I PUT UP THIS SITE AS A MAJOR WARNING TO ALL CUSTOMERS OF LILACH BASSON, COMPASS REALTOR
STAY AWAY
In my opinion, Lilach Basson (Compass Realtor), is NOT TO BE TRUSTED!!! I believe she is selfish, does not care about her clients and completely untrustworthy!! STAY AWAY.
I handled the purchase of a home for my father-in-law in 2021. He purchased a $3.5 million dollar home in Encino. Lilach acted as a Dual Agent for this listing – i.e she represented my father-in-law as well as the seller. Sadly, allowing her to represent us as well as the seller was the worst decision we ever made. In my opinion, she violated her duties as a dual agent and did not represent us well at all. I felt that she acted like her sole purpose was to look after the Seller’s needs for the purpose of getting the maximum price and greatest commission. I believe she did not adhere to her obligations as a dual agent representing us. Below are just a few of the examples illustrating how I believe she and Compass breached their duties owed to us:
History of what happened.
1) She told me there were other bidders to get our offer price higher, despite the fact that the seller confirmed under oath and verified that he only received 1 offer – ours!!
2) She pressured me to have the loan contingency waiver signed before we even got final loan approval! How on earth can a broker who is supposedly representing us do that in good conscience, and more importantly how is she is acting in our best interest? Even my loan originators were shocked by her behavior and advice.
3) She had a duty to disclose all material facts that would affect the property and its value. I feel she failed here too! Her husband, who was a contractor, was involved in the building of this home from start to finish. Lilach stated in the 3 years her husband worked on this home, she never spoke to him about it and never knew anything about the work he did here and she never came to the property. Really?? She never ever spoke to her husband about what he did here despite it going on for years??
When I asked her who the contractors were for the house, she said claimed she didn’t know! How could that be possible given the fact that she had actually been to the property many times per the Seller’s testimony and her husband helped pick contractors for the construction?
4) She lied under oath stating that she never knew anything at all about this home until she listed it for sale. Contrary to her statement, we discovered documents confirming that she was involved and helped with things during the construction from as early as 2017! In my opinion, Lilach cannot be trusted at all! Her actions have clearly violated her duty to act with honesty and fair dealing.
5) Was she not aware of her fiduciary responsibilities to us as a dual agent? I believe she needs a great deal more of basic training from Compass before she is allowed to represent anyone.
6) Dual agents are supposed to represent and look out for the interests of the buyer. She failed, in my opinion, in this regard as well. I feel she only cared about the seller in every single respect. She was constantly arguing and fighting with me and in fact, often times I felt she was just trying to bully me. She has a fiduciary duty to be loyal to and represent both parties in the transaction, not just the seller.
7) Most real estate agents advise their clients to get all of the necessary 3rd parties to conduct an appropriate amount of due diligence and inspections on the property. She did just the opposite. Lilach advised me not to get certain experts and she concealed known problems with the pool!
8) The sales marketing material for the property claimed it had a 2 story permitted ADU. That was blatant misrepresentation! The property was never permitted to have an ADU. Having an ADU was a material component of our purchasing the home as we needed living quarters with a kitchen for my father-in-law and mother-in-law. Candidly, we felt we were scammed. The supposedly “permitted ADU” was not an ADU at all, but rather an Alternative Living Quarters (ALQ). This is a material distinction because kitchens are not allowed in ALQs.
The Seller or Lilach’s husband (both are pointing fingers at each other), were told by the City Inspector to remove the kitchens to obtain the Certificate of Occupancy, which did occur. But then after that, either the Seller and/or Lilach’s husband or a ghost put those two kitchens back in and it was marketed as having a permitted ADU!
Now we are stuck with this problem!
In my opinion, Lilach is the WORST Broker you could hire! Even when we closed on the home and after she got her commission, she didn’t have the professionalism to come to the house in person to let us in. In fact, she said would only meet us during a time that were convenient for her. Can you imagine? She just earned a dual commission on a $3.5 million home, and she didn’t have the decency to meet us in person! There is so much more I can say but I think this says enough. Do yourself a favor and
STAY AWAY!!!!!!