Keith Franksen arranged and paid for us to stage his "childhood buddy's" listing at 4634 Holycon Circle in San Jose, CA. He said thanks to our staging, the house sold for top dollar. Only problem was that over $10,000 of our furnishings were missing. On that Tuesday he had me make a list of the items to submit as a demand to escrow as per our contract, but -- oops!! -- he closed escrow on Friday without honoring our final bill!
He comes off as the nicest guy you've ever met when you first meet him but once he got paid his commission and his buddy got top dollar for flipping that house, all I'm told is, "So, sue me." They claim the house was robbed but neither will provide their insurance information. Interesting, huh?
This is Keith Franksen, and Pamela Nudelman of Panacea Home Staging is upset, but is misleading you. Some of what Pam is saying is correct. I did help a friend sell the home, and I did refer Pam to him for staging services.
Days before the closing the property was robbed. The next door neighbor saw the perpetrators pull this off in broad daylight. I did in fact file an online police report immediately, but because I was not the owner of the property the police department would not accept it. I gave Pam a copy of the report that I tried to file, so she knows I did my best to get the police involved. Heck, she was even at the property while I was waiting for the San Jose police department to show up for four hours (which they never did).
I asked Pam on the day we learned of the theft to get her invoice in to escrow ASAP (she had several days to get it in and I gave her escrows info) as the closing was imminent. Two witnesses were there and heard me tell her this. She's been in this business over 20 years so she knows that if she does not get an invoice in to escrow on time that it will close without her being paid out of escrow. She did not get the invoice in for several days. As a matter of fact she never even asked me to hold up the closing which she posts is the basis of her complaint against me.
Days later when she gave me her invoice I immediately called escrow to see if there was time to get it in. They said it was too late as both buyer and seller had already signed off, and the deal had already been funded. No problem, I know my client and I'm certain he'll pay her outside of escrow within a day or two anyway, which is in fact what he intended to do at that point…
So, Pam and my client got on the phone to discuss her valuation of the property that was stolen. Pam insisted it was worth over $10,000 and my client felt he was being cheated. He offered her $8,000 and she refused his offer. Then my client looked closely at the contract and felt the loss was not even his responsibility. Being angry, and feeling like she was trying to take advantage of him he then refused to pay her at all. And that’s how all this ugliness got started.
I self-insure as a broker, so I had no insurance information to give Pam. Nothing insidious there. Pam filed a complaint with the Bureau of Real estate against me for not "holding up escrow". They quickly dismissed this non-sense after looking at the facts. That should tell you something.
Pam then took me to small claims court. When the judge told her she could only attempt to sue me for half of what she wanted since she had already sued someone else recently (serial litigator?) she dropped the matter and has indicated that now she's going to take me to Superior Court. Jeeze. My client admits he's the client in this deal, not me. I'm just the realtor who brought these parties together. They have a blowout and I'm caught in the middle.
I honestly feel for Pam. She's been victimized by these criminals. But slandering me and trying to force me to pay for the theft very wrong. And by the way, it’s her furniture and her business. Where the heck is her insurance?
Keith Franksen Reviews
Keith Franksen arranged and paid for us to stage his "childhood buddy's" listing at 4634 Holycon Circle in San Jose, CA. He said thanks to our staging, the house sold for top dollar. Only problem was that over $10,000 of our furnishings were missing. On that Tuesday he had me make a list of the items to submit as a demand to escrow as per our contract, but -- oops!! -- he closed escrow on Friday without honoring our final bill!
He comes off as the nicest guy you've ever met when you first meet him but once he got paid his commission and his buddy got top dollar for flipping that house, all I'm told is, "So, sue me." They claim the house was robbed but neither will provide their insurance information. Interesting, huh?
Response From Keith
This is Keith Franksen, and Pamela Nudelman of Panacea Home Staging is upset, but is misleading you. Some of what Pam is saying is correct. I did help a friend sell the home, and I did refer Pam to him for staging services.
Days before the closing the property was robbed. The next door neighbor saw the perpetrators pull this off in broad daylight. I did in fact file an online police report immediately, but because I was not the owner of the property the police department would not accept it. I gave Pam a copy of the report that I tried to file, so she knows I did my best to get the police involved. Heck, she was even at the property while I was waiting for the San Jose police department to show up for four hours (which they never did).
I asked Pam on the day we learned of the theft to get her invoice in to escrow ASAP (she had several days to get it in and I gave her escrows info) as the closing was imminent. Two witnesses were there and heard me tell her this. She's been in this business over 20 years so she knows that if she does not get an invoice in to escrow on time that it will close without her being paid out of escrow. She did not get the invoice in for several days. As a matter of fact she never even asked me to hold up the closing which she posts is the basis of her complaint against me.
Days later when she gave me her invoice I immediately called escrow to see if there was time to get it in. They said it was too late as both buyer and seller had already signed off, and the deal had already been funded. No problem, I know my client and I'm certain he'll pay her outside of escrow within a day or two anyway, which is in fact what he intended to do at that point…
So, Pam and my client got on the phone to discuss her valuation of the property that was stolen. Pam insisted it was worth over $10,000 and my client felt he was being cheated. He offered her $8,000 and she refused his offer. Then my client looked closely at the contract and felt the loss was not even his responsibility. Being angry, and feeling like she was trying to take advantage of him he then refused to pay her at all. And that’s how all this ugliness got started.
I self-insure as a broker, so I had no insurance information to give Pam. Nothing insidious there. Pam filed a complaint with the Bureau of Real estate against me for not "holding up escrow". They quickly dismissed this non-sense after looking at the facts. That should tell you something.
Pam then took me to small claims court. When the judge told her she could only attempt to sue me for half of what she wanted since she had already sued someone else recently (serial litigator?) she dropped the matter and has indicated that now she's going to take me to Superior Court. Jeeze. My client admits he's the client in this deal, not me. I'm just the realtor who brought these parties together. They have a blowout and I'm caught in the middle.
I honestly feel for Pam. She's been victimized by these criminals. But slandering me and trying to force me to pay for the theft very wrong. And by the way, it’s her furniture and her business. Where the heck is her insurance?