Coldwell Banker The Property Exchange

Our experience with Carol Ruman was that she was only interested in closing the deal-any deal-and collecting her commission. She was very dishonest and on multiple occasions I called her out on her indiscretions only to have her backtrack and change her story. She will say anything to make you feel comfortable with a property or to sway you towards an offer even if it's a lie. Thankfully I was doing my own leg work and research into the properties she was showing us and had a good idea of the facts so that when she misrepresented something I was aware. I can say confidently she does not have her buyers interest at heart-she is the stereotypical sleazy salesperson that gives others in sales a bad reputation. Steer clear of this agent and this company. We asked her to sign a waiver releasing us as her client and we went with another agent/company to buy/close on a home. UPDATE: Most concerning to me is that Mr. Jesperson has never once reached out to my husband or I regarding our complaints with his agent and company. The day we asked Mrs. Ruman to sign a waiver releasing us from any contract or obligation to her and The Property Exchange, being the responsible broker, Mr. Jesperson was the party who actually signed the release. He did not come in the office and ask why we were unsatisfied or if there was anything he or Carol could do to make amends. Furthermore, once I submitted this critical review of his agent and company he still did not attempt to contact us and ask specifically what it was that Carol did to make us chose to do business elsewhere. He has simply issued a cheap, shallow defense and deflect approach. Out of 62 agents Mr. Jesperson states he employes at The Property Exchange, Carol Ruman has been mentioned by name in two separate negative reviews. Furthermore, there are only four total reviews of TPE and all are negative. Any agent, company or business with any integrity would at least try to reach out to the client and attempt to find out the details of why the client is upset enough to take their business elsewhere and write a negative public review. Mr. Jesperson has made no attempt to find out the details of our complaint. He either is completely unaware of how his agent(s) handle business or he condones it. Most certainly real estate transactions are emotional but not in the way Jesperson is attempting to make this situation out to be. Carol lied and misrepresented multiple matters to us-she insulted our intelligence and offended us in the worst possible way. We are dealing with large sums of money and legal contracts-we needed an agent and company that will be honest and forthright no matter what. We certainly did not find even a hint of that with Carol or TPE. Jesperson has suggested that asking about Carol around town will clear up any questions regarding her integrity and honesty-I did ask all over Cheyennne and every response I got was negative, for Carol and TPE. Just a few examples of Carols indiscretions: We put an offer in on a home that was accepted. Between her and the lender it was set for a 2 week closing (first time homebuyers, we didn't realize how crunched that timeframe would be). She claimed to have recent (less than a month old) inspections (electrical, plumbing, structural) on the home from a previous offer that fell through and that she would give those to us (and Kent-we realize this is not typical but CAROL SWORE SHE HAD THEM FOR US). One week went by and we kept asking for them and she never would produce the inspections. One week to the day of the scheduled closing I demanded she hand over the documents or make arrangements on her dime to extend the close date so we could schedule inspections. While still insisting we didn't need to waste our money on inspections Carol handed over the Sellers copies of repairs that had been done back in 2010. There were no recent inspections-when I questioned Carol why she insisted she had recent inspections her response was that "she didn't know they didn't have them" yet all along swore and promised she had recent inspection reports. I was able to get inspectors in at the last minute. Everything looked good until we got to the electrical inspection. The home (built in 1928) had frayed knob and tubing wiring covered in old insulation with open junctions in the attic. According to the electrician this would cause us some issues with insurance. Carol argued with the electrician that it wasn't an issue-basically saying he didn't know what he was talking about. So I had a second electrical inspection done-he confirmed that with a few upgrades (remove the insulation, close the junction boxes, etc) the K&T wiring would be functional but he was not familiar with insurance issues. The next day Carol brings me a handwritten note of local insurance agents she called to inquire about insuring a home with K&T wiring (I have this note on file and can be uploaded). According to her, all of them will insure at no additional fee. So I took her note and called the exact same people. Only ONE of the companies would insure the home (the rest would only insure the home if the K&T wiring was removed) and that was at triple the rate of typical homeowners insurance ($3,200 a year). According to the people I spoke with on her list, Carol DID NOT disclose that the home had K&T wiring. Because the homeowner was unwilling to negotiate on the price in order to make the necessary repairs and Carol was trying to convince us it was not an issue, we chose to walk away from the deal. If she can lie that easy I don't need her involved in transactions that are legally binding on my husband and I. Another example: Carol was thrilled to inform us we didn't need to pay for a roof inspection-something I was insisting on and something she kept telling me not to waste our money on, that she could get her guy to do it for free. Thankfully I was at the home when the "roof inspector" came by-he did not climb on the roof or inspect it-he held a camera up and snapped a few pics. Less than 12 hours later I received the report via email that the roof was in great shape with no damage. When I questioned Carol as to why he didn't get on the roof and check for leaks and damage she stated "Well that's not his job, he's just making sure insurance will insure it." And then she read aloud from our contract that if we wanted to check for leaks or damage then we needed to hire our own inspector, that it's the buyers responsibility. All the while she was discouraging it because it was "a waste of money" because she "got it done for free." The pattern with Carol is to discourage any activity that could jeopardize the sale and say anything to close the deal. Inspections could reveal defects that could cause a contract to fall apart so therefore she discouraged them. In the end, my husband and I were willing to buy the home as-is at the proginal agreed upon price ($1000 less than asking with no concessions) and make the repairs ourself however we were completely unwilling to do any further business with Carol Ruman or Coldwell Banker The Property Exchange, so we walked away. Carol Ruman, Kent Jesperson, and The Property Exchange has shown no integrity whatsoever-not once has Carol or Jesperson attempted to discuss this issue with us-they have only tried to defend and deflect via Angie's List. Mr. Jesperson can argue all he wants about the reputation that TPE holds but I'm under the impression he is out of the loop as to what is being said around town about TPE agents and the manner in which they conducts business. Carol Ruman, Kent Jesperson, and Coldwell Banker The Property Exchange have proven they are not to be trusted with such high dollar, legally binding business transactions.

