Real Estate Complaint - Pat Burger - Julie Woolard, Stacey Keirnan,
Real Estate Complaint filed with the Consumer Affairs Division of
the Indian State Attorney General's Office in 2009.
""Stacey Keirnan, Broker/Owner
Home Run Realty
11647 Fox Road
Indianapolis, IN 46236
Pat Burger, GRI, realtor
Buyer and Transaction Specialist
Home Run Realty
11647 Fox Road
Indianapolis, IN 46236
Julia Woolard, realtor
FC Tucker
28 Yorkshire Blvd. E
Indianapolis, IN 46229
We welcome rebuttals from any of the three realtors named in this complaint. All we ask is that they attempt, if possible, to actually tell the truth. Statements made in this compaint are backed up by emails or other documents from Keirnan, Burger, Woolard or Woolard’s assistant. Any conversations referred to were made in the presence of both my husband and myself.
We are hoping by filing this complaint that any one considering doing business with Home Run Realty or Julie Woolard of FC Tucker will reconsider that discision.
In June, 2007 we signed an agreement with Davis Homes LLC to build a new home. At that time, we also signed an agreement with Kevin Elson, president/ owner of GBO Realty. The agreement stated that GBO Realty would buy our home for an agreed price if our home had not sold by the closing date of our new home.
As part of our agreement with GBO Realty we had to list our home with FC Tucker using a listing agent named Julie Woolard.
We were not allowed to hire our own realtor. We were not comfortable with her but our only other choice was to put our home on the market and hope it sold by the date our new home was done. We thought that was too risky.
Our home was listed on July 1, 2007.
On July 15, 2007 we received an offer from Haley Raber Hilliard and Jaison Hilliard with a closing date of August 20, 2007. The sale of our home was contingent on the sale of their home.
The Hilliard’s were represented in the sale of our home by Stacy Keirnan, owner/broker of Home Run Realty.
Initially, we were very hesitant to accept the offer as the Hilliard’s were demanding that our entire home be recarpeted no later then August 1, 2007. Despite negotiations, they also refused to give us more then 48 hours to vacate our home which would result in us signing a lease for temporary housing before the closing date.
Our closing was set for 4 p.m. August 20, and we would not be able to sign the lease for our temporary housing until 9 a.m. August 21. We had to be completely vacated from the property no later then 6 p.m. August 22. There was no way we could move ourselves from a two-story, four bedroom home in that amount of time.
We were unable to afford the cost of movers because of the HIlliard’s demand for new carpeting. We had spent our moving money to keep our demanding buyers happy.
I do not wish to give the name of the HIlliard’s buyer or her realtor. I will just refer to her as Mrs. B. She was represented by her daughter, a licensed realtor. Despite what we were later told by Keirnan, Burger and Woolard, Mrs. B and her daughter did nothing wrong.
Because of the excessive demands of the Hilliards, I ask Woolard if a letter of approval from a lender existed for both the Hilliards, and the buyer of their home. Woolard claimed that lender approval letters existed for both our buyer, the Hilliard’s, and their buyer, Mrs. B. I asked if the letters were specific, if they contained a date and the amount of the mortgage and address of the property. She was very emphatic that these letters existed.
My husband also witnessed this conversation. We were told by Woolard that there was no problem concerning the Hilliard’s and Mrs. B’s ability to receive financing and that unless one of our buyers did something stupid before closing our home would close as scheduled.
I asked in the presence of my husband if she had seen the letters. She said that she had. That was lie No. 1. Lie no. 2 was when I then asked if we could see the letters. She told us that because of privacy issues that was not possible. We accepted the Hilliards offer and their conditions based COMPLETELYon our belief that Woolard was telling us the truth when she said she had seen the lender letters.
Woolard lied to us. She could not have seen a letter for Mrs. B because no letter existed. She never received mortgage approval although it was over a year before we found this out.
Further more, she also lied to us when we requested seeing these letters. We were told by an attorney that we could have seen the letters with written permission from our buyer.
