Real Estate Consumers are hurt everyday at the Lies that Realtors tell them. Yes it is a cruel world and people lie sometimes, the thing is with members of the National Association of Realtors they Lie, They fail to Disclose and they are not held accountable by the So called “Higher Standard” umbrella of NAR that they work under.
No one hears the cries of the real estate consumer, sleepless night after sleepless night as they wonder if tomorrow will be a better day. If tomorrow they will find a way to get the Realtor to pay for the lies they told, or for what they did not disclose that has made it so that the real estate they purchased is now un-sellable, dangerous to live in, worth less, or causing major damage to the structure and basically ruining the real estate consumers life.
Even if you have proof the Realtors lied, you have to fight for the Rights that Should be Basic in a Real Estate transaction. Having a Realtor in the Real Estate transaction actually provides more legal protection for the Realtor and makes it easier for the buyer to be cheated, lied to, mislead, and Not disclosed to.
Without the Realtor, the buyer could sue the seller, and with proof maybe win - maybe not but it would be a more cut and dried situation.
If a Real Estate Agent is not a “Realtor”, a member of the National Association of Realtors or a Non-Franchise Real Estate Broker, then this too is better for the real estate consumer, because they will dig harder to make sure that what they are telling is actually true.
Why? They have more liability, non-Realtors do not have that Super Power of the National Association of Realtors, those who lobby for them, and the Giant Insurance Companies behind them.
The Top E and O insurances want, demand that you be a Realtor Member or they will not insure you. Why is this ? Well because “Realtor” members are of a Higher Standard. Not True, but hey it’s their motto so …
In the Selling of a Home or Property the Realtor and the Previous Seller can act like “they did not know”. Even if they did it is hearsay right? But once you the buyer know the problem and try and get the Realtor to pay for their lies then you become the Seller and you now have to disclose, you cannot say I did not know and get away with it as the previous Seller and the Realtor did.
I have had Realtors, ask me if my client fixed a problem under the floor in the kitchen on a property that I had listed for sale. You see Their Client or Friend wants to know BEFORE they buy, what a novel concept right?
Well it just so happens that only 6 months prior to this “Foot in Mouth” phone call by a local Century 21 Broker Owner, my Client had bought this property with One of My “Realtors” as their buyers agent, and they did not disclose this “problem” to my client. Yes they found it, they fixed it, it was an issue of, well I can’t sue the Realtor, I will lose and it will cost more to try and get justice and accountability, so the owner fixed it. To find out later that the Realtor knew and admitted they knew was shocking.
He did so Boldly because, as a Century 21 Agent, he knew that there really was not way to touch him. Many times, this same agent had been “protected” by the Local Association of Realtors. He was and is a Broker Owner, A Realtor, and the local association gives him protection and special treatment. This is not unique to the area I am talking about. I have seen this in several states and several Realtor Associations.
C21, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s and ERA have even more protection because they are all owned by the same Corporation, and in this they have attorneys, insurance and mega-protection which means to you the real estate consumer, You Lose.
Oh I know you were lied to and misled, I know that your Realtor failed to disclose, but you see we will keep you in court longer then your pocketbook, your life, your kids life, and your marriage can possibly stand.
The National Association of Realtors lobbies to make sure they have more rights then you. No one lobbies effectively for Consumers Rights in Real Estate because who has more money then the National Association of Realtors? And is willing to spend it fighting for the rights of the Real Estate Consumer in the Real World of Real Estate.
So, with this, the laws lean more and more every month - day - week to make it easier for the Realtor to lie, Mandatory E and O insurance is one of these horrible acts on the Real Estate Consumer. Making, the Real Estate Agent, by Law Protect themselves from the Real Estate Consumer. I did NOT want protection from YOU. I wanted to Protect you.
Several times I have seen a Realtor put in writing that a buyer will have Lake Access, that the Seller currently has lake access and the buyer will have it once they buy.
This particular CRIME, fraud, and failure to disclose, I have seen over and over and the agent who said their was lake access in writing, on the buy sell and in advertising to sell the property, well they did not even get called on it, they were protected so much that it never became an issue. The Real Estate Consumer is Simply like a bothersome fly, and can do no real damage to the Realtor. The local association will NOT listen, the State Realtors Association is No Help What So Ever.
The Realtor deliberately lies or just goes with what the seller says without proving it and in the end the buyer is left to fight for years to get justice or to get the lake access that they were told would “come with” the Sale. No one defends the consumers right to actually get what they thought they were buying, after all parties get a pay check, what the buyers are left with
Whether Realtors lie deliberately or without really knowing the facts, either way they have No Liability. They can simply say they did not know and the laws protect them.
They should have known, especially before they used “Lake Access” in their Marketing. But the Realtor knows they have No Real Liability and a whole lot of loopholes to get out of any financial Accountability so they don’t go ahead and Prove what the seller says, and provide no real proof to the lake access except for, oftentimes, simply writing it on the buy sell and this means nothing.
One Incident, I listed a 20 acre parcel, the Seller said that they had lake access, I believed them, however, I wanted proof in my file so I asked the Seller for the easement or documents that proved they had lake access. The documentation that they had was a buy sell agreement, whereby the Seller and the Realtor wrote into the agreement that their was lake access.
The buyer thought that if it was on the buy sell then it was true, and that they really had Lake Access. It does not matter what the Buy Sell says, yes it is a legal binding contract, but after you sign the closing papers, ( and the title company will Not prove anything on the buy sell), anyway after you sign then it is what it is. You have to make all parties prove what they promised or offered you in the Buy Sell before you sign the closing papers. The buyer thinks that the real estate buy sell agreement is a binding contract.
