Coldwell Banker Advantage Intentionally Bankrupts Family

Karen Bergin and Linda Bobski of Coldwell Banker Advantage in Overland Park are forcing a small business man to go bankrupt. It is an outrage that they can get away with forcing this family to lose their only means of support, when they have so horribly failed at their job of selling his properties for him. If you would like to read the full story, feel free to visit http://groups.msn.com/ColdwellBankerAdvantage To show your support, feel free to pass this story along to others.

fedupNky wrote:

Karen Bergin and Linda Bobski of Coldwell Banker Advantage in Overland Park are forcing a small business man to go bankrupt. It is an outrage that they can get away with forcing this family to lose their only means of support, when they have so horribly failed at their job of selling his properties for him. If you would like to read the full story, feel free to visit http://groups.msn.com/ColdwellBankerAdvantage To show your support, feel free to pass this story along to others.

when are these realtors gonna finally get it?? Everyone else is realizing that home values as well as pricing are nose diving, especially in areas like KC. I personally will NEVER list my home with another realtor, they're just overpaid crooks!

I have used a realtor each time I have purchased a home. It has saved me any number of headaches. Those "overpaid crooks" as you call them, are independent contractors with no salary, no beneifts, no nothing but the commission they make on a deal. And they earn every penny. While the above case is certainly disturbing, the letter is directed at the owner of the real estate company- not the realtor. Before making such sweeping and biased statements, you should get more information.

I remember this case very well and spoke with the homeowner on the kansascity.com boards. The inside scoop is that the broker of Coldwell Banker, aka Karen Bergin , filed illegal documents to muddy up the title to this guys property, then held his home hostage demanding the homeowner reimburse undocumented expenses they claim to have spent marketing the product. It was cheaper for the guy to pay the ransom they demanded than to hire an attorney to fight the illegal document they filed with the county. Just goes to show you how dirty these realtors can get.

Happy Homeowner wrote:

I have used a realtor each time I have purchased a home. It has saved me any number of headaches. Those "overpaid crooks" as you call them, are independent contractors with no salary, no beneifts, no nothing but the commission they make on a deal. And they earn every penny. While the above case is certainly disturbing, the letter is directed at the owner of the real estate company- not the realtor. Before making such sweeping and biased statements, you should get more information.

I kept reading back over this because something was bothering me about your comment. Then it struck me... I find it interesting you chose to refer to the "letter" when the referenced story on the MSN site had already been removed when you made your post. Could it be that YOU were the one that received the actual letter? It's obvious you read the letter at some point.

I wish I could've read the letter. I'd like to warn my inlaws before they sell

luvBNaMommy wrote:

I wish I could've read the letter. I'd like to warn my inlaws before they sell

Have your parenets go to:

http://counsel.net/chatboards/real_estate/top...

The letter is posted there. It's pretty disgusting that the realters get away with it.

Everybody knows realtors are like used car salesmen. Sometimes you have no choice but to deal with one, but you should NEVER trust them!

stargazer wrote:

Everybody knows realtors are like used car salesmen. Sometimes you have no choice but to deal with one, but you should NEVER trust them!

quite true, unfortunately.

Has anyone asked Karen for her side of this story?
I have know Karen for 25 years, she sold me a house 18 yrs ago in KC. We are now in FL.
Karen Bergin does not have ONE DISHONEST BONE in her body.
Crap happens and folks have a tendacy to want to place the blame elsewhere.
I stumbled across this and could not continue to read this without taking up for Karen.
Realtors and Brokers work endless hours trying to find homes and sometimes they get nothing in return.
BACK OFF of Karen.

No matter how honest or dishonest Karen Bergin is, she should not have filed an illegal document to muddy the title of someone elses home. That is blackmail. and quite frankly, blackmail is much worse than dishonesty.

If she felt wronged by the seller she should have sued them in court. Why did she take the dirty underhanded route to get what she wanted?

P Thrift wrote:

Has anyone asked Karen for her side of this story?
I have know Karen for 25 years, she sold me a house 18 yrs ago in KC. We are now in FL.

uh-huh
Sure buddy...(sarcasm)

Oh pleeeeeeese... Like we really believe that you just happened to run across a thread written about a realtor you used 18 years ago.

Enjoy that Florida vacation, Karen. Don't forget to send the family you scammed a postcard.

Smarty pants I have not seen Karen in 14 YRS.
I do not know the details like I said earlier, I just know Karen is not dishonest and would not muddy someones title. She is a hard worker.
There are 2 sides to this, it appears she has been accused, convicted and hung on these pages.