On 8/28/2013, we signed an Exclusive Right-to-Buy Contract (Buyer Agency) with Coldwell Banker The Property Exchange. Broker Bill Strickland in effect until 02/28/2014. After purchasing a property that was listed by the broker we discovered a variety of structural issues and cosmetic issues with the home. (We now realize we utilized poor judgment in buying a home the broker had a listing on as then he became an Intermediary Agent and he was no longer representing our interest as the buyer.) We assumed since we had signed a contract and received a letter from the Agency after purchasing that the Selling Broker could assist us in trying to reconcile the issues after purchase with the home along with the home inspection companies that he assisted us with contracting to perform inspections on the home. We assume we should be able to expect the home should be as marketed and sold to us. Our Contract to Buy and Sale Real Estate (Residential) documented the seller as an individual person by the name of Corey Loghry. We did not know we were purchasing a home that was flipped by a company operating under the name of Homeceptional Properties LLC. (This was not disclosed to us and is not documented on the contract or deed) The home was advertised as newly remodeled, 5 bedrooms, fireplace in master bedroom, jetted tub in master bath etc. When viewing the property it was staged and appeared to be a move in ready home. After purchasing we discover the appraisal documents as a 3 about this when we viewed the home and was told they were grandfathered in and all they had to do was say they didn’t have egressed windows but that they could be counted as bedrooms, unfortunately that information was not correct). The Newly remodeled work was not done to code and we currently have to remodel all of the remodeling that was done in the home to bring to current building code. Kitchen, bathrooms electrical, plumbing, etc. We were told by the Broker inspections were performed on the home and all the work in the home was done to code. The city we live in requires permitting for work that was done in the home previous to us purchasing, we have since found out that no permits were obtained by the previous owner or her company for the “Newly Remodeled” home. The master bedroom fireplace was not vented to the exterior of the home and the jetted tub was found to have a sheetrock screw that had penetrated the wiring. We also have roofing issues, structural beam issues, tiling, mold etc. When contacting the broker, he seemed to be sympathetic and contacted the seller who has been less then cooperative in resolving the issues. In my last telephone conversation with the broker, who I assumed was trying to help us he became upset with me and told me he was really sick of hearing about the issues and left me with the impression that he was done trying to assist us with the problems with the home we purchased. At that point I assured him he would not be receiving any further calls from me again and ended the conversation. We felt like we could trust the broker and agency and are saddened to find that is not the case. We will not purchase any further properties until the Exclusive Right-to-Buy Contract expires with them on 02/28/2014. We paid a premium price for the home and we just wanted to get what we paid for and what was advertised and promoted for sell to us by the Seller, Broker and Agency!

On August 26, 2010 McKee Hall Electrical performed a pre-purchase inspection on the single family home located in Cheyenne, WY. On August 27, McKee Hall submitted the results of the inspection to the sellers realtor, Neil Emmons of The Property Exchange (TPE). I was unaware the inspection was completed or that the report was sent to TPE. TPE did not disclose the results of the inspection prior to or at closing. I have sent numerous e-mails to TPE to find out why the information was not disclosed. My attempts have been largely ignored. The electrical inspector recommended $305 worth of repairs to bring the electrical system into code. Essentially I was charged $70 for an pre-purchase inspection I never saw prior to buying the home. In addition, a HVAC inspector that I hired to perform a pre-purchase inspection was not given access to the house prior to closing. He was told to contact me for access. That is ridiculous since I didn't have access to the home. By the time I spoke to the HVAC inspector, the time period for the inspections to take place had passed and I was bound to the contract to buy the home. I am thoroughly disappointed in the professionalism and customer service of TPE. I would not use them in the future.

During the house inspection she came in complaing that it was taking too long and that the inspector needed to hurry up because she had an appointment. She did not show up for the walk-through so we were unable to go inside. She wated two weeks to get paperwork to the mortgage company and said she never received it, when I watched my realtor scan and email it to her. Do not recommend anyone use her unless you do not ever want to get anything done.