nina newbery

Review of Gagliardo Realty Associates

Susan Maienza of Gagliardo Realty Associates Poo...

Susan Maienza of Gagliardo Realty Associates Poor Service. What I expect from a Broker is good communication skills, knowledge/expertise, and overall professionalism. What I received was limited service on all counts. As for communications skills, Susan had to consistently be reminded (by myself and our lawyer) of outstanding issues/questions. We would send her texts/emails asking for information and receive either no response or an incomplete response. Once she claimed that the email requesting information had gone to her spam however she had received at least 10 emails previously without incident. She also sent texts that made little sense requiring additional texting to fully understand. Another example is when the buyer s mortgage company sent someone out to appraise the house but Susan hadn t communicated the request to me. The final days before closing were the most frustrating as outstanding issues were not being addressed by Susan and once again we had to lean on our attorney to help. In fact, when we went to sign the papers for the closing (we didn t attend closing) we had to bring the house-keys to our attorney so she could hand them over to the buyers. Susan never reached out to coordinate this small but important step. It was a frustrating experience to say the least.

We also expected that she provide expertise given we had never sold a house before. She did a good job of suggesting we market the house at a higher rate (something I m told Gagliardo is known for) than either of the other two realtors we contacted. But once we signed the listing agreement she deferred all questions to our attorney. As for listing the house, in retrospect, I would have expected her to walk me through the process to ensure I had properly defined what was as is in the contract. In the end we had to pay over $1,000 for extras and quite a bit of stress for something that should never have been included. We could have been hit harder as there were additional appliances in the basement she never asked if they worked but fortunately didn t come up in the inspection report.

Lastly, I expect professionalism. To me that means doing what you say you ll do and earning your commission by doing the work. The house was shown twice (she was not at the showing when our buyers came) and sold within 10 days. She relied on our attorney to do the lifting and as I mentioned earlier did little to communicate with us. One example of this is when Susan and I had agreed that she would attend the buyer s walkthrough but instead she was seen playing tennis during that time. Later when I asked her why she didn t attend she responded with saying the buyers wouldn t want her there (despite having agreed she would go). Susan s/Gagliardo s half of the commission amounted to nearly $20,000. For most of us that takes weeks of work. I doubt she spent more than 20 hours on our behalf. Our experience with Susan Maienza can be summed in one final example Susan never communicated after the closing that all went well and we had truly sold our home. It s now 36 hours later and we only know we sold because our attorney and old neighbors told us. When we called to let Andy Gagliardo know how disappointed we were in her service, his response was he d have a chat with her. I don t know if he will or if that will change anything but I believe sellers deserve to hear examples from someone who was not satisfied in order to make better educated decisions on whether to list with Susan Maienza.