Belt Auction

Are Remax real estate agents held to an ethical standard of any kind?

My agent really screwed me. When I found a house and had it inspected, many serious problems were found. When I hesitated to follow through with the sale , my agent suggested that we get a quote from her contractor to fix everything . She said she'd give him THE SUMMARY to quote on. He provided a quote, we agreed to it, then bought the house. Only thing is, the contractor didn't quote on the entire summary...she gave him an incomplete list. YOU KNOW THE REST... now neither one will take my calls and I'm stuck with some serious electrical problems, and a heat pump that only runs on emergency overide. (I trusted her and no paperwork was ever signed, so I have no proof.) HELP. I'M FURIOUS.

Public Comments

1. All real estate agents are regulated by the state. Call the real estate commission and see what can be done. You also might want to find an attorney to get involved.
2. While I certainly don't agree with what your Realtor did, and from an ethical standpoint it was completely wrong of her to do this - ultimately it is the responsibility of the buyer (you) to perform complete due diligence of the property before accepting the terms of the sale and waiving the inspection condition (if there was one) based off the property inspection report. The key lesson learned here is to remember that agents make money on the sale; and so they are motivated to close the deal. Short sighted agents may sometimes resort to such tactics in order to close the deal; but the good ones realize that doing such things are bad for long term prospects. I know an agent who has sold just about every family member throughout 3 generations of our family just because she is honest and good with her dealings. The saying "what goes around comes around" applies; I've seen it apply many times first hand. Another take away from this is never to make a buying decision based off a contractor quote that is not impartial or works with the agent. Always find your own contractors and entertain more than one quote; based off expected work that only you provide (not the agent - who is biased and motivated by the sale). In terms of your options, you could either choose to try your luck in court, or you can incur the unexpected expense of fixing up the house. Personally if I were in your shoes, I'd spend the money on the latter option because in my humble opinion you have very little to gain from suing... and ultimately you'd probably spend more time, effort and money doing so in the end. It's a tough pill to swallow I know, but from your current predicament it sounds like the best course of action (I have been in a similar position in the past, except the issue was plumbing - and we ended up spending more than $12k in unexpected issues digging up the main line).
3. Your real estate agent violated more than one ethical guideline for real estate agents. The problem YOU have is that you agreed with her suggestions. You committed the cardinal sin of not handling these issues yourself, as you should have done. Absent anything in writing covering the incidents which occurred, it will be your word against hers. My guess is the best you will get out of this is being able to vent by filing a complaint, and then paying out of your pocket for a VERY expensive lesson in buying real estate. Good luck.
4. you should have had everything looked at again (inspected) after repairs it's not totally her fought you aid you agreed, did you not see the list she sent over for repairs don't really understand how this got done without more input from you the buyer (that's your fought)