Fairfax Realty

Fairfax realty, and the managing broker Johanna Bendfeldt, have severe integrity issues. We had signed a lease for a year at a townhome owned by Johannas daughter, who is the co landlord and a sketchy lawyer. From the beginning, they refused to fix any problems that existed in the town home. We had problems with the washing machine, told them it smelled like an electrical fire. This instance they attempted to fix it to no avail. Instead of sending a professional she called a "friend" to come take a look at it. Finally they replaced it with another broken washing machine which then had to be replaced the following day because the hose lines burst. Both "new" washing machines were installed by questionable people, they certainly were not professionals, showed up in a rented truck, and couldnt provide any documentation. We then followed during the course of the rest of the lease with problems with an inadquate AC system, couldnt keep the house in a reasonable temperature (they said to just turn it as high as possible) the heating wouldnt heat the house (they said dont touch the fire place it requires special setup) the plumbing was poor, two toilets leaked because they werent installed properly (no wax ring was placed at the base) the sinks all leaked (there was evidence they tried to fix it in the past but did a poor job) the dishwasher was moldy underneath, they refused tpo fix things in a timely manner saying they were "going on a two week vacation and will deal with it when they get back (AC in the middle of last summer)" I have spent 8 of the last months dealing with them through a lawyer. This group of people is a bunch of thieves. They hide behind their low-rent lawyer daughter who simply knows how to cause problems. Johanna feels it perfectly appropriate to harass. And in addition, they engage Luisas husband David to act as an intermediary -- I had to hang up on him when he decided to try to intimidate me with foul languae when I was on the phone in my car with my daughter listening. I have compiled a long list of emails, forwarded it all to my lawyer, and intend on taking severe legal action in retaliation once the lease is complete. In addition, they wrote into the contract while under the lease the renters are responsibile for the landlords legal fees. This group is scum. Avoid at all costs.

This past spring we contacted a real-estate agent, Kathy Bolzano, to help us sell our home. She works for Fairfax realty of northern Virginia, and we had used her before to buy our house. When we purchased our house she told us that when we sold, if we used her again, she would knock money off of her commission for being a repeat customer. We thought this was great customer service and that is why we reached out to her again when it was time to sell the house. In the beginning, she was pleasant enough and acted as if she was interested in working hard. She suggested a number of things we needed to do to upgrade the house and make it presentable. We accomplish all the things she suggested. The day we listed, she charged five hundred up front; but, told us she would refund that when the house sold. At the listing day meeting she suggested the price at which we should offer the house even though we thought it was a bit high, we trusted her expertise and decided to follow through. During the next few months she brought in ONE client. When we asked if that client commented on the house, she reply, the client did not want to buy a house through an agent. After a couple of weeks had passed, we asked if anyone else had shown interest in the house and she told us that she had brought two different clients through our house on a weekend that we were away. This was an outright lie, since we have an alarm system, never gave her the code to turn it off and was never notified by the alarm company that someone was in the house (our children have accidentally set off the alarm, so we know it is sensitive and it works). When it had not sold after a two months she suggested we lower the price and we readily agreed since we had wanted it lower to begin with. Then a week or so later she again suggested we lower the price again and the reason she gave was that we were on a busy street and that causes the homes to sell for less. Our house had never moved location; it is in the same spot as it was when it went on the market, so why didn?t she suggest this right up front?? By this time, we had several discussions with her, to include reminding her of the promise she made when she sold us the house about knocking money off of her commission. She flat out denied ever saying that, and then when we protested, she came back with a paltry counteroffer to what she had initially suggested. At this point, we were appalled with her lack of interest and we asked to withdraw the house from the market. We also asked her to refund the five hundred due to her lying, lack of interest, and outright laziness, as was expected, she refused. Looking back, we realize that we should have paid attention to the red flags. We have had to put our lives on hold when we were hoping to sell the home and purchase a new home. We highly suggest refraining from using this agent, and we have every plan to submit a complaint against her with the National Association of Realtors. Save yourself and find another agent!!