Re: Broker Uses Illegal Extortion Tactics

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On 2/27/09, Erin N wrote:
> After sending the following letter, 8 different attorneys
> (licensed by the Missouri Bar) deemed the document filed
> by Coldwell Banker Advantage was illegal and should never
> have been recorded.
>
> Verification can be obtained by visiting
> www.recorder.claycogov.com Once there, you can login as a
> guest (no password required) and search the real estate
> records for a business named RSB Realty. The illegal
> document filed by Karen Bergin and Linda Bobski is
> instrument #2007032423, dated 08/06/07, book #5778, page
> 125. You can pull it up, view the actual document and even
> print out a copy. There is no denying that this document
> served no purpose but to cloud the title of the property.
>
> Under duress, the owner’s eventually relented and
> delivered the ransom demanded by Coldwell Banker so that
> the encumbrance was removed from the property’s title.
>
> It is my belief that the brokerage firm executing this
> extortion ( Coldwell Banker Advantage, Overland Park
> KS ), the firm’s broker ( Karen Bergin ) , and the
> agent involved ( Linda Bobski ) should all be brought up
> on extortion charges and be permanently banned from
> gaining licensure in the state of Missouri. Their actions
> are indefensible and down right illegal!
>
> However, when a bankrupt man has no financial means to
> defend himself in court, the use of this document by his
> broker and/or agent becomes extortion and so the owners
> only option left was to beg. Consequently, the following
> letter was written.
>
> Coldwell Banker Advantage
> Attn: Karen Bergin
> 7501 College Boulevard Suite 101
> Overland Park, KS. 66210
>
> Ms. Bergin,
>
> I’m writing this letter to you in the hopes that you will
> understand the hurt and misery you are causing me and my
> family. Your recent actions to try and stop the closing of
> our property at 14409 NE 147th St is a painful reminder of
> how greed and distrust is ruining the relationships
> between consumers, builders, and real estate professionals
> such as yourself.
>
> We have painfully fought through the last two years by
> paying over $150,000.00 in interest out of our own pockets
> to keep these two properties on the market for you and
> other realtors to try and profit from. We have exhausted
> all our savings, our retirement, the equity in our
> personal home, our son’s college fund, and even stooped so
> low as to cash in our 12 year olds savings account
> containing Christmas, birthday, and tooth-fairy money he
> had saved since infancy. We have lost our medical
> insurance, our credit rating, and are now on the verge of
> defaulting on mortgage loans. Apparently our losses are
> not enough to satisfy your need to profit from our
> misfortune, as you now intend to destroy our business and
> the only options we have left. To say the least you have
> miserably failed at the job we hired you to do and we have
> paid for it dearly.
>
> Long ago we gave up all hope and the reality of being able
> to make any profit on either of the properties we
> constructed in Fox Run; however, we remained loyal to our
> realtors by continuing to give them a chance we would
> never have. Our last listing agreement on April 10th was
> always predicated on our ability to be able to continue to
> pay the monthly interest on the properties and delay the
> consequences arising from having to give them back to the
> bank.
>
> As early as last May, I indicated to Linda Bobski that due
> to the cancellation of two build jobs we’d had pinned our
> hopes on, we were staring down the harsh reality of
> defaulting on our construction loans and losing not only
> our profit and the interest we have paid to date, but also
> no less than $35,000 of our personal funds we used to
> finish construction on the properties, and an additional
> $6,300 we have spent assisting Ms. Bobski in marketing our
> homes with advertising that included your company name,
> Linda Bobski’s logo, and contact information for her and
> your company. I also indicated to Linda that if at least
> one property was not sold by the end of June, we would be
> forced by necessity to cancel the listing agreement,
> accept defeat, and attempt to sell the properties at an
> extremely reduced price to avoid losing them altogether.
> We only hoped that whatever price we might receive would
> be enough to cover our actual material costs.
>
> During this time, we frequently disrupted our own lives;
> cancelled plans made, and relinquished time with our
> families and friends to make ourselves available at all
> hours to show the homes on your behalf. We sacrificed our
> own health and well being by delaying medical and dental
> treatment, and we jeopardized our financial security by
> acquiring personal loans and extending credit cards to
> cover our living expenses. Quite simply, we were ready to
