If you see the names Maxim Properties, Polly Watts or Troy Palmquist on a listing for a home for your own interest run, don't walk away.
We have tried to buy the same house two times from these people because we thought it was the right house in the right location. However, their California beach to "cool" to deal with you attitude has run us off both times. The first time we made a good faith offer on the house through a real estate agent, and Maxim counter offered with a price which wasn't too far off the mark, however attached a form for us to sign where they were trying to push us into using their "perfered" lenders. In general "steering" to a lender is not legal, but they use some soft verbage to "nudge" you their way. We were insulted and walked away from that deal.
After a few weeks, a real estate agent we know told us he thought he could work out a deal on this house. So we agreed to let him and his assoicate agent try. Maybe two experienced agents could figure out how to work with these Maxim people, as it turned out, no it was just too difficult.
We all went back to the house for a re-look, the two agents, myself and my wife. We reallly looked the thing over this time and found a couple of problems. The worst was some termite mud tubes in the garage coming through a crack in the floor and going up behind the drywall. Just one or two.
We decited the termite issue wasn't too bad and made another good faith offer and included the information about the termite tubes. The offer was accepted without Maxim saying what they were going to do on the termites. So, the termites became a big issue, Maxim wanted to ignore the termites and we sure were not going to buy a house with termites.
We didn't really know how bad the termites problem was, so our agents talked me into paying for a "pest inspection" to determine the scope of the issue. Turned out the problem was not too bad, they were just eating the back of the drywall paper and no wood (at that time) and it only went up about 3 feet in one place. The estimate for getting rid of the termites was about $600.
All of this information was turned over to Troy Palmquist at Maxim Properties and we expected Maxim to take action to contract the pest company to do the work. Their house, their termites. You can not sell a house with active termites, so it seemed reasonable to expect Maxim to take care of it.
After about two weeks and nearing the end of our "due diligence" period I starting asking questions about getting rid of the termites. Really the loan officer ask me about the termites which promped me to start asking questions. The appraisal on the house was hanging of correction of the termite issue and a "ground to wood contact" issue which was included in the pest inspection. The loan could not get through without fixing the termite issue, so the entire deal was at risk.
Turned out that Maxim, Troy Palmquist was still ignoring the termite issue and had not done anything. And, refused to do anything. All he would agree to was some sort of "credit at closing" up to $1000 no more, I guess he thought we would contract with the pest company and pay up front to correct the termite issue. What kind of fool would do all the work and pay to fix something like this on a house they do not own?
For about a day and a half the e-mail and phone calls flew all around in an effort to get Maxim to take care of the termite problem. The result was nothing, still some kind of promised credit at closing, but nothing else.
So, at about 9:30 PM of the night before our last day of "due diligence" I determined I had had enough and my wife agreed. We sent an e-mail out to all involved informing them that "we quit" the deal. It was crystal clear these Maxim people don't deal in good faith and can't be trusted. They were trying to bully us into taking care of the termites ourselves and they would do nothing. Like I said before, their house, their termites.
A cancellation of escrow form was sent over to Maxim the next day saying we canceled due to Maxim's total failure to cooperate and act in good faith. Then some magic happened, Troy Palmquist was able to contact the pest control company and put them on contract to take care of the termites and the ground contact issues. And, I was told, paid for it in advance.
Far too little and far too late. After putting us through hell, now they can do something, after we quit the deal. No these people can't be trusted.
In acting like complete jerks Maxim Properties and Troy Palmquist cost me and my wife $450 for the appraisal and $70 for the pest inspection which was wasted. Cost our loan officer his commission and wasted several days of his work, cost our real estate agents several days of work and two very intense days when they were trying any and everything to work around these Maxim people.
The bottom line here is you can not trust Maxim Properties, they really don't give a damm about customers or customer service.
Maxim Properties Reviews
If you see the names Maxim Properties, Polly Watts or Troy Palmquist on a listing for a home for your own interest run, don't walk away.
We have tried to buy the same house two times from these people because we thought it was the right house in the right location. However, their California beach to "cool" to deal with you attitude has run us off both times. The first time we made a good faith offer on the house through a real estate agent, and Maxim counter offered with a price which wasn't too far off the mark, however attached a form for us to sign where they were trying to push us into using their "perfered" lenders. In general "steering" to a lender is not legal, but they use some soft verbage to "nudge" you their way. We were insulted and walked away from that deal.
After a few weeks, a real estate agent we know told us he thought he could work out a deal on this house. So we agreed to let him and his assoicate agent try. Maybe two experienced agents could figure out how to work with these Maxim people, as it turned out, no it was just too difficult.
We all went back to the house for a re-look, the two agents, myself and my wife. We reallly looked the thing over this time and found a couple of problems. The worst was some termite mud tubes in the garage coming through a crack in the floor and going up behind the drywall. Just one or two.
We decited the termite issue wasn't too bad and made another good faith offer and included the information about the termite tubes. The offer was accepted without Maxim saying what they were going to do on the termites. So, the termites became a big issue, Maxim wanted to ignore the termites and we sure were not going to buy a house with termites.
We didn't really know how bad the termites problem was, so our agents talked me into paying for a "pest inspection" to determine the scope of the issue. Turned out the problem was not too bad, they were just eating the back of the drywall paper and no wood (at that time) and it only went up about 3 feet in one place. The estimate for getting rid of the termites was about $600.
All of this information was turned over to Troy Palmquist at Maxim Properties and we expected Maxim to take action to contract the pest company to do the work. Their house, their termites. You can not sell a house with active termites, so it seemed reasonable to expect Maxim to take care of it.
After about two weeks and nearing the end of our "due diligence" period I starting asking questions about getting rid of the termites. Really the loan officer ask me about the termites which promped me to start asking questions. The appraisal on the house was hanging of correction of the termite issue and a "ground to wood contact" issue which was included in the pest inspection. The loan could not get through without fixing the termite issue, so the entire deal was at risk.
Turned out that Maxim, Troy Palmquist was still ignoring the termite issue and had not done anything. And, refused to do anything. All he would agree to was some sort of "credit at closing" up to $1000 no more, I guess he thought we would contract with the pest company and pay up front to correct the termite issue. What kind of fool would do all the work and pay to fix something like this on a house they do not own?
For about a day and a half the e-mail and phone calls flew all around in an effort to get Maxim to take care of the termite problem. The result was nothing, still some kind of promised credit at closing, but nothing else.
So, at about 9:30 PM of the night before our last day of "due diligence" I determined I had had enough and my wife agreed. We sent an e-mail out to all involved informing them that "we quit" the deal. It was crystal clear these Maxim people don't deal in good faith and can't be trusted. They were trying to bully us into taking care of the termites ourselves and they would do nothing. Like I said before, their house, their termites.
A cancellation of escrow form was sent over to Maxim the next day saying we canceled due to Maxim's total failure to cooperate and act in good faith. Then some magic happened, Troy Palmquist was able to contact the pest control company and put them on contract to take care of the termites and the ground contact issues. And, I was told, paid for it in advance.
Far too little and far too late. After putting us through hell, now they can do something, after we quit the deal. No these people can't be trusted.
In acting like complete jerks Maxim Properties and Troy Palmquist cost me and my wife $450 for the appraisal and $70 for the pest inspection which was wasted. Cost our loan officer his commission and wasted several days of his work, cost our real estate agents several days of work and two very intense days when they were trying any and everything to work around these Maxim people.
The bottom line here is you can not trust Maxim Properties, they really don't give a damm about customers or customer service.
Maxim is a Disaster!
My fiance and I had very similar problems!