1400 Santa Lucia…read more
1. We were in the market for our first dream home. My wife and daughter first met Susan Kockos, License #: 01928141 at an open house in Pacifica where she was the hosting/listing agent for that house. We couldn't get this property because we got outbid by another buyer. We then moved onto a different property, 1400 Santa Lucia, San Bruno, CA 94066.
2. My wife and daughter went to the open house on a Sunday where she met Matt Ciganek DRE #01871937. He was the listing agent for this property. There were many people at the open house. My wife loved the weather in that area, how beautiful the home was, and the proximity of a park nearby.
3. Since we were very interested in this property, we informed Susan Kockos of our interest. Susan mentioned to me over the phone that she went to the open house and met with the listing agent Matt in person and chatted a bit. Fast forward on Nov 15th, we began to put in our offer. The property was listed for $1,195,000, I told Susan to help us submit the offer for $1.2 million. A couple of hours later she called me and said she spoke to the listing agent who told her our offer was $100,000 away from getting the house. I then counteroffered at $1.275 million. I didn't hear back from Susan and finally received a missed call from her at 2:50pm. When I called her back at 3:05pm, she mentioned to me that the cut off time for the last offer was at 3:00 pm but she will see what she can do if we have a higher offer. She convinced me that I will have to put a minimum of $1.32 million to get a chance with this house. I agreed, not thinking much since she told me we passed the deadline already. However, at 4:31pm Susan called me and said that our offer of $1.32 was accepted. She mentioned that there were 11 offers total and ours was the top 5.
4. After further consideration and within 90 mins of the acceptance, I texted Susan that we changed our mind and wanted to cancel the contract. My wife also tried to call her as well and spoke to her at 6:53pm, Susan told my wife that "this could get ugly and there will be consequences". We then emailed Susan our signed offer withdrawal letter and explained to her our situation. Susan replied at 7:06pm that she would forward the withdrawal email to the seller. The following day, Susan emailed us the official cancellation form. Which my wife and I signed and emailed back immediately at 10:25am on November 15th.
5. The following day, we received a text and email from Susan harassing and threatening us that we should have a lawyer ready. When I mentioned this to my close family and friends, everyone could not believe our own realtor would do this to us. We put our trust in Susan, that she would help us through this very big decision of our life. However instead, she just made things complicated and confusing.
6. Upon request, we finally received the sellers signed contract on November 20th at 10:16 am (5 days after our final offer) from Susan. At this time, the seller still did not provide us their signed release of contract cancellation.
7. I read the contract carefully and based on the contract that both the seller and buyers signed, Clause #29, Liquidated Damages, clearly states that "if Buyer fails to complete this purchase because of Buyer's default, seller shall retain, as liquidated damages, the deposit actually paid." Since we notified Susan the same evening when we wanted to cancel the contract, we did not give a deposit to the buyer. Therefore, no deposit was paid.
8. Clause #31, Arbitration of Dispute, Section E, states that "BY INITIALING IN THE SPACE BELOW YOU ARE GIVING UP YOUR JUDICIAL RIGHTS TO DISCOVERY AND APPEAL, UNLESS THOSE RIGHTS ARE SPECIFICALLY INCLUDED IN THE 'ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES' PROVISION."
9. In no way was Susan trying to help us cancel the contract. She did not even provide us with the sellers 'complete signature and she didn't seem to know our rights as her clients in this situation.
10. As of November 19th, Santa Lucia still showed active, available to any potential buyer on Zillow, Realtor.com and other home search engines. Therefore, we clearly did not cause any "Liquidated Damages."
11. I hope this letter will alert any potential buyers of our experience with Susan. This is not how first-time home buying experience should be. As of today, we still have not received the signed cancellation letter from the seller. However, I do see the house in pending status on Zillow already.