Another First That I Rather Had Avoided

Having been in the business of real estate for over 20 years you always have to celebrate those "firsts", whether its your "first" million dollar listing, or "first" cash deal or even your "first" double ended transaction.  I have had these and many other "first"'s but last month I had my "first" negative review.

My clients were relocating from another state and I had previously sold their home when they had moved out of IL.  They were happy with my services and told me they would definitely use my services again because I did such a great job!  I thanked them and continued to stay in touch with an ocassional email or phone call throught the years.

I received an email from the husband early part of the year indicating that they were thinking of moving back to IL and that they would contact me to "help" them.  The husband did contact me the day before his wife was coming to "look" for homes and wanted me to show her a list of homes that he had picked up in an area that I normally don't sell in.  I told him that it was normally out of my area but he assured me that it was not an issue since he had done "all" the research and he knew exactly what he needed.  I had worked in the area at one time for several months and had friends that lived in the area but was not my normal stomping grounds.   Nonethe less he was OK with it and wanted me to set-up the showings and that the wife would pick one out.  They had an offer on their current home and needed to move quickly.

It was late afternoon, so I started to set-up showings despite the fact that most offices were closed. Luckily the stars aligned and I was able to schedule 8 for the next day.  Made arrangements to meet-up with the wife and take her to all the showings.  Flew in one day - showed houses 2nd day and flew out the 3rd day because husband had arranged it.  Long story short - she picked the house - I wrote up the offer and everything looked like it was going smoothly.  She thanked me profusely for all my help and told me that they could not have done the it  without me taking the time to accommodate their time schedule.  They were excited that the "home" they had picked had turned out to be "perfect" for their needs and the 6 pets they had.  Large fenced yard, finished basement, etc.

We were able to get my preferred lender to process the loan in 30 days which has become rare these days but he had pre-approved them several months earlier when the initial contact had been made so some of the initial work had been done.  Closing came and since they were driving to IL the day before their current home closed they asked me to do the walk through.  All the home inspection issues had been resolved earlier and the attorney had all that taken care of.  Some last minute issues were resolved to everyone's satisfaction and closing day was upon us.

My walk through before the closing found some issues that I contacted the listing agent to have the seller take care of - "broom swept" includes the garage sellers!   Funding was there, attorney had power of attorney - signed mortgage and we got funded within a couple of hours.  I contacted the wife during the walk through to ask her if seller could leave one item or if they preferred it be removed and she asked for it to stay. 

Another successful closing and I left one of my lockboxes with the keys so they could get in the next day when they were scheduled to come into IL.  

Unfortunately, that was not the case.  Husband emailed me and ranted about the home, the condition - lack of cleanliness, and how I had forced them to buy the home, etc. etc.

To say I was dumbfunded is an understatement!  I was hurt, frustrated and upset.  Tried calling the husband but he would not take my calls.  Tried calling the wife and was unsuccessful.  I was floored that my "happy" buyers had turned into a disaster.  It came out of nowhere and despite several emails the rant just got worse.

Unfortunately, it did not end there...the husband who had done all the "research" including his own valuation - (did not like mine or my concerns about the house) - had posted a negative review on the big Z.

My star rating dropped .5 and now I don't know whether to counter it or let sleeping dogs lie?  Hopefully, my other "happy" buyer reviews will counterbalance this one negative.....