Kevin Hohman
1/5
I bought a home that Amy Williams of The Colorado Group had listed and had an all around terrible experience. She and the seller were not reasonable or cooperative throughout the entire buying process. Resolutions were not completed by deadlines, and tenants were in the house almost three weeks longer than we were told they would be. I was forced to take a walk through appointment immediately before closing. When my agent brought it to Amy's attention (by phone at the closing table) that some of the resolution items were not complete, others were completed poorly, and that the house was not delivered in "professionally cleaned condition" as per the terms of the contract she became combative, and rude. She told me that she and her client were "done", that a contractor had been paid to fix the items in question, and I could call them if I desired. I contended that it was unreasonable to expect me to call the plumber and question the work, that assuring the work was done correctly was the seller's responsibility. I did call Masterworks Plumbing and Heating, and they told me that they do stand behind their work, but since I wasn't their customer they wouldn't be able to help me. When we called back to let Amy know that we weren't getting anywhere with Masterworks she came at me with a raised voice, biting tone, and even accused me of calling her client names. The looks of shock on the faces of my agent, my mortgage broker, and the title company employee said of her behavior what words could not describe. She then told me to take it or leave it and threatened to walk away from the deal. We were between a rock and a hard place, a rented moving truck full of our belongings and no place to go. I pleaded with her to please find a reasonable resolution for all concerned and she stuck to her hard line approach, and defended her client who clearly violated multiple terms of the contract. I contacted The Colorado Group, and forwarded pictures of the filthy house that was delivered to me, and a number of the items that were not in accordance with our contract; plumbing issues that were supposed to be fixed as part of the inspection resolution, filthy appliances, cabinets, drawers, carpets that hadn't been cleaned, a dead tree, a half dead lawn that was overgrown with weeds, damaged shower curtain rods, a broken toilet seat, and a beyond disgustingly filthy kitchen just to name a few. Martin Dragnev was the first person to respond to my inquiry and he was courteous and sounded genuinely concerned. I then spoke with Steve Goldman, CEO of The Colorado Group, and told him what I thought would be reasonable compensation for my time, trouble, and materials to set right the wrong that had been done. Steve helped to facilitate a meeting with the managing broker, Todd Asbury, Amy Williams, and my realtor. Everyone was very nice, and Amy apologized for her unprofessional behavior. They also offered to pay about 15% of what I had asked for which I respectfully declined. They went on to tell me that the contract to buy and sell real estate is between buyer and seller, and declined to accept any real responsibility for what had happened. When I mentioned that I am considering taking the seller to court they attempted to arrange communication between me and the seller, which of course the seller declined. My wife and I have had five real estate transactions in our lives, and this was by far the worst. The seller pulled one over on us, and her agent Amy Williams backed her up every step of the way. I thought that the supervisors at The Colorado Group were concerned about our experience, but their "offer" to help smooth things over was insulting. There are plenty of real estate agents, and groups to choose from in Routt County, and we would never recommend doing business with Amy, or The Colorado Group. I gave them every opportunity to rectify a number of problems that I had with their agent during my transaction, and they weren't even willing to meet me half way.
