Message-Id: <9311042200.AA07001@it.sei.cmu.edu>
To: bovik@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: DISrecommendation: Buyer's Real-estate agent
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 93 17:00:09 EST
From: Barbara White <bjw@SEI.CMU.EDU>


Avoid using Shirley Schneider, Oakland Howard Hanna

We chanced across Shirley at an open house that we saw as we
were taking a walk.  We were kind of "stuck" with her after
that.  (Unfortunately, we didn't do this aspect of the
house-buying the right way...we should have interviewed
agents FIRST and then made a more informed selection before
seeing ANY property at all.  Apparently, if you see a
property with one agent, you're entitled to credit that agent
with the sale regardless of whom you've since "adopted" as
your agent.  It's confusing and stupid, so be careful.)

Anyway, Shirley didn't do anything WRONG, per se, but we felt
that she did several VERY iffy things here and there, two
iffy things of which come to mind. First, after we found a
house, we told her that we were interested in making a bid
but that the bid had to be contingent upon us finding someone
to sublet for the duration of our rental lease (on the house
we were living in).  

She mentioned a program that Howard Hanna offers wherein
Howard Hanna pick up the lease if, four months after we sign
the Authorization of Sale papers, we are unable to locate
anyone to sublet it.  The agreement is reasonable since for
two of those months, you're doing closing stuff and mortgage
application anyway, so you'd obviously still need to live
there and pay rent.  So, really, it obligates you to about an
additional 2 months, tops, on your rent.  You're also only
obligates to show the house with 12-hour notice and to keep
the house clean so that perspective renters aren't grossed
out.  Easy.  Doesn't cost us anything else.  Shirley offered
this program to us and after we read the papers, we decided
to go with it.

After then, however, Shirley learned that if Howard Hanna
assumes the lease and THEY cannot locate anyone to sublet it,
SHE must pay the monthly rent until the lease is up or until
she finds someone to take over the lease.  This amount,
however, cannot exceed the amount that she makes on the
commission of the sale.

Well, after she learned this, she tried to talk us out of the
this program (it's called the Apartment Dwellers Program).
We liked this program since it was evidently a good thing for
us.  She tried many ways to get us to NOT take this program.
She told us that we wouldn't need it, blah blah blah.  And
when we found someone who wanted to sign the sublet agreement
even before our mortgage was approved, she said that we
should sign the place over to him.  (Clearly, doing this
coule be problematic for us if there was a delay in the
mortgage approval but doing this would relieve HER of any
financial responsibility.)

Well, we didn't sign with that person.  She then got very
sneaky with us.  SHe just couldn't seem to bring the papers
for us to sign when she said she would.  We were supposed to
sign this Apartment Dwellers AGreement at the time that the
bid was accepted.  She didn't bring the papers then.  PLUS,
she said that whenever we DID sign it, it would be effective
120 days after the CLOSING, rather than after the bid was
accepted, which was what she originally told us.  This would
have, in essence, obligated us for much, much more money and
it probably would have taken her out of the loop.  I
interrupted her to correct her and she said stuttered out
like "OH, you're right, I think."  Anyway, we INSISTED on
signing the papers right away and we did that.

She also did something pretty sneaky with the commission fee
... Although the sellerse agreed on a 6% commission for the
agent, Shirley presented our bid to the sellers and INCREASED
her commission to 7% to make up the difference in what she
might have to pay with this Apartment Dwellers Program.  I
was really angry about this but she managed to get them to
agree to this higher commission.

Second, there were all sorts of very "sneaky" things that she
seemed to do with the termite inspection.  The house had
termites, our inspector discovered.  Moreover, the Disclosure
Sheet for the house indicated that the house had not been
treated for termites within the last 5 years.  The house HAD
been treated for termites and just 4 years ago.  Shirley
tried to tell me that the disclosure sheet didn't really
"count" and that everyone makes mistakes or misreads or
forgets something every now and then and that I was getting
upset for no good reason.

Then, she called *my* inspector and tried to talk him OUT of
recommending a soil treatment for eradication of the
termites.  I was livid when I heard this.  She tried to talk
him out of a $300 plan down to a $70 plan.  He phoned me to
tell me this and said that he stood by his estimate of $300.

When we had our whole house inspection, she was RIGHT in our
faces, answering the questions that we had for the INSPECTOR,
not for her.  She stood in the way most of the time and made
it difficult for us to see/hear what the inspector was
saying.  He, fortunately, was VERY keen on this and got
around her after he realized what was happening.  Our
inspector would point out something about the house and she
kept coming up with excuses for the problem.  After 20
minutes of this, I tried to make it clear that I was NOT
happy and she did take the hint somewhat.  She backed down a
little but she was still being obnoxious.

An inspection also revealed the presence of radon.  Shirley
had previously tried to talk us out of paying for a radon
test because she said the owners did their own test a year
ago and it came up at 1.1, which is an acceptable level.  Our
inspector turned up a 5.0 reading, which is NOT acceptable
(anything over 4.0 is unacceptable and will require long-term
testing and treatment if the second test shows an elevated
reading).  Treatment for this problem ranges from $200
(sealing/calking) to $900 (mitigation).  She said that the
owners would want their own inspector to do the test and
alluded to the fact that they would NOT treat the radon if
their inspector turned up a clean reading.  I told her that
they certainly had the right to refuse treatment, but that if
they did that, the deal, according to our Inspection Rider,
was OFF and the owners would have to return our hand money.
She wasn't happy with this, clearly.

We're not all the way through this process and I know we'll
have some other problems with her.  Plus, I'm not really
happy with the way she talks to us about the sellers.  She
makes comments about the general demeanor of the wife and how
she "pushes the husband around with a broom" or how she had
surgery and was in a bad mood.  This isn't professional...she
shouldn't talk with us about anyone else like that (no matter
what).  Wonder what she says to THEM about US?

One last thing...I mentioned to her how we use this file
(Bovik) to help find information about
apartments/houses/agents, ect.  I told her that I planned to
advertise my current apartment on the apartments bboard and
that I've had excellent history/experience with this in the
past.  She half hinted to having me put her ads up (for the
houses that she lists) on the bboard.  She was half joking,
but she was serious at the same time because she waited for
my answer keenly (know what I mean?).  I told her that I
thought that it would be unethical to do that and left it
there, she didn't bring it up again.

Shirley *is* responsive to phone calls, that much credit I do
have to give her.  According to Janet Doehrr, another Howard
Hanna agent, Shirley is "one of the most successful" and
managed to deal well with the sellers, who were being
difficult.  Who knows.  Maybe it's just me...but I just don't
like her at all.  Didn't like her mannerisms or
unprofessional behavior.  I also didn't like the way she
handled the termites and radon inspections.  In fact, I plan
on writing a letter to Howard Hanna to tell him about this.

Incidentally, Janet Doehrr is the listing agent for the
house.  She represents the sellers.  We like her MUCH more
than Shirley.  Janet is more low-key and less
pressure-oriented.  Perhaps she's just as cut-throat as
Shirley (or any other real-estate agent) but perhaps it's
just that Janet is better at concealing this.  So far,
though, we've been very happy with Janet.  Shirley is another
story.


Barbara