Not sure what to do, help me figure this out

[DawnM]

My realtor has stopped communicating with me.  I have never been demanding until about a week ago.  I was very nice about it.  I explained that I had been clear in November that I wanted all work done by the end of January.   I was told "no problem."   Her husband is our contractor and he has arranged the landscaper and the painter and he has done some of he work.

Now, it isn't his fault it wasn't completed by the end of January.  We actually added more work as we saw more things that needed fixing and kept adding projects.   And then the rain has been relentless, so painting and working outside has been tricky.  

I get that.  But now, we have had several sunny days, the painting hasn't happened, and then we need some masonry work done on our brick steps, and the realtor was going to call someone to see if he was available.  That was over 2 weeks ago.  At that time I also expressed my concern about the length of time this was taking and said we are looking now at the end of March, which is much later than we had anticipated, so we needed to get things going to make sure it was DONE and on the market by the end of March.  

I have emailed 3 days ago and called the last 2 days and left messages.  No response, no answer, nothing.  

I did not sign anything with her officially, so am I obligated to do anything with her company or just drop her?

Am I wrong to just tell her I need a response by the end of the week?

I do worry that switching realtors and contractors will delay things even further, but I am SO FRUSTRATED!

[JustEm]

Why is your realtor involved so much in the process to get your house ready for market. I can see a realtor making recommendations on who to use for a job but for her to be doing the calling seems odd. Also, if there are issues with the contractor/timeline you should be addressing him not her, even if they are married. I doubt she is purposely ignoring you but the things you are asking her to do are not the realtor's job so she is likely focusing on clients who are actually ready to list.

[DawnM]

2 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

Why is your realtor involved so much in the process to get your house ready for market. I can see a realtor making recommendations on who to use for a job but for her to be doing the calling seems odd. Also, if there are issues with the contractor/timeline you should be addressing him not her, even if they are married. I doubt she is purposely ignoring you but the things you are asking her to do are not the realtor's job so she is likely focusing on clients who are actually ready to list.

 

I didn't ASK her to do any of it.  She has just been doing it.  I asked for a recommendation for a mason, and she said, "Let me call him."

You are making some leaps here that I never stated.

And I would be ready to list if her husband, who I have talked to directly many times, would have finished the work he said he would do.

Edited March 6, 2019 by DawnM

[NorthwestMom]

Full disclosure: I have not sold a house, we live in the first house we bought. So I may not be completely knowledgeable.

I think you have to take matters into your own hands. Call and make appointments with outside vendors. When you have things arranged, call and leave a message and say that since you haven't heard from the husband, you've made other plans. Observe the realtor's response carefully to determine if you still want to list with her when the work is done. I'm not sure she was completely professional funneling work to her husband, who himself  has been less than professional.

 

[Pen]

It seems to me this is primarily an issue as between you and contractor.  I’d ignore that they are married and keep your dealings separated.  

Has anything she’s arranged gone well so far?

Have you tried to find a mason on your own? I’d recommend doing that.

 Whether you should list with her should probably depend on her house selling abilities.  I don’t know why she’s not responding to you. Are you sure she’s able to do so at this time (not out of town, sick, etc? Certainly responding would be relevant, but in general it doesn’t sound like she’s an unresponsive person.

[JustEm]

26 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

I didn't ASK her to do any of it.  She has just been doing it.  I asked for a recommendation for a mason, and she said, "Let me call him."

You are making some leaps here that I never stated.

And I would be ready to list if her husband, who I have talked to directly many times, would have finished the work he said he would do.

 

Sorry I misunderstood the you asking her to find someone. But I don't feel like I'm making many other leaps. The work on the house needs to be addressed with the contractor not his wife. And if she isn't responding about the masonry recommendation then I'd personally start searching for someone to do the work ony own. I wouldn't actually trust her recommendation at this point because she recommended her dh as a contractor and he clearly isn't working out well.

Everything you have mentioned doesn't speak to her ability to sell houses so I'm not sure if I would personally find a new realtor or not.

[Bambam]

I would leave off contacting the realtor. Her job is to list your house and sell your house. Often they do offer recommendations for contractors to do work, but they typically aren't involved in the getting work done portion. It is not her job to coordinate work done on your house. 