P Thrift wrote:

Smarty pants I have not seen Karen in 14 YRS.
I do not know the details like I said earlier, I just know Karen is not dishonest and would not muddy someones title. She is a hard worker.
There are 2 sides to this, it appears she has been accused, convicted and hung on these pages.

If you have not seen her in 14 years, you can not possibly know what she has become. In my research of this situation, her greed and unethical conduct can not be disputed.

FACT: As published in a local Kansas City business magazine, Karen Bergin's company jumped from 3.5 million to 5.6 million in worth. You don't experience that kind of growth without stepping on anyone & everyone in the process. Check for yourself here: http://www.ceopen.com/july_2003/corporaterepo...

FACT: 8 attorneys reviewing the document Karen Bergin filed against the title of this family's property found it to be illegal within the state of Missouri. Just for grins I asked my uncle's wife (also an atty) about the "Affidavit of Vested Interest" and he also deemed it illegal.

FACT: Since the owner of the property was truly flat broke, she knew getting a judgement against him in a court of law meant she'd probably never be able to collect. So extortion was her only means of putting more money in her greedy little hands.

FACT: Karen Bergin required the owners to sign away their first amendment rights to free speech before she would remove the encumbrance on their title. They are not even able to speak out about her mistreatment of them. If she is such an upstanding individual, why is it she doesn't want anyone to know what she did to them?

Karen Bergin is a slimeball who wants nothing more than to increase her personal wealth at the expense of others. And she will use any means at her disposal to achieve that goal. In my humble opinion, she should be tried for extortion and loose her brokers license at the very least. and her stoolie Linda Bobski should loose her license as well.

So do a little research before coming in here claiming to be so righteous.

I read that letter and it was so horrible! And to think this Bergin woman with her multi-million dollar brokerage forced this family into bankruptcy is unexcusable! Karen Bergin should lose her license for such unethical and immorale practices.
If she couldn't do the job he hired her for, she should get outta the way! She definitely shouldn't be able to cloud his title with her crooked schemes! What nasty witch!

I agree. The realtors should not have been allowed to file such a document and should face disciplinary action for using such tactics.
I will say a prayer for this family.

Everyone seems to be forgetting Linda Bobski's role in this nightmare. She was the agent who lied and back stabbed this couple. Linda Bobski was specifically told by the owners that they could not afford to pay for staging the home because it had set for too long and they had multiple mortgages to pay. But Linda Bobski ignored them and staged the home anyway. Now at the end of her 6 month listing, she removed not only her furniture she used to stage the home, but she took a bunch of the owners property out of the house too! She only agreed to return the owners property after the owners agreed to relist the property with her. That was the first act of extortion on the part of Linda Bobski.

Once Linda Bobski had the second listing, she never did a thing to market the property because she knew the owners were about to lose the home, so why bother right? Then the owners demanded the release, Linda Bobski agreed to it, and the owners dumped the house to get out from under payments. Once Linda Bobski found out the owners had a buyer, she cried foul and had her broker muddy the title so they couldn't sell. Then Linda Bobski demanded to be reimbursed for her expenses, including the staging the owners specifically refused, on the original listing which had expired 4 or 5 months earlier!

When the owners demanded to see receipts on the money Linda Bobski claimed to have spent marketing the product, she refused because she knew that she couldn't justify her ransom demands based on the current listing agreement.

So Linda Bobski is guilty of fraud against these homeowners.

BTW... my college roommate is the daughter of the bankrupt couple, so I witnessed this firsthand.

I have known Karen Bergin for 17 years and in that time she is the most honest and kind person I know. She has donated money to all types of charities never seeking any fanfare or credit.
Remember there are always two sides to a story. It is easy to jump on the bandwagon and make accusations about a person’s character that are not true. It seems in this day and age it is easy to blame people behind a computer screen. Find out the whole truth before you accuse someone.

I have known Karen Bergin for 17 years and in that time she is the most honest and kind person I know. She has donated money to all types of charities never seeking any fanfare or credit.

Remember there are always two sides to a story. It is easy to jump on the bandwagon and make accusations about a person’s character that are not true. It seems in this day and age it is easy to blame people behind a computer screen. Find out the whole truth before you accuse someone.

So why doesn't Karen Bergin give her side? She needs to say if she did or she didn't muddy the homeowners title and bankrupt them.(Which isn't a very charitable act if you ask me)

If she did muddy their title with an illegal document, then her "charity" is nothing more than a narcissistic act to ease her guilty conscience by giving in a public venue.

If she's innocent of this horrible deed, then the Clay County Recorders office won't have any record of the illegal document.

BTW... you can search their records online, so verification shouldn't be too difficult.