Naughty Agent – Stories of Realtors Doing Bad Things Part II

Most realtors run pretty straight up businesses. No surprises. But there are bad apples in every basket and that’s when the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) steps in.

In this episode Des and his business partner Jennifer Scaife walk through several recent examples of naughty agents including one… who couldn’t keep his pants on.

See the RECO decisions page https://www.reco.on.ca/complaints-enforcement/regulatory-activities-decisions/ 

Guest: Jennifer Scaife, Des Brown Real Estate
Email Jenn@DesmondBrown.ca
IG   www.instagram.com/jenninthe6ix/
FB   www.facebook.com/JenniferScaifeRealtor/ 

Desmond can be reached at:
Web site https://inthe6ixrealestate.com/
Email des@desmondbrown.ca
Twitter & Instagram - @desinthe6ix
Facebook page 

Transcript

Desmond Brown (00:14):

It's time for our new monthly segment called Naughty Agent. It's where my colleague Jen Scaife and I go over cases where some of our fellow agents were disciplined by the Real Estate Council of Ontario for doing unethical, unlawful, and usually really stupid things. And in the end, it's the consumer who ends up suffering. Jen, welcome back to Sold in the 6ix.

Jennifer Scaife (00:36):

Happy to be here, Des. Thanks for having me.

Desmond Brown (00:39):

Oh, so great to have you. Like usual. Now, Jen, in our last episode of Naughty Agent, we went over three cases, and there was one in particular that will be really hard to beat today, and that's where an agent was showing a property, saw about $5 in change, sitting on the floor, ended up pocketing the money, and then for taking that $5, he ended up being fined $17,500. Now, that was a bad negative return on his $5 investment, wasn't it?

Jennifer Scaife (01:07):

He's going to take a long time to live that one down, and we're going to take a long time to beat that one.

Desmond Brown (01:13):

Oh my gosh. Yeah, five bucks. Anyway, so today I have three more cases that we're going to go over and I really wish I could top that one, but anyway, we'll see what we can do.

Jennifer Scaife (01:25):

Come on, Desi. You got it.

Desmond Brown (01:28):

Okay, let's get into the first one. So a real estate agent enters into an agreement of purchasing sale to buy a pre-construction property. So in order to obtain financing for that purchase, she is required to provide to her mortgage agent a letter of employment, a verification letter saying how long she's worked at her present brokerage, and basically her income because they have to know how much she makes. So they all know if she qualifies for a mortgage. Sure. Okay. You with me?

Jennifer Scaife (01:59):

Yep. Yep.

Desmond Brown (01:59):

Great. So the agent who buys the property takes an outdated employment verification letter. Of course, she may have used this letter for a previous purchase or something alters it, alters the letter by changing the date, changes what she earned in commissions, and then also changes the name of the office manager. I guess the office manager changed. So not only that, this agent signs the letter of employment and verification of commission with this so-called office manager's signature.

Jennifer Scaife (02:50):

Is it called zipper? We call a forgery des,

Desmond Brown (02:55):

I guess with RECO they call it falsifying information, but yeah. Yes, this could be forgery. So before getting the funds for the purchase of this pre-construction property, and this is about a year later, the lender, whoever was, calls the brokerage to confirm the letter of employment and then commission from, or sorry, to confirm that they had received in the application by who, the brokerage or whoever answers that. The brokerage, I guess the broker of records is like, what? No, she doesn't make that much money. And we don't have a manager here by that name, and we have no idea what you're talking about. So in the end, the lender refuses, refuses to extend financing to this agent so they can purchase, and of course it makes it to the RECO, but before that, the broker of record confronts the agent and says, what's going on? What did you, what's with this letter? And so on. And the agent admits to falsifying all of the information. How about that?

Jennifer Scaife (04:19):

Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah,

Desmond Brown (04:22):

That's a pretty good one. Yeah, I mean, as agents, we have to tell the truth. Well, even about ourselves.

Jennifer Scaife (04:28):

 Exactly. And as agents, we also know that there's a double back to verify the information.

Desmond Brown (04:35):

Yeah, right. Yeah, for sure.

Jennifer Scaife (04:37):

How do these agents not have a clue? Wow.

