Laurie Brancel

We were connected to Laurie via realtor.com expressing interested in seeing an unoccupied house same day. She said she had a dinner that evening but would show us tomorrow. We met with her at the house. We signed nothing binding us to work with her as we had never met her and needed to know more about her and her expertise. She did not offer us a lead disclosure for the home we were viewing built in 1969. We saw the house was seriously in need of renovations and the basement appeared to have a mold issue. She said it’s just mildew. We asked about rules for hunting the land and she said she’d get back to us. Husband and I discussed and felt it was too much work to renovate this house for the price they were asking. Laurie texted and pushed that price was accurate based on the land. When I said we were going to keep looking she then replied the seller was highly motivated and ready to settle. After that we didn’t trust her and weren’t interested in working with her. She didn’t seem available, knowledgeable, or motivated. I texted back and said husband and I were hitting pause on the house search all together and I’d reach out to a friend of mine who was a realtor for advice. Laurie turned us off from not only this house that had potentially good bones but the whole buying/selling experience. I talked to my friend and she verified she was a realtor. I described the house experience and she was FAR more motivated and knowledgeable, managing to both sell our current house and help us buy our fixer upper (under asking price, and YES it was mold, which had to be remediated before the sale). Before we pursued our new house that Laurie showed us, she verified I had signed nothing, but as a professional courtesy she reached out to Laurie anyway to offer her part of the commission. Laurie declined. Our new realtor worked endlessly through not only inspection issues with our current home but the mold remediation of our new home, as well as multiple financing issues. She hit the target EXACTLY on pricing and appraisal for both homes as she was experienced in the field. She was excellent and we couldn’t have been happier. Months later our realtor gave us a heads up that Laurie was suing her for the commission for the house she walked us through that nearly led us to giving up on our dreams all together. She wanted me to know just in case I was subpoenaed. I was disgusted to hear that anyone who barely did their job and even discouraged us with laziness and conflicting info could potentially waste our time with court. The brokerage ended up settling at 50% as professional courtesy, and as the buyer who actually LIVED through this experience I find it disgusting that she made 50% of my hard working realtor’s commission after I signed nothing with Laurie and told her we would not be working with her. BEWARE of my experience- interview the realtor who unlocks the door for you before you enter, regardless of not signing binding contracts. She could end up with your money in the end.