Unscrupulous Real Estate Agents!!!

[Victor N.]

Wanted to share a very recent experience ( a few days ago) with an unscrupulous listing broker.

A 2 family HUD home was listed by this agent who's office happened to be about an hour from the property and in a different county. The property showed active on the HUD website but showed "under deposit" on the mls ( / realtor.com). My agent who is very experienced with HUD properties contacted the listing broker who never returned his call. So my agent contacted the HUD office since he has worked with them on numerous occasions. Looks like HUD contacted the listing agent, then all of the sudden, the status of the property on the mls was changed to "active".

My agent believes that the listing agent might have had a client he was trying to hold the property for. So by showing the property as active, no one would show any interest. Also, the property taxes were exaggerated on the listing and finally, the listing agent noted in the description that the city had changed the zoning of the property from a 2 family to a single family ( asking - or scaring- buyers to do their due diligence).

Needless to say, all that didnt scare me and I just got the property under contract. Im curious to see if anyone has had similar experiences?

[Robert Leonard]

@Victor N. all you can do is what you did. Be thorough, persistent and professional. I think most of the time, it's just poor work ethic, sloppiness and a lack of professionalism. Sometimes you give these characters more credit than they deserve when you think they are executing some scheme to outwit potential buyers. Not to say that doesn't happen, because it does. I just find that there are a lot of people who can make a living doing jobs that they aren't very professional about doing.