Since RE/MAX is an international franchise company, it would be wrong to collectively denounce the entire company.
This evaluation refers specifically to the Cologne branch and even more specifically to the reprehensible approach of the broker in our case.
After the initial viewing of the property in question, our interest was high. However, since there was a known moisture problem in the basement, for which there were two very different price quotations for rectification, we decided to flank the next appointment with an architect in order to obtain a professional and independent assessment here.
The problem with the damp cellar was quickly discussed.
During the further inspection of the property, the roof came into focus. According to the owner (present at the appointment) and the broker, this was completely renovated 5 years ago and clearly declared as approved living space (both verbally on site and in writing in the exposé).
The associated documents were to be submitted later, but this did not happen.
It came to light that an approval had never taken place (property has therefore approx. 30 sqm less living space) and no documents on the roof renovation were available.
Only by repeated inquiries and a further date with a roofing master could be discussed finally that the indicated roof reorganization never took place. In the correspondence in the meantime up to the evaluation by the roofer, statements made were repeatedly revised and new false statements were made.
When asked how this could have happened, the broker argued that he had merely reproduced the information provided by the sellers and could not take care of everything, including checking the information.
In the end, we felt so lied to that we refrained from buying despite the reduced purchase price.
The property was advertised again a short time later, still using false information.
This is intentional fraud by knowingly providing false information by the sellers and the broker.
We hope that this is not the philosophy of the company and that the next applicants will also take a closer look.
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