for any personal meetings. After which Ms. Smith returned to my property and apologized for her actions and wished to discuss the Emonds contract. I was one again verbally assured that the time frames and delays in the contract were stand for the industry.
I felt assured that it would proceed as Ms. Smith had represented.in which the contract was formed (copy of contract and rentral agreement attached). On Sunday I had two different prospects come up to my gates, one was an elderly man and wife that wished to discuss an offer on the property with Ms. Smith and a Steve Elston from Deltona who contacted Ms. Smith via telephone during the open house and was told that a contract was already in place. I then telephoned Ms. Smith to inquire as to the validity of his statement and was informed that Mr. Elston could not possibly qualify for the property.
Mr. Elston wished to write a "back-up" offer on the property in which I informed him to contact Ms. Smith. The home inspection and apprasial were completed during the following week and were acceptbale to the buyer. On Feburary 15 I had relocated my possessions out of the residenace to a storage facility and continued on to my employment.
On March 24 I returned to Florida and resided at my vacation property in Perry, Fla to await the closing and upon contacting Ms. Smith was informed that Ms. Emonds lender could not obtain any approvals and would be unable to arrange financing. However, that Ms. Emonds had another application in with a lender that Ms. Smith suggested to her and we would have everything completed in a few days.
On March 27 contacted Ms. Smith and was informed that her lender could not get financing either. I requested to Ms. Smith that the contract for purchase was not valid due to the misinformation that was provided to myself as the seller and was told that Ms. Emonds has a contract and lease until May 31 and that I would just have to wait.
On April 22 recieved a telephone call from Ms. Smith that the buyer had a mortgage thru Citibank and that it was mandatory that I attend a closing on April 26 at 10am at SunBelt Title in Deland. On April 25 I telephoned Ms. Smith to confirm the closing time for the next day was informed that a new apprasial was needed before closing and this apprasial was scheduled for April 29.
On April 30 recieved a telephone call from Ms. Smith that a "drive-by" apprasial was completed and clsoing was scheduled for May 3. On May 1 called to confirm the closing and was informed by Ms. Smith that the apprasial was in a "apprasiers pool" and was not sure when it would be done. On May 3 was told by Ms. Smith that the apprasial was done and closing was for May 10 at 10am.
On May 8 was informed that there was no apprasial and that there was no time frame for this apprasial. Called Hanson Real Estate and wished to speak with Ms. Hanson, was informed by Ms. Hanson that this is a normal procedure and refused to discusss the matter further. I informed Ms. Hanson that due to all the delays and false truths that were told to me I have been unemployed for the past 2 months and that this was severly hurting my financial condition and was met with unconcern and amosity by her.
I then recieved a telephone call from Ms. Smith informing me that she was backing out representing myself or the buyer and that she was surrendering her salesman's license on June 1 and not to contact her any further. On May 13 recieved a telphone call from Ms. Smith that she had a written offer of $55,000.
I refused due to the fact that this was approximatly half of the market value of the property. On may 30 I was contacted by Ms. Smith requesting the return of her yard sign in which I complied. On june 29 I recieved a telephone call at work from a neighbor that the "buyer" was moving out of the house and was taking everything that was nailed down, I immediatly drove down to the house and saw the most major disaster of my life.
The buyer left the water lines in the laundry room run all over theh floor which destroyed the entire kitchen and living room flooring.
Upon contacting my and her renters insurance company I was told that it wasnt covered (nothing new here in florida, insurance companies dont have to pay off). Total costs of repairs $5200. Due to my now living quite a distance from the house I elected to stay and re-market it myself.
I found myself a buyer wihin a week, however for $15,000 under market value) and closed wihin 3 days. After closing I foundout the my "buyer" is now living in another Catherine Hanson listing up in Astor. (Makes me wonder how many times this scam is pulled).
I filed a formal complaint to the florida real estate comission and they are refusing to investigate due to Catherine Hanson is comming up for re-election for the county comission seat this fall. (I should have known and saved the postage and notary fees).
Dave
Deland, Florida
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