BIG BIG RANT – ReMax Realty

[anonyme]

I just received (and not for the first time) a robo-call from realtor Mark Foley trying to sell properties in my neighborhood. I called his number to complain and, ironically, HE does not accept blocked calls – I guess it’s only everyone else whose privacy is meaningless.

So, I called the main office and spoke to Dawn, the receptionist. I told her that I’d received a robo-call from Mr. Foley, and she claimed not to know what that was. Right. I explained to her what it was, as well as the fact that robo-calls are illegal. I am also on the federal “do not call” registry – which also didn’t seem to ring a bell with her.

It’s gotten so that I don’t answer my phone at all any more. One out of maybe 20 calls is legitimate. This particular breach is especially annoying as it is a local businessman with a valid phone number who knows damn well he is violating the law, yet does so with impunity.

From the DNC Registry website:

“If a company doesn’t care about obeying the law, you can be sure they’re trying to scam you.”

So, Mr. Foley, according to the federal government, you are a SCAMMER. I hope enough people read this to understand that they probably don’t want to do business with a realtor who has no interest in complying with the law if it means making a buck.

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[wakeflood]

I love the canned, non-denial, denial from the receptionist.

“Shocked!, Shocked, I say!”

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[anonyme]

Probably not as shocked as she was after my response…which cannot be posted here.

Mr. Foley, if you happen to check in here, please note that complaints have been filed with both the FCC and DNC registry. I hope other neighbors who received the same call will do the same.

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[Homer]

To me this is perfect. You’re on the do not call list and hopefully you haven’t done business or requested business from Re-Max recently….you finally have a name to report to the FCC like you said you did. That’s the best as most robo-calls don’t leave names etc. GO GET HIM!

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[PangolinPie]

He’s a ReMax agent; I’d call them and complain as well.

http://www.remax.com/c/contact

What a jerk. People like this are another reason I don’t have a landline.

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[anonyme]

Thanks, PP, I did want to try that, but could not find a way to do so without revealing even more personal info that I don’t trust them with. Of course, my info is attached to the complaints so we’ll see what happens with that.

I’d love to dump the landline, but can’t afford both a cell (which had drawbacks of it’s own) as well as a landline.

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[B-squared]

anonyme- consider switching your landline number to a cheap flip phone through T-mobile. I have had the same phone number for 30 years and didn’t want to give it up. It was a no-frills landline through Centurylink. ~$24 a month. So i found a cheap flip phone on ebay. Then i bought a prepayed card from T-mobile, something like 1000 minutes for $100. I had t-mobile port all of my contacts from the smartphone that i have into this phone. then i just check it from time to time but use my cell phone for most everything. about 95% of the scammer calls, surveys, political calls, etc go to this cell phone but i don’t get docked for usage. I am now essentially getting free caller ID and voicemail – something that i would have had to pay for with Centurylink – and am now saving about $24 a month. Plus i never talk to any of the annoying callers because if they don’t show up as a recognized number, they get ignored. i think you have to add minutes once a year to keep it rolling over.

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[anonyme]

Thanks, B-squared. I’m working on options, but I think I need to keep the landline for DSL?

Update: just had a conversation with a neighbor who had a call from Foley himself the day before my robocall. She has an unlisted number and is on the DNC list. He asked a ton of personal questions – when was she planning to sell, would she give him the names of any neighbors who might want to sell, did she know anyone who wanted to buy in the area – in short, obnoxious, extremely intrusive, and yet another illegal call. She called his office to complain and spoke to the same dingbat I spoke to. She did the same poor stupid act she played with me. Clearly this is their regular M.O..

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[PangolinPie]

Possible other ways to contact Mark Foley and ask him to stop bothering you:

Via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdfoley

Via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.d.foley

Via Twitter: https://twitter.com/markdfoley

Direct: (206) 933-5837

Mobile Phone: (206) 391-1411

Office Fax: (206) 322-7576

Home Phone: (206) 933-5844

Some interesting comments about him at the bottom of this page:

http://www.homethinking.com/938975-Mark-D-Foley-REMAX-Metro-Realty-Inc.html

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[anonyme]

Wow, thanks for that link PP. What a jerk. I’m going to try to find out if there is some kind of real estate licensing board. He should be kicked out. What he’s doing is not business, it’s harassment.

As for the other links, I don’t belong to any of them. I take my privacy very seriously, and tend to stay away from anything resembling social media – with the exception of WSB! Not being judgmental, it’s just not for me.

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[PangolinPie]

No judgment here, anonyme! Privacy is important and I understand your reluctance. I’m thinking maybe others who see this may find the links useful though, if they do a web search for Mark Foley, realtor, or some such.

This may come in handy:

http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/realestate/complaint.html

And perhaps this:

http://www.wikihow.com/File-a-Complaint-Against-a-Realtor

And:

https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/file-a-complaint/get-started

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[jissy]

This guy gives realtors a bad name (and yes, I know there is a difference between realtors and real estate agents).