Desmond Brown (04:40):

Well, maybe the agent did have a clue but didn't have a clue about how she would get caught. It's that simple. And what this brings up some problems that we've had recently where they've come to light recently about mortgage applications being falsified, starting with the agents right up to the mortgage brokers, and then the people who were not willing to qualify or were not able to qualify for a purchase of the property ended up getting funds for the property they're purchasing, and some of them going into arrears because it was well out of their reach, they just couldn't qualify. And is it, I think the CBC did this big expose on it not so long ago. So it really does open up a lot of different areas there of, I think you said, fraud and falsification of documents that can lead to a really, really sad ending. So in this case, it was an agent, oh boy, feel sorry for her clients. Anyway, so...

(05:43):

She's found guilty of course, of violating the code of ethics, of course, by submitting that falsified letter of employment and also violating other areas of the codes of ethics such as fairness and honesty and inaccurate representations and misrepresentation and also fraud and added on unprofessional, unprofessional conduct. So Jen, you're on the RECO board. What are you going to find this agent?

Jennifer Scaife (06:18):

This has got to be a good one. This, this has got to be a good fine. I'm going to go straight to 20 grand.

Desmond Brown (06:28):

Well, you're very, very close. It's $25,000. She's fined $25,000, and they allowed her to make two payments of $12,500 each. And of course, on top of the fine, she had to enroll in the ethics and business practice course provided by the Real Estate Institute of Canada. So I'm sure after she took that course, she is now ethical.

Jennifer Scaife (06:56):

Exactly. That's what I was going to say. How can you teach ethics? Either you're ethical or your aren't.

Desmond Brown (07:02):

Yeah,

Jennifer Scaife (07:03):

It's a part of your core character. Oh my God.

Desmond Brown (07:06):

So there you go. There's one of our colleagues. Well, naughty. Very naughty. So you're thinking of buying a new home. Maybe you want to refinance your home, or maybe you need a home equity line of credit. Well, I have a mortgage broker who doesn't do stupid things like some of my colleagues here, and he's Jason Georgopoulos of Dominion Lending. Jason will pre-approve you and get you the best possible rates and conditions on any financing that he lines you up with to get in touch with Jason. You can email him at jason g @ dominion lending.ca.

(07:54):

Okay. So here's our second case. An agent lists a property on the mls, and of course, when it goes on the mls, you know it's available for other agents. And also we go straight onto realtor.ca and other websites for the general public to see. And this property is listed as a detached home. Now, the house is on the market for two months, and an agent representing a buyer submits an offer by email. And when the agent submits the offer to the listing agent by email, he sends the offer. And actually in the body of the email, he says, by the way, you've listed the property as a detached property, but that's incorrect. The property is in fact a linked home. I've done my research and the property is a linked home. Now, a linked home appears to be a detach for anyone else who doesn't understand what a linked home is. It looks like a detached, but it could be attached by a common foundation wall in the basement, or it could be attached by a garage. So that's a linked home. So

Jennifer Scaife (08:57):

From the

Desmond Brown (08:57):

Offer doesn't go through the street. Did you have something? Yeah,

Jennifer Scaife (08:59):

Sorry. So from the street. So what that, it looks like a detached house from the street.

Desmond Brown (09:03):

It looks like a detached house, but it's not. Right. Okay. So the offer doesn't go through, and the listing agent ignores what that buyer's agent said to him about the house being linked and not detached. The listing agent does not correct the MLS listing and continues to market the property as a detached property. A month later, another offer comes in from a different agent, not the agent who brought in the first offer and a dealers made. After taking possession, the buyers discovered that the house they purchased is in fact, not a detached house they thought it was, but it is a linked property. The buyers who are now the new owners of the home file a complaint with RECO, and the listing agent is found to be in violation of the code of ethics, failing to take reasonable steps to determine the material facts relating to the property, misrepresenting the property by calling it a detach, when in fact he knew it was a linked and is fined.

(10:11):

Now, I bring this up before we get in the fine into what the fine was as agents, sometimes we do make mistakes. Sometimes we have trouble deciphering whether that driveway is a mutual, if whether it's a legal front pad, parking, whether it's a private driveway, and we have to take the steps to find these things out. And I think exactly, driveways are one of, driveways are one of the biggest disputes when it comes to after the sale and people finding out like, oh, I thought I could park there. And the neighbor goes, are you kidding? That's my mutual driveway. You're not parking there. It's got to stay right. Empty all the time. So it's really, really important for us to check our material facts, right, Jen? Right,

Jennifer Scaife (10:53):

Absolutely. Okay.

