- Report: #242094
Complaint Review: Coldwell Banker / Marie Pane - Ronkonkoma New York
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Coldwell Banker / Marie Pane
5018 EXPRESSWAY DR S Ronkonkoma, 11779 New York, U.S.A.
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631-588-9090
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Coldwell Banker / Marie Pane Dishonest - Failed to live up to her word. Ronkonkoma New York
My realtor took us to see a house on 11 4th Street in Lake Ronkonkoma in early July 2004. We had liked the house, quite a bit, but our initial bid was rejected with a counter-offer. After a few days of quite hostile negotiations, we arrived on a price for the house ($349,000). With our engineer set to go the next day, it was a surprise to get a call that evening, telling me the homeowners had accepted another bid.
The agent for the sellers - Marie Pane, of Coldwell Banker - had been brutally honest with our agent, who was acting as a buyer's broker in this situation. Therefore, our agent's allegiance was to my wife and me. Marie's response to each of our offers, initially, had been to tell my agent how the homeowner was 'too upset to speak' and 'too angry to seriously consider our offers.'
After a few weeks, I learned the previous deal had died, and that we were once again being offered the house. However, Marie informed us that the client wouldn't consider any offers below $351,500, or the house would go back on the market. This was, obviously, $2500 more than the original deal we'd agreed upon - and it came AFTER his second consecutive deal had died.
We were still willing to purchase the house, so we offered $349,000 again, and said we'd honor our previous offer, but we wouldn't go up at all. Marie insisted on dealing with the homeowners herself, claiming that the husband was 'too volatile.' She finally contacted my agent, and said that she would put the deal together for $350,000. We refused to budge.
Marie's son, Sal Pane, was a mortgage banker that Marie had recommended. However, this also meant that Marie was privy to all our financial information. Sal called me on the Friday evening during these negotiations, and said he and his mom had been speaking, and he was astonished that we would allow this deal to die over $1,000. I explained that it was a matter of principle now. The next day, the homeowners came down to $349,000.
The binder was sent over, along with a clause that stated that, should the homeowners accept another offer, AFTER we had already brought in the engineer, that the homeowners would reimburse us the money for the inspection. We felt this was imperative, given the homeowner's previous actions. Also, this was critical, because we knew we were leaving for a convention in less than a week, and the odds of us getting into contract before that were slim. We stated that, without that agreement, we would simply wait until we returned to have the engineer's report.
Marie faxed back the signed binder, but had decided to make her own changes, and had initialed them, without consulting us or our agent. The clause regarding reimbursing the inspection fee had been crossed out. Marie told our realtor, as a matter of professional courtesty, should the homeowners accept another offer, she PERSONALLY would reimburse the engineer's fee. Additionally, her son also said the same thing to us. This was Monday, July 26, 2004. We went ahead with the inspection on Wednesday, July 28, and waited to see if we would be in contract by Monday, August 2.
Marie didn't have the correct attorney for us, so the delivery of the documents was delayed. The attorney only received the contracts on August 2, so we told him we would set up an appointment when we returned. My agent had previously told Marie of our schedule, and explained this was why it was important that we had the assurance before we left.
We had no property of our own to sell, and, while we were away, we set in motion the mortgage process, to save time later (since we were aware that the homeowners wanted to sell quickly). Of course, we elected to not use Marie's son for the mortgage, however.
When we first returned, on August 9th, my wife and I still had trouble setting up an appointment with our attorney, along with our hectic work schedule, but knew we'd sign that week. On Wednesday, August 11th, my agent informed Marie that, while we were awaiting the appointment with the attorney, my wife and I were finalizing our mortgage arrangement so it would be done when we signed the contract. At this point, Marie NOW knew 100 percent that we were not using her son for our mortgage.
The very next day, August 12th, our attorney called the homeowner's attorney to let them know that we had set an appointment for August 16th to sign the contracts. However, later that same day, our attorney received a call from the homeowner's attorney stating that the sellers had accepted a higher offer, and that our deal was now dead. My agent learned about this when our attorney called my wife to tell her. Marie never called my agent to let her (or us) know that this situation had occurred.
It wasn't until the FOLLOWING evening (August 13th) that my agent spoke with Marie. She said that she had picked up the contracts and taken them to the new buyer's lawyer already. They had been signed and the contracts had been returned.
We were set to sign the contracts on August 16th, with a full mortgage commitment. The recorded contract date was August 17th. In truth, the way the situation unfolded was completely a punitive action on Marie's part to 'punish' us for not using her son as our mortgage banker. The price of the house was merely $1,000 more than our offer - barely enough to cover the reimbursement of the engineer's fee.
