Very disappointed in agent Sahagian of Skyline Properties

[voteforintegrity]

I do not recommend contracting Kevin Sahagian of Skyline Properties, Puyallup. He performed abominably as the buyer's agent for the home I sold to his client, but only with extraordinary assistance of my own agent, Josh Hall of Kamas Realty (John L. Scott), Auburn, whom Mr. Sahagian owes a written and sincerere apology.

On AUG 17, I received an email from my agent (the listing agent), Josh Hall, indicating an offer had been made.

On AUG 20, having accepted the offer, I hear of the first signal of Mr. Sahagian's poor professionalism, which is that the offer is illegible and missing information. My agent, Mr. Hall, was put into a compromised position of having to rewrite the offer legibly on Mr. Sahagian's behalf and fill in the missing information. Carrying Mr. Sahagian's burden would become a pattern that Mr. Hall felt compelled to do to keep us on schedule to closing. I am deeply indebted to Mr. Hall's sacrifices to make things right.

On AUG 27, Mr. Hall informs me of a buyer's inspection response and request, to which I counter-respond with a compromise and alternatives. My response signals three "red flags": 1) a concern for the buyer's potential future troubles if he insists on the half of his request relating to the windows; 2) the potentially large cost to me of complying with the windows portion of the request; and 3) the inferior state of the home if the windows portion of the request was granted, a state that for my standards would not make the home habitable.

On AUG 28, I offer only to service the furnace as a condition.

On AUG 30, after conferring with Mr. Hall in person on Aug 29 about the difficulty of the windows request, I consult with the Historic Preservation Officer to see that if we do end up honoring windows portion of the inspection request would it be allowed under the Landmark Preservation code. The Officer clears us from being concerned about this aspect. However, my other concerns remain.

After also finding a contractor who provides a reasonable estimate and timeline for opening the windows, I agree I will also offer to satisfy the windows portion of the inspection request. However, at this point, I am committing to an act that not only will make the house uninhabitable for my own standards if the buyer should later decide to rescind his offer, but it will be far more costly to return the windows to a sealed state.

To save the sale, I had complied with the buyer's full request because I heard through Mr. Hall that the buyer was "disappointed". However in doing so, the very action made the house something I could no longer live in and damaged its value. Sealed windows provide valuable insulating properties, not just cosmetic appeal. Once they are unsealed, the energy efficiency of the home goes right "out the windows". I believe for the buyer this was a terribly unwise decision, and Mr. Sahagian failed to persuade the buyer to drop the windows portion of the request.

Now I was put in the diminished position of being forced to proceed with the sale regardless of further process because the alternative was to keep a house I could no longer physically live in, or afford to put back into the condition previous to unsealing the windows.

On SEP 8, in signing the FHA disclosure form, Mr. Hall gives indication of a concern that the IRS cannot locate 2008 returns for the buyer, but that the closing date should not be threatened (which I had heard by a previous phone call from Mr. Hall had been set for September 24). Mr. Sahagian made no visible indication that he was working on resolving the IRS problem to ensure the closing date would not be threatened.

With the closing date established, I needed to prepare for vacating the property in the next two weeks so the new buyer could occupy it without delay following closing. I began to search for new housing for myself immediately, which would obligate me to a lease and a new financial burden. At great risk to my own financial well being, I was depending on Mr. Sahagian exercising his full professional skills and responsible conduct to ensure that the September 24th deadline was respected.

On SEP 9, the lender's agent indicates the appraisal was received without issue and that it now needs to be given final approval by OPUS.

On SEP 17, more than a full week had transpired without an update on the OPUS approval. Mr. Sahagian had done nothing to move the process along or make visible updates on progress. I had to inquire to Mr. Hall's stand-in (Mr Hall was on vacation) for an update, who then reached out to the lender's agent, who confirmed we still were waiting for OPUS and that because there was a backlog in underwriting, there was potential of a one or two delay. I replied that two days delay wouldn't be a problem if that should be requested, but that I was doing my part to vacate and could not put off signing a lease for much longer, as further delay would jeopardize the buyer's ability to move in for approximately three weeks following a closing date, something I knew would probably cause him much pain and suffering if that were to happen.

Even though we were only 7 days from closing at this point, no one had formally changed the closing date. The absence of Mr. Sahagian's effort to visibly assist in the effort by this time, a full month after making the offer is what I consider completely disrespectful of his colleagues and a hindrance to the process of an efficient closing.

On SEP 20, despite the buyer having had ample opportunity to take a class required by the lender, and for Mr. Sahagian to drive this critical event to occur; and despite the lender and Mr. Sahagian both having had ample opportunity to communicate this event had not occurred putting the closing date at risk, none of this happened!

Again, it was my agent that had to go digging to find out why the process had stalled and extract a response. Only four days before closing were we finding out through our own investigation that closing was in peril. I had by this time, of course, made final arrangements for signing a lease of an apartment and scheduling a move so the buyer could occupy on September 25th.

All of that could have been prevented if Mr. Sahagian ensured his client took the required class in a more timely fashion or communicated much earlier that this was a factor for extending the closing date.