We had several conversations with Woolard after accepting the Hilliard’s offer and we were told that everything was proceeding as scheduled.
We ask if there were any problems with the title search by First American Title and were told that everything was ok and that there was no reason we should not close on August 20.
Unfortunetely what we didn’t know was that Mrs. B. had been denied financing due to insufficient income. Kiernan was notified the last week of July, 2007. We were never notified.
During these conversations we were told that either Woolard or her assistant were in daily contact with Pat Burger. We were told by Woolard that Burger was in daily contact with Mrs. B’s realtor and everything was proceeding normally. We were continually reassured that everything was fine.
Believing that our home would close on August 20, 2007, we recarpeted our home as a cost of appr. $1600.00 completing it around August 2, 2007 as demanded by the Hilliards.
On August 15, 2007 we received e-mail confirmationof our closing date from Woolard. assistant We had emailed her requesting confirmation of our closing date as we had to sign a lease on August 17, 2007 for temporary housing. Woolard was aware of this. Again no warning that there would be no closing.
On August 18, 2007, we received an e-mail from Woolard, stating that the closing would have to be delayed.
Upon reaching her by phone the explanation we were given is as follows:
At about 7:30 p.m., August 17, 2007, Pat Burger called Julie Woolard to leave a message that the closing would have to be delayed because the realtor for Mrs. B. had called to say herclient did not understand that cash could not be taken to a closing. The cash would need to be deposited in a bank account and allowed to age. A new closing date of August 27, 2007, was set.
We were told by Woolard that it wasn’t a serious problem and we should continue to move from our home.
On August 24, 2007, Woolard called to tell us that the closing would have to be delayed again, this time citing a problem with our buyer, the Hilliards. At this point we were completely moved from our home.
This actually resulted in an amendment from our buyer’s paying us $25.00 a day until we closed. We now believe that this document was forged.
On August 27, 2007, I receive an e-mail and a phone call from Woolard stating that our buyers had solved their problem and we would possibly be able to close that afternoon.
On August 28, 2007, we received a phone call from Woolard stating that Mrs. B was delaying the closing due to her refusal to cooperate with a request from her lender to provide some information.
On August 29 and August 30, 2007 we received phone calls from Woolard stating that we could not close until Mrs. B cooperated with her lender. We were told that she was withholding information from her lender and refusing to sign a document that the lender needed for closing.
On August 30, 2007, we received a phone call from Woolard. We were told that we would not be closing at all. The reason Woolard gave us is that Mrs. B refused to cooperate with her lender and as a result the underwriters would not give approval and the lender had pulled loan approval.
We do not know where Woolard got the information she relayed to us in the phone calls August 24 - August 30, 2007 as Keirnan claimed that she notified Woolard on August 23, 2007 that we would not be closing on our home.
We were unable to break our lease and so had no choice but to pay both rent and a mortgage payment, plus utilities on a home and apartment. Most of our possesions had been put into storage so we had to pay storage costs also.
On Sept. 1, 2007, we relisted our home at a lower price but were uable to sell it. We moved into our new home in November 2007.
In September, 2007, we emailed Keirnan concerning the events of August, 2007. She reiterated what Woolard had told us, blaming both Mrs. B and her realtor.
We contacted Ms. B’s realtor and broker by e-mail. He stated that Ms. B had not received a mortgage and that both Keirnan had been immediately notified by the lender. He stated that Mrs. B and her realtor were not to blame.
When questioned about this e-mail, Keirnan again kept to her story of of an uncooperative buyer, blaming both the byer and her realtor.
In an e-mail we received from Keirnan in October, 2007, Keirnan attached a pre approval letter from Bay Tree Mortgage and a Title 1 document for Battles with a closing date of 8/28/2007 as additional proof that Ms. Battles was uncooperative.
While all this was going on we were sued by our Hailey Raber Hilliard because we refused to sign the release. Without the release their ernest money could not be returned to them. Amazingly, she was advised to do this by Woolard’s broker. His name is Kurt Simmons. Our refusal to sign the release was because we didn’t not believe Keirnan’s story about the timing of the phone call on August 17.
