COLDWELL BANKER

Four days after our house was listed with Caldwell Bankers Redpath, we received a full-price offer from a couple who had not seen the house, but were purchasing it on the recommendation of their parents. Despite not having seen the place, they insisted there would be no problem with the purchase and that they completely trusted their parents' judgment. Not sure what would be best, we tried to get the buyers to wait until Tuesday afternoon for us to make a final decision. They refused to wait. We were told that they were aware of that another showing was scheduled, and they did not want to run the risk of not getting the house. We signed the contract on Sunday. The house was taken off of the MLS, so there were no additional showings that week. We made a last-minute trip to the area to which we hope to move to check out housing there. The cost for that trip was approximately $1000. Just over one week later, on Monday morning, we received a phone call from our agent saying the buyers had driven by the house the day before, and did not like the steep driveway. They were backing out of the contract, and wanted us to release their $1000 deposit. We argued that they had broken the contract and therefore forfeited the deposit. Unfortunately, they took advantage of a vague statement in the deed - claiming that was the reason they were backing out of the contract. This was after we had been told by our agent - verbally and in writing - that the problem was the driveway. (Our agent made the mistake of forwarding a long email from the buyers agent explaining the buyers concern about the driveway.) Although we argued that the contract had been broken, and the $1000 deposit should be forfeited and given to us - at the least to compensate for the house being taken off the market and our last-minute trip to secure housing - the agency refused. Our real estate agent, caught between us, her boss, and the other agent, felt horrible, but I do not believe she had any power to change anything. At no point in these transactions was there evidence that Coldwell Banker Redpath was working for us. The head of the agency was very personable and likable, but as the leader of the agency, his action were far from professional. I do not recommend using the agency. When the offer was made originally, another option should have been proposed - such as allowing the prospective buyers the right of first refusal once they had seen the house. That would have protected us and them, and not required taking the house off the market and then having it re-listed. Needless to say, we changed agents and agencies, but in the meantime, we lost 2 weeks of prime market-time, spent money on an unnecessary trip, and lost the energy that is present when a house is first listed. The house finally sold in December, at a much lower price. I put $1000 in the "approximate cost of service" because that was the amount of money we wasted on the trip to find a place to live when we assumed the house was under a viable contract.