Maryalice Norton Over Promised, Under Delivered...Left Family w/ Newborn Homeless Southborough Massachusetts

Having read this review, I also felt compelled to write a rebuttal in defense of Maryalice Norton.  I have been in the real estate industry for 12 years, and have worked with Maryalice several times over the years.  I have never know her to be anything but professional, honest, courteous and diligent in doing her best for her clients.  As previously stated, more and more buyers entering the market are toxic, entitled, and demand instant gratification.  When they don't get what they want, they immediately blame the person who's in front of them, namely, the Realtor.  

The housing market in this area is incredibly competitive at this time, due to a very low inventory.  Homes frequently have multiple offers, which means that, unfortunately, someone has to lose out.  Quite often things happen that we cannot control, (like issues with the seller) but we always seem to carry the blame.  Based on Maryalice's side of the story, there is nothing she could have done that would have cha these changed the situation for these clients.  When a client refuses to communicate like a mature adult, it makes it very difficult to do our jobs to the best of our ability.  If clients aren't willing to work as a team, and refuse to give coherent instructions for us to follow, how can they expect the outcome to be anything besides what they don't want?

As I stated before, I have never known Maryalice to be anything but professional with her clients, and she has always gone out of her way to do the best she can for anyone who works with her.  I realize that moving across country with an infant can be a very stressful experience, but abusing the people that you hire to help you is not going to make the situation any easier.  I hope these buyers were able to find a home, but I certainly don't envy the agent who got stuck working with them in the end.

As a fellow Realtor, and personally knowing Maryalice Norton , I felt compelled to write a detailed response to what I consider a toxic buyer experiencing sour grapes because they didn't get their way. If you want the utmost of professionalim in a Real Estate agent, call Maryalice. Profssionalism - check, Honesty/Ethical - check, Follow through/ Communication - check, a compassionate human being - check.

Sadly, as Realtors, we have to work with all types of personalities in the general public. For every one of these toxic, unhappy, high drama clients, there are 99 wonderful clients that we adore and work hard for. i am certain that much of what these disgruntled buyers expressed has a much deeper story behind it with extenuating cirmcumstances that were far beyond Maryalice's control. The general public has no idea of the intricacies of Real Estate. That is why they hire us as we are the professionals. Most place their faith in us and all works out well in the end. No transaction is ever smooth. But then there is that small 1% who think they have all they answers, know all there is to know about R.E. And this is who this buyer is.

As stated by Maryalice, in 30 years she had only fired 1 client previous to these buyers. In 16 years of doing real estate, I also, have only had to fire 1 client. So it takes a lot to rattle us as professional Realtors. between the 2 of us over the years we have dealt with thousands of clients. There is NEVER a justifiable reason to ever verbally abuse your Realtor. Enough is enough and I back Maryalice 100% for the courage she had to do what she did - fire them!

ABUSIVE BUYER FIRED BY REALTOR

Unfortunately, Mr. & Mrs. Connors have misrepresented their Rip-Off review.

They wrote this review because I FIRED THEM DUE TO THEIR VERBAL ABUSE BY TEXT/EMAIL AND PHONE!!!  AND, I HAVE NEVER EVEN MET THEM!

I have been a Broker for over 30 years.  I love what I do and I have helped more families than I can count move cross-country, and locally.  I also know the market very well having lived and worked in the Metro West area my whole life.  Because of this, I am well versed in all of the applicable local laws, contracts and nuances of the real estate industry.  Until yesterday, I have only fired one client in 30 years - now I have fired two.  I cannot and will not work with someone who feels they are entitled to be verbally and electronically abusive.

Mr. & Mrs. Connors could not see any of the homes under consideration because they were in Washington State.  Their mother was asked to see the homes with me and ‘approve’ their purchase. I met with their mother numerous times to see many different homes.  She is a wonderful and lovely person who I’ve grown to know and respect.  Unfortunately, we are in an extremely tough market for buyers in this area.  It is a Seller’s market and there are not enough homes on the market to keep up with demand. This leads to much frustration for buyers.  I am seeing this across the board with all of the buyers I’ve been working with.

Mr. & Mrs. Connors were properly guided regarding Massachusetts real estate and how the process is handled. I informed them that they would need an attorney and offered to give them several names of local lawyers who could do this work.  In addition to this, I gave them FULL DISCLOSURE that I do use a local attorney who works with numerous area Realtors, who I am also related to.  I told them if they were not comfortable with that, they could use someone else. They agreed they wanted to use the attorney that was related to me and hired her. This was their decision.

 Mr. & Mrs. Connors wrote a total of two offers, having had interest in three homes.  After submitting the offer on the first house, which was initially accepted by the seller, the existing tenant ‘changed her mind’ and exercised her right stay in the house until the end of the lease.  (Initially, she had told both the mother and I that she was planning to move out.)  This forced the seller to pull the house from the market.  These are circumstances beyond my control.  We moved on to find another home.

The second offer they wanted to write, but did not – was for a house that their mother didn’t feel was right for them for various reasons.  Within this time frame, another home came on that their mother loved for them. Mr. & Mrs. Connors willingly and voluntarily signed this offer and wrote a deposit on this house-in spite of what they wrote in their review. We wrote the offer, offer was accepted contingent on the sellers finding suitable housing.  Everyone was happy and moved forward in the transaction. Due to the dates of this transaction MR. & MRS. CONNORS OBTAINED TEMPORARY HOUSING- DESPITE STATING IN THEIR HEADER THAT THEY WERE HOMELESS!

 For several personal reasons, again beyond my control,  the SELLER changed their mind after all of our efforts. I cannot control this.  Mr. & Mrs. Connors were clearly upset and frustrated, as was I.  By law in Massachusetts, a buyer cannot ask a seller to pay for any expenditure on the sale such as home inspection costs, or attorney fees.  

We discussed writing an offer on the home that the mother was not crazy about this past Saturday night.  We needed to wait for the release to be signed on the prior house to do this. We received the release on Monday.  After speaking with MRS. CONNORS I was instructed to wait to see the house when they arrived in the area prior to writing the offer.  At no time did either Mr. or Mrs. Connors call me prior to our meeting, asking where the offer for them was- to sign.  We had agreed to wait and see the house.  I am not sure why Mr. Connors would say I did not follow his instructions.  Prior to the Connors appointment to see the home in question (along with plans to see several more) the home they had interest in went under agreement with another buyer.

At this point I had already received one abusive email from Mrs. Connors (I have all documentation). It continued with a very long string of verbally abusive text messages.  I called them right away and they did not take my call. They continued to verbally abuse me by text message.  I called again and they finally took my call.  After Mr. Connors continued to scream and yell and abuse me, I made the decision that they needed to find a different realtor that could “better suit their needs.”  Mr. Connors continued to be verbally abusive and I ended the call.

 It is really unfortunate that Mr. & Mrs. Connors felt the need to post on social media how they feel they ‘had been wronged’ by me, instead of picking up the phone and having a professional  and mature conversation about any of their concerns.  I have never had a complaint in 30 years and I would have ignored this site if it was not for their blatant misrepresentation.

I wish nothing but the best for Mr. & Mrs. Connors. I hope they find a wonderful home.