PREAKNESS REALTY

Joe Simone was the listing agent for the property I won the bid on in North Haledon, NJ. I was using a different agent representing my interests. Everytime I wanted to see the property, it was like a major inconvenience for him. During the initial few visits to the house, he wasnt even representing the seller in the appropriate way as he was always on the phone with his office or other clients....I got the impression he couldnt wait to leave to go on to his next appointment. Mind you, this is an $800,000 house. But the story gets better...The owner had sold the house to a relocation company. In the time between the sale to the relocation company and my closing date (about 1 month), the house sat vacant. As the listing agent, Mr Simone was responsible for managing the property during the vacancy period. Fast forward to the walk-through, the day before the closing. I drive up to the property ....grass hasnt been cut in a few weeks. I look in the backyard and a huge tree had fallen onto the property smashing a chain link fence....weeds were growing around the tree so you knew it was lying there for weeks. We walk into the house and realize some of the lights dont work...check the circuit breaker, all circuits are on. We walk into the basement to find mold/mildew EVERYWHERE...all the painted sheet rock walls were covered with mold. The carpets were sopping wet, all the doors to the rooms were swollen in place from wicking the water. One of the power lines to the house had disconnected during a storm several weeks earlier which disabled the sum pump. To complicate matters, it was very warm during this period. The property was not managed appropriately during the vacancy period. My realtor angrily calls him to the property and he arrives and is astonished at what he sees. To top it all off, during the heated exchange that ensued, Mr Simone comments..."well, you can still close on the house tomorrow"! Needless to say we walked away in disgust from that property. And if that wasnt insulting enough, I had an agreement with the original owner to purchase from him several TVs, exercise equipment he had in the house. When my realtor tried to call Mr Simone about the status of the personal items, numerous calls to him were never returned. It took a phone call to the original seller to find out that the personal items negotiated and promised to me were sold to someone else. In the end, I'm out $3500 in title/survey/legal fees as a result of this ordeal.