However, when our agent asked Marie who was reimbursing the engineer's fee, Marie said, I'm not payin' nothin'. Our agent called and wrote Marie and her broker John Fitzgerald, asking her (or him) to uphold her professional responsibilities and exhibit the integrity necessary to honor the agreement she made. Marie refused to even answer, implicitly showing that, she does not deem the agreements she makes important enough to uphold. Our agent even mailed a SASE to Marie and John, which was also summarily ignored. Apparently, this lack of integrity extends beyond Marie, into the office and her manager, as a whole.
Chris
Ronkonkoma, New York
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Coldwell Banker
The agent for the sellers - Marie Pane, of Coldwell Banker - had been brutally honest with our agent, who was acting as a buyer's broker in this situation. Therefore, our agent's allegiance was to my wife and me. Marie's response to each of our offers, initially, had been to tell my agent how the homeowner was 'too upset to speak' and 'too angry to seriously consider our offers.'
After a few weeks, I learned the previous deal had died, and that we were once again being offered the house. However, Marie informed us that the client wouldn't consider any offers below $351,500, or the house would go back on the market. This was, obviously, $2500 more than the original deal we'd agreed upon - and it came AFTER his second consecutive deal had died.
We were still willing to purchase the house, so we offered $349,000 again, and said we'd honor our previous offer, but we wouldn't go up at all. Marie insisted on dealing with the homeowners herself, claiming that the husband was 'too volatile.' She finally contacted my agent, and said that she would put the deal together for $350,000. We refused to budge.
Marie's son, Sal Pane, was a mortgage banker that Marie had recommended. However, this also meant that Marie was privy to all our financial information. Sal called me on the Friday evening during these negotiations, and said he and his mom had been speaking, and he was astonished that we would allow this deal to die over $1,000. I explained that it was a matter of principle now. The next day, the homeowners came down to $349,000.
The binder was sent over, along with a clause that stated that, should the homeowners accept another offer, AFTER we had already brought in the engineer, that the homeowners would reimburse us the money for the inspection. We felt this was imperative, given the homeowner's previous actions. Also, this was critical, because we knew we were leaving for a convention in less than a week, and the odds of us getting into contract before that were slim. We stated that, without that agreement, we would simply wait until we returned to have the engineer's report.
Marie faxed back the signed binder, but had decided to make her own changes, and had initialed them, without consulting us or our agent. The clause regarding reimbursing the inspection fee had been crossed out. Marie told our realtor, as a matter of professional courtesty, should the homeowners accept another offer, she PERSONALLY would reimburse the engineer's fee. Additionally, her son also said the same thing to us. This was Monday, July 26, 2004. We went ahead with the inspection on Wednesday, July 28, and waited to see if we would be in contract by Monday, August 2.
Marie didn't have the correct attorney for us, so the delivery of the documents was delayed. The attorney only received the contracts on August 2, so we told him we would set up an appointment when we returned. My agent had previously told Marie of our schedule, and explained this was why it was important that we had the assurance before we left.
We had no property of our own to sell, and, while we were away, we set in motion the mortgage process, to save time later (since we were aware that the homeowners wanted to sell quickly). Of course, we elected to not use Marie's son for the mortgage, however.
When we first returned, on August 9th, my wife and I still had trouble setting up an appointment with our attorney, along with our hectic work schedule, but knew we'd sign that week. On Wednesday, August 11th, my agent informed Marie that, while we were awaiting the appointment with the attorney, my wife and I were finalizing our mortgage arrangement so it would be done when we signed the contract. At this point, Marie NOW knew 100 percent that we were not using her son for our mortgage.
The very next day, August 12th, our attorney called the homeowner's attorney to let them know that we had set an appointment for August 16th to sign the contracts. However, later that same day, our attorney received a call from the homeowner's attorney stating that the sellers had accepted a higher offer, and that our deal was now dead. My agent learned about this when our attorney called my wife to tell her. Marie never called my agent to let her (or us) know that this situation had occurred.
It wasn't until the FOLLOWING evening (August 13th) that my agent spoke with Marie. She said that she had picked up the contracts and taken them to the new buyer's lawyer already. They had been signed and the contracts had been returned.
We were set to sign the contracts on August 16th, with a full mortgage commitment. The recorded contract date was August 17th. In truth, the way the situation unfolded was completely a punitive action on Marie's part to 'punish' us for not using her son as our mortgage banker. The price of the house was merely $1,000 more than our offer - barely enough to cover the reimbursement of the engineer's fee.
However, when our agent asked Marie who was reimbursing the engineer's fee, Marie said, I'm not payin' nothin'. Our agent called and wrote Marie and her broker John Fitzgerald, asking her (or him) to uphold her professional responsibilities and exhibit the integrity necessary to honor the agreement she made. Marie refused to even answer, implicitly showing that, she does not deem the agreements she makes important enough to uphold. Our agent even mailed a SASE to Marie and John, which was also summarily ignored. Apparently, this lack of integrity extends beyond Marie, into the office and her manager, as a whole.
Chris
Ronkonkoma, New York
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Coldwell Banker
