I Fired the Realtor and She Went Bolistic on Me, Normal or Not?

Updated on June 29, 2013
S.M. asks from Apex, NC
24 answers

So I got really tired of the realtor stressing me out over damage done to my house from her painter. He never did come back to repair any of the damage. Now he is agreeing to walk away for nothing. As of 2 days ago the realtor was still trying to get me to pay for him to come back and fix the front door for only $80. I told her no, I'm not paying for his mistake.

Yesterday I finally decided to fire her because she was not only trying to get me to pay the painter for his mistake but she was going behind my back and calling my husband to see if HE would agree to pay to have the painter come back. When I told her I wanted to terminate the contract with her she demanded to know why. I tried to tell her I don't feel there is trust in this relationship. She said well maybe I'm starting to think I don't trust you either!

The call lasted maybe 5 minutes and she ended up going bolistic on me! Is this normal? I tried to be short and simple. Then she started saying, how could you do this to me? My feelings are really hurt now. I'm really upset about this. I can't beleive you are treating me this way. I said this is not personal, it's just business and I'd like to move on. Then she said, it IS to personal! And I'm a good realtor I'm good at what I do. I'm not letting you go! I said, if you were a good realtor you WOULD let me go. I told her I thought she was being very unprofessional.

Ultimatley, she was yelling all kinds of things and I could not talk at all. I tried to yell you are being so unprofessional! She didn't hear me and I finally hung up on her. I never yell at people like that but I doubt she heard me cause she was yelling so loudly herself. WTH!

Please tell me this is not standard for realtors to act this way. I know I should not have yelled at the end of the call like that but I really let her get to me and lost my cool.

SM

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Featured Answers

M.P.

answers from Minneapolis on

nope not standard you had a fruit loop, fatal attraction Realtor. Yikes. Good riddance, but be aware she could be making it hard for you to find a new one, by bad mouthing you to others.

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S.D.

answers from St. Louis on

Not normal and not professional.

Did you sign something with her though? She could make it difficult for you in that way if you did.

6 moms found this helpful

J.P.

answers from Lakeland on

Not normal at all and I would write a letter to her boss and copy it to the Assoc. of Realtors. The relationship should only be at a business level not a personal one.

When looking for a new realtor please interview at least three. Be honest to them that you are interviewing several and go with whom you feel most comfortable with.

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P.G.

answers from Dallas on

Crappy customer service. If you have her card and license number, I would report her to whatever realtor association or company she belongs to. If she's not an independent, then she's giving her company a BAD name and they need to know. Check your contract to see what it says re exclusivity. You may have to stay with the company, but you darn sure shouldn't have to deal with an unprofessional fruit loop.

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B..

answers from Dallas on

I'm surprised you have to ask if this is normal...

7 moms found this helpful

C.C.

answers from San Francisco on

This whole situation just sounds so strange to me. My husband is a real estate broker (our primary business is construction, but we maintain a real estate brokerage license as well), and his suggestion was that you call this realtor's broker and explain the situation to him or her. Has your realtor held open houses, or advertised your home in the newspaper? If so, she is probably reacting to having spent money on advertising your home, and now she will not be able to recover any of the money via her sales commission. Perhaps the broker can recommend another agent who would be a better fit for your needs. If so, that agent would simply provide a referral fee to your existing agent at closing (no extra cost to you), and everyone walks away happy.

Aside from speaking with your realtor's broker about this, was the painter licensed? If so, he should be required by state law to fix the damage he caused to your property. If he was unlicensed, that's something else to bring up with the broker. The realtor really should only be recommending licensed, insured contractors.

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R.D.

answers from Los Angeles on

Unprofessional. Good to fire her. There are plenty of realtors who would love your business. Don't bad-mouth her. Forget her and move on.

Some realtors do see their service as very personal and that's fine. But if they aren't doing their job right, then what is the point? This is still a business transaction. Some realtors see this as a business transaction and what the best outcome for their client, not just themselves.

PS Don't bad-mouth her to other people (you don't owe anyone details), but I do like the Patricia G's response.

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J.A.

answers from Denver on

No, not normal for anyone to go ballistic.

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K.F.

answers from Salinas on

At least now you know for sure that you did the right thing!

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K.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

Our real estate agent got SO mad at us when we fired her!!! We were looking to buy a house, not sell, and she just wasn't doing enough for us. She wasn't presenting us with homes to consider and wasn't able to line up appointments when we sent her listings of homes we wanted to see. My husband called to fire her and she totally yelled at him saying how much she'd done for us and we couldn't do this to her, etc. As a side note, she was always kind of rude to my husband when we were working together.

Anyway, she is partner agents with her husband, so a few minutes later, he called us trying to get our business! He said he understood that we didn't want to work with her anymore but she had invested so much in us that they should still get our business. We declined.

After we bought our house, I met someone who is now a good friend. Turns out she also had problems with the same realtor. She bought a house they were selling and the husband acted as the selling agent and the wife as the buying agent. They totally lied about submitting paperwork related to the inspection and problems that had to be fixed at the seller's expense - all of which were agreed upon. They never submitted the paperwork and charged my friend (the buyer) for the repairs. My friend sued and not only won, but said the judge totally told off the realtors at the hearing. : )

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J.C.

answers from New York on

View your contract. If you are able to let her go than good riddance. But be sure that you are not locked into an exclusive with her and her company.

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B..

answers from Dallas on

I'd bet the other realtors know she is unprofessional.

Really she sounds mentally ill. Yes, it is like Fatal Attraction.People like her really hate to be rejected.
You had every reason to reject her services. You could make it difficult for her and file a complaint but that would just continue your relationship. If at all possible never speak to her again.

