This Buyers Representative likes to sell real estate in Greenwich, and all over Fairfield County [but particularly Greenwich because of its high prices, thus, his big commission for the same amount of work.]
My family and I had a bad experience with this one-man company--who lives in Hartford but talks about himself as though he knows Greenwich and is remotely even part of the Greenwich community.
He knew nothing about the different areas of Greenwich, and never bothered to tell us that Greenwich has 4 different post offices and zip codes and each section will take a different name other than the coveted "Greenwich" address.
All he cared to do was take a house key, open the door, and show you a house and then pressure you to make a quick decision. He had no information about the house and no "inside" information on the neighborhoods, etc. This is NOT a good real estate agent!
A good agent lives in town, knows all about the house they are showing you, and they even know the history of the house [renovations, etc.] along with having the inside track of what houses will be coming on the market-- but not yet listed with the Multiple Listing Service-- these things should be expected from a good agent.
However, John Herman had none of these qualities. He was so pushy in a very subtle, passive-aggressive, manipulative way it is hard to describe.
When the time came for him to legally send all of the paperwork to our chosen Attorney, this real estate agent hesitated and never sent the paperwork.
When the client called him and nicely asked why their attorney had not received the paperwork, this sneaky real estate agent gave some manipulative explanation as to why he felt it was better for the buyers to use HIS own attorney.... the rest was down hill from there.
This attorney that was forced upon the buyer [again, very manipulatively and very smoothly] was totally incompetent and had no interest in protecting the buyer. In fact, he did not do one moment of negotiations on behalf of the buyer... and just left
the seller's buyer to call all the terms?
So, a "buyer's broker" this real estate agent is NOT.
And, also, this broker recommended the absolute WORST, most corrupt home inspector who did not bother to catch the fact that the roof was leaking, and the exterior window sills were rotted and needed to be totally ripped out, along with a home that had been in disrepair in every area: exterior siding, roof, windows, the heat/cool system.... you name it, there was something that was clearly overlooked in order to push the sale through.
And, to boot, when a new homeowner who has been stuck with a money-pit needs to hire a contractor, painter, carpenter, builder to make some repairs or even some renovations.... this guy does not even live in Fairfield county! Try asking a person living in Hartford for a reference in Greenwich for such necessities. He does not have any... and he had none for us when we most needed a good agent to help us.
NO, this person is not qualified to be selling in Greenwich or anywhere outside of his home town area.
No Greenwich-based real estate agent is selling in Hartford, so why is this guy selling in Greenwich?
The laws in Connecticut are NOT designed to protect the home buyer, yet. But hopefully, with enough complaints, the law will change and the home buyer will start to see some protections.
The point here is that every buyer needs to take a big step back and evaluate the real estate agent and ask the tough questions before they get led down a garden path that only leads to total disappointment and being ripped off with no where to turn. Buyers need to beware, to say the least.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Justice
Greeniwch,Connecticut,
Totally Unsatisfactory
#3Consumer Comment
Sat, June 15, 2013
I was not treated well by John Herman of Buyers Representative, LLC.
We were new to Connecticut, and new to Greenwich.
He totally ignored our "top" price range in a SELLERS market, and kept showing us properties that were at least $150,000 over our price range. Kept saying we could "negotiate." In a BUYERS market you can, but not in the heat of a Seller's market when properties were going for asking price and even well over the asking prices.
He dragged his feet when we gave him a NYC Attorney who does a lot of business in Greenwich and is licensed in Greenwich. He did NOT send over the paperwork via fax as he had other plans to Steer us to his own Attorney based in Norwalk. This guy was disrespectful and totally uninterested in representing us. He even walked out of the room and left us to look over the contract by ourselves! He did nothing to represent us, as it was in his "friends" interest to have this sale go through even though the seller's were totally unreasonable, and refused to answer questions that are legally required such as the age of the roof, if there are any leaks, etc. The seller's Attorney was a shark, by the way, and advised his clients to not answer any questions. HMMMMM. Something was amis, but given this was our first home purchase, we were easily manipulated.
