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First off, let me start off by saying that if you ever purchase a home through a real estate office make sure that you do not have a realtor that is a listing and a selling agent for the home. That was our first mistake because all she seen was big dollar signs and became as greedy as she could be from that point on. It all started back in November of 2006. We had seen this house on the market on the internet and decided to come drive by it and see what it was all about. We had been looking for our dream home for close to a year and seen this one and thought it was interesting enough to look at it. We contacted Irene and asked to see the inside of it. She had set up a couple different appointments and every time we were scheduled to see it, she would call and cancel saying that the owner was unable to show it due to different circumstances with her schedule. We had pretty much decided that it was not meant to be and gave up on seeing it. In Decemeber Irene had contacted us and told us that the owner was vacating it and moving out because her husband was being relocated for work and that we would be able to finally get in and see it. I am not sure of the exact day but we had finally come out to view it. We walked in and Irene was already in the house. She had the fireplace lit and had the house toasty warm which made it extremely inviting. We walked around it and were both amazed at how it was almost exactly what we were looking for and Irene kept asking what we thought of it and told us that we should make an offer on it if we liked it since it was almost perfect for us. We made them an offer that was quite a stretch from what they were looking to get for it because we assumed that they would think we were out of our mind for offering such a low offer. I believe it was the very next day Irene had contacted us and stated they accepted the offer. Now that should have been a huge red flag for us but she told us they had taken the offer because they did not want to have the house sitting and on their books in the start of the new year. Okay we were nieve and fell for that line. Now keep in mind, the house is less than 2 yrs old, over 3, 000 sq ft in size, and has already had a previous owner. The previous owners never put a yard in on this house with 2 acres of land. The outside was a mess with weeds. We had met with Irene and told her that we would only purchase the house with stipulations. The house was very dirty inside and you can tell it was not properly taken care of. The carpets were filthy and smelled like animals and there was dirt, dead flies and cobwebs on all of the fixtures. The appliances were not cleaned either. I also knew about the Howard Hanna buy back warranty because I had previously purchased a home with that warranty on it. My husband at first was not keen on the idea of having that because he knew we would have to pay for it but I insisted on it and told him we would be insane not to because if anything were to go wrong within a year we could give it back to Howard Hanna and find another home. I had him convinced after that. Irene had told him that between the time of the purchase agreement and the closing we could take that out if we wanted to and would not be under any obligation to buy it and I told her we were indeed buying it. When we signed the first purchase agreement it was definately checkmarked and in it and it also stated that the we wanted the home professionally cleaned inside and out. She stated that that would not be a problem. We signed it and she stated that she would get it to GMAC which was the relocation company handling the property now. She contacted us the next day and said we would have to resign the papers because the utilities had some issue and they needed to be put into Howard Hanna or GMAC's name and it was standard procedure. We told her we were extremely busy with work and holiday stuff and she stated she would meet us at a supply house where we were going shopping at so that we would not be inconvenienced. We once again signed the papers. Now mind you this is the point where she snuck out the Howard Hanna buy back guarantee. We never noticed because we took her to be a very honest and sincere person. WOW, WE WERE DEAD WRONG! She is by far the most manipulative sneaky person ever. We had contacted her a few days later and asked to view the house again and she agreed. When we got to the house my husband was checking everything out from one side to another. He had got into the basement and had noticed water leaking in the back corner of the house. SECOND MISTAKE. WE SHOULD HAVE RAN AS FAST AS POSSIBLE FROM THIS. He pointed it out to Irene and she stated she would contact GMAC and ask them to have it repaired immediately. We trusted her to do just that. She contacted us the next morning and stated someone was going there and fixing it that day. We told her we wanted a home inspection done before we were going any further. We met with her again and sure enough the water was still in the basement. She stated she would contact the contractor and have him come back and my husband had told her he wanted to be there when he did. She had recommended a Home Inspection company and he came out later that week. When we met with her and the inspector she stated the contractor had already been there and fixed the problem and the inspector would verify it was resolved now. Now once again keep in mind the yard is nothing but mud. The weather was freezing cold out and we took her word that it was fixed. She stated the contractor would be out once the weather cleared up better to do a final grade on where he had dug up and waterproofed the wall. We had noticed a week later that his fix was that she had hired some guy that she probably had known prior to this event to fix it and his specialty was not waterproofing or basement leaks but he was a contractor that installed paved driveways. This guy had melted the siding on the back of our house when he tried using a torch to dry the back wall out. It was absolutely hideous. We contacted her on that and she said she checked it out and everything was fine. Yeah right! We still have leaks and it is over a year later now. When we contacted that contractor he told us that she said do whatever had to be done to make it look fixed because that was all that was required. She of course denied that. At this point we are both furious with her lies. I have contacted the owner of Howard Hanna and told him our full story. He could not even contact us back with a response. I was always a big Howard Hanna Fan but after this experience I am no longer nor would I recommend them to anyone. I have heard horror stories about this company. We sold our home before this one with www.forsalebyowner.com within 3 days of putting it on the market. We never dealt with idiots like these ones. We have lived in this house over a year now and our dream house is nothing more than a replication of the movie "Money Pit" and we will never again trust another realtor. They are all nothing more than car salesmen. Total BS'ers. Make sure if you get involved with a realtor you read every paper they have you sign and I mean over and over again until the day you get owner access.
