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Oops! Marin Broker Bought Land at Tax Auction He Erroneously Thought Was House for $150,000. The Land is Worth Only $4,000

8/16/2014

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A lesson to all who think they are going to get a screaming deal at real estate auctions!
...after handing over a check for $150,000, Helm was stunned to learn that the photo was of a house next door to the vacant 3,600-square-foot lot he’d actually been bidding on. The lot, which doesn’t even have a water connection, has an assessed value of $4,000, the Marin Independent Journal reports.
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Marin broker Jeff Helm said he had a title company research this and this is the 1st time in 10yrs this has happened to him. Maybe the title company gave him bad information, but too bad.  Because the county doesn't care. It's cash only. No returns. All sales final.  


OUCH!! 
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Austin Realtor Thinks His Peen Is a Selling Point for this Bathroom! 

7/26/2014

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We need to set the bar higher folks....starting by not showcasing your ding dong in your listing photos. Never mind the trash can, grandma wallpaper and dated vanity lights.  For the love of Pete,  put on some clothes! Cover up that Peter please! (NSFW pic here) 
This is not fake. This is a real condo for sale for $389,000! Property description : 
Beautiful three story condo located in central Austin, backing up to a wooded greenbelt. This condo had several windows that overlook the gorgeous greenbelt that is full of large trees. The windows have custom plantation shutters. Each story has its own deck as well as its own central air/heat. The condo is also equipped with a central vacuum system.
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FOX News Pundit Who Blamed Santa Barbara Shooter's 'Gay Impulses' Worked for COLDWELL BANKER! 

5/27/2014

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Can you believe that Fox News pundit Dr. Robi Ludwig (who theorized the reason for Santa Barbara shooter's rampage was his "homosexual impulses") was employed by Coldwell Banker?! She was their lifestyle real estate correspondent! What kinda lifestyle do you call this?
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UPDATE: She has been laid off by Coldwell Banker. No trace of her anymore on their sites! PR disaster averted. 
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Real Lawsuit in Japan! Real Estate Agents Abscond After They Seduce Buyers into Purchasing Homes 40% Over Market Value!

3/2/2014

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I've heard of buyer's remorse but this is twisted! 2 men & 10 women claim their real estate agents practically seduced them into buying property. Wow, that's a new excuse! They're sayin' they were scammed into thinking they might get married. Honestly folks, matrimony had nothing to do with signing on the dotted line for that house. They made a mistake. Plain and simple. And now they are trying do say their realtor was nothing more than a gigolo! LOL! Jilted Buyers! 
A GROUP OF singletons in Japan who claim they were tricked into buying apartments by real estate agents feigning a romantic interest in them launched legal action this week....Once contracts were signed and sealed, the romance disappeared and the estate agent skipped out of the relationship, leaving the new homeowners with the keys to a new front door but not to anyone else’s heart...One victim was persuaded to buy three properties
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SHOCK: Twin Peaks House Collapses Down Hill Mid-Remodel...Owner is Ex-Building Inspection Commission President!! 

12/22/2013

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Scary! San Francisco Chronicle reports that a house under renovation has crumbled down Twin Peaks! Something is fishy. The owner is Mel Murphy, "a city port commissioner and a director of the Coalition for Responsible Growth, a political advocacy group funded largely by developers and others with real estate interests."  Do you think he was allowed to cut corners?! 


UPDATE: Murphy dodged $15,000 in permit fees by lying to the City with a lowball construction estimate! Not fair!!  
City building inspectors were poring over the wreckage of a Twin Peaks home Tuesday, trying to determine what caused the 72-year-old structure, which had been raised above its foundation, to partially break apart during a major remodeling and expansion effort vehemently opposed by neighbors.
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Two Coldwell Banker Agents Overprice a New Jersey House To Use As Their Secret Sex Den! 

12/22/2013

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Is this what taking a listing means in Jersey?! These two realtors were caught on camera red-handed with their pants down (literally!) by their seller's security cameras. They were doing the nasty several times over weeks!  Sellers are suing them for deliberately steering away buyers so they could have a sex playground (ummm, get a motel like a normal person!) and for intentionally over pricing the $650k house so they could continue their secret trysts! Can you believe realtor Lindsay is a former Passaic County Board of Realtors president?! Definitely on Santa's naughty list! Tsk Tsk! 
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#1 Agent for Coldwell Banker Utah Arrested For Forging Termite Reports!  That Bugs Me! 