On SEP 20-22, even though it was the buyer's side that is causing delays, Mr. Sahagian was completely absent in driving the conversation forward, and once again, my agent, Mr. Hall, having to carry the load to getting progress on track and information made clear. The disposition of the lender was more or less just waiting for events to happen rather than making events happen. The stakes of a real estate sale are too high just to wait. Mr. Sahagian lets Mr. Hall do all the pushing, raising my regard for the professional integrity of Mr. Hall above all the other parties involved.

On SEP 24, closing day had arrived, but it was apparent the closing date would not be honored by the buyer's side. Mr. Hall sends to me highlights of our phone conversation confirming a conversation with the lender that the certification process of the class attendance only occurs Monday-Wednesday so we would have to wait for that next window. I was extremely disappointed and upset that the buyer's side did not see this coming far enough in advance, but I resigned to agreeing to extend the closing date.

I had also signed a lease agreement, but am able to reschedule the movers to Oct. 2 (day after new closing date) which woud still ensure the buyer to move into the residence without further delay. Mr. Sahagian offered no apology for how affairs had transpired, nor inserted himself to relieve Mr. Hall from doing all the driving.

On SEP 26, early Sunday morning, I woke up to find a strange man knocking at my back door. Upon inquiring to who he was, he claimed to be an inspector for the certification process. Mr. Sahagian apparently arranged for the inspection without informing me or Mr. Hall, and embarrassed me as the house nor I were tidy at that hour. Mr. Sahagian apologized that he missed meeting the inspector, but didn't apologize for failing to notify me. Mr. Hall was the one who issued a more appropriate apology, indicating he would take steps to ensure it didn't happen again, but again, this was neither Mr. Hall's fault nor his responsibility to bear.
Nonetheless, I allowed the inspector in who completed his tasks without issue.

On OCT 1, the second closing date arrived, and we had to sign yet another closing extension. The certification had been signed and inspection received, but there was not enough time for final underwriting to have been processed. In the course of this, it was discovered a governmental agency was having problems locating needed paperwork of the buyer, and the buyer needed to resubmit them. This also became the reason for extending the third closing date to October 8th.

Again, no apology, nor visible engagement from Mr. Sahagian. I could not reschedule the movers again, so I vacated the property, leaving the house vulnerable and undefended.

On OCT 4, because I was uneasy about leaving the house completely vacant and knowing the buyer was probably equally frustrated with the delayed closing, having probably made his own plans for moving, I offered to let the buyer move in ahead of closing, trusting we were really just a couple days away. The buyer welcomed this, but Mr. Sahagian expressed no thanks for my willing to help his client.

Mr. Hall arranged a contract that I and the buyer signed, outlining the conditions for occupancy before closing, clearly indicating that there was a $250 per day occupancy penalty if the closing should happen after the agreed closing date.

On OCT 6, it was two days before the third closing date, the stakes being much higher because I now was liable for both rent and mortgage and did not have possession of the house anymore. Still, the problems with the government agency were not resolved and documents received. Mr. Hall rightly expressed his frustration with the contradicting statements being made by the lender and Mr. Sahagian in addition to the history of appalling communication exercised by those parties for which Mr. Hall had to compensate on his own.

On OCT 13, 5 days past the third closing date, I actually signed. In the signing documents were included a formal fourth closing date through Oct 13, but at signing I noted to the escrow agent I had not been asked to release the buyer from the occupancy penalty. Mr. Hall spoke with me on the phone next, indicating that the buyer's side didn't know where to come up with the occupancy penalty (after they consented to pay it), and asked me to consider waiving the penalty altogether to avoid further complications that would result in delays. I relent. He also indicated that yet another extension, the fifth as such, would need to be signed to cover the date of closing being one day after the signing.

I received no thanks from the buyer or Mr. Sahagian for waiving the penalty.

On OCT 14-15, I used Skyline Properties website to give them the advance courtesy that I would be filing a complaint to the Department of Licensing. Oddly enough, instead of Skyline Properties responding, Mr. Sahagian forwarded the message from his iPhone to the lender's office. The lender made their case in his defense, which was notable. Unfortunately, the lending agent's supervisor, who had up to this point been helpful by stepping in to accelerate the sale process and who for that reason had not been named at all in this complaint, chose to characterize my complaint with a completely unprofessional tone and as wasteful. This seemed to completely diminish how much time of mine had already been wasted by Mr. Sahagian's conduct, and that my pain and suffering was to be discounted as "ridiculous".

Mr. Sahagian's conduct was exploitative of my being a seller in a buyer's market, negligent of his obligation to at least equally drive the communications and events toward a prompt closing, and lacking in the integrity one would expect receiving the number of forbearances and exceptions I gave him and his client.

To this date, January 12, Mr. Sahagian's arrogance surpasses his misconduct in that he has offered not a single apology to Mr. Hall after a formal complain to the Department of Licensing and the Better Business Bureau.

Any professional in any industry knows that taking responsibility for misconduct or even perception of misconduct is paramount, but Mr Sahagian appears not to be a professional in any regard.