It is in the sense that if the buyer and seller signs and one tries to back out you can take a few years out of your life and Sue for “Specific Performance” to hold the buyer or the seller to the contract, should they want out for any reason.
However, the buy sell is not legally binding automatically, in any way, you have to fight for your right to actually have what the buy sell agreement promised that you should or could have. In this Situation the Seller, who use to be the buyer, also had the original ads that the Realtor put out claiming that their was lake access. Turned Out they had no lake access and would never get it because the lake was fed by an irrigation ditch and had a turbine in it, they did not want anyone on it.
The Realtor, the Seller can promise the moon, they can be lying or really believe what they are saying, either way You Need to Prove it Before You Sign.
Peoples Lives are Ruined by Realtors that Are Not held Accountable for the lies that they knowingly or unknowingly tell.
The Insurance that Realtors have will Beat the Real Estate Consumer pretty much every time, even in the biggest most proven cases of fraud.
Realtors are Bound by Law they have to “Investigate” complaints, they have to listen to the real estate consumer and do the right thing. That is what many say and what many believe
I Say This is Bull on every level. The Director at the Association of Realtors encourages (makes, misleads, denies) the “Realtor” members to not file a complaint, she Flat Out Denies them Due Process. She also does this when the Real Estate Consumer calls her for help. She suggests a real estate attorney and so begins the Diary of A Lawsuit.
Years of your life, no help what so ever from the Realtor or the Realtor Association that got you into the mess in the first place. They go on to other “Victims” I mean real estate consumers, they continue sleeping well at night and making money.
While the Consumer begins the lawsuit to fight for what the Realtor told them they had, or for the non-disclosure of a Realtor, The Local Association of Realtors turns a Blind eye to the distress of the consumer, this includes a Realtor Member who becomes a Real Estate Consumer. Turning on their own, picking the Realtor with the Biggest Franchise Behind them.
This is the Cold Hard Facts of the Real World of the Real Estate Industry.
What do I hope to gain from all this blathering? Well not Justice that’s for sure. I hope to Stop you from go through what others have gone through. I hope to Stop you from what, I myself have seen and gone through personally.
I could just walk away, quit being a real estate broker, get a new career and move on quietly. But that is not my, I am Very good at real estate, however, I cannot stomach the total disregard for the Rights of the Real Estate Consumer before, during and after the real estate transaction. I cannot stomach the commercials, billboards and websites that claim that Realtors are of a Higher Standard and that they are the Voice of Real Estate.
The National Association of Realtors need to be stripped of their trademark on “NAR is the Voice for Real Estate”. This is propaganda, this is a slogan, a way to pull in the unsuspecting prey, this could be new “Realtors” or the “Real Estate Consumer”. Come on over to NAR, we got your back, we are “…the Voice for Real Estate”, we constantly lobby against the consumer and there is nothing they can do about it. Join the National Association of Realtors and you to can be of a “Higher Standard”.
So how do you Prove that you have Lake Access Before you buy?
Here are Buyers Tips that I would Do if it we me, after all the Lies, Non-Disclosure and Deception that I have seen.
Talk to the Neighbor Whose Land Your Easement is Supposedly On. This way you can make sure that they are in agreement and no “issue” will come up “after you close”.
Make the Title Company show you a Legally Recorded Easement across the land that Your Easement is Supposedly On.
Make the Seller prove that the easement is real before you sign, such as with a “Contingent on acceptable and recorded proof of legal easement.. Lake Access, etc.”
You really can’t say to much. After the closing it is too late to put anything in writing or to prove anything. Everybody has your money and they move on.
Bodies of that Particular body of water.. Whatever it may be in that particular area.
Never believe the Realtor or the Seller, they may lie or they may really believe that there is lake access, either way you pay the price. You’re the one left with sleepless nights and to fight for what you were told you were buying.
Is the land Marsh Land, can you drive on it, prove it…
Proof is NEVER just because it is on the Buy Sell Agreement or just Because the Seller or the Realtor Said.
Make every effort to protect yourself and leave your assets, your family’s protection up to No One. There is a Major Price difference and demand level for Lake Access versus Non-Lake access. And If this has happened to you email your story to
Crystal@CrystalCox.com and we will get your story told on our large network of news and real estate websites and blogs.
A Realtor can Legally Lie
And by legally I mean they brush it off as a Clerical error, that admit to it, the advertising proves they marketed the property with lake access,
They do not have to prove there is lake access, in any way, before they market a property as having lake access, they just say it and wait for a buyer. When the buyer finally figures out the do Not have lake access, the Seller is long gone and the Realtor shrugs off all liability by saying it was a mistake or clerical. And their E and O insurance keeps the innocent buyer in court for years.
So the Realtor can Legally Lie, meaning not be held liable, tell you anything about a property, and Once you find out it is not true, say when you go to build a dock, plan a family function at the lake or go to sell and want to get your paperwork in order, well by then your kind of screwed. You now have to fight for what the advertising, the seller, the Realtors and the Buy sell agreement claimed that you had in the first place.
Title companies have no liability or responsibility, if, say a buy sell says there is lake access they do not have to and won’t bother to prove that, unless You make them. Remember it most likely will not be something on your title report, it would be a document that would “Encumber” someone else’s land and therefore it would be on their title insurance policy or a document you can get by tracking it down Before you Sign your closing papers.
I would include a Contingency on the Buy Sell that says something like, this offer is contingent on the Seller providing acceptable and legally recorded proof of the lake access easement.
Also if I were you, knowing what I know now, I would find a way to talk to the land owner that the supposed easement is across. You can go right up to the door, call them, if they are out of town - find them or make your Realtor find them, speak to them Before you sign, to see if there is any Bad Feelings, issues, or if they are, indeed, in agreement that if you buy you will really have lake access.
Take Care out there and watch Your Back