11/6/2013

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Desert News reports:
"In 2012, Ashworth was named Coldwell Banker's top sales agent for its affiliate offices in Utah. He is also a recipient of the Uintah Basin Board of Realtors Presidential Award.

The  award-winning real estate broker has been sentenced for forging federal termite inspection records and other mortgage documents.

On Tuesday, 8th District Judge Clark McClellan sentenced Kyle David Ashworth to serve 14 concurrent terms of up to five years in prison for his convictions on eight counts of forgery and six counts of communications fraud."



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"Part Time Agents Are The Worst" Herman Weighs in on Bankrate

8/27/2013

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Do you agree? I don't know many people who would hire a part time heart surgeon, but hey to each their own. Newsday via Bankrate.com:
"Part-time agents are the worst," says Herman Chan, a real estate broker in San Francisco. "I always know when I'm dealing with a part-time agent because they only return my calls at noon or after 5 p.m. -- meaning their lunch break or after they clock out" from day jobs.

Chan points out that residential real estate in the age of cellphones and social media means constant connectivity is a must.

"If you're offline for a half of a day, your client can miss out of an offer," Chan says. "Part-time agents really do a disservice to their clients because buying and selling really is a 24/7 career."

But Chan concedes even full-time agents struggle to keep up with the pace of the real estate business.

"Part-time or full-time, it's all about being a professional and having great follow-up skills," Chan says.

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Sellers Beware of Fake Realtors Who'll Rob You When You Leave The House During The Showing Appointment!!

8/16/2013

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Sellers, ask for a business card and alert your listing agent when (alleged) agents call you to show your property. You never know what kinda of whack-a-doo you're letting into your home! It is important to give buyers their own space and time to bond with the house, but it is also acceptable for you to wait outside in your car or across the street at your neighbor's. 
From Inman: Two women in Houston posing as a real estate agent and a home buyer conned sellers into leaving their homes for showings so the duo could rob their houses, according to police. One of the schemers was being held in police custody Tuesday, and the other was still at large. 

In one incident, the owners of a listed home were notified by their real estate agency that a buyer wanted to see their house right away, police said. The owners left the home immediately without putting their jewelry away, and when they returned, the jewelry was gone. The real estate agency told police that the woman posing as an agent used a real estate license and number. However, she did not have a super key so the home owners had to let her and the buyer inside.

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Best Laid Schemes of Mice and...Realtors?! Prudential Luxury Agents Sabotage Rival Property With Dead Mice & Snakes!

6/28/2013

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Gawker reports:
Police in Lower Merion Township (the 5th highest-earning community in America) have just accused husband and wife luxury real estate duo Jonathan and Andrea Straub of planting dead mice and snakes in the driveway of their next door neighbor’s $1 million home in an effort to sabotage its sale. The Straubs’ home is also for sale. It has a pool, a library, and no mice or dead snakes. 
How immature of them! And embarrassing for the rest of us Realtors! Shame! 
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SF 'Landlords From Hell' Jailed For Terrorizing Tenants, Fleeing Country & Being Jerks! (She Was A Realtor Too!)

6/20/2013

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The lengths these 2 insane landlords in San Francisco's South of Market district went to oust their tenants are ridiiiiculous!! The worst part is that  Nicole Macy is a real estate agent! Say, what?!  
LA TIMES:
...the couple on two occasions sawed holes in his floor. ...Nicole Macy also ordered workers to sever weight-bearing joists above the building’s basement -- after consulting with a building inspector on the optimal way to destabilize it -- in an attempt to have the structure red-tagged as uninhabitable... In addition, the couple cut off gas, power and water to the units on several occasions....Nicole Macy created an email account &  said: "One day you are going to come home to the Victorian house ... and find [your three children] missing. Then each day a package will arrive with a piece of them."...gluing their locks, dousing their belongings in ammonia and stealing jewelry and cash. The fifth victim was a building manager whom the Macys turned on, "threatening him with a handgun," Gascon said.