Desmond Brown (10:57):

And we get this a lot. There's also with, I see descriptions of properties where they're described as a semi-detached and when in fact they're and attached. And sometimes agents will describe semi-detached, or sorry, attached properties as semi-detached if they're on the end of a roll. Right. But there's still, the description is attached. Right. And for

Jennifer Scaife (11:24):

Good reason,

Desmond Brown (11:25):

Careful with all those things. Yeah.

Jennifer Scaife (11:27):

A good reason insurance wants to know if that's connected to four other addicts, that's rodent and fire potential.

Desmond Brown (11:36):

Oh yeah, for sure. The fire will just sweep right through there. Exactly. Yeah, definitely. And then we also get it with simple descriptions, such as, is it a two and a half story or a full three story? Little things like that. I mean, yeah, that happens a lot, right? Yeah. So anyway, but I think the main point here is that the mistake was brought to this listing agent's attention, and he completely ignored it and continued to market the property as a detached. And probably he's probably thinking, okay, people, the search is already set up for them by their reagents, and agents will set up detached, and agents don't set up linked for their clients to get linked properties. So he wanted this agent, probably wanted to make sure that this property that he had for sale was going to get as much exposure as possible. But boy, he knew it was wrong. Obviously he knew it was wrong because it was brought to his attention by the other agent. Anyway, what would you find this agent, Jane, and what do you think the fuck, I'm sorry, j Jane. Jen. Well, who's Jane? Who? Jane, you'll

Jennifer Scaife (12:46):

Be confused. You can confuse me with Jane Mark Nanny day. Okay.

Desmond Brown (12:50):

Yeah. And she's a fantastic lawyer, by the way. Okay. Yeah. So what do you think the penalty should be and what, oh, do you think the penalty was

Jennifer Scaife (12:58):

For No. Yeah, two different questions sometimes. Okay. Okay. So knowing so many

Desmond Brown (13:03):

Them,

Jennifer Scaife (13:04):

Yeah, knowingly misrepresenting 17,000.

Desmond Brown (13:13):

Ah, that's close. The agent was fined $20,000.

(13:19):

20,000. You can't mislead the public. You can't do that. No,

Jennifer Scaife (13:23):

No, no. It's, it's central to who we are. Yeah. The public have to trust us

Desmond Brown (13:31):

For sure.

Jennifer Scaife (13:31):

We're working on their major investment.

Doug Downs (13:33):

So in addition to the fine, what happens to the agent? Do they get their picture on a poster outside the saloon in town and, oh, aside from the fine.

Desmond Brown (13:45):

Yeah. So for those of you you wondering who's what? Whose voice is that? That's our producer

Doug Downs (13:50):

Yeah. I thought should pipe in.

Desmond Brown (13:51):

Doug downs, and it's great to have. Yeah. Hi, Doug. Thanks for jumping in, because I think it's great that we have somebody like you who's a consumer to jump in and ask a question like this, and feel free to jump in on these cases. Well, as far as I know, Doug, his name just gets published on the RECO website, and they also detail the whole case on what had happened. And this is where I'm getting the case from, and I'm not giving this agent's name as you know. So that's Basically...

Doug Downs (14:15):

 But agents know who it is. Who it is. Jen knows who it is. Agents can sort of shame their own,

Desmond Brown (14:22):

 The public can, because the RECO website is public. Okay.

Doug Downs (14:28):

Oh, so they really are in the stockades. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Jennifer Scaife (14:32):

But the problem is that it's in a back lane. The stockade is in a black back lane some place. It's

Desmond Brown (14:37):

That people aren't that aware that it's there for, the information's there for them.

Jennifer Scaife (14:43):

Right?

Desmond Brown (14:44):

Yeah.

Jennifer Scaife (14:45):

Yeah. There are few people who are eager to find trouble, and they know that RECO is a thing, and that they know that RECO is holding us accountable. Well, good on them. I say just definitely get out and find it.

