I worked with Justin Green this past summer on a difficult condo purchase. I made an offer on the first condo Justin showed me and was initially happy with his work. Things became complicated when the seller was unable to fund his closing costs and backed out of the deal last-minute. I tried to save the deal by attempting to cover these costs, partly through my own money and also by petitioning the agents to reduce their commission (part of the seller's costs) in order to see the deal through. The closing date was extended by 1 month to provide time for this. The following is what I noted through my work with Justin:
The pros:
-Justin initially sent detailed information via email and provided a referral to an excellent attorney.
- After I made it clear that I was unable to fund the entire amount of the seller's costs and the deal could not proceed, Justin generously conceded 40% of his commission.
The cons:
-During the home inspection, Justin sat outside the house on his laptop and I later had to review the findings with him so he could negotiate with the seller's agent.
-3 days before the expected (original) closing date, Justin sent an email stating that the seller had backed out of the deal because he could not pay his closing costs. (Justin knew I had already rented out my current home, leaving me with no place to live if the deal fell through.)
- He was extremely slow to respond to time-sensitive issues.
-He provided little guidance. I was on my own to explore mortgage products, obtain insurance, meet deadlines, etc. If I had not done this before, I would have been lost.
- Justin made it clear that my interests were not his priority. For example, before agreeing to reduce his commission, he suggested that I take out a student loan to pay his commission or put it on my credit card (the commission was part of the seller's closing costs), both of which I had already explained were not feasible.
-Justin was not professional. When I expressed my frustration at one point, Justin became more responsive than he'd ever been, spending an hour sending me defensive text messages.
- He conveyed inaccurate information on several occasions. At one point this led to the seller contacting me directly because he had been told the deal was off.
-Justin was somewhat clueless. He requested copies of the settlement statement, needed reminders of the rescheduled closing date, and did not realize the deal had been fully taken care of until days after the transaction was complete.
- He was out of town for the walk-through and closing after he told me he would be available all day.
- When the deal became complicated, Justin did very little work, leaving it to me. I scheduled the walk-through and closing, coordinated the negotiations, checked the status of property-related documents (i.e., the smoke & 6d certificates) prior to closing.
To be fair, this was a frustrating transaction that was less profitable than most, but many times through this process I felt I was doing the work Justin was hired for. It's possible that Justin is a great seller's agent, but if you're a buyer in the market for an agent who is responsive, provides guidance and advocates for clients' interests, Justin is not your man. Please, BUYER BEWARE!! read more