Bought this house from very unethical seller and agent. You be the judge; could they have just said filled out "unknown" for standing water? be very carefull with Howard Hanna, especially if your agents name is Alan vox.
Renee/agent did not immediately list Orchard Park condo' held it for someone now it is contingent. FAST WORK NOT Fair
Erie, PA. We listed our home in the beginning of May with a very reputable realtor ( not Howard Hanna). After only three hours we had two offers. We went with one for less money instead of full price with a contingency attached. The couple had a HH agent, and was doing everything else through HH, including loans and everything. After traveling out of town approx four times per week we found a house contingent on the sale of our current home. Of course that was in the bag. So we set up closing dates on both properties. After boxing everything up and getting to the point where we were basically camping in our house, they asked for an extention of two weeks because HH was behind on getting the appraisal done. We agreed and made arrangements with the new place. Two weeks later on the Friday afternoon before our Monday closings, we get word that our buyers have credit issues. After multiple calls to their loan officer, Judy Malcom, she returned my call Saturday afternoon and assured me that everything was still good, and that they were just waiting for one more issue out of three to clear on their credit. Saying that it could come through on that Monday, or it could take up to two more weeks. At this point the family that we were buying from in Pittsburgh had ALL of their belongings on a moving truck to Maryland. We had movers coming Monday. It became this huge domino effect. Monday afternoon arrives and our buyer's (HH) realtor calls our Pitt realtor and STILL assures her that everything is fine. At this point, the owners of our new house back out of our deal ( keep in mind that we have registered our kid in school, arranged all utilities, doctors, dentist, jobs (that we both had to forfeit ) etc... At 4:00 Monday afternoon, we are on a conference call with our realtor, and our buyer's (HH) realtor. He tells us at this point that our buyers do not want to prolong this process any longer because of stress. The whole duration of this process took 2 1/2 months. We are now back on the market well outside of the "selling season". The Howard Hanna "Team" lied to us for their own selfish reasons and got off scott free. The buyers got their puny deposit back and we are still stuck here. It's like one great big nightmare. Thanks Howard Hanna for all of the stress and lies.
Pittsburgh11, you have no idea how true your remarks are. Having first hand knowledge of Barristers Title and Howard Hanna Company, those employees are buried in paperwork everyday without enough staff to do the job properly and I'm sure they aren't paid very well. When this company makes mistakes, they are all lawyers so you know how that goes. As for employees being on here defending the company, not a chance, more like the realtors defending the company. The realtors are the one's making all the money for this company, which is why the company will do whatever to keep them happy. The employees on the other hand are just the grunts that do all the actual work. To the realtors and employees, all the contests and prizes given out, if you think it's chance on who wins prizes and trips, forget it. The gifts and trips go to the realtors and employees they want to give them to.
As for Barristers, If I had to guess, I would say one out of every three closings with Barristers has a customer complaint. Just because you where one of the lucky few doesn't mean everyone else is wrong. For bradman, that 5+1 isn't a commission split, it's just another way Howard Hanna gets an extra percentage of the transaction for themselves calling it advertising or marketing. That's why Howard Hanna wants to list the properties just so they can set themselves up for higher commmission. Their realtors will steer you to HH properties for the same reason, to make more of the commission. Do your homework. The commission is paid by the person selling a property . Full service agents will list and sell your house at 5% and work hard for you too. They don't make a dime if they cant sell your home.
JcHomes: Are you serious? Commissions ARE negotiable. You can even negotiate the split of the commission like 5+1. I see discount brokers and agents charging 5% and full service brokers and agents charge 6-7%. That being said I see more homes being sold by the full service brokers and I use them to sell my own properties. I have used discount brokers and find them to skimp on marketing and professionalism. You get what you pay for. As for title companies same thing applies. Many of my colleague inverters have been put in horrible situations because of bad title companies. I like how you exclaim that people are wrong but offer no explanation or examples. I would have to agree and say you are an idiot.
