GOLDEN HILLS BROKERS

I documented these events in 2012, but
did not report them. I am reporting now because Barbara Reed-Foster has repeatedly
persisted in badgering my husband during chance encounters at the grocery store
(clearly, we need to shop someplace else!) 
and demanding that we remove the following content from Yelp and other
websites.  Everything reported is the complete and
absolute truth, and we are happy to provide the supporting documentation.
Barbara
Reed-Foster is stunningly incompetent... but that is not the worst of it.
 She is also completely unethical and dishonest.  And I don't think
Bill Clarkson is much better, as he is the one who 'recommended' her.
My husband and
I had occasion to deal with Barbara Reed-Foster in 2005-2006 and again in
summer 2012.  In both instances we found her to be dishonest and
unethical.  Our experiences with Barbara are the sort of thing that give
all Realtors a bad reputation.
In the summer
of 2005 we were interested in purchasing a home listed by Bill Clarkson of ERA
Golden Hills Brokers.  Because my husband and I were not working with our
own agent, we called Bill directly.  He in turn introduced us to Barbara,
who also worked for Golden Hills and occupied the office next to his.
 Bill told us that Barbara would represent us, (the buyers), while he
represented the sellers.  Before we had a chance to make an offer on the
home that Bill had listed, I used the internet (without the help of an agent)
to find another home listed on MLS that looked like it met our requirements.
 We told Barbara that we wanted to see it before making any offers.
 Barbara was reluctant to show it to us, as it was not listed with their
agency, but we insisted.  When we saw it, my husband and I both liked it
immediately.  Back at Barbara's office, both she and Bill were there, and
they had the paperwork ready for us to make an offer on the house that Bill had
listed.  They did not ask which house we liked better, and in fact acted
as if there were no decision to be made.  When we told her that we wanted
to make an offer on the second house, Barbara said "well, there is a
problem with that house".  My husband and I looked at each other
perplexed and asked her what the problem was.  She said "it has
stairs".  We assured her that we were quite aware of the stairs
(having already toured the house!) and that it was not a problem as we are both
very able-bodied people. So we went ahead and purchased the house in July
2005.  Working with Barbara was difficult at best.  Emails and phone
calls went unreturned.  She failed to deliver paperwork, etc. when
promised.  For various reasons, we were unable to move into our new house
immediately, so Barbara volunteered to act as a "property manager"
and find a tenant "for free".  The idea was to somehow
"make it up to us" for our poor experience working with her on the
home purchase.  Foolishly, we agreed. Long story short, letting Barbara
act as "property manager" was an even bigger mistake than letting her
act as a real estate agent.  She put a tenant in our house who trashed our
brand new pristine home, and we ended up in small claims court with ourselves
and Barbara named as co-defendants.  There was a judgment against us, and my
husband and I paid Barbara our half of the judgment amount $ with her verbal
agreement to pay the plaintiff the total amount, including her half... end of
story, or so we thought.  (in hindsight, yes of course, trusting Barbara
to take care of this was another huge mistake on our part... live &
learn). Fast forward 7 years, and it is time to re-finance our house...
surprise!  Credit report says that the judgment had never been satisfied.
 We contacted Barbara and it turns out that she had paid the plaintiff OUR
half of the judgment and claimed that it was HER half, and given him a song
& dance about how my husband and I are unreliable people, dishonest, were
probably never going to pay, etc.  We have a copy of the letter she wrote
to the plaintiff saying exactly that? (unbelievably, Barbara herself gave us the
letter!).  She lied to both the plaintiff
and to us.  In any case, in order to clear the Credit Report, the court
required copies of the cancelled check(s) written to the plaintiff in order to
satisfy the judgment.  We had the
cancelled check that we wrote to Barbara for our half of the judgment.  The
problem was that Barbara did not have a copy of the cancelled check that she
had SUPPOSEDLY written to the plaintiff for the full amount of the
judgment.  She promised on several
occasions to provide us with a copy, but kept coming up with excuses about why
she couldn't do it? it was too long ago, the records were in storage, she was
too busy, etc.  Suffice it to say that Barbara could not provide the
cancelled check because it simply DID NOT EXIST? she had never paid the
plaintiff her half of the judgment, and that is why she did not have the
cancelled check to prove it.