In October, we contacted Pat Burger in an e-mail to question her about the circumstances concerning the phone call from Lockett. She stated in an e-mail that she did not talk directly to Lockett but was relaying information to Woolard given to her by Kiernan. In an email Burger stated that Keirnan “told” her what to say in the phone call.
In November, 2008, we sued Mrs. B in Warren Township Small Claims Court for damages for the cost of carpeting, rent and storage costs resulting from her refusal to cooperate with her lender. We were given a court date of December 18, 2008.
After Mrs. B was served with our summons she called us seeking information about why we had sued her. During the conversation she stated that she had never received an approval letter from a lender, and had in fact received letter a from her lender denying her a mortgage due to insufficient income. She stated she had received this letter before the end of July.
She also stated that all the information we were given by Keirnan, Burger and Woolard concerning the failure of the sale of our home was not true. She had not moved any assets or refused to cooperate with her lender as Keirnan said. Once she received her turndown for a mortgage at the end of July she put the matter behind her.
She asked me to contact Keirnan, stating that she would verify her story. I emailed Keirnan, Burger, Woolard, Ellison and the Hilliard’s. Not ONE person responded to my email. At that point I knew she was telling me the truth and that all of the people we emailed knew it too.
I met with Mrs. B and verified the following: she had not been given a closing date, her realtor had not called Home Run Realty on the evening of August 17, 2007, claiming that the closing would have to be delayed until money “aged.” Mrs. B. also stated that the information we were given about her refusal to cooperate with her lender did not happen as she never had a lender, or even a closing date.
On December 18, 2008, we met Ms. B in court. She brought a copy of a Statement of Credit Denial, Termination or Change and showed it to us in front of the court bailiff. It verifies that she was denied a mortgage because of income limitations, not because she would not cooperate with her lender. We immediately dismissed the case. We have a copy of this document.
I do not know why Keirnan and Burger withheld this information and then lied to us when they could no longer hide the truth. I don’t understand why Woolard did not notify us on August 23, instead of yanking our chain for an additional week.
I’d like to close by saying that these three women, Keirnan, Burger and Woolard treated us with no respect. Worse then losing thousands of dollars in rent, storage and carpeting costs, was the feeling of betrayal and disrespect. We
We would like to file a consumer complaint against the following real estate professionals:
Stacey Keirnan, broker/owner
Home Run Realty
11647 Fox Road
Indianapolis, IN 46236
Pat Burger, GRI, realtor
Buyer and Transaction Specialist
Home Run Realty
11647 Fox Road
Indianapolis, IN 46236
Julia Woolard, realtor
FC Tucker
28 Yorkshire Blvd. E
Indianapolis, IN 46229
We feel that Keirnan violated Article 1 of Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice of the National Association of Realtors. We feel that Pat Burger and Julia Woolard MAY have violated Article 1.
We signed an agreement in June, 2007, with Davis Homes LLC to build a new home. At that time, we also signed an agreement with Kevin Elson, president/ owner of GBO Realty, PO Box 26248, Indianapolis, IN 46226. The agreement stated that GBO Realty would buy our home for the agreed price of $120,500 if our home had not sold by the closing date of our new home.
As part of our agreement with GBO Realty we had to list our home at 309 Creekstone Court, Indianapolis, IN, 46239, with FC Tucker using a listing agent named Julie Woolard. We were not allowed to hire our own realtor.
Our home was listed on July 1, 2007. On July 15, 2007 we received an offer from Haley Hilliard and Jason Hilliard with a closing date of August 20, 2007. The sale of our home was contingent on the sale of their home. The Hilliard’s were represented in the sale of our home by Stacy Keirnan.
We were to close at First American Title Insurance Company, 366 Washington Pointe Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46229.
Copies of contracts with GBO Realty and FC Tucker are enclosed. Also enclosed are copies of the offer we accepted with the Hilliards.
