I made an offer for a listing that stated the place has “brand new carpets” (not newer or new, clearly “brand new”). I found out after asking many times and when it didn’t make any difference money-wise that the carpet was installed when the seller moved in which is 1.5 years ago. Am I crazy to be totally upset by it? The seller has a dog and the carpet doesn’t look great. Can I file a complaint somewhere for her false advertising?
Okay, first, this is an excellent argument for working with a buyer’s agent. I would have walked into that house the first time and said to you, “This carpet is not new.” Brand new carpet smells like formaldehyde, for one thing, but it also has a sheen on it that wears away in just a few weeks of normal use. There is no way an experienced Realtor could mistake new for newer or used carpet. There are too many tell-tales that tell the tale on carpet that has been lived on.
So can you file a complaint for false advertising? My guess would be no. At the bottom of the real estate listing, it will have said, “Buyer to verify all pertinent details” — or language to the same effect. We have more buyer protections now than pure caveat emptor, but not many more. The inspection period provided for in your purchase contract is your opportunity to discover whether the horse you are proposing to buy really does have a leg at all four corners. If it doesn’t, and if the deficit is material — meaning it matters to you — then you should cancel the contract or seek redress.
This again is another good reason to have professional advice. If you’re paying a market price for a home that is not delivering market value, you should either cancel or renegotiate. If you are paying well under the market price, you might resolve to grin and bear it.
The seller’s agent also pulled a convenient offer out of her hat every time she needed to pressure us, but I don’t have any proof of that (i.e. the offers being made up).
Two words: Show me. The contract probably gives the agent the power “to notify the public of this agreement” — which means the agent can read it to you chapter and verse. Even if not, the agent can show you the paperwork, even if you don’t get to read it. My answer would be, “If you want to bully me with your other offers, I want to see them. If you won’t show them to me, I’ll assume they don’t exist.”
It’s just that everything added up for me to be disgusted by her practice, including sending us documents to sign without her client signing them first, not sending the documents by the deadline and so on.
Every bit of this smells, and it may not be any consolation to learn that irresponsible agents try to pull these stunts with other agents, too. The difference is, I’ve seen every trick in the book at least twice, and I’m unfazed. You’re involved in a hugely emotional transaction involving most if not all of your net worth, and you feel like you’re getting jerked around. A buyer’s agent gets paid to suffer those slings and arrows in your place.
My question is: how far can an agent go with being unethical and get away with it? I had some people laughing at me saying that I stress for nothing, but I think that if you pay for something you should get that item.
I’m with you on the last part. When I’m hammering on repairs, it’s an idea I come back to again and again: My buyers are paying full price. They have every right to expect full value.
I don’t know how your repair negotiations went, and I don’t know what terms your contract provided with respect to repairs. In Arizona, using the Arizona Association of Realtors standard contract, you could have cancelled the contract during the inspection period for any reason. We used to say “reasonable disapproval,” but now we simply say “disapproval.” Who can determine for another person what is or is not “reasonable?” If you don’t like it, leave it.
As for complaints against the agent, you can try — filing with the local Association of Realtors or your state’s regulatory agency. Unless there’s more than you’re telling me, I don’t know that you’ll get very far. I don’t see an injury to you that you could not have foreseen and avoided. The agent might be sleazy, but I’m not hearing any crimes. I might be wrong, and, if you feel yourself to be aggrieved, you should pursue relief. You can take solace for now in the fact that time wounds all heels — and reputation, in the age of the internet, is inescapable.
Technorati Tags: real estate marketing
Norm Fisher says:
Hmmm. In my market, a misrepresenation is a misrepresentation regardless of how easy it is to uncover the agent’s lie. If I represented a carpet to be “new” and the buyer later proved that the seller and his dog had been living on it for 1.5 years, I would be “called on the carpet” by the regulators. Whether a civil suit could be successful is an entirely different matter. I tend to agree that “caveat emptor” would likely apply in this instance.
Your suggestions of a buyer’s agent is great advice. Public perceptions of our business would improve greatly if every buyer and seller had their own agent representing them. Nothing else really seems to work.
Good post Greg!
December 12, 2006 — 9:34 am
Sam Chapman says:
There are some words a good agent will never (did I say never?) use. They are new, always and never. People like the listing agent in this story are the ones that make the real estate industry look bad. The sad part is that I don’t think it will ever change.
December 12, 2006 — 3:46 pm
Reuben Moore says:
Am I the only one to notice the irony between this post of Greg’s and Russell Shaw’s immediately preceding “Dear Abby”?
December 12, 2006 — 4:22 pm
Toby says:
Great column. Have to wonder about the first one though. If the carpet being “brand new” was so important to her, then you’d think she’d have noticed the wear earlier.
December 12, 2006 — 10:18 pm
AL says:
Wonderful. Thanks for a great post. I really did enjoy it . I do find that it depends on the time frame you have to either sell or buy your home. The more time or money you have you can really be “picky” on things that you agree with or not.
Al
January 13, 2007 — 10:13 pm