Obviously, all
this resulted in a lot of unnecessary stress in the middle of an already
stressful re-finance.  I did become quite familiar with the County Court
system, as I had to make several trips to Walnut Creek, and actually got to
know a couple of the people there.  One of them finally took pity on me
and gave me a break.
As for
Barbara, I?m not sure what is worse? the dishonesty or the incompetency.  Either way, I don't know how she stays in
business.

Barbara
Reed-Foster is stunning incompetent... but that is not the worst of it.
 She is also completely unethical and dishonest.  And I don't think
Bill Clarkson is much better, as he is the one who 'recommended' her.
My
husband and I had occasion to deal with Barbara Reed-Foster in 2005-2006 and
again recently (summer 2012).  In both instances we found her to be
dishonest and unethical.  Our experiences with Barbara are the sort of
thing that give all Realtors a bad reputation.
In the summer of 2005 we were
interested in purchasing a home listed by Bill Clarkson of ERA Golden Hills
Brokers.  Because my husband and I were not working with our own agent, we
called Bill directly.  He in turn introduced us to Barbara, who also
worked for Golden Hills and occupied the office next to his.  Bill told us
that Barbara would represent us, the buyers, while he represented the sellers.
 Before we had a chance to make an offer on the home that Bill had listed,
I used the internet (without the help of an agent) to find another home listed
on MLS that looked like it met our requirements.  We told Barbara that we
wanted to see it before making any offers.  Barbara was reluctant to show
it to us, as it was not listed with their agency, but we insisted.  When
we saw it, my husband and I both liked it immediately.  Back at Barbara's
office, both she and Bill were there, and they had the paperwork ready for us
to make an offer on the house that Bill had listed.  They did not ask
which house we liked better, and in fact acted as if there were no decision to
be made.  When we told her that we wanted to make an offer on the second
house, Barbara said "well, there is a problem with that house".
 My husband and I both looked at each other perplexed and asked her what
the problem was.  She said "it has stairs".  We assured her
that we were quite aware of the stairs (having already toured the house!) and
that it was not a problem as are both very able-bodied people.
So we went
ahead and purchased the house in July 2005.  Working with Barbara was
difficult at best.  Emails and phone calls went unreturned.  She
failed to deliver paperwork, etc. when promised.  For various reasons, we
were unable to move into our new house immediately, so Barbara volunteered to
act as a "property manager" and find a tenant "for free".
 The idea was to somehow "make it up to us" for our poor
experience working with her on the home purchase.  Foolishly, we agreed.
Long
story short, letting Barbara act as "property manager" was an even
bigger mistake that letting her act as a real estate agent.  She put a
tenant in our house who trashed our brand new pristine home, and we ended up in
small claims court with ourselves and Barbara named as co-defendants.
 There was a judgement against us, and husband and I paid Barbara our half
of the judgment amount $ with her verbal agreement to pay the plaintiff the
total amount, including her half... end of story, or so we thought.  (in
hindsight, yes of course, trusting Barbara to take care of this was another
huge mistake on our part... live & learn).
Fast forward 7 years, and it is
time to re-finance our house... surprise!  Paperwork says that the
judgment had never been satisfied.  We contacted Barbara and it turns out
that she had paid the plaintiff OUR half of the judgment and claimed that it
was HER half, and given him a song & dance about how my hubby and I are
unreliable people, dishonest, were probably never going to pay, etc.
 Completely dishonest!!  She lied to both the plaintiff and to us.
 We have the cancelled check to prove that we paid Barbara our half of the
judgment.  She promised on several occasions to provide us with the
cancelled check for her half of the judgement, but kept coming up with excuses
about why she couldn't do it... it was too long ago, she had the records in
storage, she was too busy, etc, etc.  On one occasion, she even called and
asked ME for the check number!!  I had to explain to her that only she
would have the check number as it would have been written on her account and
not mine.  I also explained to her that she DID know the exact amount, and
the approximate date, so her bank should be able to easily find it for her (as
my bank had done for me).  But more excuses... suffice it to say that
Barbara could not provide the cancelled check because it simply DID NOT EXIST!!
Obviously,
all this resulted in a lot of unnecessary stress for myself, my husband, and
our mortgage broker in the middle of an already stressful re-finance.  I
did become quite familiar with the County Court system, as I had to make
several trips to Walnut Creek, and actually got to know a couple of the people
there.  One of them finally took pity on me and gave me a break. As for
Barbara, I don't know how she stays in business.