Estately

Instead of simply correcting THEIR error about my house listing, Estately just took the entire listing off their site. Incompetence is an understatement.

This will be the 4th home Ive bought, have sold 2, and Ive never had an experience with a realtor like I have with Carol. Although there were smaller issues throughout my experience, the walk through on the evening of December 4, 2019, and the next 2 days until closing, were the pinnacles of my experiences with her. I have asked to end my relationship with only one of the 6 other realtors I have encountered during my past home buying and selling experiences due to the realtors obvious lack of motivation to sell my home.

This agent, Carol Hamilton, initially sent me a couple of homes similar to what I told her I wanted. After that, everything else was at the top end or beyond the price range I spoke to her about or was 2 or more levels. I came of with a list of homes I wanted to see. It struck me as odd that she had not considered these homes for me. They were readily viewed on Zillow and other real estate sites.

On the morning of the walkthrough I told Carol, when she messaged me about meeting that day for the walkthrough, that I had a work meeting at noon, so I would need to meet after work. (I am a family practitioner. My appointments are frequently booked a month or so in advance, so rearranging my schedule is very challenging most days. I also start work at 7 am and am often unable to leave for the evening until 6, 7 and sometimes 8pm) I told her I would be leaving work at about 630p and it would take about 5 minutes for me to get there. I texted her at 632p, and she responded that she was downtown at a Christmas doooo, as she put it. She arrived at about 645/650p.

I was parked in the driveway. She parked in front of the house on the street and never said a word as she walked past my car. Nor did she look my way. I got out of the car and I greeted her first. She did offer me some candies from her Christmas gathering. I thanked her and told her I hadnt eaten since noon, so Id wait to eat them.

I was interested in the smoke detectors that were reportedly outside the bedrooms, which neither she, I, nor the inspector saw. She had written an email response to me from the sellers agent that there were working alarms outside of bedrooms. When she pointed them out, and removed the cover of one, the alarm panel responded (it didnt activate the fire departmentthe alarm just made a sound as if a door were opening). I then said that unless I opted to activate and pay for the alarm system, the smoke detectors would not work. I told her of my experience of having similar alarms in a house I own in St. Louis, and that those would not work without the alarm system monitoring. Her posture and her facial expressions indicated that she didnt like my response. She then told me she would give me $50 so that I could buy alarms that screw into the ceiling.

When we were standing in the master bedroom at the walkthrough, she said that the sellers had given me $1100 for what I had asked for to address a few issues on the inspection report. I reminded her that the reduction in the sale price was the result of me reviewing the appraisal, not the result of the sellers giving me any allowances for the lack of GFIs in the kitchen, the lack of active smoke detectors, the missing tiles at the entryway, cleaning the fireplace chimney that had not been cleaned in 2 years and a few other items we had discussed. (She wanted me to sign the final documents prior to receiving an appraisal report. I had stalled for a couple of days, and the appraisal came in $2K less than a reduced asking price). She seemed not to like my response and went out the front door to wait outside while I completed the walkthrough alone.

Initially, when I asked for a few of the items that were the result of the inspections and we discussed a selling price reduction of $2200, she mentioned several times that I was asking for very little and was very reasonable. After she spoke with the sellers agent, and the sellers countered with $1100 reduction from selling price, she indicated that the sellers were meeting me half way and that they were being reasonable.

Carol had caused some alteration in one of the exterior bedroom window coverings when we were at the house one day. These are external coverings to the master bedroom windows as well as the entryway window. She was attempting to show me the egress from those windows, in case of emergency, and the covering fell to the ground. It displaced part of the plexiglass insert and she could not put it back in to place. Neither could I. When I mentioned this after I finished the walkthrough and came outside (I had walked over to the drivers side of my car that was parked in the driveway while she was locking up) she stood on the passengers side of my car, raised her voice at me, had a very angry look on her face and yelled angrily that shed give me $100 for the smoke detectors and the handyman. She also said that I would never be *** satisfied even with that, and that Im a person that just takes, takes, takes (as she was yelling this at me, she was using hand gestures as if she were grabbing something in the air). After she said this, she told me that she would meet me at the closing if I wanted the house. She stomped off, got in her car and drove away quickly.

Carol sent me a text message about 24 hours before the closing that she would not be attending the closing. I found out from the loan originator that she also emailed him and stated that she didnt know if I were going to show up for the closing and she didnt know if the sale were actually going to close. He called me at work that day because he was very concerned about the email he had received from her. I assured him I had said nothing to Carol about not closing the sale. At the closing, the loan originator said that in his 30 years in his profession, this was a rare instance of a buyers agent not showing up to a closing. He also mentioned a couple of issues he had with her. This included the the very short closing window (3 weeks) and her slow response to giving him some of the documents he needed. He was very cautious about what he said, and stated he did not like to speak poorly of people. But he did speak to the unusual circumstances he had encountered during this transaction.

