Complaint Review: Agent Owned Realty - Anderson South Carolina

I called DANNY BURDETTE from AGENT OWNED REALTY FOOTHILLS GROUP back in sept 2014 and asked about land he and his company had placed up for sale. On many websites they had land for sale it stated NICE HOME SITE TO BUILD ON CREEK ON PROPERTY.

   I spoke with them and ask if I can go look at land. We told them we were looking for land to move our small farm to so we would not have to rent or borrow land for our garden and honey bees. I ask several times about the creek on land and they said YES creek was on property.

   After walking the land with my wife and a friend we called back asking more questions. I told them I would like land to be surveyed and checked to ensure that creek did run on land. I had already been looking at other land and wish to close on property so we could start clearing land for our garden the following year.

   Danny Burdette and Agent Owned Realty Foothills group, stated creek came with land and ran through land.

   I ask about the right side of the land because at the creek it had a natural rock dam that held back water which would have been great for live stock and a garden. We grow and sell Heirloom produce, local honey and plants and liked the idea that the creek was deep enough to supply us our needs on the right side where the rock dam was. The other side the creek was shallow and did not seem deep enough to supply us with our water needs.

   Danny Burdette from Agent Owned Realty met my wife and I at the land beside the property they had for sale.

  He began to show me maps of a survey that was done back in 1964 and stated it had the creek running the entire property line at the back. 

  I showed Danny Burdette maps I had gotton off the internet,one from Google and one from the Anderson County Tax Office which showed that the creek did not run as they stated and did not look like it was part of land.

  He did not like the fact I had my own maps and stated that Google was not correct and could not be trusted.

 I stated we wished for a survey of the land BEFORE CLOSING to ensure that creek came with property since we had other property we had looked at that had good flowing creeks on them but they lacked a dam.

 I told Agent Owned Realty we would buy land ONLY IF CREEK AND DAM CAME WITH PROPERTY.

   Danny Burdette quickly stated he had a friend (William Campbell) who could survey land for us and give us a discount since we only needed the right side surveyed, the left side was done by the neighbor so the land was clearly marked on that side. Since the creek on the right side is what we wanted he said he would get William Campbell to do the survey.

  I signed a 1 page copntract that clearly stated CONTINGENT UPON SATISFACTORY CHECK ON CREEK LAY OUT BY SURVEYOR..

    After signing contract I paid a $300 down payment to hold land until the survey was finished.

  I requested a copy of contract but Danny Burdette and Agent Owned Realty claimed they did not have any extra copies of contract and would get me a copy in a few days. They never did,every time I requested a copy he lied and brushed me off.

Danny Burdette stated that we could close in 2 weeks after the survey.

  A few days later his friend William Bill Campbell called and stated he read the map and we were good and did not need a survey. I still requested a survey because the maps I had stated Creek was not on the right side of property.

   He agreed to do said survey.

A few days later I went to the land to walk it once more and saw that William Bill Campbell had placed property tape to mark the land on the right side and he stopped 3/4 down the right side. It did not go to creek so I called William Bill Campbell to question why he didnt go to the creek,the survey did not look finished. He refused to return any of my calls.

   I called Agent Owned Realty and spoke with Danny Burdette he stated all William Bill Campbell had to do was 1/4 of the survey,the right side to the creek and would only take a couple hours to do so he toldme we were good and survey was finished.

   A few days before closing he changed closing date,blaming the lawyer RONNIE J. TREADWELL in Anderson for not doing the paperwork properly. So Agent Owned did another closing date a week later. 

A week past, he called and stated they had to push closing date back once more, this went on for months.

       In mid-December Danny Burdette and Agent Owned Realty called me back stating they were ready to close, by this time we had already began speaking with people that owned land we looked at before getting caught in all the lies from AGENT OWNED REALTY. 

  After telling Danny we were looking at other land he got angry and stated, "I NEED TO KNOW KNOW SO WE CAN MAKE A MOVE ON THIS! I HAVE OTHERS WANTING THIS LAND AND ARE WILLING TO PAY MORE FOR IT THAN YOU ARE!"

   So I told him if he had others willing to pay more for it than me sell it because I think they were asking too much for the land anyway and thanked him and hung up.

  He called back in about 24hrs begging me to buy land and stated he could get price knocked down if we wanted to buy the land.

  I told him to wait till after the Holidays, every time they wanted to close they changed closing dates, we had gotten sick of being lied to and mislead by this company.

  After the  Holidays he called back stating he couldnt get price dropped but had a closing date ready.

                       (He had lied about having others looking at the land)

   I asked if survey was finished and he stated again yes and creek was on property. We really liked the dam on the creek and we told them that the DAM and CREEK was the only reason why we would buy land. 

  He ensured me that his friend finished the survey and we were good.