Desmond Brown (14:58):

Actually, one of the cases I have, the agent is a repeat offender, and I'm going to do that in the next episode anyway. Yeah. So that's that, Doug. Okay, let's go on to the third and final case. Okay. I think you're going to like this one. Okay. For a change. So an agent submits a, an offer on behalf of his clients, and it's accepted with no conditions firm offer. There's also a clause in the agreement of purchasing sale that allows for the buyers to visit the property on two occasions before closing. So a few weeks later, the agent books one of the visits and says that the buyers will be attending with family members. Now, remember this, family members to take measures, madam. Okay. So the date of the appointment comes, it's booked for 1:00 PM The listing agent, the person representing the seller who's selling this house shows up for the appointment as well.

(15:58):

But she's there 15 minutes before, so it's 1245. And while she's there, and she's there before the other agent, the other, or the buyers and the family members, a home inspection vehicle pulls up into the driveway. Okay? Okay. Trouble, I guess, is the family member that was supposed to be coming, right? So keep in mind, the house is sold firm, but it now appears that the buyer's agent has brought in a home inspector for a visit that is supposed to be for just the buyers and their family members. So the listing agent now learns that the home inspector said is going to be taking three hours to do a home inspection. Remember, this is only supposed to be a one hour visit. Those usually our visit are one hours for new buyers. Right? And she's like, what? Sorry, this is not happening. It's not in an agreement.

(16:58):

It's a firm deal. You're not coming in here to do a home inspection while she's talking to the home inspector. The listing agent, oh, sorry, sorry. The buyer's agent shows up, and there's still no sign of the buyers. So the buyer's agent shows up and denies, oh, sorry. And then the listing agent says, no, you're not getting in. That's it. You said this was supposed to be a buyer's visit with a buyer's family member, and it's now a home inspection. You're not getting in. So the buyer's agent gets mad. He Right. He starts freaking out.

Jennifer Scaife (17:35):

They're mad, then they got caught. That's what they're mad about. Okay.

Desmond Brown (17:37):

It gets better. He starts verbally abusing the seller's agent and then to terminate the agreement of purchasing sale, which he can't do because it's already a firm and binding deal. And there was no provision in the agreement of purchase of sale for a home inspection. I keep coming back to this. So he continues to swear at the agent, and then he pulls down his pants, get this, oh, no, no. He pulls down his pants and he moons her. Yeah, he shows her his butt. He moons her. Doug.

Jennifer Scaife (18:18):

Hey, Doug. Doug, you're the sound guy. What are you doing laughing on this?

Doug Downs (18:28):

That's hilarious.

Desmond Brown (18:30):

He mooned the listing agent in broad daylight.

Jennifer Scaife (18:32):

Did he have a nice one?

Desmond Brown (18:34):

I have no idea. I wasn't there. Yeah.

Doug Downs (18:41):

Were there kids around? Any idea if there were children in the vicinity or

Desmond Brown (18:45):

it doesn't say anything about that? Oh gosh. Oh my gosh. Anyway, things finally calm down. I guess he pulls up his pants. Oh, his bi buyers show up and fire. His buyers show up, and then the listing agent leaves. However, the buyer's agent leaves his buyers in the house unsupervised to top it off.

Jennifer Scaife (19:24):

No way.

Desmond Brown (19:25):

Oh my gosh. So he shows his butt and then just leaves his buyers, leaves him there. So the listing, so

Jennifer Scaife (19:33):

He brings a three hour, he brings a three hour home inspection. Yeah. To a one hour purchaser's visit. Yes. Moon's the listing agent when they take a objection. Yes. And then he vacates the showing.

Desmond Brown (19:45):

Then he vacates the showing. Yeah. This, oh, these are one of our professionals, ladies and gentlemen. Doug, do you have like that in Alberta? No. Well, we probably do. Yeah. Somewhere. I want to see the driveway cam footage of all this. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Well, I died on the RECO website. I know. I want to pass on that, by the way. So, God, anyway. Of course. So now he's going to be facing unprofessional conduct for leaving the buyers on their own. But the listing agents goes to the police. Oh. And Justice of the peace orders, a peace bond against the agent who pulled out his pants, who mooned her and orders him not to be within 100 meters of her. Okay.