Here’s my RANT about him…. He was listed as the agent on a commercial property a friend was interested in – it was actually a listing with more than one parcel. I called his office when I saw it b/c our agent was out of town at the time. Similar to anonyme’s neighbor, when I called him, he grilled the hell out of me and what we were looking for and finances, and background etc…(although I tried to keep sort of vague) and after I answered “No” to his “So, if you are interested in going forward with an offer on this property do you give us permission to do that on your behalf?” b/c we already had an agent but they were just out of town, he immediately changed into this bully, said, “Well, you should just find someone else in your agent’s office to show you, do you understand what I’m saying?” Uh, yeah… I understand that you are refusing to show one of your listings on behalf of your client, even though you live less then 5 miles away from said property (yes, I know where his home office is located)….I finally said, “I read you loud and clear!” And guess what… my friend suddenly wasn’t interested, NO WAY would they partake in a transaction that would put a penny in that guys pocket… and guess what? I believe he sold just 1 parcel when my friend was interested in multiple. I seriously wanted to inform his client of his behavior, it was so unprofessional & thank you Pangolin b/c I was also looking for some type of professional organization to report him to b/c it seemed unethical to try to poach another agents client.

And he went on and on on the phone about “I sell houses no one else can” blah blah….. I HATE seeing his signs b/c it’s never just 1 sign post, it’s arrows and his picture and looks like a circus is coming to town at each property.

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[SomeGuy]

Jackpot! How does an extra $500 for your Christmas list sound?

http://articles.courant.com/2014-01-18/business/hc-bottom-line-sue-robocallers-20140118_1_telemarketers-text-message-district-court

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[PunnyBooBoo]

Ugh…I knew by the title of this rant that it was going to be about Mark Foley. My ex and I made the mistake of hiring him about 15 years ago when buying a home. It’s a long and gross story..but in short…he played us in a bidding battle that come to find out, was nonexistent, resulting in us paying $20,000 over asking. Sounds dumb of us…yes, but he is seriously THAT slimey and very good at it.

When the ex and I split, he actually wanted to hire Foley AGAIN…under the logic that he would be good for us on the selling side because he IS so skeevy and we would make more money on the house. I refused…because I’m human..and just had my ex buy me out. He went on with Foley and made a lot of money, not only on that home…but a few others together. Hence why he is my ex.

I cringe when I see Foley’s pics everywhere…for one…they’re 20 years old…but mainly because I can not believe that he is still so successful…as grimy as he is. I would think there isn’t even a half burned bridge left for him??

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[Cait]

I see his signs EVERYWHERE. Almost every single property he represents is in disrepair and pretty run down.

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[ADW]

I mentioned this post to friend who works at REMAX in the Alaska Junction and he told me that each REMAX office is independent and that that agent does not work there. He also said that no one in his office does robo calls. Just something to keep in mind.

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[cherable]

After you receive a call from him, dial*78, enter your security code , select option 4, then select #2. This will stop all future calls from his number. This works for CenturyLink – check with your provider for their procedure. I used this on every unsolicited call I’ve received and I don’t get any unwanted calls now. :-)

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[MRD]

I saw your comments about Mark Foley and ReMax Seattle Metro. Here is my experience.

The owner and my agent at ReMax Seattle Metro are great……great at overcharging, great at promising and not delivering, great at ripping you off, lying to you and the buyer and the title company, playing games, bullying clients, treating the seller and buyer horribly, and mostly, putting THEIR PROFITS above service to YOU! I’ve never experienced such scammers and liars. Not to mention they treat women buyers like they are stupid!

When I reduced the price, I discovered my agent wrote an escalating commission scheme for price reductions into the contract that is not industry standard practice and was not explained. When I lowered the price, I discovered this scheme and objected. My agent then punished me by trying to bully me into giving him 8% with threats of providing poor service if I didn’t comply. I didn’t comply so he provided very poor service. Never showed the property, never had an open house, sat on his butt and lied to me, ignored my requests, and made the buyer wait 2.5 hours after he said he would be there to deliver the property key. He never even called me to tell me the property had closed!

Complaints and a personal visit to the owner of ReMax Seattle Metro resulted in lots of promises in writing to correct the situation, but none of those were delivered. His lies cost me $350 extra at closing time. Although the owner had me sign a new contract addendum lowering the price, he didn’t supply it to the title company. When I queried the title company they told me to go back to the agent. The owner and the agent ignored my emails and phone calls for correction.

You want a professional selling experience? Then forget ReMax Seattle Metro! It’s rotten from the top down.

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[aghast]

Mark Foley and his partner Norman Rietveld contacted me and I am very glad I found this blog.

These “realtors” are pretty bad actors – I did a name lookup on the King County Superior Court records database and found numerous filings against them for real estate fraud

http://dw.courts.wa.gov/

Quite a few were initiated by the Northwest Justice Project for rent to own scams – he seems to be enemy # 1 to them!

As the Northwest Justice Project is a publicly funded organization with government oversight I take their word when they state in the complaint summaries that these frauds have been perpetrated against low income families with minor children, veterans, mentally disabled people, folks who do not possess English language skills, the list goes on………..

some specific case #’s are 10-2-28684-5, 16-2-16196-1,  11-2-17758-1

he has been sued by sellers as well

I did come across a website where someone created links to some of these cases – you may want to search further in order to perform due diligence

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