While we were down in Wilmington we noted how terrible of a real estate agent we had. David A. Robertson with Century 21....DO NOT USE THIS MAN TO SELL YOUR HOME! HE'S A LIAR. We listed with him on May 1. We went on a mini-vacation for 5 days in May where I had my friend come and check on the cats every other day. Well, after one of my friend's visits, the cats had somehow closed the door to the litter box room (with one of the cats still in there...with no food or water). Although we got home the next day, my friend had not come back since the door had been shut to the litter box room. When we got home, I immediately noticed the door was shut. I opened it up and there was poor Skye locked in there. He actually seemed fine and didn't run over to the food or water bowl immediately like he was starving or anything. However, when we walked upstairs to our bedroom, there was an incredible stench! The cats had decided to use our punctured air mattress as their new litter box. It was a horrible smell...something I've never smelled before and hope to never smell again. I don't blame them as they didn't have a place to go, but it was blatantly obvious as to what was in there due to the retched smell. The reason I tell this story is because, once we returned from our trip, we called our realtor and asked if the house had been shown while we were gone. He told us that HE showed it during the weekend once. At the time, we had hoped that he happened to show it prior to the pooping party. He definitely didn't mention anything else to us about it. However, from the next couple paragraphs, you will find numerous lies that he told us, which makes me believe that this is one more we can add on to the lie list.During the course of the 1.5 months we still lived in the house after listing with DAVE, he didn't call to update us with anything. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at this point. We moved up to DC on June 21st. How many times has he called us without having to first prompt him with a phone call? ZERO! NADA! ZILCH! Not once did he called us himself to update us on the status of the home, how many times it had been shown (or not shown) or on how the property was looking (aka curb appeal). After we called him one time to ask how everything was going, he told us that he was having an open house for that Sunday and he would let us know how it went afterwards. Well, Sunday came and went and nothing. We contacted him and he told us that we had some interest and it went well. After weeks of not hearing anything again, I sent him an email telling him how I felt his service wasn't exactly how I had hoped and that I would like him to contact us at least once a week to update us on the home. I also asked him the number of times the house had been shown in the course of the previous two weeks. He emailed back saying the house had been shown 8 times in that two week period and that he would call us by the end of the week to update us. Nope...no phone call came. A couple weeks later we were told that he was going to have another open house that Sunday. We didn't hear from him then at all either. Since May 1, we reduced the price of the home 3-4 times. On the second to last occasion, Michael wrote him an email asking him his opinion on how low we show go since previously we had always just told him an amount. He wrote back saying he'd look into it for us. After waiting a week to hear from him, I finally said we just need to decide for ourselves without any help from him. And that's what we did...again. A couple weeks later, Michael wrote him an email saying we would like to drop the price again. He never replied to the email, but when I went to the listing, the price was reduced. He didn't even bother to call or write to say OK.
Well, back to this weekend. When we got to the house this past Saturday, the outside was just COVERED in weeds! We've been paying a guy to cut our lawn every other Monday since we've left, but we haven't had anyone doing yard work. You couldn't even see the bushes in the front yard because all the weeds were so overgrown. Point #1: If your realtor had been by your house at any point during the 3 months that we haven't been living there and weeds were overgrown, don't you think he would call us and let us know that we needed to get someone out there to pull the weeds? Also, when we arrived, the FOR SALE sign in the front yard was missing. We still had the post there, but no sign. When Michael called him about this, he used the excuse that they took it down for the tropical storm that was going to hit....OVER A WEEK PRIOR TO OUR ARRIVAL!!!! Point #2: If selling our house was a priority, don't you think he would at least put a FOR SALE sign in front of our house soon after the storm subsided? Who knows how long it would have been there without a sign if we hadn't have made an unannounced trip? Once we made it inside the house, the thermostat was set at 83 degrees on both the upstairs and downstairs units. This is the EXACT same temperature I had left it on June 21st when we moved to DC. It was not a comfortable temperature inside the house. Point #3: If our realtor did actually have two open houses, as he had previously claimed, and had to stay inside the house for 3-4 hours during those days, don't you think he would have turned down the thermostat to a comfortable temperature? And if, in fact, he thought to turn it back up before he left, that he WOULD NOT turn it back to exactly 83 degrees as I had left it? ON BOTH THERMOSTATS IN THE HOUSE!!! Across the street a new house for sale was having an open house. We went over to talk to the agent. When speaking with her, she said that since she's been doing open houses at that location since August, she had NEVER seen anyone do an open house at our property. She also said that in the 1.5 months that she's been doing open houses at that property, NOT ONE PERSON HAS COME TO SEE IT! Point #4 and 5: If the brand new house across the street has not had any one view it, why would 8 people view our property in the course of 2 weeks? And since she had never seen our house have an open house, how could this man, DAVID ROBERTSON, not be lying to us? The next morning we spoke with our next door neighbors who confirmed that, in the last 3 months that we have been gone, they have NEVER seen an open house held at our property.
What can we do about this man? Our realtor out here in Virginia told me to find out his brokers name and talk to him. I don't know what exactly that would do, but maybe it would prompt them to do something. Also, she said to request the information from the lock box on who and how many people came into the home. She said this was perfectly legal and our right. Michael emailed David yesterday asking for this information and we still have not heard back from him. I don't want this man getting any kind of profit from our home selling. I can understand a market being slow, or dead, but all I ask is for the truth. My whole life revolves around the truth. I've always hated liars with a passion and to know that this man blatantly lied to us on several occasions just burns me up inside. Michael has tried to keep me from calling him myself, and so far I have, but I really feel it would benefit us all if I had a one on one conversation with him. I would get to call him out on all his lies and hear him try to cover them up. I would also get to tell him how I will never recommend him to anyone and will do quite the opposite. I will also let him know the things he needs to improve upon in the future in order to have a successful career in real estate. I honestly don't know how he's been in this business as long as he had if all of the homes he's sold have had a similar record. He's just awful.
I think Michael and I have agreed to always go with women from now on. I don't just mean for Realtors, but for everything. They are more upfront and honest and aren't afraid to tell you the truth even if it is going to hurt. My gender is the best....I would have to agree.
I will leave you with a picture of the infamous cargo van with no windows that we used to bring the washer and dryer back here with us. Also, if anyone has any advice on the realtor issue, please add a comment and let me know. I would love for this guy to get what's coming to him.(Also, I spoke with the hiring manager today at the company I applied to. He said by the end of the week, he should know who he's going to bring in for interviews. Keep hoping for me!)
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