This is not really a post for my regular readers, but one for those that search for accounts about dealing with John Stewart Realty, Homestead Guarantee Ltd, or a Guaranteed Buy Out. He owns indiana-homes.com
This is an account of our experience with John Stewart Realty in the middle of 2008. It’s long for a blog entry, but it’s important in the case that someone stumbles onto this who is considering utilizing the Realtor services of John Stewart Realty, Homestead Guarantee Ltd, or considering taking part in a Guaranteed Buy Out (GBO) from the same company.
To be specific, John Stewart Realty is part of the FC Tucker Realty Group in Indianapolis. His website clings to John Stewart Indianapolis Real Estate… Anyway, just getting those searchable strings in there…
I purchased a condo back in 2002. I lived there for over 5 years. Over this time, I got married, complete bathroom remodel, kitchen refreshening, and lots of painting among other things.
So contextually speaking, the housing market was already suffering in early-mid 2007. We became aware of a housing edition that took part in various GBO programs. A GBO basically is a contract with a Realtor that guarantees a purchase price at the end of a predetermined time that the property is on the market. If the property sells before the term is up, then any funds above the agreed price go to the property owners.
We agreed on a bottom price and a GBO term of 3 months.
The pros and cons of the GBO were easily apparent to us, and we were willing to take it because of the desire to change our housing situation was worth it to us.
We paid for and passed inspection and appraisal by those chosen by John Stewart Realty to qualify to take part in the GBO. Everything was going well.
We didn’t think that the Realtor would make common mistakes in the process that resulted in our losing out on a higher sale price that he later was able to make.
How did this happen? Over the course of the first two months of listing, we had regular showings, but no offers. Sometime in the last month, we got an offer a little bit above the GBO bottom line that we accepted with the usual conditions here and there.
This is where things get weird.
Because we were closing in less than a month, the buyers had to speed up their process for the closings to take place on the same date. They were doing an FHA loan, and because of situational constraints, we made the agreement that we’d sell the condo to John Steward Realty under the terms of the GBO, and they would then sell the property to the purchasing party at their earliest convenience. When that happened, we’d get a check from John Stewart Realty for the difference between our GBO contract, and the agreed price minus closing costs.
Literally less than 48 hours from closing I get a call from John Stewart informing me that FHA regulations prohibit a property from changing hands more than once within a 90-day period if it is to qualify for an FHA-backed loan. So that meant that John Stewart Realty had to hold onto the property and rent it to the purchasers for three months.
In the end, the party did buy the property. But I never saw any of the money above the agreed GBO price that I was promised from John Stewart Realty. He was well aware of FHA regulations when the offer was submitted and contingent on FHA approval. There were three weeks to prevent this scenario from happening.
Months after the fact when I inquired about what happened to him, I was told that the original buyer is now putting the property back on the market (it’s not listed at this time) and repairs had to be made during the “rental period”. I’ve not been offered any proof of this. So that’s why I never head from them, because in his mind there was no money to give me.
Regardless there is a matter of fact… I fulfilled my end of the GBO contract with flying colors. John Stewart Realty did not perform well as a selling agent, and the GBO wound up in some weird purgatory that I’m tempted to fight. I don’t see how I’m liable for expenses or whatnot once the property left my possession because the property passed inspection and appraisal twice each.
In the end, we’re happy to live where we do… But we do feel a bit of annoyance that John Stewart screwed up that much and we lost out on a good little bit of extra money because of his poor handling of the situation on his end.
The cherry on top? The John Stweart Realty company is still sending company announcement postcards to our old address and not the new house that they sold us. Smart cookies over there.