I'd call the husband contractor now and ask questions. It is possible that the communication from his wife to him was not 100%. 

I'd look for other contractors to do the work in the time frame you want. 

If I liked the lady and trusted her (outside of her recommending her husband as a reliable contractor - which may be the case if she wasn't involved) and she was timely in her responses to things that were related to her job, I'd consider letting her list the house. Otherwise, I'd find a new person who I thought would do a better job. 

[DawnM]

I don't even have the painter's phone number.  And the husband never responds to me, he has his wife do it.  And I told her I would contact the masonry guy.  She responded with, "No, I will do it."

Seriously, everything has gone through her and she has seemed to want it that way.  This is not me expecting  her to do something more than what I asked her to do.

[DawnM]

Ok, finally got a hold of her.  She is on vacation. 

It would have been NICE to at least have her work email send some sort of automatic notice or something.

[PrincessMommy]

17 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Ok, finally got a hold of her.  She is on vacation. 

It would have been NICE to at least have her work email send some sort of automatic notice or something.

That was my first thought.  Realtors often take vacation just before the season starts up.  My friend (and realtor) just got back.   It would have been better and more professional for her to let you know she wasn't going to be available during that week.  I would def call a mason guy on your own, otherwise it will be another full week before you see anyone to give you a 

She is offering to contact these guys because she either gets a cut or she is in a working relationship with them...she uses them for work and they recommend her... etc.   It's fine if you are okay with this, but just so you know that is what is most likely going on.     My realtor had something like this and it worked because she had a long-time working relationship, so he was almost always available to do work for her.  She basically kept him employed doing handyman stuff for clients.  He had a few other people he worked like this with.  But, you are under no obligation to do this.  I used other people as well as my realtor's "go-to" guy for various jobs we had going on. 

[PrincessMommy]

BTW,  they still haven't started on my kitchen.  Sigh.  Why does it take them SO long to get anything done??!!!   And why, if they're a relationship based business, don't they communicate with their clients!!??   I'm frustrated too.  Hugs.  

[Shellydon]

I would drop her and the contractor and find someone new.

 

[Pen]

I would see if you can find another contractor or contractors who will be more satisfactory (not necessarily easy to find).  Then if you get someone drop the current on grounds that they weren’t completing the job in needed time and weren’t responsive.  

[Janeway]

I think, if she recommended her husband, she used poor judgement to mix marriage and work. You may wish to move on. If she did not recommend her husband and you just went with her husband and now expect her to make her husband do the work (which is not what you said, but just adding this for just in case) then that would be unreasonable. But if the first is what happened, then you should probably move on, both for the contractor part and the realtor part. Maybe next time, she won't mix marriage and business.

[EmseB]

3 hours ago, DawnM said:

I don't even have the painter's phone number.  And the husband never responds to me, he has his wife do it.  And I told her I would contact the masonry guy.  She responded with, "No, I will do it."

Seriously, everything has gone through her and she has seemed to want it that way.  This is not me expecting  her to do something more than what I asked her to do.

I think what people are getting at is that you don't have to agree to "No, I will do it," if she's unreliable or not getting things done or her recommended contractors aren't getting things done. She works for you and she should not be forcing you to use certain people to fix up your house because it's more convenient or better for her financially to do so.

Aside from the vacation/non-responsiveness, the contractor situation would have my spidey senses tingling and I'd probably say, "I appreciate what you've helped with so far but we're going to go with someone else."

[DawnM]

29 minutes ago, EmseB said:

I think what people are getting at is that you don't have to agree to "No, I will do it," if she's unreliable or not getting things done or her recommended contractors aren't getting things done. She works for you and she should not be forcing you to use certain people to fix up your house because it's more convenient or better for her financially to do so.

Aside from the vacation/non-responsiveness, the contractor situation would have my spidey senses tingling and I'd probably say, "I appreciate what you've helped with so far but we're going to go with someone else."