Well I must comment on DimiG's remark that the Howard Hanna employees are disputing complaints. Hahahaha The employees at Howard Hanna or at least 75%, don't like it there either. The working conditions are horrible and being micro managed to death right down to how many staples did you use today. It is one of the worst places to work I have ever seen. What is more likly is the complaints are being monitored and employees are being terminated for any negative comments.
I must say there seem to be a lot of Howard Hanna employees here. Do they pay you to go on complaint boards and dispute the claims of others.
When someone tells you they will do something, they should do it period. Especially a professional.
In response to the Irene lady thing, its her job to make money off of you. Yes, your are supposed to be in her best interest, but her paycheck is her best interest. You need to do your homework before buying a house. At that, before getting a realtor so you can see any signs of foul play. We took Homebuyer Education courses before starting this process. And let me tell you, we learned a lot. We are first time homebuyers and didn't know a thing about what these numbers mean, what escrow is. We know now, and much more. I would have RAN when we saw the basement. As a matter of fact, we DID. We saw a house a few weeks ago that I was in love with. Its was beautiful...then the crack in the foundation and water coming down ..GOODBYE. Walked right out and didnt look back. We are buying the ugly house, with a waterproofed basement, new furnace, hot water tank, roof and windows. I said its ugly inside, but structurally PERFECT. Now about my present experience with Howard Hanna... Both Howard Hanna and Barrister title drag their feet and do no do their jobs. I am buying a house and going through Remax but the seller has Howard Hanna. That other agentasked to switch title companies to Barrister and I was nice and said ok, since your client is paying for it anyway. Federal Law says buyer has the right to choose the title company. Either way, she called my realtor and said she wants to switch it and siad the name is Barrister Title. He said she needs to call my loan officer and tell her the information so she can process the loan. She has yet to call. My loan officer called her on Tuesday and left message. Its Friday. No phone call from Miss Howard Hanna. So my lon officer took it upon herself to call every Barrister Title and get the info her self. Then Barrister Title said they would send over the Pre-Hud and W9s the next morning (Wednesday). Its Friday. My closing date is April 6th. Its March 11th and my loan isn't even submitted. A friend of mine was going through Howard Hanna to buy his first house and a week before closing it fell through because they were missing a document that was needed to close. They never called the him and asked him to produce it. They let it get declined and his house was sold to someone else. Now 4 months later he is just now moving into another house, after having to extend his lease and pay twice as much. This time he went through Tim Ali Realty. Sorry, but I wouldn't recommend Howard Hanna to anyone. Buying a house is so stressful, especially your first, it doesn't need to be any worse.
Howard Hannah is a little more pricey than other places, but you pay for convenience. I have bought 2 homes through them and since they are a full service broker, they handled everything. Granted, I could have saved some money by sputtering around the countryside getting my own title company, loan, etc, but I paid them to do all of the work. I knowingly paid a little premium for the convenience.
My agent has never attempted to sell me a home. I find the homes that I want and call him to initiate the purchase process. Why would I expect a sales agent to be an expert on every aspect of a home that they haven't lived in? It would be borderline [censor]ed to trust your investments to any sales agent. Do your own research and educate yourself.
I agree with the others who think Irene should sue you.
I agree with a lot of the people here in this forum, why didnt u walk away i have purchased 2homes from howard hannah and both of them needed work and the first one reallllllllllllllly needed work and it wasnt the realtors fault, it was OUR FAULT! SO SUCK IT UP, we fixed it up sold it, educated ourselves got on down the road you are no better.
Snack85 - they charge higher commissions my friend. Of course they couldn't just jack up the prices of homes and expect a mortgage company to lend more for that home because it's listed with HH. In PA they charge over 3% more then what other agencies are charging and they aren't even negotiable. As for your comment about Barristers Title Co. well, you are flat out wrong. Let's not start calling people idiots by the way.
The house had to have been dirty with bugs on the furniture when you first looked at it. Why did you put in an offer on a dirty house if you didn't like the condition?
If you found all of these problems prior to closing why didn't you just cancel the contract based on the issues?
Why didn't you opt to hire an inspector of your choice to inspect the home? Didn't want to spend the money at the time? Penny wise, pound foolish.
To spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and NOT do inspections (that cost a couple hundred) is simply stupidity.
What would be your agent's motivation to cancel the Home Warranty if you wanted it? They make a bonus on selling things like that and the company offers it as a perc.
And why would your offer being accepted be a "big red flag"? Did you not want the house, and if so... why did you make an offer?
