Vanguard Properties agent Jeffrey Plocher colluded with a selling agent to drive up the price of a property in essence by creating a phantom bidding situation. That's not the worst of it. What really ended up costing me was that Jeffrey Plocher also lined up the home & pest inspectors who gave a 'clean report' of the property. Bad mistake. The home was loaded with asbestos, vermin including termites, had a crumbling foundation and was not seismically safe. Neither Jeffrey Plocher nor the inspectors recommended I pursue a home warranty. So based on their encouragement, I moved forward with the transaction and everyone was paid their commission.
But I was stuck holding the bag and it resulted in a loss of over $500,000 for the repairs. After I had taken possession, I began a remodeling project. That's when the problems began to surface. Based on several expert opinions from engineering firms, contractors, architects, other RE brokers, and home inspection agencies, these issues should have clearly been reported by Jeffrey Plocher and the inspector, as the issues were visible and any reasonable RE professional should have been able to cite these.
Neither Vanguard Properties, Jeffrey Plocher nor the home inspector returned any of my phone calls or emails as the issues were being uncovered. And, because I lifted contingencies based on their advice, I basically signed away any recourse. Stupid on my part to have trusted these people, but by virtue of this post, hopefully others will not make the same mistake.
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