It is my belief that the brokerage firm executing this extortion (  Coldwell Banker Advantage, Overland Park KS  ), the firm’s  broker (  Karen Bergin )  , and the agent involved (  Linda Bobski ) should all be brought up on  extortion charges and be permanently banned from gaining licensure in the state of Missouri.  Their actions are indefensible and down right illegal!

However, when a bankrupt man has no financial means to defend himself in court, the use of this document by his broker and/or agent becomes extortion and so the owners only option left was to beg. Consequently, the following letter was written.

Coldwell Banker Advantage
Attn: Karen Bergin
7501 College Boulevard Suite 101
Overland Park, KS. 66210

Ms. Bergin,

I’m writing this letter to you in the hopes that you will
understand the hurt and misery you are causing me and my
family. Your recent actions to try and stop the closing of
our property at 14409 NE 147th St is a painful reminder of
how greed and distrust is ruining the relationships
between consumers, builders, and real estate professionals
such as yourself.

We have painfully fought through the last two years by
paying over $150,000.00 in interest out of our own pockets
to keep these two properties on the market for you and
other realtors to try and profit from. We have exhausted
all our savings, our retirement, the equity in our
personal home, our son’s college fund, and even stooped so
low as to cash in our 12 year olds savings account
containing Christmas, birthday, and tooth-fairy money he
had saved since infancy. We have lost our medical
insurance, our credit rating, and are now on the verge of
defaulting on mortgage loans. Apparently our losses are
not enough to satisfy your need to profit from our
misfortune, as you now intend to destroy our business and
the only options we have left. To say the least you have
miserably failed at the job we hired you to do and we have
paid for it dearly.

Long ago we gave up all hope and the reality of being able
to make any profit on either of the properties we
constructed in Fox Run; however, we remained loyal to our
realtors by continuing to give them a chance we would
never have. Our last listing agreement on April 10th was
always predicated on our ability to be able to continue to
pay the monthly interest on the properties and delay the
consequences arising from having to give them back to the
bank.

As early as last May, I indicated to Linda Bobski that due
to the cancellation of two build jobs we’d had pinned our
hopes on, we were staring down the harsh reality of
defaulting on our construction loans and losing not only
our profit and the interest we have paid to date, but also
no less than $35,000 of our personal funds we used to
finish construction on the properties, and an additional
$6,300 we have spent assisting Ms. Bobski in marketing our
homes with advertising that included your company name,
Linda Bobski’s logo, and contact information for her and
your company. I also indicated to Linda that if at least
one property was not sold by the end of June, we would be
forced by necessity to cancel the listing agreement,
accept defeat, and attempt to sell the properties at an
extremely reduced price to avoid losing them altogether.
We only hoped that whatever price we might receive would
be enough to cover our actual material costs.

During this time, we frequently disrupted our own lives;
cancelled plans made, and relinquished time with our
families and friends to make ourselves available at all
hours to show the homes on your behalf. We sacrificed our
own health and well being by delaying medical and dental
treatment, and we jeopardized our financial security by
acquiring personal loans and extending credit cards to
cover our living expenses. Quite simply, we were ready to
do whatever it took to assist you in moving these homes. I
know you have spent some money in marketing the
properties; but in all honesty, it pales in comparison to
our costs, commitment, and losses.

Our previous experience listing with Linda Bobski provided
us with competent service, good marketing, and personal
dedication with her physical presence almost every
weekend. We came to rely on and expect this kind of
continued service from her when we re-listed the homes
with your company. However, we have NEVER seen any new
marketing materials, print ads, feedback on showings, or
her physical attendance at open houses during the time the
homes have been listed with Coldwell Banker Advantage.

When we spoke with Linda Bobski on June 30th and
instructed her to forward us a release on the listings, we
were told this would be done when you (her broker)
returned from vacation. We proceeded on that basis because
we believed in the honesty and integrity we had come to
know in Linda, and my wife diligently began attempting to
secure a buyer in earnest so that we might be able to move
at least one of these homes and save ourselves from
defaulting on business loans.

My wife humiliated herself in ways I can not imagine.
Cruising neighborhoods looking for signs indicating a home
had sold or was under contract, then proceeding to knock
on the doors of people she’d never met, asking them for an
opportunity to show them what wonderful homes we had built
and relaying to them just how desperate we were to sell.
Now that we have secured a buyer that will relieve us of
the massive burden we have carried for so long, you want
to stop the sale of home we have worked two years to try
and move; a home you and your agent failed to produce a
buyer for.

Have you no shame or conscience? Have you no sense of
right and wrong? Or is causing your clients continued
distress and embarrassment secondary to enforcing your
sense of power over the people you profess to serve? In
all honesty, I simply can’t understand the logic behind
choosing to put a client out of business rather than
working with them so that you might secure future
listings. That just doesn’t make sense to me at all.

We are tired, Ms. Bergin. We are tired of fighting a
battle we can’t possibly win. We are tired of taking risks
that only serve to benefit the banks, mortgage companies,
and licensed real estate brokers/agents. I have personally
endured debilitating stress and anxiety related illnesses,
have been hospitalized twice this past year, have endured
IRS audits, been forced to file income tax extensions, and
have watched as my wife battled her alcoholism under the
mounting pressure of constant failure. Even as I write
this, I am forced to listen to her sobbing in the next
room, convinced in the belief that everything is hopeless
and there’s no point in even trying to reason with you. We
put ourselves through all this for your benefit, so that
you might be able to profit from our talents and
misfortune, but we ran out of time. We simply could not
give you any more time to make money off our product. I
just don’t know what else you want from us or what else we
can do.

There’s nothing left for us to offer up to you; and above
all else we are simply tired. We want to give up; and even
though we are conceding defeat, you are not even allowing
us to give up and give in. It is almost as if we are the
bloody wounded dog being forced back into the pit for the
final kill. We are merely a form of entertainment for you
at this point, as we can not possibly meet your demands.

Finally, I am asking that you please release the lien you
have filed with the recorders office so that we can close
on this home and begin trying to put our lives back
together.