This is some messed up *ish!! 
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"Million Dollar Listing" Bravo TV Realtor Busted For Photoshopping His Listing! (SMH) 

6/15/2013

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The star of Bravo TV's Million Dollar Listing NY is facing an investigation by the Dept of Real Estate.  He had the gall to photoshop his listing to the point it was unrecognizable. Suspicious!!! 
Radar Online:
Luis’ twin brother, David, was also in on the scheme, Photoshopping a brand new oven into the kitchen and bookshelves that were non-existent. “If I put the real photos out there, nobody would come inside,” Luis said on the episode. “A little white lie isn’t going to kill anybody!”

News flash: a "little white lie didn't kill anybody", but it certainly gives the rest of us realtors a bad name! Thanks a heap!  Luis kinda sorta maybe not really apologized on Bravo TV's blog....Do you accept his apology?
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SMH = shaking my head....tsk tsk
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Example of how Luis Ortiz doctored pix of his listing
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Should You Diss Agents on Your Blog? My Tip for RealEstate.com

2/27/2013

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Check out my tip about dissing agents on your blog for RealEstate.com's article 7 Blogging Mistakes Made By Real Estate Agents. (My friend Fred Glick also has a good tip about posting on facebook vs blog)

Dissing Other Real Estate Businesses: The old adage “if you have nothing nice to say don’t say it” works for blogs as well. According to real estate personality and associate broker and Realtor®, Herman Chan, “There is nothing wrong with a strong point of view (after all that is the basis of a good blog), but keep it professional and light. If you trash a competing listing across the street, trust me, your own listing is going to get trashed. While you want your blog to inform and entertain, leave trash talking at the door because it has a way of coming back full circle.

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Is This RE/Max Realtor For Sale? Or Is the House for Sale?! 

2/7/2013

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Ok, this might as well be an ad for a skripper! Canadian real estate agent Diana Arvatescu of RE/MAX sure is straddling the line w/ this suggestive billboard:

- "Let me take you home. It's gorgeous inside."
- Like any self respecting skripper, no last name. Diana A.
- Slightly pouty red lips, sleeveless top. Look at that come hither look! 

(shaking my head!) Would you hire her? I mean to sell your house, not....
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We Don't Wanna Be a Hater (Cuz We Ain't Like That) But Can You Believe This Agent's Pic of a $995k Listing in SF?!

1/7/2013

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Somebody needs to have a talk with this agent! Seller should be ticked off too! Unless you are marketing to a hoarder, cluttered blurry pix are not a selling point! This is a $995k property, not a 99 cent junkyard
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Childish Realtor Arrested for Stealing Rival's 'For Sale' Signs!

11/23/2012

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 This real estate agent  is actin' a damn fool! He been stealing his competitors' for-sale signs. Geez, is this how they do it in Connecticut?! And here I thought Connecticut was all polite uppity. 

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Real Estate Columnist Slammed for Writing Up Her Own Home...So Much for Journalistic Integrity. Tsk! 

9/30/2012

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This "writer" should know better! Leah McLaren used her position as a columnist for The Globe & Mail to shamelessly plug her own house that was on the market She featured a glowing flowering review of her property where she stood to make a sale! Leah has been assailed for compromising her journalistic integrity. The Globe & Mail issued an apology...but no word from Leah yet! Not even a peep on her twitter feed?!
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Realtors, Take Note: "People Are Sick of Long Elaborate Voicemails"

9/9/2012

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Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Don't you hate when you get a voicemail that drones on forever! I swear some crazy real estate agents just love the sound of their own voice: You know what I'm talking about. 
"Hello, thank you for calling. Your call is very important to me. I return calls daily at 10am and 4pm. If you call in the evening, I will return your call within the next business day or at my earliest convenience. If this is a referral, please leave the name of the person who sent you my way so that I may thank them for your business. If this is urgent, please call on my home line xxx-xxx-xxxx. Alternatively, you can email me. To bypass this message in the future, please press #. To send a fax, press 2. To page me, press 3. Thank you again for calling. Have a nice day"

Who cares!? Get to the point! Time is money, right?!
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Criminal Background Checks on Real Estate Agents Should Be a Must! 