Additionally, Buyers Representative did not have a working office in Greenwich, instead, he shared an address space with a massage therapist. He was late for several meetings as he came from more than 2 hours away. He operated out of his own home at that time, which was most certainly in the Hartford area. He operated alone and with a non-legal sales agent assistant who was not licensed in Connecticut and also did not live in Greenwich.
He "steered" us to a bad attorney and refused to use our attorney with the excuse that the SELLER's were demanding a Connecticut based attorney. Nothing was quite right. I was very suspicious, but very naive as it was our first home buying experience.
There were several occassions when I just wanted to tell him, "You are Fired." But then he would put on the "Mr. Nice Guy" act and convince me everything was okay.
My life was turned upside down for several years after the purchase of a home that was irresponsibly and badly inspected by a rip-off inspector [many complaints with the State of Connecticut] who was also "steered" to us by Buyers Representative.
At every turn, we had no one really on our side.
By LAW, every Broker is required to give at least THREE suggestions for Attorneys and Inspectors.
To boot, he did not have a moving company to recommend. He had his "assistant" call the SELLER'S and they gave yet another bad recommendation to a wretched two-brother company who damaged and broke ALL of our precious Antiques, and never took responsibility for such heinous damage.
And what about the train depots and stations/parking permits within Greenwich? He had no information whatsoever. Really? You actually give this information? Then why was it abscent in your representation with us?
We had to figure out the parking schemes and payments, as well as non-permit parking arrangements for ourselves.
The home we bought was a nightmare. Roof leaking and very old.... never caught by inspector. Additionally, when we initially looked at the home it was me who mentioned to John Herman himself that the roof looked warped and not right. He ARGUED with me telling me that that is "how wood roofs look." NO, that is NOT how they look when they are in good condition and he should have known this!
There was feet dragging when I wanted something, and there was illegal "steering" with so many tricks.
He also committed fraud when he conveniently "left out" several properties that WERE in our price range! We were never told about such properties that would have been of interest to us.... and it was most likely because they were in the lower to mid range of our price range. This would have been nice to know about such houses for sale.
It was big mistake to continue on with this guy and let him control and manipulate us at every turn.
Again, we were new to the area, and knew nothing about home buying.
My suggestion is that anyone looking to buy in a high-end area should work with an established Real Estate Broker who lives in the Town and is with an established, local Brokerage. Additionally, stick to your guns with your OWN Attorney and get a legitimate, LOCALLY located Inspector as well as a legitimate local BUILDER to look at the home.
If anyone makes you feel uncomfortable for any reason and keeps telling you that there is a "low inventory" while WITHHOLDING additional homes for you to look at [that are lower in price and you have every right to look at them if you wish] THEN STOP ALL COMMUNICATION with such an Agent or Broker and speak with at least a few more local Brokers until you feel comfortable.
Never be ripped off. This is a big purchase. We did not deserve to be abused and to have important information withheld from us.
No recommendations of any kind were given to us for movers, remodelers, past clients in the area, parking permits, or any such thing.
Sorry, but this report needed to be filed.
John Herman
Greenwich,Connecticut,
United States of America
Response from John Herman
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, March 02, 2010
I am John Herman, owner of TheBuyersRepresentative.com Real Estate Company. We are a very proud company of 6 Realtors who represent buyers in all home purchases. With offices in Greenwich and Farmington, we have closed home sales in over 90 Connecticut towns. We are the Connecticut firm to come to for buyers who want to know that they can trust their agent to work in their best interests in all situations.