At the lawyers office he and his Buddy (crooked lawyer) Ronnie J Treadwell came in the room and ask me to sign closing papers. They quickly placed one page on top of another and just said intinal here,here,here,etc and Danny and Ronnie just left the room with the paper work.

   I sat there a few minutes making jokes with the lady who had the land up for sale and I saw RONNIE J TREADWELL leaving out the front door. I was puzzled at this, then Danny came in and said "We are done!"

  I ask about getting copies of what I just signed, and the contract I signed with Danny he said they will be mailed to me. They never even allowed me to read what I signed or offered me a copy. 

  Which is illegal to with hold contract like they have done. I went to the lady at the front desk and ask about getting a copy of what I just signed and she stated they will be mailed to me.

  That was strange.

That week we began clearing the land at the creek, had hired help and extra labor. A week later we came back to finish work on clearing the back side of land and noticed NEW orange tape marking the property line and it wasnt on the area we cleared out.

  I began calling the surveyor he refused to return my calls. I was forced to  call Agent Owned Realty and questioned why the surveyor refused to return my calls. 

   After setting up a meeting to pay the so called surveyor I questioned why the property line was changed. Agent Owned and William Bill Campbell stated we must have read the map wrong!

  I replied you so called experts misread a map and cost me over $10,000!

  This was in Jan, in mid feb we got a copy of papers from that crooked lawyers office that is when we noticed that AGENT OWNED REALTY Changed the contract so we would be stuck buying the land! That is why they refused to give us a copy of contract and they had their so called surveyor buddy not to finish the survey until after we closed on the land.

  The contract stated in small print we did not want a survey, yet they had a guy survey it, and on page 1 it states we wanted a survey!

They also added we would take land as is! We did not agree to this. Creek and dam must be on property is what contract I signed.

   All our tools and we even had pop up campers placed at the back side of land where DANNY BURDETTE AND AGENT OWNED REALTY stated would be a great build site like it was advertised online.

   The creek flooded,the great build site WAS IN A FLOOD ZONE! We lost many tools and water came into campers and ruined the floors,cabinets and washed items down stream.

  Not only did their lies cost us over 10,000 cash plus the missing items and ruined tools and rot caused to campers. We were also out money for clearing off the neighbors land which we were told was our land.

   They refused to return any calls or emails we sent to them, we contacted the BBB and since spoken with a lawyer requesting leagal advice.

  This company Agent Owned Realty has did nothing but lie and cheat us out of our money.

  It was illegal for them to....

    1- not give all parties copies of contract when signed. Agent owned did not give me a copy of contract we signed with them until the following year.

    2-Lie about having others looking at land to push us to quickly close.

    3- never should any real estate agent have their friends like surveyors and lawyers to become involved in deals in which one party shows favor to another party like we had happen to us.

    4- no new contract was made after each of the many dozen times they changed closing dates.

    5- we were lied to about the problems in regards of the paper work, the land was not legally in the other party's name when it was for sale is why it took so many closing dates to be changed. The land should have never been legally for sale until the paperwork was properly done.

    6-any problems arise that may lead a party in not buying land like over half land was in a flood zone which they knew about,the only flat land on property was in a flood zone, this should have been told to us instead of stating that would be a great spot to build upon. This cause dus a great loss.

   7-they advertised land for sale with creek online and was a lie.

  We have all infomation printed offline and kept all paper work we did get from them. After contacting BBB they sent BBB many papers that we did not have and have saved them on file.

We also have recordings of lies they told us to back up our story from theirs. They also had the Surveyor and Danny Burdette send a written statement to BBB in which were full of lies, we have enough proof to prove that the written statements  they sent to BBB were lies, thank God for audio recordings we started keeping after the many lies we had been told by this company we knew we had to have some sort of proof.

After speaking with legal advisors and looking at the paper work we were told we do have a case to sue said company!

This is before they sent the BBB more information we did not have, which helped us build a better case on AGENT OWNED REALTY AND DANNY BURDETTE.

  I also sent information to the BBB, and the SC Consumer Affairs, so far they have been of great help. Consumer Affairs sent me a letter stating it would be best to take them to court, thats messed up when a company like Consumer Affairs takes one side so much they wish for us to take AGENT OWNED REALTY TO COURT.

   Our legal advisor stated it could take a few years in court to get all our money back but bottom line is that we would win the case. I did request $5,500 to resolve this out of court but if we have to pay for leagl fees and start paperwork to take them to court the price will be a great deal more.

 We had spent time trying to resolve this in a professional matter but so far,this company does not know how to do anything professional or respectful.

               Bottom line STAY CLEAR FROM THIS COMPANY! 

   We will keep up with online complaints in order to help others from falling into traps and getting taken advantage of by this company's lies. I do wish they did things honest but so far everything that this comapny has did has not been honest.

They will lie and steal just for a quick dollar, I do wish to thank the BBB,RipOffReport and cunsumer affairs for all their help in this matter.