So many blogs lately talk about how hard deals are these days. And we couldn't agree more. We feel somedays like we have to drag deals to settlement with everyone from mortgage companies, appraisers, home inspectors, Use & Occupany inspectors, homeowner associations, title companies, contractors, buyers, and sellers throwing up road blocks.
As in every day life, we have occasionally had to handle our share of unreasonable, unscrupulous or unintelligent parties in the process of a real estate transaction, but anymore, it seems to have gone to extremes. It makes me wonder if part of the problem is the economy. With more people struggling in their jobs and to pay their bills, has integrity gone by the wayside? It is the fight for survival that is making people try to justify their jobs, rush and make sloppy mistakes, fear lawsuits, and try to hide things?
We are not seeing this just in real estate, we are witnessing the same phenomenon in our personal lives. Here are a few examples of the kinds of things we have had to deal with lately.
> We ordered a new refrigerator for our home from a very reputable local dealer. The salesman said installation and removal of our old built-in Sub-Zero refrigerator was included (we had it in writing). When the guys showed up with the new fridge, they said no way were they taking out the old one because it was built in, said they didn't know how to remove it, and simply left.
> Our daughter had an impacted tooth. The orthodontist who has been in business for 25 years and has 12 kids in the chairs waiting to be seen at any given time, pulled her tooth in backwards. This is her canine tooth and very visible when she smiles. He says he doesn't know which way it was twisted, so he can't twist it back (a 360 degree rotation will kill the tooth).
> A client of ours got an estimate to replace their roof. The estimate was for $4,500. A line near the bottom of the quote said an additional $60 per sheet for sheathing if any needed to be replaced. The contractor told them he wasn't sure but felt they would not need the sheathing. Upon starting the roof (and collecting 50% of the job), he then claimed the roof didn't have any sheathing at all and needed 25 sheets to the tune of an additional $1,500. The contractor's attitude, "I've got lawyers, sue me."
> A neighbor had their driveway replaced. The driveway came with a two year warranty. Within six months, the end of the driveway started breaking up. The contractor won't return any of their phone calls.
> A U&O inspector recently forced sellers of ours to completely drywall over a beautiful old fireplace. Just a day prior, the sellers had a professional chimney contractor who was licensed in that borough to seal off the chimney to make it a non-working fireplace. But the U&O inspector wanted the additional drywall just to ensure the new owner could not possibly try to light a fire in it; thereby destroying a beautiful architectural piece of the home.
> As detailed in a previous blog this week, we had a mortgage guy switch our buyer of a short sale from a conventional loan with 20% down to an FHA loan with 3.5% down without telling anyone or getting agreement from the parties involved. We found out when we got the mortgage commitment 10 days prior to settlement.
> My car got backed into while I was at a home inspection in a very upscale neighborhood. The seller who was home during the inspection swore it had to be the old lady directly across the street because she backed into her daughter's car a few weeks prior when it was parked in the exact same spot. The police questioned her, she denied it and because she had so many dents in the back of her car, the police couldn't "prove" that there was any fresh damage to the car. The claim had to go on my insurance (with my $500 deductible).
I guess you could say this is my rant for the day. I feel like good honest service is getting harder to find. Maybe it is just a streak of bad luck, but it seems like it is going on all around us and to people we talk to. Anybody else notice this type of shift in service/attitude?
BTW, anyone know a good cosmetic dentist in the Tri-State area? We will travel for a good one.
~Lisa
Contact Scott Loper, Associate Broker, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Group at 215-513-1333 for help buying or selling a home in Lansdale, Harleysville, Hatfield, Souderton, Skippack, Collegeville, North Wales and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County Pennsylvania. To Search for Homes For Sale in Montgomery County Click Here.
Has the Economy Turned Everyone into Incompetent Crooks? Copyright © 2010, The Scott Loper Team, All rights reserved.
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