8/13/2012

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This guy in South Carolina had a history of grand theft & fraud in Florida, but he still was able get his real estate license in South Carolina. Guess what? By using his access as a realtor, he started stealing jewelry from homes that were on the market. What a creep! The awful thing is that his criminal record was out in the open, if his brokerage had just bothered to fully vet him. Tsk tsk!! We can do better folks!  

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You Won't Believe What This Top Realtor Forced His Assistant to Do!! Devil Wears Prada For Real Estate! 

8/13/2012

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NYPost reports real estate NYC broker Jack Terzi is being sued by his assistant because:
  • Jack fined him $15 fine for every minute late and $30 for every minute leaving early! 
  • Jack made him work 8am-8pm Monday through Friday, for 12 hours a day, &  26 Sundays a year.
  • Any Sunday missed cost $1,000, and there also was a $1,000 fine for a “failed secretarial duty!
  • Jack barred him from working for any other brokerage for 4 years after leaving Terzi! 
  • Jack urinated on his things, berated him, bit him and other nasty stuff! 

This may sound atrocious but I have noticed many top top producers are jerks. They kiss their clients' butt but behind closed doors they enslave their assistants! Assistants: Get out while you can! Anne Hathaway did and so can you! 
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Jack Terzi. NYC Real Estate Broker and worst boss ever?
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Ex-Realtor & Christian Radio Host Rips off His Fans to a Tune of $2M!

4/8/2012

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look that mug...GUILTY!!
Aye carumba! This sneaky snake used religion to lure his Spanish radio listeners into mortgage schemes that totaled over $2M. As a San Francisco pastor & former real estate agent, he offered to help embattled homeowners but in reality put his name on their title or refinanced their house and cashed out! Disgusting! As Maude would say, God'll get you for that!

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Are Real Estate "Teams" Effective? Or Epic FAIL?

3/16/2012

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It seems everyone is on some "real estate team" now. Some are effective, meaning there is clear division of labor and works like well oiled machine. But more often than not, I find teams to be just disorganized. I have to communicate the same conversation 5 times to 5 different people. Many are inexperienced new agents who need to join a team to do any business. Too many hands in the pot leads to no accountability.   But then again, if I were them and I had to split my earnings 5 ways, I probably wouldn't be very motivated either...I'm just sayin'! 
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Predatory or Thoughtful? Your Client Gets a Closing Gift From the OTHER Agent!!

2/23/2012

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What would you think if you did a deal with another agent, and at the end of the transaction, they gave  a closing gift to YOUR client? I'm not talking dinky rubber keychain with their contact info. I'm talking a sweet jaw dropping present.

Is it merely in the spirit of celebration? A kind gesture of congratulations?  Or... is it poaching your client?! Back-handed try to steal them? 

What would you think/do?!


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Do Real Estate Agents Make Bad Boyfriends? Ask Amanda Seyfried!

2/16/2012

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Amanda Seyfried & her real estate broker boyfriend Justin Huchel just broke up after 1 month of dating! This isn't the first time Amanda has had bad luck with a real estate professional. Her prior beau was NY real estate exec Andrew Joblon who split after 4 months. 

Anyone else had trouble dating someone in real estate? Take it from me, it's tough. Income is up and down. Weekends and evenings are devoted to clients. The market is crap now. Sometimes I just wanna flip burgers!

We all can't be married to Bravo TV's Mauricio Umansky! (Kyle Richards, if you are listening, give us advice how you dealt with dating a realtor!) 

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Crooked Ex-Realtor Robs Open House in Posh SF Suburb! Busted by Tween's Webcam!

1/7/2012

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Douglas John Calandrella
Tsk Tsk!

Shame Shame Shame! This louse gives us all a bad rap! This serial thief abused his real estate license by stealing from homes on the market. He gained access with his lockbox key. He targeted upscale suburbs outside of San Francisco. He'd been arrested years before for the same crime but apparently he was at it again. Luckily, a 12 year old's webcam caught him red-handed!! 

I pulled up Disciplinary Action from the California Department of Real Estate. Apparently, his license was "outright revoked" July 5, 2011. See below

If your house is for sale, please remove all valuables. Take inventory before and after each showing/open house. Be sure your realtor installs a lockbox that logs who enters and at what times. (Combo locks won't suffice)...and I ain't telling you to spy but I suppose it can't hurt to leave your tween's webcam rolling! 
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