Initially, we were very hesitant to accept the offer as the Hilliard’s were demanding that our entire home be recarpeted no later then August 1, 2007. Despite negotiations, they also refused to give us more then 48 hours to vacate our home which would result in us signing a lease for temporary housing before the closing date.
Because of what our buyers were demanding we ask our realtor, Woolard, if a letter of approval from a lender existed for both the Hilliards, and the buyer of their home.
The Hilliard’s buyer was named Yvonia S. Battles. Ms. Battles was represented by her daughter, Denise Lockett. Ms. Lockett’s Broker is named Clifford Johnson.
Woolard claimed that lender approval letters existed for both our buyer, the Hilliard’s, and their buyer, Yvonia Battles. She was very emphatic that these letters existed. We were told by Woolard that there was no problem concerning the Hilliard’s and Ms. Battles ability to receive financing and that unless one of our buyers did something stupid before closing our home would close as scheduled.
We accepted the Hilliards offer and their conditions based on our belief that Woolard was telling us the truth concerning the lender letters and that the Hilliard’s and Ms. Battles had received letters of mortgage approval from a lender.
We do not know where Woolard got the information concerning the approval letters from the lenders that we ask about. No letter existed for Yvonia Battles because sometime before the end of July, 2007, well before closing, she was denied financing due to insufficient income.
According to Mr. Johnson, the lender immediately notified both Denise Lockett and Stacy Keirnan. We do not know if she told Woolard or Burger. We were NEVER notified.
We had several conversations with Woolard after accepting the Hilliard’s offer and we were told that everything was proceeding as scheduled. We ask if there were any problems with the title search by First American Title and were told that everything was ok and that there was no reason we should not close on August 20.
During these conversations we were told that either Woolard or her assistant were in daily contact with Pat Burger. According to Woolard, Burger was in daily contact with Lockett and everything was proceeding normally.
Believing that our home would close on August 20, 2007, we recarpeted our home as a cost of appr. $1600.00 completing it around August 2, 2007.
On August 15, 2007 we received e-mail confirmation (copy enclosed) of our closing date from Woolard. We had emailed her requesting confirmation of our closing date as we had to sign a lease on August 17, 2007 for temporary housing. Woolard was aware of this.
On August 18, 2007, we received an e-mail (copy enclosed) from Woolard, stating that the closing would have to be delayed. Upon reaching her by phone the explanation we were given is as follows:
At about 7:30 p.m., August 17, 2007, Pat Burger called Julie Woolard to leave a message that the closing would have to be delayed because Denise Lockett (realtor for Yvonia Battles) had called to say her mother did not understand that cash could not be taken to a closing.
The cash would need to be deposited in a bank account and allowed to age. A new closing date of August 27, 2007, was set.
We were told by Woolard that it wasn’t a serious problem and we should continue to move from our home.
On August 24, 2007, Woolard called to tell us that the closing would have to be delayed again, this time citing a problem with our buyer, the Hilliards.
On August 27, 2007, I receive an e-mail (copy enclosed) and a phone call from Woolard stating that our buyers had solved their problem and we would possibly be able to close that afternoon.
On August 28, 2007, we received a phone call from Woolard stating that Yvonia Battles was delaying the closing due to her refusal to cooperate with a request from her lender to provide some information.
On August 29 and August 30, 2007 we received phone calls from Woolard stating that we could not close until Battles cooperated with her lender. We were told that she was withholding information from her lender and refusing to sign a document that the lender needed for closing.
On August 30, 2007, we received a phone call from Woolard. We were told that we would not be closing at all. The reason Woolard gave us is that Yvonia Battles refused to cooperate with her lender and as a result the lender had pulled loan approval.
We do not know where Woolard got the information she relayed to us in the phone calls August 24 - August 30, 2007.
We have no proof that Keirnan, Burger or Woolard even ordered preliminary title insurance work with First American Title Company. We have been unable to obtain confirmation that this work was done.
At this point we had completely moved from our home, putting most of our belongings in storage. Our new home was under construction.