If she ever contacted you again, I would let her know that I had transcribed every word of her triad and was prepared to go to her licensing board and her company, if she ever crossed your path again or you ever heard of her bad mouthing you. Make that transcript of every conversation and dates and people involved. Better do it now while the memory is fresh.

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S.W.

answers from Amarillo on

If she works for a broker contact them, then contact the state board of realtors and BBB. Anything she does reflects back on the broker and it is up to them to sort her out. However, do get a copy of the contract and read it to see how long you were giving her to try to sell your home.

If someone asks you why you changed. Just them that it was a personality clash. Nothing more nothing less.

As a former realtor, there were people who you liked to work with and some you didn't. But you still worked with them and did not cause problems. Just use generalizations when asked.

Good luck with your home and its sale.

the other S.

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J.S.

answers from Hartford on

Which realty company does she work for? You need to contact her Broker/Office Manager to release her from the contract. You'll need the signed copy of your contract and use the language that's in it in a formal letter, but you have to know that she may use the contract against you if you decide to list your house with another agency or agent during the contract period that you contracted with her. So if you contracted with her for 3 months or 6 months, and you fire her now but then you go with another realtor or agency, she can come back and cause some legitimate trouble for you.

But you also really need to report her to the local Association of Realtors and file a grievance immediately.

You may have to take your home off the market for the duration of the time that you had her contracted. It may end up being as simple as that, since no one can force you to sell your home if you don't want to.

If she continues to call you, say nothing. Don't argue. Hit record on your answering machine or digital recorder on your cell phone. If you know it's her calling, let the voicemail pick it up. Don't return her e-mails or texts unless you can keep it professional. No name calling, no shouting, no insults, just keep your side of it as clean and polite as possible. Let her dig herself a hole. Then you can add harassment with proof to your grievance.

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L.R.

answers from Washington DC on

Totally unprofessional. I remember your earlier post about the power washing issues too, and I wondered both then and now: Is it possible the realtor is in cahoots with the power wash contractor? I would suspect she gets some cut of what the contractor is paid and that's why she's pushed this one contractor at you so hard and is so insistent about money changing hands....It may not be true, but it would be my first suspicion in this case. I'd let it all go since you have rightly fired her.

Be aware that a new realtor might ask you why you changed realtors and all you have to say is that your previous one was not working out and you need a realtor who is more compatible with you. You don't owe any details to anyone on this.

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J.C.

answers from Anchorage on

I would contact her supervisor, her reaction was not okay at all.

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J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

I can't answer your question because really, we don't know her side of it. It is not going behind your back to talk to the other owner of the house. Between that and you referring to the painter as her painter, it sounds like she may have been pushed to it.

Only pointing this out because although her behavior isn't the norm, if you treat all the realtors the same way you may continue to get much of the same, ya know?

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I.S.

answers from Sacramento on

an agent has to uphold a code of conduct. She was acting unprofessional and frankly disrespectful. I would contact her broker and hope they discipline her. If you truly feel she should receive further discipline for her lack of professionalism, then you can go to the board of realtors and file a complaint. I work for a real estate company and hear from a co-worker of mine how rude, incompetent some agents are. Its the industry and sadly some agents are truly only in the business for the $$$. The industry is tough right now so a lot of agents are feeling the pressure due to it, but it shouldn't come off to their clients, as customer relationships is huge in this industry. It can truly ruin your career due to poor customer relations.

not sure what agency you used, but Century 21 is all over and hire great agents. Re/Max is good too. Don't let one pissy realtor ruin your taste. She is a bad seed.

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O.O.

answers from Kansas City on

Better bolistic than holistic, I guess.

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E.X.

answers from Kalamazoo on

Ugh. Good for you for taking care of your own needs, and moving on. We fired our first realtor and she sent my husband and I a cold email message about how we were obviously not ready to commit to buying, and she's glad we're not working together anymore b/c she doesn't want to waste her time.

Wow.

It went from "not a good fit" for us to, "we dodged a bullet" by firing her. I had no idea she was going to react so unprofessionally. We got a recommendation for our next realtor, and ended up putting an offer on the first property he showed us. :) Our experience with him has been nothing short of exceptional.

Good for you - you'll get over the initially shock and never look back.

Good luck selling your house!

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M.S.

answers from Washington DC on

Can you expand on how the painter damaged your house? I bet she has a professional relationship with that painter and was pissed that you were trying to stiff him.

I most certainly would not advise anyone to call and issue a complaint on her, and potentially damage her career, based on the one side of the story we have heard. Seriously people. That just irresponsible. It is every bit as likely that the poster of this question could be the one that is difficult and that the realtor had jumped through dozens of hoops for her and then got fired b/c the person was pissy about an incident with a painter. Just sayin!

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L.B.

answers from New York on

We just bought a house. Our realtor was flaky but okay. However, we met some incredibly unprofessional people representing other houses, to the point where we were wondering if the profession attracts unstable people! My aunt is a realtor in another state and she couldn't believe what we told her about two of the realtors for the sellers. She asked us to report them, for the sake of the profession, but I can't remember what agency or body you report to. Maybe someone else knows?

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E.M.

answers from Louisville on

sounds like a nut! I know the housing market is a little iffy right now but geeze. find another Realtor...

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F.C.

answers from Tampa on

I would personally put the whole situation into a letter form and mail it not only to the Office Manager, but her Broker (which you can find out just by calling the state licensing department), the Agencies Corporate Office, the local Realtor's Association AND the state licensing board.

Her behavior is beyond unprofessional.

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