Never thought a realtor might be a criminal; now I know better. Forgery.
My sisters and I are in the process of helping our 80+ year old parents sell their home in West Virginia.
My one sister warned them to speak to several realtors before signing with any one, but Mom didn't listen. A person she knows and considers to be a friend referred a name to her. Mom signed up with
her as soon as she walked in her door.... and the woman gave them a one year contract. Who signs
for a one year listing?????????????? Bad move. And why would the realtor even propose such a thing? I have sold several properties and no realtor even had the balls or stupidity to suggest a one year listing. That was our first clue.
Then, the realtor makes no contact with my parents from November through March, except for one call where a person wanted to come by to see the house. After the visit, nothing. My mother called her numerous times to find out what happened from that visit, what the feedback was, and it took weeks before the realtor bothered to call her back and tell her the person might come back and look again at a later date. No useful feedback at all was obtained. No further contact from the realtor. My parents called often; never was a call returned.
March comes. Another person sees the house, an offer is made. A really poorly written contract required updates, because it appeared to ask for $3500 three times, or a total of $10,500. We inked in corrections and she said she would make them. She resent 'new' papers that said the same thing. It wasn't signed; she re-did it. Second clue. The signed papers said the buyer was to secure financing by April 25th.
Inspections were done, repairs made as required. Mid-April, the realtor says that the lender and the buyer both really need the closing done by the 30th. They want the house and garage emptied out and ready for a reinspection by April 27th. This was hard to do; Dad was a hoarder and we were commuting from North Carolina, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to West Virginia every weekend to clean things up and make several repairs ourselves; we are a family of handy-people. April 24th, the bank inspects, and brings up another new repair they want done. We tell the realtor to request an extension until the 7th May. We hear nothing. Nothing. We call, but get no answer and no return calls. So we all drop everything and run up again. As in, on Friday the 25th, we all realize we all must leave for West Virginia that night. My brother in law was going to do some electrical repairs himself, with a parts cost of maybe $300-$400, but we were forced to pay an electrician $1600 because they really wanted 30th of April closing.
April 27th comes and goes. And the 28th, 29th, 30th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd. No word. We call, no one answers. No one returns calls. On the 3rd, I send an email to the realtor and wait 24 hours. No answer. So I called the cell phone of the one other realtor in the office and left a voice mail telling him to call this woman and tell her to return our phone calls regarding the closing that didn't happen. Magic. She calls my mother in a matter of an hour or less. All she says is that 'things are progressing' and the bank just didn't have their paperwork ready yet. WTF? The bank that insisted on April 24 that the house be ready by the 27th for a 30th closing? Unfortunately only my mother was in on that call.
So my sister calls today. The reason the lending bank and the buyer had insisted on a closing of the 30th is because the woman is in the military and might be sent overseas in May. Sending paperwork back and forth overseas is costly and time consuming. At least we were finally told THAT much. But now, it IS May, and what the heck is going on? My sister is told, I think by a secretary in the realtors office (hm, they HAVE a secretary? never answered all the times I called...) that my parents signed an extension allowing the closing to go to 30th of May, and that they signed this on May 1st. Now, my parents are in North Carolina, and don't use the internet. They didn't receive anything; were not asked or notified of anything at all. My sister tells the secretary that. She looks at the papers to insure they were signed, and realizes it is NOT my parents signatures, just someone else signing their names!!!!
Selling a house, particularly in West Virginia in the hills, isn't easy, so we don't want to lose what could be a sale. But as soon as this closing is done, and let's hope it DOES get done, my sister will be filing complaints with the realtors association. That's not good enough for me. I called the county DA's office and found out the way to check on criminal charges is to contact the county sheriff or state police, and that's what I want to do. She needs to lose her license to sell real estate. She needs to have it a matter of public record that she will forge other people's signatures as it suits her, so that she hopefully does not ever get employment again as an agent or in a position of trust for the public in any manner whatsoever. I hope this can be done without too much hassle with my parents living 6 hours away now. Travel is very difficult for them. But at any rate, even if charges are filed, even if they couldn't go to a trial or something, the public needs protection from this type of CRIMINAL. I am just livid. I mean, she didn't even pick up the phone, call, and say they want an extension, will you sign for it. And now, my parents house is vacant, susceptible to the things that happen to vacant homes, for up to a month, unnecessarily. This has my mother very worried. And my parents put out $1600 for no reason when they could have paid only $300. Plus, we disposed of personal property they owned by dumping or giving away things that could have been sold, or attempted to have been sold, given another month.
I could say this woman is an a**hole. But that doesn't come close. Criminal. Freaking criminal.
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Good luck with your sale. Hopefully the closing will go through.
I was screwed over royally when I bought my place, and when I tried to list it back in '10, I was screwed over again.
I didn't have any forgeries, just no support whatsoever. As in, there were 2 of them and I signed on because I like one of them. Right after I signed, he went into the hospital for surgery, so I was stuck with her. He had taken a series of pictures, but instead of using his pictures, she took a new series, featuring the trunk of a maple tree with little bits of house sticking out the side. Which I guess beat the listing that showed the garage instead of the house. Not one single call. And then one day in my garden, somebody stopped buy and asked if my house was for sale or not. Because they'd called repeatedly and she'd never once returned their call. 2 weeks after that, I got a letter from the realtor releasing me from the contract. 
