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In August of 2010, I had decided to move to Latin America to take a job offer there. Unfortunately, due to the real-estate situation in California at the time, I was forced to short sell my house.

I interviewed several realtors for this process. The only requirements I had were that the sale not further cost me anything and that the sale not require me to travel at my expense to complete. I selected Dana Pope of RE/MAX of Valencia who assured me that she could personally guarantee both of these issues. During this interview I inquired specifically about utilities. I asked what would become of those expenses after I moved out--she said not to worry because she would put them in her name at that time.

On 23 March of 2011, four months after I vacated and a month and a half before closing I was understandably concerned about the fact that I was still paying the utilities: They were still in my name. Shutting off the utilities would have likely resulted in burst pipes (from occasional freezing) and would have resulted in a dead lawn (as watering is necessary for lawn maintenance). So to keep the house ready for sale, the utilities were required.

On this date, I asked Dana Pope, the realtor, about this issue and reminded her about her personal commitment to put the utilities in her name. She replied that very day saying we could work something out. I believed her.

The sale of the house then closed in May. At that point, I again inquired about the utilities expenses. How was I to be paid for the six months of utilities I had covered on her behalf after vacating the property? At that point, Dana replied, "Our conversion regarding the utility bills was that I would put the utility bills in my name." She went on to say that since that didn't happen, I should have filed to have these covered during the escrow process. She explained this to me a month AFTER closing after having provided absolutely no input on this point after telling me we could "work something out" in March.

I made several attempts to work with Dana on this issue. She refused to accept responsibility declaring the issue closed.

I then contacted the broker, John O'Hare, of RE/MAX of Valencia. Of note, at this point, Dana communicated via email that I did not have permission to discuss issue with the listed broker. Further she declared my exploration of solutions to be illegal and threatened a legal response should I continue to attempt communications with the broker or any others on this issue.

Further, in spite of several attempts to communicate with the broker of record, John O'Hare, and after missed commitments by him to communicate with me, I was never able to talk with or email him directly. In fact, he had absolutely all communications with me take place through his office manager.

I find Dana Pope's lack of integrity and use of oppressive legal tactics to be unacceptable and professionally unethical. I find John O'Hare's absolute disinterest in addressing a case for which he was the listed as broker of record to likewise be unprofessional and unethical.

Location: Medellin, Antioquia

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