Do not use the Hopkins team if you want the prompt return of phone calls or if you want reports on showings. We made several calls shortly after 5 PM when we did not receive promised calls, and they were never returned until the next day, often via text.
Dondi did not show up at all (or send any one else) for one appointment.
In her initial interview, Dondi told us that our asking price was fair. Within a week and a half she started telling us that our house was overpriced. She also made it sound like she would do the showings. She did almost none. Her agents would show up and not know ANY of the positive facts about the house (brand new top of the line air conditioner, hurricane curtain, etc.)
She insisted we have a lock box although we made sure we were available for any showing and have small dogs that would be a distraction at best for anyone seeing the house. The code for the lock box was given to another agent who entered our home without an appointment. The Hopkins team proceeded to lose both the lock box key and another one.
In her initial interview, she emphasized how important the appraisal was. However, the appraisal was not done before the expiration of all contingencies. When I asked her about this after all the contingencies had been removed, she was very flustered and got the appraisal set right away. This was a very costly mistake for us. Any competent agent will tell you how important it is to have the appraisal done before the removal of contingences. It makes the removal of contingencies meaningless even though she initially (and incorrectly) told me that the buyers were bound no matter what.
Relying on the information that Dondi gave us re the removal of contingencies, we scheduled our move. On the very morning that the movers were arriving, we got a text message that the sale could very well fall through. After lowering our price by another $5000, the sale did go through.
The closing was a disaster. We were given an approximate closing date a month before the closing, but she never advised us of the closing. I contacted the buyers' agent, thinking that the closing was two days away, and he told me that the closing was at 2:30 that same day. There was, of course, a mountain of paperwork I had to get together for the escrow agent, and the closing would not have gone through had I not contacted the other agent. I finished obtaining all of the necessary info less than hour before the closing. The seller's agent advised me a few minutes after 2:30 that the closing had gone through. Four hours later I was advised by the Hopkins Team that the closing had gone through.
Never in all our experiences of buying and selling real estate have we been through anything like this. From beginning to end, the Hopkins team bungled everything they had been hired to do and were offended when we mentioned it.
When you hire a realtor, the assumption is that person will work for you, negotiate for you, protect your interests and get the best deal possible--for you, not for the buyer. With the Hopkins Team, all assumptions are off. You would be better served by listing your property yourself and save the commission. read more
