This past February (2019), I had the opportunity to represent some clients in the sale of their home in Moorpark. They had purchased the home through the City of Moorpark First Time Home Buyer Program a few years previous to this sale. During their transaction, I learned a few things which concerned me. After investigating, I learned many other buyers and sellers in the City’s program have been troubled by the same issues. If you have also had problems with the City program, please let me know.
Most people notice right away that the City’s only agent, Ms. Linda Toth , is very hard to work with. She relies heavily on city staff for guidance in every transaction. She seems to have not read the program documents or guidelines. If she has, at minimum she does not understand the program. That is not surprising however because the City staff also seem to not understand the program. During our transaction, finding my interactions with the City staff and Ms. Toth very confusing, I decided to figure it all out. So I read all of the program documents and found the City is not administering First Time Home Buyer transactions correctly.
I found that the City and Ms. Toth abused their authority by manipulating my clients by claiming that the program required very specific terms (not just price) when the program does not in fact do that. The City and Ms. Toth tried to strong-arm buyers and sellers into terms that are not required under the program, that should be negotiable between the buyer and seller without City interference, such as whether or not to allow a contingency period or if the seller is required to purchase a home warranty. They are able to do this because many believe that their only option is to hire Ms. Toth, which is also not true.
Before you buy or sell in the City’s FTHB program, let’s talk! Even if you don’t hire me, I’ll share with you some ways I think you can avoid problems and pitfalls that others have are experiencing in working with the City. If you do hire me, I promise to save you money and provide the best representation possible. Hiring me is fast and simple – like most other agents, I work on contingency which means I don’t get paid until the job is done, and there’s no out of pocket cost to you.