Need help with possible misrepresentation of a property

Alleghany · Post by **Alleghany** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 8:44 pm

I have come across a realtor's listing depicting a house for sale as having been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I have checked many sites listing FLW properties, and also checked the "Wright on the Market" section here. I can find no indication that the listed property was designed by FLW. The address of the property is 1230 W Stephenson Street, Freeport, IL. This property does not appear on any list of FLW designed properties that I have checked.

Any help anyone could give would be appreciated as I don't want people to be misled if the realtor's listing information is incorrect.

Thanks.

Reidy · Post by **Reidy** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 9:58 pm

The situation comes up often here. See the Sure, we can call anything "Frank Lloyd Wright" thread. What local posters have done is to contact the agent (or the eBay seller in the case of furniture and the like) with the kind of information you shared with us. They will often correct their listing.

I don't know if such sellers are doing anything illegal or, if they are, whether you have any legal recourse. Maybe a buyer could claim false advertising.

(You could help to keep us entertained by putting a link to the listing in the above-mentioned thread.)

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 10:58 pm

http://www.remax.com/realestatehomesfor ... 37472.html

I have informed the realtor of the facts. We'll see what happens next.

SDR

egads · Post by **egads** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 12:16 am

Also, the Remax site is annoying as hell.

Alleghany · Post by **Alleghany** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 12:18 am

SDR...thank you. I just don't like false representation when I feel pretty sure that is not a FLW design, and I don't want any potential buyers to be misled.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:54 am

Exactly, Alleghany; I'm glad you brought it to our attention. The syndrome repeats itself with surprising regularity:

I'm guessing that this is yet another case where some owner, perhaps long ago, decided that this slightly unusual house, an example of turn-of-the 20th century vernacular-inspired British and American Arts and Crafts work, could have been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright -- and the legend was born. Who among the many laymen (and women) to encounter this innocent falsehood would be able to refute it, or would want to ? The realtor(s) who now represent the property have perhaps taken this "family lore" at face value, not being very interested in taking away a useful selling point . . .

SDR

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 12:10 pm

My message to the Zillow realtor, this AM:

This is NOT a Frank Lloyd Wright work. Every Wright house is associated by name with its original owner, Wright's client. Can you name the Wright client who commissioned this residence ?

SDR

Alleghany · Post by **Alleghany** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 5:44 pm

It will be interesting to see if the realtors respond. I doubt they will.

Alleghany · Post by **Alleghany** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 8:47 pm

The person who posted the listing for the house contacted the realtor. She received a reply from the realtor stating that "the seller told her the house was designed by FLW". I can't believe a realtor would just take the seller's word for it without any verification of facts. It's so careless and neglectful not to verify information before including it in a listing. It irks me that someone is getting away with fraudulent information and there's nothing I can do to make them correct it.

jmcnally · Post by **jmcnally** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:16 pm

It just shows that some real estate agents are not bound by the truth. You have tried, but there's not much that can be done about it when you do not suffer a financial loss from the deceit.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:19 pm

"I'm looking at 1230 W Stephenson St on remax.com and would like some more information.

"This home is being advertised as designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation maintains copyright of the architect's name and image. I suggest that RE/MAX do their due diligence on the claim -- by the owner ? -- that this is a Wright-designed property."

Message to the "RE/MAX professional" sent this afternoon.

Perhaps a "To whom it may concern" notice in one or more area newspapers ?

SDR

jmcnally · Post by **jmcnally** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:25 pm

you will get greater success if multiple people make appointments to see the property, and then one-by-one cancel because they have discovered that the listing is not true

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:28 pm

http://www.journalstandard.com

For the record, Zillow agent Kimberly Taylor received from me a short message and a link to this page this morning, following two automated e-mail responses to my initial inquiry (my third post above). No further response has been forthcoming.

SDR

ScottCLE · Post by **ScottCLE** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:32 am

I sent a message this morning as well. I got a form letter sales response. When I responded I mentioned the situation. She requested the specifics of the property and said that she would contact the listing agent.

We'll see...

Alleghany · Post by **Alleghany** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:01 am

I sent a message through the ReMax listing page and have not received any response yet. I appreciate the messages others of you have sent.

I can usually shake things off that don't concern me, but for some reason this misrepresentation really got under my skin. I'd like to call that realtor and tell her how stupid she is being by relying on the seller's word without any verification of the facts, but I don't want to be accused of harassment.