Joe Realtor Team

The Joe Realtor Team

Joe Realtor built up a nice business. Now he wants to take it easy. So he recruits young agents and grandmas to be on his team. Joe Realtor's name is the listing agent on the MLS, signs, ads, brochures. But its the “team members” who are doing all the running around to obtain and sell the listings.

Joe Realtors acts as a supervisor. Then splits the fees with his “team”. The team members have a hard time building their own book of business because every thing stays under the “Joe Realtor” brand. My limited experience is the “team members” are not the cream of the crop agents. If they were, they would be building their own business instead of Joe Realtors.

I looked at a townhome that was a short sale listed by Joe Realtor. It was beautiful. I called Joe Realtor to inquire if the Homeowners Association permitted rentals. I was told it was Suzy's listing and given her cell number. I called Suzy and hear a small child whaling in the background.

“You sound busy”, I told Suzy. “Why don't you call me back later”.

“Its just my grand kid. I can still talk”. Not paying full attention proved to be a pattern for Suzy.

“Does the HOA permit rentals on Unit X?” I asked Suzy.

Suzy assured me they did and I wrote a purchase agreement that was promptly signed by the Seller, contingent on lender approval of the short sale.

I check the MLS and the listing is still shown as active.

“Suzy, my purchase agreement agreed to the AS IS terms, but also said the property was to be taken off the market.”

She argued with me. “Look”, I said. “If I'm agreeing to buy this “as is”, I don't want a bunch of strangers walking through and potentially causing damage.”

Suzy consulted with Joe Realtor and marked it pending on the MLS.

It took Suzy 3 weeks to get me a digital copy of the HOA docs, which Susie assured me she had reviewed. Page 1 of the HOA docs:

“Rentals are only permitted after you have lived in the property for at least 12 months”. I told Suzy I needed to cancel the purchase agreement.

“Why did you think I could use this as rental property?”

Suzy tells me “the seller said there were tenants living in the adjacent unit.” That was the extent of her property research as a listing agent for a listing she had had since April.

I'm inconvenienced. But not as much as the poor family who thought they had their home sold. The property is back on the market, WITHOUT noting the rental restriction.

And I've learned another lesson to get the property managers phone number for the HOA right away. And not trust what the agent tells me. Especially if they are on the “Joe Realtor” team.


On a different property, a bank owned listing was on MLS and I set an appointment, checked it out and wrote an offer the same day. When I went to submit the offer the listing agent told me the bank had just canceled her listing so she could not even submit my offer. So far, the listing has not shown up on MLS with another agent.

That same day I wrote 2 others offers. One is a backup to another short sale offer and won't be submitted until the other falls through. The other is for a newer bank owned unit that is in near perfect condition. I'm in a multiple offer situation on that one.

Even if my offer is accepted, the property has been winterized and the water shut off. So my offer is subject to them putting the water back on for inspection. I looked at a newer unit in excellent shape this week that still had the water turned on. And there was no water pressure in the shower. There are too many options out there to mess with a plumbing problem.

In a buyer's market, I never imagined it would be so hard to buy!