Potential Real Estate Client Took Their Info And Screwed Them Over, So They Made The Guy Think He Lost Out On Money When The House Was Sold

Matthew Gilligan

4 weeks ago

Source: Shutterstock/Reddit

News about shady business dealings travels fast, my friends!

And you better believe it’ll come back to bite folks in the rear end!

Facts!

Let this story be a warning to anyone who thinks they can get away with being a creep…

Real Estate Revenge.

“I’ve been a real estate broker in Chicago for nearly 20 years.

I started at a very small independent brokerage.

It was my first week there when the broker/owner gave me a lead.

He was older and wasn’t in very good health, so he passed a lot of his leads to his agents.

One of the broker’s friends passed away and the friend’s son wanted to sell the house.

I call the son who tells me he’s known the broker for 30-plus years and how close their families were.

He seems like a really nice guy.

I go over and check out the house. I work up a gorgeous comparative market analysis.

I have other brokers check my numbers (I was new and wanted to do a perfect job for my new client).

They were prepared.

I rehearse my presentation, have my stuff professionally printed, prepare for any possible questions, have responses ready for objections, and I head out.

I dazzle this guy with my presentation. He likes the $135,000 list price I recommended.

He’s fine with the commission.

He has no objections, but he asks me to give him 2 months to clean out the house, give his siblings a chance to go through everything and then repaint.

Now, I know how to handle this, but at the time, I just said I’d call him in 2 months to get it listed…

Bad move, but I trusted him because he and deceased father were so close with my broker. I didn’t expect what would come next.

What’s this?

Three days later, I’m driving through town and I see a “For Sale By Owner” sign in the yard.

That’s when I realized that I wasted several hours doing work for him and he completely bluffed me and used me.

I didn’t call him back then. Nowadays, I wouldn’t either, but that’s only because I’d have the listing before he had a chance to put that FSBO sign in the yard.

Experience counts for a lot.

Anyway, my broker was at city hall about 5-6 weeks later paying for transfer stamps when he just happened to notice in the registry that the previous customer was the son.

The son had just paid for transfer stamps earlier which essentially meant that the house had sold.

I waited until the prescribed “2 months” and called the son for my revenge.

I played stupid and the conversation went something like this… (And I talked fast so I could get the whole thing out before he could cut me off and tell me he sold it.)

They got the ball rolling.

ME: “Hey Len, it’s Myzyri over at ABC Realty.

I figured I’d give you a call to see if you got the house cleaned out and repainted because I had a relocation company call me with info from a doctor looking to move to the area.

When I talked to the guy, I thought about your house and mentioned it to him.

Since it’s only 2 blocks from the hospital where he’s going to be working and I told him how nice it was, he basically told me to make you an offer sight-unseen.

I couldn’t remember what I said the house was worth, but I told him $215,000.

He couldn’t believe how inexpensive it was, but he’s living in New York.

He said your house sounds like it’s three times the size of his and half the price of what he’d pay in New York City.

So, I don’t remember what I told you it was worth, but he’s all cash and wants to be able to move in in 3 weeks, so, would $215,000 work for you because I can write it up, fax it over to him for signatures, and get you done…?”

(There was a long silence before he exploded.)

Here it comes…

LEN: YOU *******! YOU TOLD ME IT WAS WORTH $135,000!

ME: Well, we didn’t even list yet and it looks like I just got you $80,000 more! What are you all upset about?!?!

LEN: I JUST SOLD THAT HOUSE! I SOLD IT FOR $130,000 BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME THAT WAS WHAT I SHOULD EXPECT TO GET!

ME: Oh darn, you sold it? That’s good for you and good to know that that my estimate on the sale price was spot on. Well, no problem, I’m sure I can find something else for my buyer.

LEN: **** YOUR BUYER! I WANT $80,000!

ME: I don’t know where you’re going with this. You sold your house for a price you were happy with.

I just happened to get an out of towner on a fluke who was willing to pay more.

But hey, you sold it and you got fair market value so you did great!

LEN: **** YOU! I WANT THAT $80,000!

This guy was CRAZY.

ME: I’ve never heard of this before, but if you can get the house back, I can talk to my buyer and see if he’ll wait for you to close again.

I don’t know if that’s even a possibility.

LEN: NO! YOU’RE GOING TO PAY ME $80,000!

ME: Well, that’s not going to happen. I can just hire a professional appraiser to show that you got market value for the house.

My mistake was quoting my buyer the wrong price, not you.

LEN: YOU CAN EXPECT TO HEAR FROM MY ATTORNEY!

ME: That’s fine. But I’m going to have to let you go now, Len.

I’ve got to get over to your old house to see if the new owners would be willing to give me a copy of their appraisal and see if they might want to sell it for a quick profit.

Do you know if they moved in already?

LEN: **** YOU!

And that’s when he slammed the phone down.

I would never do this now even though I have plenty of people who waste my time.

It comes with the job and getting upset doesn’t make it better.

However, I still think about that call today and while part of me feels like a jerk, I still get a little smile thinking about him kicking himself for screwing me over.

Soooo… Did he ever call a lawyer? Yes. About a year later, he called the only lawyer he knew. My broker’s brother.

The brother talked to my broker, who then talked to me. I gave him the market analysis and the appraisal. We never heard another thing about it.”