In all businesses there are good people and bad people. Car sales, homes sales, hair stylists... it is our first duty to choose those who work for us wisely. I have no knowledge of this agent so I cannot comment on her competency.
But the things you cited are not things that she could have lied about as they were OBVIOUS defects that you saw with your own eyes prior to closing.
If there was a basement problem you could have hired a professional of your own choice to inspect it.
If the house was damaged (with the torch) and was not fixed to your satisfaction, again, you could have walked on the contract due to that.
So... why didn't you?
But there is a lesson to be learned in your complaint.
As consumers, we make decisions on purchases and we are responsible for those decisions. In the real estate industry there is disclosure, inspections and warranties... many, many tools available to protect the consumer. And the most important tool is for a buyer to be responsible and do their own due diligence when purchasing.
If a buyer does not use those tools, they have no one to blame but themselves.
It sounds like you had been in search of YOUR "dream home" for some time. Was your dream home one that you could ultimatly sue over? Sure sounds that way to me.
You are repeat buyers and have owned at least one home as indicated in your complaint. Home owners know there are no perfect homes. You can not claim ignorance... you admitted to looking for some time! The complaints on the property stated are all very obvious problems... nothing concealed or covered up by anyone. Irene is not a basement repair expert... does not sound like she said she was either.
I do not know Irene nor have I ever bought or sold a home with Howard Hanna. As a long term Cleveland area homeowner I do know Howard Hanna has been a leader in the market for years. You do not stay a leader for long if you are crooked!
It is any buyers responsibility to accept THEIR purchase and to be comfortable with THEIR offer and the condition of THEIR property being bought.
If you were soooooo unhappy with the condition of the home I am very confused on your DREAM HOME? Most normal people have dreams of grandeur ... not a blighted property as you are suggesting. It's YOUR dream remember? Not Irenes!
If I were Irene I too would sue you for slander!
You sound like nut bags! Too bad she did not smell skunk and walk away from YOU!
wow you people are idiots...howard hanna can't overprice homes to make a profit themselves. How would they ever appraise? There closing costs are the same if not cheaper than other title companies and as a buyer you can choose whatever closing company you want. Just because you dealt with an idiot agent does not mean the whole company is out to scam you.
Howard Hanna and Barrister's Title Service charge higher prices then any other real estate companythat I've ever dealt with... but why? Howard Hanna's services are no different or better then the other options a buyer or seller has. When I first dealt with Howard Hanna to purchase an investment home in Pittsburgh our realtor must have confused me for an uneducated first time home buyer (which I was not). She gave me lines somewhere along the lines of "most home prices are not negotiable, " "I have buyers that looked at this home 3 times already and are ready to put an offer in but if you put an offer in today then you would have first dibs, " on homes that have been on the market for almost 12 months... at closing I later overheard the Howard Hanna agent complaining to other agents that "anything with Howard Hanna's name on it is overpriced, and that they were tired of their supervisors/ management." Howard Hanna's greed runs from top to bottom...
Your complaint makes no sense at all. Was the home inspection in the contract? Why didn't you just walk? Did you put a lot of money down? Sounds like you gave a low ball offer without doing any research at all then when problems occur you expect the agent to fix everything. Oh and if you sold your home in only 3 days on that crappy website you must of really undervalued yourself. Good for you.
If I was the realestate agent I would sue you for slander
I own a home inspection business in Virginia. I get tired of goofballs like this that don't do their research. If you read the complaint, sounds like they made a low ball offer and were glad it was accepted despite the fact that they say the home was "dirty" and "was not well taken care of" and "my husband saw water in the basement" (apparently on two separate occasions). According to the complaint, these dingleberries also say that the home was without proper grading, no landscaping and apparently did not even have a yard. Despite all of this, they bought the home anyway. Come on! The Realtor is there to sell the home, the Buyers must do their research or hire their own Buyer's Agent. These people listened to the Seller's Agent and, somehow, feel ripped off. Most basements will leak if there is not proper grading or landscaping. This, however, can be corrected for a reasonable cost. Frankly, had they been civil to the Realtor, she or her Broker could have gotten a better contractor out there to repair the problem properly. Instead they decided to hire a starving attorney to get revenge. He will get them a little bit of money, keep most of it for himself, and all without really having to do anything. The problem that these people will face is that, in a few years when they want to sell the home, they will have a really hard time selling the home because they went after a well known Realtor. I hope they're stuck with the home forever.
Did you not look over the house in detail and just randomly made an offer
You were spending alot of money to be so casual
Real estate agents get paid to sell homes and they will try to move you to the next step
whether they are the sellers or buyers or both agents.
A good lesson learned