> do whatever it took to assist you in moving these homes. I
> know you have spent some money in marketing the
> properties; but in all honesty, it pales in comparison to
> our costs, commitment, and losses.
>
> Our previous experience listing with Linda Bobski provided
> us with competent service, good marketing, and personal
> dedication with her physical presence almost every
> weekend. We came to rely on and expect this kind of
> continued service from her when we re-listed the homes
> with your company. However, we have NEVER seen any new
> marketing materials, print ads, feedback on showings, or
> her physical attendance at open houses during the time the
> homes have been listed with Coldwell Banker Advantage.
>
> When we spoke with Linda Bobski on June 30th and
> instructed her to forward us a release on the listings, we
> were told this would be done when you (her broker)
> returned from vacation. We proceeded on that basis because
> we believed in the honesty and integrity we had come to
> know in Linda, and my wife diligently began attempting to
> secure a buyer in earnest so that we might be able to move
> at least one of these homes and save ourselves from
> defaulting on business loans.
>
> My wife humiliated herself in ways I can not imagine.
> Cruising neighborhoods looking for signs indicating a home
> had sold or was under contract, then proceeding to knock
> on the doors of people she’d never met, asking them for an
> opportunity to show them what wonderful homes we had built
> and relaying to them just how desperate we were to sell.
> Now that we have secured a buyer that will relieve us of
> the massive burden we have carried for so long, you want
> to stop the sale of home we have worked two years to try
> and move; a home you and your agent failed to produce a
> buyer for.
>
> Have you no shame or conscience? Have you no sense of
> right and wrong? Or is causing your clients continued
> distress and embarrassment secondary to enforcing your
> sense of power over the people you profess to serve? In
> all honesty, I simply can’t understand the logic behind
> choosing to put a client out of business rather than
> working with them so that you might secure future
> listings. That just doesn’t make sense to me at all.
>
> We are tired, Ms. Bergin. We are tired of fighting a
> battle we can’t possibly win. We are tired of taking risks
> that only serve to benefit the banks, mortgage companies,
> and licensed real estate brokers/agents. I have personally
> endured debilitating stress and anxiety related illnesses,
> have been hospitalized twice this past year, have endured
> IRS audits, been forced to file income tax extensions, and
> have watched as my wife battled her alcoholism under the
> mounting pressure of constant failure. Even as I write
> this, I am forced to listen to her sobbing in the next
> room, convinced in the belief that everything is hopeless
> and there’s no point in even trying to reason with you. We
> put ourselves through all this for your benefit, so that
> you might be able to profit from our talents and
> misfortune, but we ran out of time. We simply could not
> give you any more time to make money off our product. I
> just don’t know what else you want from us or what else we
> can do.
>
> There’s nothing left for us to offer up to you; and above
> all else we are simply tired. We want to give up; and even
> though we are conceding defeat, you are not even allowing
> us to give up and give in. It is almost as if we are the
> bloody wounded dog being forced back into the pit for the
> final kill. We are merely a form of entertainment for you
> at this point, as we can not possibly meet your demands.
>
> Finally, I am asking that you please release the lien you
> have filed with the recorders office so that we can close
> on this home and begin trying to put our lives back
> together.
>
These realtors made a mockery of our judicial system. I'm
appalled that they feel they are above the law and if this
case came before me, I would not have allowed them to
continue their abuse.

If a contract is broken, steps to enforce the contract are
taken up in the filing of a civil suit. If the judge finds
for the plaintiff, a judgement is entered and the plaintiff
has the right to enforce the judgement within the boundaries
of the law. However, to arbitarily file a lein or document
against one's property thus making it unmarketable is
circumventing the entire judicial system.

If this man fell behind on his mortgage payments the bank
would not have been able to sieze the property without going
through the proper channels. Why then should a realtor be
able to damage the title to the property without going
through those same steps?

Therefore, "in my opinion, these realtors should lose their
licenses for their lack of ethics and their unlawful real
estate practices." I would suggest the victims of this
realty firm file complaints with the Attorney Generals
Office and the Missouri Real Estate Commission.