Nebo Agency Inc - Kenneth Orton Ken Orton Ken Orton, Nebo Agency Inc, Payson Realtor Payson Utah

Dear Utah Board of Realtors,

Stay away from having Ken Orton as your realtor.  Here is what I submitted to the Utah Board of Realtors.  I since retracted the formal complaint as per request of my Mother-in-Law who did not want to go through the headache of testifying before the board and not get any of her money back.

I am writing in a formal complaint against Ken Orton of Nebo Agency, Ken.R.Orton@gmail.com, 801-360-5350.

(801) 465-2535

197 E 100 N, Payson, UT 84651

By way of background.  Cloyd had a stroke in 2007.  His health has been deteriorating ever since.  Finally they decided that they could not keep up on 5 acres and needed to sell the property.

First they decided that because of tax records and a preliminary assessment that Ken had done that the property would be listed at 500k.  They did not feel that an appraisal was necessary.  At that time there was little interest at that price, mainly because of the condition of the house.   

Ken convinced them to then list the property at 399k.  Which they then did.  At that price there as plenty of interest and people looking at the property.  They then got an offer for 400k minus 100k for repairs on the place.  The stipulations in the contract stated that they had until May 30th (or 30days) to move and move all of their personal property.

They are 71yrs old.  They have accumulated a lot of stuff around their property, and Laurel talked to Ken about how hard it would be to get out of the house in so short of time.  Ken would not counter the offer.  In fact he stated two things "time is of the essence."  He said that they probably would not get another offer for six months.  Then he stated that "to counter is to kill."  He refused to counter the offer to allow more time.  The contract only gave 24hrs for a response.  Not to talk about all of the other unfavorable conditions in the contract.  Ken tried to convince them that they needed to take the offer because of the short time that they had to accept it.  

After talking it through with family they declined.  Two days later there came another offer from the same broker.  The offer came in at 5p and they had until 8p to accept or reject.  The stipulations on this contract was just as stringent and unfavorable.  This offer came in on May 7th and said they would have to be out by May 30th.  The field that the house sits on was planted with wheat, and in the contract stated that the farmer would not be able to harvest the crop.  So the Harrison's would have to pay the farmer for the crop.  Also in the contract all of the things that they did not get out they would have to pay 50 dollars a day to get it out and they would have to pay for the removal of it. 

Now I want state here that none of this is in anyway a crime.  Just a low ball offer.  

Laurel expressed her concern about the stipulations about moving so quickly and Ken's response was "well we moved in 3 day."  Cloyd asked him on his thoughts on this and Ken would just say "it is your call."  Laurel asked if they could counter at this point and all Ken would say is "to counter is to kill."  He was not acting in the seller's best interest.  He would tell them every reason why they would needed to take this offer and was trying to push the sale. 

I feel he was trying to push Laurel into selling it.  She is naive.  As for Cloyd he is literally on his death bed.  He had a stroke and was bed ridden.  He went into the hospital and a nursing home right before this offer was made.  I had talked personally to Ken about my concerns that based off of the doctors assessment of Cloyd he does not always think clearly, and that numbers and days get mixed up in his head.  I feel that he took this as a clue that he could fire sell a property for to make a quick dollar. 

We convinced the sellers not to take the offer and to take the house off the market so that they could move their stuff and clean up the place and put the house back on the market.  The next day Ken signed an Unconditional Release.  

Ken started telling Cloyd and Laurel how much he spent in marketing the property.  When I personally asked him to provide me with a list of expenses that he spent marketing the place.  He said that he would not be able to give me something that was up to my satisfaction.  I asked him to give me something that would be up to the satisfaction of the board.  He told Laurel that he spent over 9000 in trying to sell the house.  When I asked him about that he was not able to come up with anything other then 1700 in rent for his office and 500 for his phone.  

This all comes down to one thing.  The code of ethics. In the code of ethics it states that you are a representative of the seller.  You are to act in the best interest of the seller.  He was not in the least bit interested in the condition of my father-in-law's health or mental state.  He was interested in getting his commission.  

The house was taken off the market.  He would tell Laurel his sob story, about how much he needs the money, and all of his financial hardships.  He made them feel sorry for them.  They then gave him 4500 dollars.  Zero of which he earned.  In the contract it states that the realtor would be paid upon the "Sale" of the property.  

He then came back on May 30th and tried to convince them to give him the rest of the commissions that he WOULD HAVE EARNED had the house sold.  His rationalization for this was that he had a bonified offer and he would have make 9000 dollars had the house sold.  The house did not sell, and there was an Unconditional Release.  

He told Laurel that he has hospital bills and that he knows that they have hospital bills too but "you got out sooner."  She had said that she almost wants to pay him just to get him off her back.  He told her that part of the expense that he incurred while marketing their house was office space rent, and implied that she is responsible for covering that.  He made her feel like she owed him.  He said that the ball was in their court to pay him the rest of the money that he was owed.  He said that it was in the rules that he could have taken them with a breech of contract and made them pay.

This is wrong on so many levels.  First Ken did not earn a dime by getting one low ball offer that was not accepted by the seller.  Second, he disregarded their best interest as the seller.  Third, he accepted money that he was not owed.  He said that he did not tell them to give him the money.  But he implied that they owed it to him.  He did not try to convince them otherwise.  

Word of warning to STAY AWAY FROM THIS REALTOR.  Get a different one.  He will not act in your own best interest.