KIM HONG REALTY

In early May 2012 my wife and I saw a real estate listing for a house in the Montecito neighborhood in Concord. Listed by Kim Hong Realty as a short sale situation. we viewed the house with our agent/broker and submitted an offer of $595k, $16k above the asking price of $579k. Several days later our offer was accepted. As the Seller's agent, Kim Hong was responsible for submitting and shepherding the short sale request through Bank of America, the loan servicing provider. From the beginning our broker expressed reservations about Kim's ability to handle the short sale process and with our agreement offered to assist her in any way he could. ( A note about our broker; because this is a negative review we have decided not to use his name or the name of his agency. With several offices and many agents, our broker has resources at his disposal that could have been utilized for a successful completion of this transaction.) Kim refused all help offered. May became June and we saw an auction notice posted on the property. Our broker contacted Kim who was able to obtain a postponement of the auction by the bank. July came and our broker forwarded a notice from the bank that an Brokers Price Opinion (BPO) had been ordered, good news, progress made. Early August and our broker became concerned when Kim forwarded the same notice from the bank. Additionally she sent authorization forms that should have been submitted in May at the outset of this process. Again our broker offered all assistance possible, again Kim refused any help. Our broker employes a short sale expert whose only job is to conduct short sale negotiations with the bank. Now that it was August and Kim's correspondence indicated problems, our broker asked his specialist to contact Kim and assess the progress she had made. While discussing the process with Kim, the specialist determined that she did not have the skill or experience to handle the job and indeed the entire sale was in jeopardy. Again our broker offered to help. Offered to pay his specialist to step in and help with the negotiation. Offered to assume entire negotiation process while paying Kim a full share of the commission. We do not know if it was for pride or stubbornness or what, but Kim refused all offers of help. The Public Sale Auction on the property had been postponed until August 20th. We do not know if Kim even requested a second postponement. We do know that the bank set a minimum bid of $518k, and the house sold for $585k, a full $10k below our offer. If you are a seller, avoid Kim Hong. Her clients on this house now have a foreclosure on their credit. If you are a buyer, avoid Kim Hong, yesterday my wife and I saw the house we wanted so much go back on multiple listing. Price, $680,000.