Hello: I hope you would look into this complaint because it could be one of the reasons we have this mortgage crisis and that it is especially bad here in CA, as the situation I am about to describe, took place in the Antelope valley area of CA.
This is my experience; these are my conclusions and I have e-mails which I do believe supports these conclusions. This is the condensed version of my story:
We were looking for a property we could afford and saw 44836 west 33rd street in Lancaster CA. The asking price was 225k. Our Agent suggested we offer above 'because inventory was low and we have to offer higher', which I didn't agree with but made an offer of 240k anyway. The bank we were working with was CHASE and once the appraisal was done, they came back with an amount of 235k. Our Agent was reluctant to present this to the seller's Agent (Cathy Toso); and instead proceeded to provide CHASE with a rebuttal of his own! justifying the higher price...(makes you wanna ask; well whose side is he on?) the Loan Officer didn't accept that insisted our Agent present the appraisal to the Sellers and ask for a reduction in price; our Agent eventually did and the price was reduced to 235k. However, the loan didn't go through and on 10/16 we received the declination. I immediately contacted our Agent (who also received a copy) and asked him to begin the process for cancelling the escrow and the refund of our "earnest money" but he suggested we wait and begin looking elsewhere for a new loan. Later that day, he was able to convince my wife to continue the process with another lender and I agreed. On 10/18, I asked my Agent about our refund because we had not received a new agreement and the money was also not refunded, so we were in a state of "limbo" for lack of a better word. My Agent said "well karl, that may not be so easy because we signed an addendum"; so I asked 'wasn't the addendum for a price reduction'? and he said "yes; but there may have been some clause in there about holding your money"; so I asked him 'but if that was the case, wouldn't YOU have alerted me to this change and advise me on the consequences of signing this'? and he said "yes, but I am very busy...so I could have missed it but I will work on it". On 10/21, my Agent advised that the Seller's Agent (Cathy Toso) is suggesting that we cancel the escrow and contract and resubmit our offer. This amazed me because a clause in the original contract provided for a cancellation if the loan wasn't funded. Anyway, my Agent faxed a document for me to sign in order to cancel the contract and resubmit a new offer and with a new lender...and I signed it and faxed it back later that day after much debate with my wife...
Nothing happened for the next few days and on 11/01, my Agent advised that "the seller has accepted another offer of 243k". How can this Agent (Cathy Toso) sell the property to someone else before resolving our documents? so our money was just kept for what? security? like an interest free loan? how can these people do business like that and continue with impunity? and what was my Agent's feduciary responsibilities to me?
Naturally, I got very upset and wrote to the Seller's agent myself (no profanity or anything) and asked her to provide a cancelled escrow document with the seller's signature and tell me about getting my money back within 48 hours. My Agent got so upset...he thought it was NONE OF MY BUSINESS to contact Cathy Toso directly, he called and scolded me about my actions and then said "have you ever been fired? well I am firing you...I no longer work for you and you get your money back yourself however you can". I want My Agent Reprimanded and retrained to be more tolerant and Professional in his duties and I want Cathy Toso's actions investigated because I don't think you can sell a house to someone else while another buyer still has open documents on the property. I have since reveeived my refund from the escrow company but I am not satisfied because we were USED and our Agent was at best, incompetent if not culpable.