Complaint Review: John Stenberg Realtor - Chula Vista California

San Diego real estate agent John Stenberg and the company he represents -- Intero Real Estate Services failed to disclose pending litigation on a property they listed. These shady business tactics caused me to lose my pre-approved home loan because the bank would not lend on a property that was in litigation. I ended up having to stay in a hotel because I did not have a place to live due to the fact that John Stenberg represented a property to me as being clear of any litigation when in fact, it was not. I'm guessing the fact that the property was in litigation was never disclosed because that would seriously affect the offer price, which would affect John Stenberg's commission but that's only a speculation.

As if being deceived from the start and losing thousands of dollars to inspections, appraisals, hotel fees, and misc. costswasn't bad enough, the nightmare wasn't over yet. When I finally called the San Diego escrow company that the seller who John Stenberg represents chose, they informed me that the seller would not sign off on returning my $10,000 deposit. This was several months ago and I still have received nothing.

When I finally reached out to John Stenberg, part of what he wrote was:

"Unfortunately there were lots of things that went wrong on this transaction:

The seller not disclosing the litigation on his Seller Questionnaire"

When I mentioned sharing my experience with John Stenberg and Intero Realty, he said he would consider it "defamation," which basically meant to me if you try and share your story, I will sue you.

It was crazy how he told me to deal with the seller directly and said it was between me and the seller and had nothing to do with him. It seems like John Stenberg wasn't interested in wasting any more of his time on my real estate transaction because there was no money in it for him. The inconvenient part of that logic is that his negligence was the reason that the transaction fell apart.

Another very deceptive part of this deal with realtor John Stenberg is that after I signed off on the contingencies, he disclosed the fact that the property was in litigation. This little bit of information that was conveniently left out until the very last moment caused the entire transaction to fall apart. My real estate agent, my loan officer, myself and everyone else involved in this transaction lost out on time and energy because realtor John Stenberg was not honest from the start.

When I finally confronted John Stenberg and told him to remind him that he was a licensed real estate agent professional and that it was his job to assist in dealing with these problems, his reply was:

"This is between you and the seller"  Um, sorry John Stenberg, actually, as a licensed real estate agent in the state of California, you're under contract to represent the seller in this transaction until it's over!

Apparently, John Stenberg is only concerned with a real estate transaction when it involves him making money and getting paid and he's not interested in solving problems that arise even if they are his direct responsibility.

Even after San Diego realtor John Stenberg told me in no uncertain terms, that he was no longer interested in representing his own client in this transaction, I responded to him, giving him the benefit of the doubt and telling him I would wait until he spoke with his seller before sharing my negative experience so that he would have a chance to rectify it. After communicating this to realtor John Stenberg, at the very least I expected an email or phone call back with an answer or at least some information about the next steps for going forward. John Stenberg never even
cared to respond to my email.

Now we will be filing a lawsuit to demand that my deposit be returned from the seller and in the process of doing that we must attend mandatory real estate mediation and arbitration first. The funny part is that although he wants nothing to do with this transaction, John Stenberg will still have to show up to mediation as the real estate agent of record. I'm excited to see him face to face so I can let him know in person what I think about his lack of service, lack of professionalism and deceptive practices.

In light of my terribly negative and shocking experience John Stenberg and Intero Realty in San Diego.