Unlike our buyers, we had no choice but to continue with the construction of our new home. Our buyers unpacked their belongings, took their home off of the market, and we believe, continue to live in this home.
We were unable to break our lease and so had no choice but to pay both rent and a mortgage payment.
On Sept. 1, 2007, we relisted our home at a lower price.
On November 17, 2007, we agreed to a purchase price and signed a purchase offer with another buyer. Because this was 3 days before our closing with Davis Homes we did not financially benefit from this offer.
On November 20, 2007, we closed with GBO Realty for the agreed price of $120,500 for our home ..., paying a 7 percent commission to GBO Realty. We then closed on our new Davis Home.
In September, 2007, we contacted Stacy Keirnan concerning the events of August, 2007. I have attached her e-mail of the explanation we were given.
She reiterated what Woolard had told us, with some additional details, blaming both Lockett and Battles, and suggested we contact Denise Lockett and Clifford Johnson.
We contacted Mr. Johnson by e-mail. He stated that Ms. Battles had not received a mortgage and that both Lockett and Keirnan had been notified by the lender.
When questioned about Mr. Johnson’s e-mail, Keirnan retired her story of of an uncooperative buyer, blaming both Battles, and her daughter, Denise Lockett.
In an e-mail we received from Keirnan in October, 2007, Keirnan attached a pre approval letter from Bay Tree Mortgage and a Title 1 document for Battles with a closing date of 8/28/2007 as additional proof that Ms. Battles was uncooperative.
In October, we contacted Pat Burger in an e-mail to question her about the circumstances concerning the phone call from Lockett.
She stated in an e-mail that she did not talk directly to Lockett but was relaying information to Woolard given to her by Kiernan.
Based on the e-mail and documents I received from both Keirnan and information we received from Woolard we filed a complaint with the Indiana State Attorney General’s Office against Denise Lockett in November, 2007. In July, 2008, the complaint was dismissed against Denise Lockett.
In November, 2008, we sued Yvonia Battles in Warren Township Small Claims Court for damages for the cost of carpeting, rent and storage costs resulting from her refusal to cooperate with her lender. We were given a court date of December 18, 2008.
After Ms. Battles was served with our summons she called us seeking information about why we had sued her. During the conversation she stated that she had never received an approval letter from a lender, and had in fact received letter a from her lender denying her a mortgage due to insufficient income. She stated she had received this letter before the end of July.
She also stated that all the information we were given by Keirnan, Burger and Woolard concerning the failure of the sale of our home was not true.
Ms. Battles had not been given a closing date, and her daughter had not called Home Run Realty on the evening of August 17, 2007, claiming that the closing would have to be delayed until money “aged.” She also stated that the information we were given about her refusal to cooperate with her lender did not happen as she never had a lender, or even a closing date.
On December 18, 2008, we met Ms. Battles in court. She brought a copy of a Statement of Credit Denial, Termination or Change and showed it to us in front of the court bailiff. It verifies what she told us on the phone. We immediately dismissed the case. We have enclosed a copy of the document.
We feel that Keirnan violated Article 1 by not informing our realtor of the true facts concerning the sale of the Hilliard home. We do not understand why we were not notified that there wasn’t a buyer for the Hilliard home. She further violated Article 1 by lying to us about what happened after the fact.
We feel that Burger may have violated Article 1. As buyer and transaction specialist at Home Run Realty she should have been aware that the sale of the Hilliard home was not going to happen. According to Woolard, either her or her assistant called Burger daily.
We were told by Woolard that Burger was in daily contact with Denise Lockett. We were told by Woolard that either her or her assistant were assured daily that everything was proceeding in a timely manner concerning the sale of the Hilliard home.
We have included Woolard in our complaint because we don’t know what she knew or when she knew it.
By Keirnan, Burger and Woolard not informing us in a timely manner that we would not be closing on August 20, 2007, we incurred substantial financial damages, including but not limited to cost of carpeting, rent, storage costs, moving costs and utilities.
Kandace Thomas
Ralph Thomas
Indianapolis, IN ""
