Long & Foster Realtors

We hired Creig Northrop to sell our home because we had heard good things about them, as well as seen many many signs of theirs around Howard County. Our first meeting with Creig was pleasant, and he came across as very professional and knowledgeable about the county.



HOWEVER. Once we signed the paperwork, Creig entirely disappeared. We were handed to Michelle Yelton, who may just have graduated from school or may just have signed onto Creig Northrop as her very first job ever. We expected, in such a factory-type outfit as this "team", that most of what we needed would be handled by someone besides Creig, but Michelle has been absolutely the most lazy, unprofessional realtor it is possible to have. We had to repeatedly send her emails and call her and leave voicemails because she refused to get back to us for days, and, if she did get back to us (via email), her responses would not actually answer our original question. We started to feel like stalkers or crazy people...or like babysitters trying to make sure she did her job. She never explained any of the process and for the times we called her out on her delinquency, she blamed the buyers' agent, the buyers' lender, and the buyers' title company, everything but acknowledge that she herself did not respond to anything we asked. I understand that it's up to us to make ourselves knowledgeable about the process since it is, after all, our house, but then what are they getting a commission for if not to even be a guide? Presumably they know better through their experience and should at least be professional enough to help the laypeople.



OH, I forgot the one thing Creig did do: after scheduling several showings the day the house went on the market, I got an email from the independent showing website they use saying that those showings had been cancelled because the status on our house changed. We didn't hear anything from Creig Northrop's team so I called both the showing website--who said it was the realtor who changed the status--and when I called Creig, he said, oh, we confused your house with another in the neighborhood that just sold. Good thing, huh? Now it's only yours on the market.



Yeah, good thing. What would have happened if that house hadn't sold? Do they have so many homes on their roster that they can't keep them straight? Again, not very professional.



Continuing onto settlement, our jobs have schedules that have been made up months in advance and would require several days at least to arrange a day off for closing. We told Michelle this repeatedly and also asked, in the event that neither my husband could make it to closing, what our alternatives would be. Surprise of surprises, she never got back to us. Ever. We finally heard from the buyers' title company re: the necessary paperwork and what we'd need to do. We heard from Michelle re: the time of the settlement at the end of the business day on a Friday, with closing to be on the following Monday. It was too late for either of us to get the day or even a couple hours off Monday. The title company at least sent us the requisite paperwork--Michelle had promised to send us a list of paperwork to have ready the prior week, which didn't happen--even if it was at 442pm on Friday. Neither the title company nor Creig Northrop has a notory that works on weekends, and Monday morning both my husband and I needed to be at work well before 7am, and again, very surprisingly, Michelle had nothing useful to offer. We had to search for our own solution so that our closing didn't get screwed up by their lack of professionalism (you'd think they don't want to collect their commission by closing a deal!).



We will NOT be recommending these people to anyone. Ever. Neither buying nor selling a home is exactly a picnic but I expect people who get paid to know this business actually KNOW the business and act that way.