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My Claim vs. Jesse Salas, Harcourt Realtor, Solana Beach, San Diego

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W. P. vs. Jesse Salas, Harcourt Realtor, Solana Beach, San Diego
437 S Highway 101 Ste 116, Solana Beach, California, 92075-2219, United States
Amount Involved: $100,000.00
    • Status: In Negotiation
      This claim has posted for public comment and negotiation. It will remain posted until resolved to the claimant's satisfaction. Suggest a resolution to help these parties reach a settlement.
       (seeking public comment)
    • Claimant Seeks: View.
    • Claim #: 7642787
    • Amount Involved: 100,000.00
    • Filed On: Feb 12, 2017
    • Posted On: Feb 23, 2017
    • Complaint(s):
      • Bad business practices
      • Problem with a service
      • Overcharge or billing error
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Statement of Claim
Complaints Involved (4) - View
Claimant says:
"Complaint about the ‘Harcourts’ Realtor Jesse Salas, License 01877872 (California Bureau of Real Estate)

Beginning June 2016 I was looking for a realtor which would be able to sell my house fast. I have to mention that this outstanding house was listed for $650.000.- in March 2016 from another Realtor. This house was on HGTV featured in the TV-series ‘Dream-Homes’. It was also subject for film castings because of the exceptional outdoor design and landscaping.
As the house couldn’t be sold as desired I was agree to lower the price drastically to $575.000.- only with the plan to sell the house as fast as possible, for the reason that we lived already in another home at this time and the costs were excruciating high.
I informed Salas in full about the situation: based on the house sale I lost rental income from 2 tenants, we had additional duty to pay for the new house we moved in already on the one hand, on the other hand I was obliged to pay extremely high duties for the house to be sold.
With this knowledge Salas took over the house sale. He came up with the suggestion to sell the house fast via an auction. He promised (!) to sell the house latest on the auction at July 16th 2016 most likely he will sell the house before the auction for a higher price then $575.000.-. He stated that’s happen with more then 70% of the houses he is selling via an auction.
His promise and explanation how Harcourts Realty and he do the auctions let me decide for him as my realtor. He said he will generate “Hundreds” of people for the auction date, interested people coming from L.A., Orange County, etc.
Based on those facts I was agreeing to sign an ‘Agreement to employ Harcourts Pacific LLC as Auctioneer’. According to the suggestions from Salas the starting bid(!) was set to $435.000.- even the property should not be sold for less then $575.000.- (so says the contract!). Salas called the 575.000.- the ‘Reserve Price’.
The auction day came and there were NOBODY! – Not one interested buyer! On August 6th 2016 was the next auction set with the same result: Nobody appeared! Next auction date August 27th 2016: what’s a shame as even then nobody came, no bid, not even an interested party! As I said that his auction system obviously not works he told me that I’m wrong! There were some more auction dates also without any interested people!
And then came ‘the Best of the Best’ (he calls himself ‘THE BEST’):
HE MESSED UP THE SALE-PRICE SO THAT THE VALUE OF THE HOUSE WAS PRESENTED WITH $435.000.- INSTAED 575.000.- AND THIS ON ALL INTERNET PAGES, ESPECIALLY AT ZILLOW, ETC.
He did not change his mistake over all the months, even he is obviously affiliated with Zillow. Not Salas, not Harcourts not Zillows showed any effort to correct the price back to $575.000.-. A phone call with Zillow stated that only Salas could change the price back. I told Salas this but he didn’t care, did not even make the attempt to correct his mistake.
Clients and realtors came with the print outs in the hand showing the sale price of $435.000.-. Those were for sure not the clients ready to spend $575.000.- for a house. Salas was not ready to explain his mistake to the clients he not even came to the showings.
Accidently I personally had the possibility to talk and to explain the situation with the wrong market price to an interested party. This client bought then the house for 520.000.-. Means I sold it and not Jesse Salas – he only charged his exaggerated commission!
Finally we get an offer of $515.000.-. I wrote an email to Salas telling him my counteroffer and the facts as I would be agree with the house sale: $520.000.-, sold as is, no responsibility to the seller, no additional costs to the seller, split commissions.
Salas used my financial situation and ignored this all. In Retaliation to my criticism Salas charged me with all the costs of the sale. Salas knew that I had to accept it in my financial emergency.
On August 10th already I wrote an email to him telling my point of view about his terrible sale attempts and that I made my last possible payments for the house. He wrote back that this email ‘upsets’ him and I had the impression that my emergency situation was a pleasure to him in retaliation to my complaints!
He was several times telling us that he had showings and we know that there were absolutely no showings – I mean there were absolutely no appointments made!
A bigmouth, not able and willing to listen, a bad liar and the worst realtor I ever met.
Not only Experts shake their head when they hear how Salas messed up the price and the sale. Salas was unimpressed that his actions brought also down the value of all houses in this area.
He didn’t care! On one of his Zillow websites are testimonies shown, all 5 stars! How can’s that happen? Self made? That looks not proper to me! On his ‘Review’ website Jesse Salas tells the people that he was representing the buyer when selling my house! Not me the seller! He obviously expects a better review from the buyer then from my site!
Salas established a website for the sale of my house – pretty simple, showing wrong facts about the house, wrong number of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. He never corrected his mistakes.
One client told me that Jesse Salas was constantly on his cell phone while ‘showing’ the house to him. As I asked Salas about this he said: I was just busy elsewhere!
While the escrow he was acting all the time in favor of the buyer and told me that I as seller have to carry all escrow costs and I’m responsible to pay for a warranty contract.
Last but not least escrow was delayed for about 4 weeks as it came out that there was an old lien on the title which has to be removed: is it not the responsibility of a realtor to make sure on the very first beginning that the house is lien free and has a clear title?

