Case Study – 119 Candlewick – VA Tidewater

Buyer: Italian AF officer looking for primary to LTR after 2 years stationed here.
Buyer’s Agent: Crystal Ball
Showed 11 homes on a Saturday and he could not schedule to see this so I Facetimed the next day and we put it under contract. I visibly noted wood rot and a couple of known inspection issues. I advised him against an older home to start with in a hurricane damaged area.

The listing agent mis-represented the property by saying a detached shed without plumbing was included in heated and cooled SQ FT. You’ll notice in the link it’s 1700+/- SF and over 2200 in the attached photo of her canceled listing. The contract was canceled in a Tidewater (VA loan that does not meet appraised value) after the appraiser noted she “grossly misrepresented” the square footage.

This transaction cost my client $600 in appraisal fees, $400 in inspection fees, extensive time, and me 2 full days of work. The listing agent faces no fines, no reprimand, no expectation to reimburse my client, not any repercussion whatsoever. Her seller canceled the listing with her missing out on a new home he was under contract on, and I’m sure has a negative taste in his mouth about realtors – and rightfully so under the circumstances.

INDUSTRY FIX:

• Industry Change Needed – CODE OF ETHICS – So I cannot say anything negative about my fellow realtors because it’s a violation of the code of ethics. It’s pretty genius to create a code of ethics that protects all wrongdoing from being talked about because it’s unethical. WHAT ABOUT THE CONSUMER?!?!?!?!?! How on earth are we supposed to create change if we can’t talk about what’s going on?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!
• The code of ethics is written to protect the monopoly of NAR – NOT THE CONSUMER.

TECHNICAL FIX:

Scrape the tax appraiser’s website for key details like square footage to enforce compliance into the MLS database.