Doug Downs (20:39):

Did she have to identify him out of a lineup? No?

Jennifer Scaife (20:50):

Okay. Good one.

Desmond Brown (20:51):

Amazing. Eh, wow, this really, yeah. I knew you'd like this one, so

Jennifer Scaife (20:58):

That's pretty good. Yeah.

Desmond Brown (20:59):

So in the end, he's found guilty of a few other things under our code of ethics, such as, like I said, unprofessional conduct, abuse and harassment, and incompetent service for not supervising his clients during the visit. Okay.

Jennifer Scaife (21:14):

Oh gosh.

Desmond Brown (21:15):

What would you do if you were on the RECO board and this guy showed up in front of you, hopefully fully closed and, yeah.

Jennifer Scaife (21:24):

Well, the first challenge is I've got to be professional right when I meet this guy.

Desmond Brown (21:29):

Oh,

Jennifer Scaife (21:30):

Wow. What kind of a find does he get? Okay. We've seen 17,000 for loose change on the floor. We've seen 20,000 for a linked detached home.

Desmond Brown (21:48):

Yep.

Jennifer Scaife (21:49):

Whoa.

Desmond Brown (21:51):

Yeah. It's probably not just a slap on the wrist, so to speak. Oh, no. Slap on the, yeah, it's got wrist,

Jennifer Scaife (22:01):

It's, it's got to be 25. Minimum it. I'm, I'm going to go with 30.

Desmond Brown (22:07):

Yeah. Huh. Doug, what do you think? What would you fine them?

Doug Downs (22:13):

See, I'm thinking, boy, if others are getting 20 and 25. Yeah. This is exposure. Bad exposures, right? There's good exposure on a podcast. There's bad exposure. Yeah. I'm thinking would it be 35, even upward higher? This is bad.

Desmond Brown (22:33):

I wish it was. I wish this was just a slap on the butt. I mean, slap on the wrist, $10,000. No. Yeah. No, but of course he had to take the compliance and ethics course.

Jennifer Scaife (22:49):

Oh, like and dress code. What?

Desmond Brown (22:51):

The dress code course. Oh, unbelievable. Yeah. That is

Jennifer Scaife (22:58):

Crazy, Yep.

Desmond Brown (23:00):

10,000 bucks. I would've terminated his license. I would've revoked his license. That's

Jennifer Scaife (23:08):

Ab, absolutely. Yeah. Suspend

Doug Downs (23:10):

Suspended. Absolutely. At least. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the

Jennifer Scaife (23:14):

Police were involved. Come on. Police, they both pay attention.

Desmond Brown (23:17):

Yeah. There's nothing in the RECO cases here that mention what happened and with the legalities and under the provincial criminal code or anything like that. So who knows? Maybe there was more of a reprimand. Maybe there was more of an action taken criminally. But anyway, 10,000 bucks, that was it. And he's back to work, so there you go. Wow. Yeah, I do. I really do believe in a dress code for real estate agents.

Doug Downs (23:48):

That could be disturbing too, for the listing agent.

Jennifer Scaife (23:51):

That's exactly what I'm thinking, Doug. How

Doug Downs (23:54):

does the listing agent need counseling? Or that could truly be upsetting.

Desmond Brown (24:00):

 No, it is. And then again, it's a woman. Absolutely. He's subjected this to a woman, and that's disgusting. That male to a woman. That's what's happening here. Exactly. Yep. It's totally disgusting.

Doug Downs (24:10):

There's all kinds of layers of problems with that. There really is. It really is. So when I said in the introduction, sometimes my colleagues do really stupid things, this tops it. I want my realtor to bend over, but backwards for me. Yeah. Not forwards.

Jennifer Scaife (24:32):

Oh, you're hot today, aren't you, Doug? Okay.

Desmond Brown (24:35):

Well, there we go. So that's our latest episode for the Sold in the 6ix, everyone. So please employ real estate agency, keep your clothes on. And if you like this episode, please forward on to a friend, and please leave a rating and a review. And what else can I say? I'm speechless. Plus, if you need to get in touch with me, email me at des@desmondbrown.ca, and I'm on all of the social media platforms and my handle is Des in the six. And you'll see I dress really well. Until next time, I'm Desmond Brown.