Here is the math of my demands: The different between the actual market value of $575.000.- and the sale price of $520.000.- which are $55.000.- as well as the half of the commissions $13.000.-, Escrow / Title charges $4522.-. The provisional claim amount is $72.522.-
In general I was wondering about his attitude to all the Real Estate forms, rules and regulations. I felt he didn’t care about especially as he told me to change my “Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement”, eliminating several information about the condition of the property I reported in this document, also his desired to discuss all at the phone avoiding any written form of agreements in email, text messages, etc. At the phone he was talking away without a break, not listen to my questions. As I ask him to listen to me for one minute he hung up the phone. What for a decency!"
...
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What Claimant Wants Hide
1. Compensation: breach of contract, fraud, etc. Feb 23, 2017 $100,000.00
2. Other – Copy claim to regulators Feb 23, 2017 $14.99
3. Other – Pay for claim posting cost Feb 23, 2017 $7.99
4. Other – Physical delivery charges Feb 23, 2017 $4.99
Cash total : $100,027.97
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Do you agree with the claimant’s demands?  (If you are a party to this claim, click here.)

Respondent's Counteroffer

There has been no response to this claim from Jesse Salas, Harcourt Realtor, Solana Beach, San Diego. This claim will remain posted until resolved
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  • Contributed Solution: by Ehsan Samavatian On 09-13-2017
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    I think the best way is to talk with a lawyer. I'm so concerned about ((Last but not least escrow was delayed for about 4 weeks as it came out that there was an old lien on the title which has to be removed: is it not the responsibility of a realtor to make sure on the very first beginning that the house is lien free and has a clear title?))
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Is this a fair resolution?
  • Comment: by J Petaluma (4976 points) — 40 Years In Business. Curious About Everything, Love Helping People Figure Things Out.
    • On: 03-15-2017
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  • Real estate agents are trained and licensed for a reason; they are helping with probably the biggest sales most people ever make. They have specific legal and ethical obligations. Realtors have additional obligations. Is this agent a Realtor? 

    1) In the original contract, were you paying the full commission? If so, then you were the client and the agent's sole obligation was to get you the highest and best price for your house. He was NOT allowed to disclose your personal financial situation and motivation; he could not say "well, I think he'd probably take...." Literally, he could not.

    At whatever point the possibility of splitting the commission with the buyer came up, at that point the agent was required to disclose in writing that he was now acting for both parties. 

    I believe the above is correct but it is some time since I have sold real estate so you should check current state laws.

    2) Regarding the auction: What proof of advertising did the agent show you? I am very surprised that no-one was interested. Real estate in California is expensive so this house sounds like a good deal to me, especially if it was featured on HGTV. Can you disclose the address?

    3) Failing to correct the listed price is a serious no-no, especially if you specifically asked that details be corrected over months.

    I have actually pulled listings where agents proved to be bumptious and incompetent, but I can appreciate that you were in a tight spot. Have you complained to his broker? Brokers are usually responsible for the actions of their agents.

    My training was under a highly ethical and well-respected broker and I can assure you she'd have had my guts for garters if any client had reported me behaving in any of the ways you describe.

    I am not sure what resolution to suggest as there are so many points in your complaint that I think they'd have to be addressed and validated one by one.

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