Have you ever come across another Broker/Agent "helping themselves" to items in a house that was NOT yet foreclosed on?

I received an order to complete a interior BPO. Another Agent/Broker was the contact. The home was NOT foreclosed on but the owner was in the process of vacating. I called the other Broker/Agent to have re keyed which they completed the next day. I went to complete the BPO & the neighbor came over and asked if I was putting the home on the market, I told them "no, another Broker is". The neighbor stated there was a truck there earlier, that they were putting things in their truck. I asked if they knew who it was. They didn't. I asked if they knew where the owner was and if they had the phone number. They did. I called the owner and let her know that the bank was securing the home due to it being vacant. She was upset because it had not foreclosed yet. I explained that the water & electric was off and the bank was just securing their interest. I asked her if she wanted to get her stuff, that I had a key and I could meet her, her family & friends the next day at the property so she could get her stuff. She agreed then I asked when the last time she was there or the last time someone was there in her behalf. She stated about a week. I then called and left a message on the other Brokers phone telling them that what ever was helped to of the owners had %$# well be put back, that I was giving access to the owner the next day to remove her belongings. It was put back, the Broker stated that it was in error, that they thought it was a trash out - yeah, right - the only things that were taken were a oak dining table and an antique curio cabinet - yeah, right, trash -
The whole incident went into my report to the Bank. I don’t think the Broker has had a REO since! Makes me SICK!

Good for you for following up with both the owner, that snake of a broker, and the bank. I wouldn't hesitate to also file a complaint with the realtor's board also. If that broker has done it once, they've done it many more times and just didn't get caught.

WOW! Unbelievable! Glad to hear that you really helped the owner with her belongings.
Good for you!
Welcome to the world of REO's..Geez...that agent makes us all look bad.

Regardless if the stuff was put back or not, if the broker knew that the house hadn't been foreclosed on yet that is flat out theft. This happened to a couple of people I know in my area, they took some stuff out of the house, even after it had been foreclosed on but the bank had given them 10 days to get the stuff out, they still got charged with theft. Not a good situation, took my broker about 8 months to get another REO listing with the company that gave him the listing because he had assign one of his agents to check occupancy, He didn't even know that they did this he found out that night at about 12:30 when the local Police knocked at his door.

If the broker knew what was going on, the least that should happen is that he should be reported to the Real Estate Commission, and at most reported to the Police Dpt.

This is just wrong what was done. Good job for following through and sticking up for the homeowner.

I had done an interior BPO on a property several months ago. It was already through the foreclosure sale, but it was FULL of stuff- all furniture, computers, tv, food, etc. I did not know at that time that it was assigned to someone else, so I was hoping it would become my listing. A few days later, I drive by and see a truck and trailer, and some people loading stuff up, so I stopped by. It was the property preservation company. The listing agent had already been there and "loaded all that she wanted" and they were told to haul everything else to the dump. Our attorney told us, that in Missouri, all personal property had to be placed in storage for a month, notices sent to the previous owners, etc. But this agent took what she wanted and told the trash-out crew to throw everything else away... The trash-out people had the good things all stackedneatly in their truck, and the rest was thrown on the trailer, so I bet they were taking quite a bit for themselves, so they would never report her for doing the same. lots of stuff like that in this business!

zephyr -
Doesn't it make you totally sick!
I see an awful lot of it.
Did you report it?
Who the %$#$ do these Brokers/Agents think they are?
I believe in Karma - and I really hope that they get theirs!

To all who are doing this you are committing theft and will be held liable,although i work the pre-foreclosure side and do not list reo's i understand the process,i just don't want to be on that side of things.There is actually a book that reo put out on how to properly dispose of the owners property and yes there are specific procedures and yes they are different and vary from state to state on how they are handled.


Just for you agents that take this stuff think of this.You load up your car and take the stuff,the homeowners were wrongfully foreclosed on because proper prcedure wasn't followed or the judge overturned the foreclosure sale.The people will now be suing you for theft of there belongings.

This is why there are procedures and laws in place on how to dispose of these items,just something to think about.

Oh,i forgot to mention that people that repo cars do this crap al of the time the person is supposed to get there belongings when they pick up the car,but there money,watches,expensive stuff seems to have vanished and disappeared and since they can't prove that stuff was in the car when it was repoed they are aol.