Of all professions, some have a worse reputation than others. Lawyer jokes aside, one profession worthy of mixed reviews is real estate. Thanks to a few bad eggs, all industry colleagues find themselves fighting a reputation for chasing a quick buck and unethical dealings. Continue reading
Tag Archives: real estate agents
Agent Threatens Homeowner With Gun To Get Real Estate Sign Back
According to The Dallas Morning News, a resident of the 4200 block of Windhaven Lane in North Dallas found a real estate sign in his yard. Since his house wasn’t for sale nor did he give permission to have a sign posted in his yard, he took it down and threw it away. Now I know how much real estate agents have to pay for those signs, having a stack of signs myself, but I think this person (article doesn’t confirm whether or not it was a real estate agent) went a bit too far. Continue reading
Naked Real Estate Agent Caught Servicing Client
Image created by Imagery Majestic, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Apparently when he shows a house, he SHOWS EVERYTHING! The homeowner’s son walked in on their naked real estate agent and another man undressed in their master bathroom. Police said a 46-year-old real estate salesman from Morris and his client, a 25-year-old Chicago man, were found naked just before noon Thursday in the master bathroom in a house on the 4400 block of White Ash Lane in Naperville, IL. I guess the homeowners will have to sit down with the son to have a talk about the “birds and the birds, or bees and the bees.” Continue reading
Real Estate Agent Accused of Sexual Staging
Image created by ImageryMajestic provided courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
A Maple Grove, Minn. couple has filed a lawsuit against a real estate brokerage company and agent alleging the agent used their home for sexual encounters while they were out of the country. Apparently there still are a few FULL service real estate agents out there. I’m not sure what the real story is here. Is it that the agent used a client’s home for sexual escapades or is the real story that those sexual escapades result in a $7000 cost to clean or replace the soiled furniture, bedding, carpet and other things. Continue reading
Voyeurs Invade Open Houses In New York City
image created by Naito8, provided courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Rather than being a buyer’s market or seller’s market in New York, open houses are attracting the voyeur market. Looking at real estate listings has become a spectator’s sport to see what the Joneses are up to. Almost half of the people going to open houses in New York are there to rummage in the closets, scarf down the free Hors d’œuvres, and look for decorating tips, according to a survey reported in The New York Post. Continue reading
Seller Caught Refusing to Sell House to Black Couple
I can’t believe this still happens. Even worse, I can’t believe a real estate agent would even comply with the seller’s racially discriminating requests. This is the quickest path to a short real estate career. Did the agent participate in the discrimination or did he just handle the situation poorly when he initially found out about the seller’s intent to discriminate? While it’s not against the law to reject a buyer’s offer, it is against Fair Housing Laws to reject it based off of race or any other protected class. Continue reading
Realtor Gives Listing Presentation to Grieving Family At Funeral
Unfortunately, this is a true story that happened to me personally. I was approached at my grandmother’s funeral by a real estate agent, wanting to list the house I was about to inherit. The story gets worse…. Continue reading
The New Road Warriors – Mad Max Meet The Mad Real Estate Agent
Real estate agents may be on the bottom of the popularity list, ranking below lawyers and used car salesman, but we shine in one area. Real estate agents have the distinction of ranking as high as #4 on the latest list of “top 10 crashers by profession,” according to insure.com. While Doctors rank #1, Real estate agents are still a force to be reckoned with. Insure.com mentioned one possibility for real estate agents ranking high in automobile accidents was that they spend so much time in the car, often being distracted by clients. I’ve often observed real estate agents trying to combine interacting with clients, reading maps, talking on a cell phone, and looking at house numbers, with driving a car and navigating unfamiliar territories. With multi-tasking like this, something’s got to give. Continue reading
Real Estate Agent Charged With Theft And Tampering Of Public Records
A real estate agent in East Stroudsburg, PA was charged Friday with falsely reporting a property he owned as being mortgage-free, selling that property and then keeping the money from the sale for himself. I can’t believe he thought he could get away with it considering the staggering amount of paperwork and disclosures you have to sign when buying or selling a house. I can’t believe the title company didn’t pick this up. Continue reading
Real Estate Broker Accused of Embezzlement
Somerville and Peabody Police yesterday arrested Kandy Farkhanda Shah, a real estate broker on several charges, including embezzlement and larceny. Kandy was mentioned to be the real estate agent representing the listing. A woman submitted an offer to Shah to purchase the house with a $7200 deposit. According to The Summerville News, she then asked Shah to provide documentation of the sale’s approval which Shah allegedly refused to do, police said. When the deal did not go through, Shah refused to refund the woman’s money, police said. A few of Kandy’s other alleged victims can be found at too. Continue reading
Virtual Staging: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Lies
Imagine looking at a picture of a beautiful house with an updated kitchen, new carpet, paint, floors, and best of all, at a very low price. You jump into the car with your real estate agent by your side and you check it out. When you arrive, the beautiful house in pristine condition you saw pictured on the MLS listing has been replaced by something quite different. What you see is an ugly house with dingy walls, stained carpets, vandalized kitchen and not a shred of copper to be found in the place. Believe it or not, it’s the same house pictured in the MLS, except that the house in the MLS has been “virtually staged.” Continue reading