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Permalink Reply by Harry Clay on August 30, 2011 at 11:45am

I read the article with great interest.

Long time Bakersfield agent Lynn Wright is a friend & former colleague of mine, who continues to work @ the KW Bakersfield office. I saw & spoke with her at an open house on my block just last weekend. She's highly respected, & no fool.

As stated in the article, she has filed a legal complaint, & the whole transaction involves other KW agents whom I also know, who all work out of the same KW office in Bakersfield.

I'm not going to comment further, other than I would tend to suspect Lynn's allegations have some merit.

So much for the KW "Family". 

I work under my own corporate brokerage license now, & am no longer affiliated with KW. I like it a lot better.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Payne on August 30, 2011 at 11:49am

Harry, very interesting to say the least. It would be very interesting to hear from both sides of the story.   If she is correct, some heads need to roll for sure.   Not sure where the KW Family comment comes from, I tend to take a bit of offense to that since I am part of the KW Family as you call it, don't really see the need to slam a company for the actions of a few.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Payne on August 30, 2011 at 12:03pm

Harry,

I think the questions that I have would center around one question...

Did her offer get submitted before, during or after the accepted offer was ratified?  Were her terms different than the offer that was accepted?  Was the offer that was accepted a cash offer with no contingencies?

These types of articles only add fuel to the scam, flip, flop, fraud claims that Freddie Mac has right now.  I only wish we knew both sides of the story.  We will probably have to wait to see what happens with the complaint to get a glimpse of the other side of the story.

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Permalink Reply by Harry Clay on August 30, 2011 at 12:23pm

Some of the people involved are in the ALC, & carry substantial weight in local conservative evangelical politics, which you may know is the dominant force here in Bakersfield.

Personally, I prefer not to mix religion or politics with my business. But many do.

No offense intended towards you, of whom I have come to respect very much, & I'll refrain from further comment.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Payne on August 30, 2011 at 12:28pm

Harry I appreciate your comments always, just don't judge all of us from the actions of a few :)   If they did what they are accused of, they will get theirs for sure, ALC or not.  At least they would if they did something like this to me.
My biggest problem is that this type of article paints all of us in a bad light and makes it look like what we do is fraudulent.  In this case if the offer was so low, how or why did it get approved.  The banks do have some responsibility in checking on these offers with appraisals and BPOs.   They choose the agent that does the BPO so they either accept the BPO or find another agent to do it.

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Permalink Reply by Richard on August 30, 2011 at 1:54pm

Jeff and Harry,

 

I'm trying to keep my guards up on my transaction.  I must admit that I do have my doubts at times.  I've noticed some strange things in the local community, not just on my short sale offer but on others as well.  But, I'm trying not to judge too quickly.  A case in point, my wife called about seeing a short sale distressed luxury home over a month ago.  She called back two weeks ago and they told her the agent had been re-assigned.  The home is in a gated community.  I was able to tailgate and get in to see the house a week ago.  I estimate this home will need about $50-$75k improvements.

 

To this date, we've never received a call back.  Then, we wake up this morning to find out that the home has been reduced $100k in price.  If they want to sell the home, then show it.  I have a couple more cases where I've witnessed strange activities.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Payne on August 30, 2011 at 1:56pm

Richard, that is a whole other discussion, call backs :(  Come to Panama City, I will sell you a home !!

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Permalink Reply by Smitty on August 30, 2011 at 3:22pm

What IS IT with this guy Hagberg?  He's confusing the interests of his employer with what's actually LEGAL.  UNREAL.

 

This is tell tale -

""In 4½ years, I've never had a bank call me and say we've been defrauded," he says, though he adds that they're slowly starting to respond as they put more staff in charge of mitigating these losses.

Instead, most of the calls he gets about this type of fraud are from thwarted homebuyers who read published sales transactions in the newspaper."

 

Was this agent's offer signed???  It says right in the beginning of the article that she went to make an offer, but the other agents already made one....so WHERE was there an issue?  If she is in second position or back up and the first offer is accepted, I see it as sour grapes too.  If the property was priced agressively it's no wonder people jumped on it.

