London Properties LTD

"Our" London Properties buyers’ agent was so helpful and accommodating in showing us homes that we thought, "This is great! We've got a real advocate for us in buying a home." She gave us the impression that she was our friend, sharing stories about her life with us. Boy, were we conned. (I should have remembered the story about the neophyte Congressman who was told by an old Senator, “If you want a friend, buy a dog.”) As soon as my wife and I indicated we had found the home we wanted to buy, the London Properties agent became an advocate for the seller! That's right, she did everything she could to help the seller! We had seen the home only once, but loved the floor plan and the neighborhood. We wanted to see the home again to confirm our interest in buying the home. No, she told us, the sellers were too busy packing to allow anyone in the house. Later we discovered why she and the sellers didn't want us to see the house again. Our London Properties agent assured us the house was in "pristine" condition. And having seen it only once, we were in no position to know otherwise. It was definitely otherwise. She did tell us that the downstairs bedroom needed new carpet, but we wouldn't have to buy any because the seller had plenty of carpet in a closet. Wrong! The carpet in the closet was a remnant. We had to hire a carpet company to replace the carpet. The walls in this bedroom, which we hadn't had a good look at, had to be repainted because they were so smudged and smeared. The agent told us she would arrange to have the home inspected. Don't EVER trust this real estate firm to find a home inspector who will actually do a credible job of inspecting the home. Shortly after we moved in, we discovered that the top corner of the dining room window casing was not sealed properly and the window casing along one side was badly mildewed. How could a home inspector miss something that obvious? Unless, of course, he was ONLY interested in helping the London Properties real estate agent make the sale as quickly as possible. Additionally, we had to paint two more bedrooms, one of which had chalky white primer on the walls. When it came time for us to make an offer on the home, the real estate lady was absolutely no help AT ALL. She told us the asking price was right in line with similar properties in the neighborhood. (Later, when I did some research on the web, which I obviously should have done earlier, I discovered that was NOT the case. Similar properties were selling for twenty to thirty thousand less.) My wife, who is extremely generous and fair, offered to pay the seller what he was asking for the house, if our agent believed it was a fair price in that market. She assured as it was a fair price. Later, when I mentioned this to a relative who is a real estate agent, her jaw dropped precipitously, and she gasped, "In this buyers' market, your real estate agent should have advised you to offer at least ten thousand dollars less than the asking price, perhaps even less!" Ultimately, I accept responsibility for being duped so badly. But the person who was representing us didn't help as she should have. After paying what the agent told us was a fair and reasonable price, we had to replace the patio cover and landscape more than half of the backyard. After paying too much for the house, at least ten thousand dollars or more, we had to spend another ten thousand to make the house "pristine." We were VERY poorly represented. If the real estate agent had been a lawyer representing us in court, a judge on review would have ordered a new trial on the grounds that we were so poorly represented. Bottom line: If you, like my wife and I, naively expect a London Properties agent to be on your side in a real estate transaction, you may be as highly disappointed as we were.