I have many opinions of the services of Chicagoland Realty Group and its sole proprietor, Sean Morrissey, but I will stick to documentable facts.
Mr. Morrissey served as the agent in the sale of my home in Naperville. We had moved out of the house 4 years prior and had rented it out since to offset our mortgage. We had done this because we were severely underwater. As I now reside in Virginia, everything had to be done remotely.
We were fortunate to get the house under contract shortly after it went on market.
Relevant facts:
- Mr. Morrissey assured me on several occasions that the appraisal would meet the agreed upon price.
- The appraisal came in $5.5K below the agreed upon price. This was the exact amount that we were passing back to buyers to cover closing costs.
- After Mr. Morrissey informed me of the difference, we were very nervous. The difference was so close that we would have still owed money on a house we had already sold.
- In an attempt to keep the deal from falling apart, I thought of asking both the buying and selling agents if they would consider each forgoing $1.5K of the $10K+ both were scheduled to receive.
- I attempted to call Mr. Morrissey on several occasions, but he did not reply. So I sent him my thoughts via email.
- In several rounds of email, Mr. Morrissey addressed other facets of the sale, but nothing about the commission request.
- I pleaded for Mr. Morrissey to talk over the phone. He emailed back and stated that I was making him and his company "a party to the contract." My interpretation was he was implying I was doing something unethical or illegal. I have been part of five real estate transactions and know this is a fairly common request in these situations.
- He further stated that he refused to communicate via phone. So I was thousands of miles away with an agent who refused to talk.
- The next morning I informed him that if he refused to talk, I would communicate my experience on review sites such as this one. Also, I filed a complaint with the Ombudsman. As Mr. Morrissey was the sole proprietor, I had no one else in his company to turn to.
- He emailed backing stating he would report me to the Ombudsman, as well as pursue civil action.
- From this point forward, I had to work through my lawyer and buying agent.
- In speaking to the Ombudsman, he told me Mr. Morrissey's threats were idle, as the Ombudsman only had jurisdiction over agents. Furthermore, he stated it was my right to share my opinions online.
- Previous to the breakdown in communication, Mr. Morrissey had set up a carpet cleaning, as required in the contract with the buyer.
- With Mr. Morrissey's refusal to communicate, I dealt directly with the rep from Stanley Steamer. We agreed on a date and cost.
- On the date of the cleaning, I got a strange call from the rep. According to her, when the cleaners showed up to the house, someone inside the house claimed to be me, stating I was no longer working with Chicagoland Realty Group and did not want the cleaning.
- I was emphatic I was not in the home and to please go ahead with the cleaning. I asked her for details of who was in the home, but they never came. As this transaction started out under Mr. Morrissey's commercial account, this made me suspicious.
- In talking to the buying agent, he was not surprised that the appraisal came in below agreed upon price. He stated that if Mr. Morrissey had more knowledge of the Naperville market, he would have known this. (Mr. Morrissey is based outside Naperville.)
- The buying agent stated that if he knew Mr. Morrissey's lack of market knowledge, he would have shown up himself to the appraisal with neighborhood comps to help the appraiser. The buying agent felt it was likely that the appraiser simply saw the $5.5K passed back to the buyer and immediately cut this. Due to the past housing crisis, appraisers were extremely cautious.
- Separately from the carpet cleaning, I had a regular cleaner come to the house. She alerted me afterwards that the sump pump seemed to be broken. I communicated this via email to Mr. Morrissey, but he never replied. The buying agent went himself to check.
- Mr. Morrissey did not attend the closing. He also did not confirm when the closing was officially complete. read more