 

A LOW COMP is NOT FRAUDULENT!!!!  There is a VALUE RANGE for property...not just one number.  If I have a house that I think is worth $350,000, I might be able to comp it at $300,000 and also $400,000 depending on the community. 

 

This is just getting so far out of control it's unbelievable.  The title of the article is about FLOPPING.  Where was the flop?  The other buyers made an offer, it was accepted and BAM, approved.  She didn't get the house because she wasn't ready.  Oh and keep in mind if both offers were presented at the same time, and the seller chose the lower offer, it's STILL NOT A FLOP OR FRAUD.  A seller has the right to chose whichever offer they want and a $302,000 offer that's cash with no contingencies over an offer of $342,000 that's FHA or financed, needs an appraisal, inspections etc., may be a LOT less attactive to a seller who could be up against an auction deadline.

 

PURSUADING the bank to agree to any offer is NOT FRAUD.  I'm a buyer and I want to buy a property at a particular price, I'm going to use whatever LEGAL means necessary to get it for the price I want.  Right? Now bribing a BPO agent...clearly fraud, but OMG, using low comps to get an offer accepted...C'MON!!!!!

 

I couldn't agree with Jeff more.  This just adds to the layer of fear people already have about flipping, flopping, fraud...I think I'm going to call it the 3F's from now on.  But seriously, only TRUE EDUCATION of this stuff can lift that paranoid layer that is suddently getting heavier and heavier from recent misleading publications.

 

On a side note I'm not part of KW.  Work in my own brokerage but KW is by far my favorite agency to work with. IMO KW agents are the most progressive and creative agents out there.

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Permalink Reply by Harry Clay on August 30, 2011 at 4:44pm

if you don't think agents sidestepping, ignoring, & witholding substantially higher simultaneous offers (while a property is Active) in favor of their own personal investment enrichment constitutes dubious activity...good for you, Smitty.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Payne on August 30, 2011 at 4:54pm

Harry, I assume that you know alot more about the situation that we do since it is in your back yard.  With that being said, it would be interesting to see if her offer was made before any offer was accepted.

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Permalink Reply by Smitty on August 30, 2011 at 5:15pm

Harry, it clearly states she went to make an offer and someone else already had.  Where was the side stepping?  Did both offers come in at the same time? Even if they did it's up to the seller to sign ONE.  If the seller signed with the others, I don't see an issue.  A seller can take ANY offer they want.  Now if the sellers TOOK your friends offer, signed it, and the agent at hand WITHELD it to put in the other buyer's offer, THEN there is an issue.  I'm merely interpreting what I'm reading.  It doesn't say anywhere in the article she had a FULLY EXECUTED CONTRACT all it says is she went to place an offer in and was out maneuvered.  I've submitted offers for buyers higher than list only to find out a lower price was already accepted.  There is nothing "dubious" about it. 

She claims it's robbery!!!  How is it robbery?   If you know of something different please doooo tell!!!  Sorry. NO 3F's here.  She never had an executed contract.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Payne on August 30, 2011 at 5:25pm

Smitty, it would be very interesting to hear both sides of the story for sure. 

Smitty said:

Harry, it clearly states she went to make an offer and someone else already had.  Where was the side stepping?  Did both offers come in at the same time? Even if they did it's up to the seller to sign ONE.  If the seller signed with the others, I don't see an issue.  A seller can take ANY offer they want.  Now if the sellers TOOK your friends offer, signed it, and the agent at hand WITHELD it to put in the other buyer's offer, THEN there is an issue.  I'm merely interpreting what I'm reading.  It doesn't say anywhere in the article she had a FULLY EXECUTED CONTRACT all it says is she went to place an offer in and was out maneuvered.  I've submitted offers for buyers higher than list only to find out a lower price was already accepted.  There is nothing "dubious" about it. 

She claims it's robbery!!!  How is it robbery?   If you know of something different please doooo tell!!!  Sorry. NO 3F's here.  She never had an executed contract.

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