This is a fraudulent report, from the first word to the last. Lets start by saying that anyone who has a valid complaint against a Realtor, can make a formal complaint to the Connecticut Real Estate Commission, which is part of the Department of Consumer Protection. The Commission has the power to revoke a brokers license. Their toll free phone number is: 800 842-2649
I do not know who created this report, or why. From the language and content of it, I first speculated it might be the work of unethical, self-serving real estate agent seeking to harm our business, or maybe someone being heavily coached by one. But I cant image an agent so lacking in character that he or she would be capable of fabricating this litany of lies. My clients are thoughtful, smart people, and we work closely together to accomplish their goals. We ask every client to let us know if there is anything that concerns them about our service, so that we can maintain the very best working relationship.
Having worked hard for our enviable reputation, it is disturbing to have it attacked by a callous, unthinking, misguided individual, who can do this damage while remaining anonymous and unaccountable.
This fraudulent report turns the truth upside down. The report depicts my firm and myself as possessing all the very worst attributes Realtors can possess. The truth is that we have built a real estate firm known throughout Connecticut for two things: Exceptionally high ethics and exceptional performance for buyers.
Consider the underlying illogic of this report:
Our buyer agency contract (which all clients sign) specifically states that the buyer can choose to quit working with us if we fail to perform as promised. We can provide this guarantee because we consistently provide high quality service. Obviously, we could not put this in writing if we were incompetent agents. A real estate firm has to seriously perform to offer this guarantee, which is the strongest in this business.
According to this story, I have committed more evil deeds in this one purchase, than most agents could make in a lifetime. I think this fiction writer started with a list of sins he wanted to include, and crafted his tale around them.
We are Exclusive Buyer Agents An ethics centered business model:
We are known as Exclusive Buyer Agents, or "EBAs". We do not take listings, and thus give up the right to earn listing-side commissions. We do business in this way in order to eliminate conflict of interest, because we believe that doing the best job for our clients is more important than anything else. We do not allow dual agency. We work for the best interests of our clients at all times with total loyalty. This ethics-based real estate model is by definition inconsistent with the notion deceiving the client. No agent would choose to do business in this rarified, ultra-ethical, more demanding way because they wanted to sneak anything. It is not logical that I would make every sacrifice to do the right thing, and then just decide to behave as a villain, jeopardizing the integrity of my company.
John Hermans experience in Fairfield County:
My involvement with Fairfield County started in 1985, when I was a Greenwich-based real estate appraiser, appraising homes for bank loans in every corner of Greenwich and all over Fairfield County. Since 1994, as an Exclusive Buyer Agent, Fairfield County has been a primary territory for me, and I have closed purchases for buyers in Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Ridgefield, Redding, Wilton, New Canaan, Westport, Fairfield, Bridgeport, and Trumbull.
Other experience includes previously being a Realtor in Manhattan, as well as working as commercial appraiser for complex commercial properties. I bring all my experience to the table in working for my clients. Whatever is neededzoning analysis, property tax analysis (for a time as an appraiser I focused on property tax cases, and have been and expert witness), structural or design investigationwhat ever is needed.
My clients do not think I live in Greenwich, nor do they think I need to. I also dont live near Hartford as this story suggests. I also dont live in 89 of the 90 towns my company has closed sales in! I confess I can only live in one town at a time. I commute to work, just like most of my clients.
I am an ethics committee member and past ethics chairman, and sometimes preside over ethics hearings against Realtors, or disputes between Realtors. I am a member of the Board of Directors of the CT Association of Realtors.
My clients are interested in acquiring the best possible home at a price that makes sense. They are interested in performance. They are interested in extensive real estate knowledge that is realnot just implied by where someone makes their residence. They choose me for my capacity to produce positive results. I provide high quality of search, evaluation, and negotiation surpassed by no one. I resolve outstanding questions to assist the buyer in making a decision. It may require a zoning investigation, a call to a plumber, or a variety of efforts as required. Whatever emerges, I make it may business to get the right answer if it can be found.
