We had a terrible experience with Ethan Brown. He was the listing agent for the seller of the…read moreproperty we were interested in. Apparently, he had originally sold the property as "new" to the seller about 8 years earlier. We went to an Open House that he held for the property.
Upon walking through the door of the property, we told Ethan we had a realtor that we had been working with for some time and that since we lived in immediate area, we just wanted to look at the property. Ethan told us that before we could walk through the property, we would need to sign an agreement with him listing him as our realtor for a period of 60 days. Again, we told him we had a realtor but he was insistent that we needed to sign with him as a dual agent so that we could even look at the property. We did and what a mistake. Ethan was all about the seller and protecting her and keeping the real information from us. Ethan's favorite way of communication was by text message and it seemed like his real estate business practice was more of a hobby than a profession.
We had multiple concerns with the property. The property had seen a very hard life over the 8 years it had been in existence. We had contractors look at the property and even had a home inspection. These inspections confirmed our concerns. There was settlement, a front door that would not open properly, plumbing issues, Radon present and more. No, the disclosure document did not identify any of these. We made a revised offer based on these conditions and Ethan responded that he wanted us to get the home so he was even going to reduce his fees to help get the price to something we might accept. In the end, the seller did not want to make the repairs and Ethan said the Seller was going to remove the listing and wait until April when the Seller could open the pool and she would then get everything she was asking for the property. The sad thing was, as an example, Ethan always used the front door to enter the property and had it open for showings. But, when we had the home inspection and the front door got closed, you had to be very physical with the front door to even get it open and Ethan never mentioned this and seemed to try and hide it.
Prior to April, we noticed the property was listed again with Ethan. The listing photos were the same as the original listing photos. The price had been reduced, so this time we got our realtor involved prior to looking at the house again. This meant we had someone on our side and not Ethan who claimed he was representing both of us. When we went to look at the property with our realtor, we asked for the disclosure statement. Interestingly, Ethan said the Seller had not revised the disclosure document so we would have to wait a few days for that to be prepared. When we did receive the disclosure document, it was not accurate. Only a couple of things had been revised based on the inspection and other findings and there were misrepresentations in the document.
Ethan held three (3) open houses on consecutive weekends and did not get an offer. We told our realtor we wanted to make an offer and we did but, we based it on the true condition of the property and the price based on the cost of completing the needed repairs. Based on the facts, we knew the Seller was very anxious to dispose of the property. Ethan told us the Seller planned to move out of state and was in a hurry to close. She did not. We based our new new offer on "as is" condition, thinking we knew all of the problems and the expected cost of repairs. Eventually, we reached an agreement on price and terms and a closing date was set.
We moved forward with anticipation of getting our new retirement home and expecting to make a few repairs. The pool was open but wait, the Seller now disclosed that the pool heater did not work. We said that was fine and that our offer was based on repairing the heater, mitigating the Radon and making other repairs identified during the inspection process.
After taking possession, we were confronted with many surprises. The Seller had removed some custom window coverings. Our realtor contacted Ethan and his explanation was that the Seller said they were damaged so she removed them. Our contract called for all window coverings to remain. The listing photos still showed the missing window coverings. The listing photos still showed missing shower curtain rods that were screwed to the walls but that were not present at closing. The listing photos showed a wine glass rack and spice rack that were permanently attached but, were no longer present at closing and had been removed by the Seller. And the biggest surprise, the pool heater that had been reported as not working and we agreed to inspect and repair/replace, was completely gone including the electrical wiring and gas line. Ethan had no answers.
In summary, if you work with Ethan, "Let the buyer beware." We do not recommend working with Ethan Brown.
