With today's Real Estate Market, there are many consumers that are being targeted by Scammers, Fraud companies...and as much as it pains me to say it...unethical/unprofessional Realtors. Unfortunately, the consumers don't know where to turn to or who to ask. How do they know that the person knocking on their door...offering to save them from pre-foreclosure... is really a licensed Realtor? There are many legitimate sources, but one that is rarely advertised is The California Department of Real Estate.
The CA Dept. of Real Estate is also a useful resource that we can direct consumers to who wish to file a complaint or get further education about California Real Estate. As Realtors, we have all heard 'head shaking' stories and it always saddens me to hear them. Here's a recent situation that prompted this blog:
I received a frantic chat request from one of my newly acquainted friends on Facebook (I'll refer to him as "Mr. friend"). Mr. Friend was in escrow with another Realtor representing him. He was totally upset and confused about what was going on with his escrow. My heart went out to him while hearing his story. Knowing I couldn't advise him because of his agency agreement, I could only listen and recommend he call his agent. You guessed it...his Realtor wasn't returning his calls! He was set to go sign documents and was so irrate with this Realtor that he wanted to back out of the contract. Not because of cold feet...he loved the place...he just didn't want that Realtor to get a penny of his money! I will spare you all the details...and granted, I was hearing only one side of the story...but something just didn't ring right! I quickly went to the DRE website to verify that this Realtor was actually a licensed Realtor...which they were. Knowing this, I knew Mr. Friend at least had a legitimate contract and there wasn't much else I could (would) say or do other than advise him about the website should he not resolve his issue with his Realtor. One good ending to this story...the buyer did close on his home.
As Realtors, we use this website to verify that the agent on the other side of our contract is actually licensed, but I have found that it can be a valuable referral site for the consumer as well.
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