 

I think the thing was, she started out strong.  And then it became much easier to deal with her doing it because A.) DH and I both worth full time, and B.) I trust her husband with the code to get into my house, etc......and C.) The work was getting done in the beginning.

If we have to find someone else, we will have to take time off of work to supervise anything inside the house, we will have to get multiple quotes, which will also require time off work for them to come out, etc.....

So, when she offered, I was thrilled.  

[PrincessMommy]

50 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

I think the thing was, she started out strong.  And then it became much easier to deal with her doing it because A.) DH and I both worth full time, and B.) I trust her husband with the code to get into my house, etc......and C.) The work was getting done in the beginning.

If we have to find someone else, we will have to take time off of work to supervise anything inside the house, we will have to get multiple quotes, which will also require time off work for them to come out, etc.....

So, when she offered, I was thrilled.  

this makes perfect sense to me.  In fact my sister and I were talking about this not long ago when I complaining about my contractor.  We talked about how hard it can be to find someone you trust in your home... and esp. as a woman at home alone, someone you trust at home alone with you.  I don't even want to think about starting all over with that.    Hugs

[Pen]

49 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

I think the thing was, she started out strong.  And then it became much easier to deal with her doing it because A.) DH and I both worth full time, and B.) I trust her husband with the code to get into my house, etc......and C.) The work was getting done in the beginning.

If we have to find someone else, we will have to take time off of work to supervise anything inside the house, we will have to get multiple quotes, which will also require time off work for them to come out, etc.....

So, when she offered, I was thrilled.  

 

Then you’ll have to consider your options and decide.  The reality is that work on houses often is not on schedule.  Weather, other jobs, client changes of mind, flakey subcontractors all play a part. In this case vacation also seems to have done so.

as to painting, a few dry days in the midst of general wetness may or may not allow it to get done    They may be doing interior painting until weather is dry enough in their opinion. Or may have gone on a vacation. Or may have other jobs before yours

[Pen]

59 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

I think the thing was, she started out strong.  And then it became much easier to deal with her doing it because A.) DH and I both worth full time, and B.) I trust her husband with the code to get into my house, etc......and C.) The work was getting done in the beginning.

If we have to find someone else, we will have to take time off of work to supervise anything inside the house, we will have to get multiple quotes, which will also require time off work for them to come out, etc.....

So, when she offered, I was thrilled.  

 

Then you’ll have to consider your options and decide.  The reality is that work on houses often is not on schedule.  Weather, other jobs, client changes of mind, flakey subcontractors all play a part. In this case vacation also seems to have done so.

as to painting, a few dry days in the midst of general wetness may or may not allow it to get done    They may be doing interior painting until weather is dry enough in their opinion. Or may have gone on a vacation. Or may have other jobs before yours

 

eta: they also may not feel nighttime temperatures are high enough for painting 

[DawnM]

Painter says he will be coming tomorrow.  It wasn't too cold to paint but because the painter has some health issues, it was too cold for HIM he says.

We need to ask how many days he needs to finish the painting outside.  

[Pen]

3 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Painter says he will be coming tomorrow.  It wasn't too cold to paint but because the painter has some health issues, it was too cold for HIM he says.

We need to ask how many days he needs to finish the painting outside.  

 

I’m surprised actually.  Are you in NC?  My mom is there and where she is it’s been cold... certainly under 50degF at night, which I had had as a rule of thumb for warm enough to paint. 

Anyway , it sounds like things are coming along now...

[DawnM]

2 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

I’m surprised actually.  Are you in NC?  My mom is there and where she is it’s been cold... certainly under 50degF at night, which I had had as a rule of thumb for warm enough to paint. 

Anyway , it sounds like things are coming along now...

 

I don't know what is a good temp for painting, I was just told that info.  It is around 50 today?   Maybe a little lower.  It will be over 50 tomorrow.

[Pen]

For most paints 50F daytime minimum whole painting  (not mostly 40 and reaching 50 briefly at heat of day) and not to go below freezing at night for around 48hours afterward.  

Some paints are formulated differently, but I think are more expensive.

[Pen]

Whole painting. Should be while painting 

[DawnM]

painter did not come out again today.  There are a few days that will have sunshine and will be warmer next week.