Steer clear of Prudential, Fox & Roach realtors. Two of them from Pru-Fox's Margate, NJ office-- Mark Arbeit & Lou Solomon-- teamed up with a dumpy, mini-Madoff mortgage broker to stick me with the broker's house over a leaking underground oil tank. Arbeit represented me & my wife and is a real piece of work. Before he became "Realtor to the Stars," he was an assistant elementary school principal but lost the post on account of indiscretions with some poor little schoolboys; read all about it in The Washington Post archives for June 20, 25 and 26, 1987. This joker also makes unauthorized use of former clients' names to post gushing, really over-the-top testimonials to himself on various "Rate My Realtor" sites. He's not to be trusted. Neither is Solomon. This clown explicitly indicated in my property's MLS description that his convicted criminal broker pal had completed a standard NJ Seller's Discloure Statement, but nine days after closing, he said, "Whoopsie. My bad. No form after all." Solomon also lets prospective buyers know his clients' bottom lines. My wife & I were secretly willing to bid up to the broker's asking price. We did not have to, though, because Solomon let it be known his seller would take $20k less-- and he did! Just stay away from these Pru-Fox thieves.

Oh, yeah-- you can also spare me legal advice and any flames about how stupid I was. I've been down those roads many times. The cost of soil remediation was so small that no lawyer would take it on a contingency basis. I know I was stupid. I'm way past hope for reimbursement at this point. I just want to get out the word on these swindlers and maybe cost them as much in lost business as it cost me to deal with the oil tank. So spread the word.