My Experience with a Village real estate agent.
 

I listed my home with a Village real estate agent named Debbie Sander in August. From the start, my service from her was substandard.

In the beginning and talking with her in person, I asked her to send me a copy of the signed agreement. She never did. I asked again and she sends me a blank one. I finally got a signed one after a few calls.

Early on, I had to text her something important about the house and then days go by (or a week) and no response. I had to actually go to my open house just to talk to her. She told me her phone was "broken."

As the weeks go on, I emailed her, text her and left messages on her phone and no response. She did call me a week later about something else but never addressed my questions I emailed her about earlier. She said she must have gotten back to me and said she'll look at her phone logs. I told her I have phone logs as well and she changed the subject. She was also supposed to send me a contact name for a person regarding a small project around the house, you guessed it !- it never happened.

On one occasion, her assistant emailed me at 2:47pm saying I have a showing at 2:30pm that same day. Luckily, I left the house hours ahead for an appointment. Also her assistant emailed me on a Monday about something unimportant and then telling me to have a nice weekend. Ditzy?

On December 2nd, I left a voice mail with Debbie Sander saying i have something important to say and to call me back ASAP. To this day, I haven't heard from her. I since met with the Villages Sales Office manager and learned that Debbie had lied to me about sales statistics. I have now continued the listing contract with another Village realtor. If this original (long) 6 month contract expires, I will go with a MLS agent.

I'm sure many of you had pleasant experiences with her but, I just wanted to share mine and relay some information about her to help anyone make a discission if listing their home with a Village realtor. In my opinion, I don't think she's 100% coherent. Plus, I always wondered about a realtor using their High School picture on their business cards when you're in your sixties.

I would send this complaint to her boss. That will get results.

I have not listed a house with The Villages. However, when I have listed a house, the maximum listing contract I would agree to was 90 days. And, the contract would include a clause that said, if I lose confidence in the agent or broker, I can fire them at any time. The Villages has some good, experienced agents. Your listing contract is with The Villages, not the individual agent. Also, when listing a house for sale, I always wanted to know the names of the top selling agents in the brokerage. Why not use the best?

Why not file a complaint with the state's regulatory department?

Here is their form.

http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr.../re-2200-1.pdf

We had a substandard agent when we bought here. We contacted The Villages and asked for a different agent, no problem.
Rather than reporting to the attorney general, etc etc. why not take a deep breath and forget it , don't let it bother you. Release.
I'm sure she doesn't care.

My understanding is that Villages "realtors" do not necessarily have to have a real estate license. They do not use MLS and they are contractors contracted to TV.

Thanks for the reply. I always heard the houses sell very fast here so I didn't think about the 90 day term and any stipulations to add. I now learned.

All real estate agents must be state licensees.

That is not correct. None of The Villages agents are Realtors because The Villages, as a broker, is not a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). But, all of The Villages agents are licensed by the state to sell real estate. It is illegal to sell real estate on a commission basis without a license.

Thanks for your input. I actually did that by filling a form online and haven't heard back from them. They actually can be protected by being under the "umbrella" of the Villages.

Thanks. The sales manager did work with me and sign me up with another agent. The thing is, he never really addressed my concerns I had with Debbie and told me just to move forward. I guess I'm glad I had another option with a new realtor.

If she has a real estate license, and violates the law with respect to her fiduciary obligations to a client, the board can rescind her license. The Villages cannot prevent that.

I appreciate your reply. I did contact a "so called" Village sales manager but the realtors are "contractors" and basically work for themselves. Like I said, he did assign me another realtor.

Have seen her name as a listing agent on quite a few properties here. Wonder if she has too much on her plate? No excuse for her actions though.

Did you complete the state form before or after meeting the sales manager?