Deb Stewart Real Estate Ctr Belle Fourche

Deb was our real estate agent from May '10 - March '11. We moved from that property in July '10 At first it was ok (I think because we had never tried to sell a house before and did not have any kind of expectations other than getting the house sold). We first noticed a lack of quality in her work when we had to call her over and over to get her to advertise our house in our local paper (her company did advertise online, but even we as the owners had a hard time finding our house online). When she did advertise, she would get calls about the house. Once the advertisement stopped, we would not get any calls. So, we had to call and call and get her to put the ad in over and over. Was very frustrating that we were doing all of the work. Then, when we gave a key to our neighbor just to check on things since we moved out of state, she found out and started referring our potential buyers to our neighbor to look at our house. She did not want to drive the 70 miles to our house to do the work...even though she would have been the one to benefit had our house sold. If she did not want to travel that far, she should have never said she would take our house on as our real estate agent. In September, Deb was contacted by a person who had just had a fire in their house and needed a place to live RIGHT NOW. She called us and said that she would be our property manager since we live so far away and she would take care of everything...not to worry. So, even though we didn't want to rent the house, we felt bad for the people needing a home and Deb made it sound like it would be ok. So, she drew up the contract, sent it to us...we read it over and said "ok"! Well, when she sent the signed papers back, we should have known then that we should NOT have had her as our PM. The signed papers stated that they would NOT clean the floors, even though that's what we, as the landlords, said that was expected. Well, Deb said that she would talk to the renters. She called us back saying that the renters agreed to clean the carpets upon moving out. Again, we ASSUMED Deb was doing her job and had is back in the contract and signed. Now, to back up a little...after our movers moved all of our things from the house, my husband and I sent the kids to their grandparents for a few days while we painted EVERY room in the house, and cleaned EVERY room in the house. In the kitchen along I spent hours with a toothbrush. Fast forward to the renters moving out. They left the beginning of December and Deb said everything looked great and gave them back their full deposit. We took a long weekend trip to the house beginning of January to winterize the place. When we walked in, without even looking hard, we could tell the place was gross! It smelled like cigarettes (and the contract clearly stated NO smoking in the house). The kitchen looked as if they did not clean the counters except when they moved out and gently wiped the food all around. The stove, microwave, and dishwasher were covered in food, dirt, oil, etc... very gross. In the bathroom, the tub, toilet, sink, floors, cabinets had not been cleaned at all. The walls had been dinged up all over the place, and there were nails, and hooks in the walls (contract said no holes in walls without permission and we did not give any permission). The carpets were covered in dirt, spills, stains. There wastrash left out in the garage. Needless to say we were very angry. We immediately called Deb. She told us that they said they left it better than when they arrived. I asked her if she had any kind of checklist she went over upon initial inspection and move out inspection and she said no. Well, that right there was a HUGE problem since now we had nothing to hold us up if we wanted to goto court! We were livid and she knew it. After that, everytime we tried to contact her about our rights, she refused to answer. She would not respond to my emails. She would not call us back. Finally, we had found a different realtor, and when I went to contact her about that, she refused to speak to me...only my husband. I never yelled, got angry, was never mean. The only thing I ever did to possibly make her uncomfortable (but no enough to keep her from talking to me) was I cried a little bit when talking to her about how we didn't know what to do about this mess! I have always been polite and professional and she has not been either of those for a long time with us. I would NOT recommend her as a realtor, and would even go as far as not recommending the company itself. I have tried to let Deb's boss know about the situation, and the only response we have gotten is "I'll speak with Deb, thanks for letting me know". We have had no follow up. I would also say to never hire her as a property manager. Even if you pay her, you will not be her top priority.