Zip Code
There are 5 zip codes in Greenwich, not 4 as the author stated. Two relate to the Greenwich section. Rest assured, I inform my clients exactly what area of town they are buying in, and the name of the area, the post office, and far more importantly, we specifically discuss the variations of values related to it. The four sections of town the author was intending to refer to were, Cos Cob, Riverside, Greenwich, and Old Greenwich, which are all part of the town of Greenwich. As meaningful as the zip codes are, the zip codes are merely a starting point in judging value variations in Greenwich. The town has 15 or so neighborhoods with many value nuances. I am familiar with all areas of the town and the value differentials in any section. All clients are clearly informed of the value differentials.
Author claims to live in Riverside
Ironically the coveted Greenwich section (by this emphasis the author calls attention to his inferior Riverside address) includes some of the most expensive areas (but also some of the least costly areas) in town. Riverside is a desirable section of the town of Greenwich. Many of the people who live in Riverside have chosen to pay more per square foot of house that just about anywhere else in the town Greenwich. It is an inane notion to suggest that Riverside residents define themselves as lacking because of their post office.
Riverside itself has many value factors and variations. North of the Post Road is the more affordable section, with many homes built in the 1950s and 1960s, and older homes on smaller lots (although this is not consistent). South of the Post Road and Highway 95, the character of the homes becomes more charming. Prices start increasing, as you move southerly. South of the train tracks homes are gradually less impacted by noise from the train of highway 95. Then we get to a zone at the free of any sound of the 95. South of this point lots and homes gradually get larger. Then there is waterfront and tidal waterfront, and the private associations, Willomere (where I was fortunate to complete possibly my first sale in Riverside around the late 90s), is one of these.
Past Riverside clients I have worked with looked at all the alternative homes in the market. When we focused on a possible home, we then took all the comparable sales in Riverside over the prior year, and with printed details in hand, drove by all of them together so that a comparable analysis of value could be judged from the primary data. This is a very high quality of analysis, which is not universal in our business. I do it because I want my clients to know current values thoroughly. I dont want them to rely on opinion or anecdote, but rather serious analysis based on objective data.
Passive Aggressive
I am very direct. I am very open and easy to read. I dont urge the purchase of any property (unless I love it and then I will be very loud about it.) When I am aggressive, the reason will be openly obvious, and I will tell you why. No room for confusion there. The entire purpose of what I do is to objectively assist the buyer in making the best choice after evaluating all the alternatives.
Paperwork / Inspectors / Attorneys
I dont know why any agent would sneak and not send over paperwork. Even from a selfish standpoint, any agent would want to do whatever I can to assist in moving the paperwork (and closing) forward. The home inspectors I use are some of the most widely used in the area, by many Realtors in the area. I know a lot about construction and homes systems, so I often also make a contribution to the inspection, as I am able. Regarding attorney choice, I have no reason to prefer one attorney to another. Although I prefer an attorney whos performance I know, the only requirements I urge is that the attorney chosen be familiar with Fairfield County contract format, and that the closing of real estate transactions is a common aspect of their practice.
Hidden listings
This is another part of the article really sounds like it came out of the mouth of a real estate agent. Some agents promise hidden listings in order to try to get buyers to work with them. It is an unattractive aspect of our business, because often these mystery listings dont exist.
Our clients know that we offer commission payments to any agent that actually comes up with an emerging listing. Since we are not competing with listing agents for listings, they can share confidential information with us that they cannot share with each other. Therefore, we can potentially be aware of more emerging listings that any single real estate firm in a given town. Any person, who had actually worked with us, would know this. In our practice, we commonly represent buyers to for-sale-by-owner homes as well as MLS listed homes.
Special needs
We help our clients with whatever they need. It may be an engineering firm, a dentist, the head of the hockey club in town, or many other specific priorities. What we dont know in a specific town, we will research for the client. It is not difficult for us to do this. We track down anything our clients need help with to the extent they want help.
Thats it.
Sincerely, John Herman, CEO TheBuyersRepresentative.com