Carol was supposed to supply the keys to my new home as the sellers agent was out of town. No one at the title company was able to contact her at closing time. I was finally able to reach her later in the day by text (she did not answer my phone calls). She told me that she had left the keys under a rock (which I found out was under the small rocks on top of the larger rock in the picture). These rocks are in the front of the house, very near the gate that the one key opens, which also opens the front door. She assumed I would not be at the house until after work around 630p (per her text message), but I was off early that day for the closing. As with many instances, she assumed information that she never asked me about.

When we had previously met at Whole Foods to discuss the inspection report, she judged that because I did not immediately react to her suggestions, I didnt appreciate or like her suggestions. I tried to explain to her that I was thinking about what she was saying, and that in general, Im not a very reactionary person.

After the inspection, regarding GFIs in the kitchen, Carol told me that she spoke with an electrician but that the electrician could not come out to give a bid. She told me that she had also called other electricians, but everyone was soooo busy, no one could talk with her or come out. When I later asked who she called, she said she couldnt remember who else she called. However, near or after the closing, she sent me the names and phone numbers of 3 local electricians/companies that she said she found on the app, NextDoor. She gave no indication that she had ever contacted these well-known electricians/companies.

I had specifically asked Carol twice if there were any development possibilities in the area as there is open, undeveloped area nearby. I know that housing is a concern in this city and that developments are being built in very small areas. I didnt want to buy a home in an area that does not lend itself well to new development. Twice she told me that there was nothing being talked about or planned. However, one of the first things a neighbor told me about a week after I started moving in was about the proposed 480 housing unit and additional commercial development planned for the specific location I had asked about, which is very near my new home. The proposal for this development was at least 6 months old.

I have found Carol to be unprofessional, disorganized, lacking attention to detail, judgmental and impatient. I think she forgot that she was working for me. I never raised my voice to her and I never cussed at her. I asked questions for clarity rather than assuming. My interpretation is that she did not like me contradicting what she said, or having another opinion than what she offered.

I can offer other specific examples of my experiences with her, one being an email response of whoa when I sent her an email regarding my discussion with a title company representative, which was another of Carols mistakes. (She wrote one title company in the contract, but in reality another title company was involved in the transaction).

I guess I shouldve surmised from the beginning that there was something amiss. She told me we would be closing at the end of December, but wrote the contract for a December 6 closing. She indicated that this could be easily changed, but her behavior, and that of the mortgage company, did not reflect this. Although I have purchased other homes, this is the first that I have purchased in this state. I thought there might have been different sale conditions that allowed for arbitrary closing dates (other than the obvious regarding inspection, title or other issues).

I sent this info nearly verbatim to Estately via email after inquiring who to send it to, and never even received an acknowledgement of receipt of it

I bought a condo that was in really bad shape. It was a total fixer upper in the worst sense.

I totally remodeled it and it looks totally different.I had to contact places all over the internet because they had pictures of the interior and exterior before it was remodeled. I was able to remove the pictures from every site except estately.com They claim they don't know who posted the pictures and gave me a few suggestions. All of the suggestions say that they didn't post the pictures. They claim they have no way of removing the pictures!

I intend on selling my condo in the near future and I don't want people to see the before pictures. I contacted them a second time and a lady was very rude on the phone. I am so mad at them!!

They are the worse company ever!! Don't do business with them!!

I asked them to stop posting my house's pictures (many interior pictures included) and this lady said I have to contact MLS. She talked loudly and continuously and I did not get a chance to talk.

When I called the second time, no one answered the phone. I ended up have to request Google to do that. I think this is a very small company and the staff are not trained with PC, and they will not bother if my privacy is invaded. I also looked up business review and they got a 'C' rating.

It doesn't take long to understand why. http://www.bbb.org/alaskaoregonwesternwashington/business-reviews/real-estate/estately-inc-in-seattle-wa-2264****

Fyi, I am not their customer.

This so- called real estate business is not worth your time, nor your money. Do not trust them, they are not a reputable realtor.

They hardly have any business, to start with, and they are mostly a blog, with the hopes of becoming a major force in the real estate game. They are very political, and are not above disrespecting certain states. The look of their blog is very generic. You can read other complaints about them online, they are not a force in the online real estate "game", but they hope to be.

Find a reputable, local realtor. Estately is a washout, a want- to- be.