I had the worst experience with Mark Spain Real Estate.
I purchased a home being sold by them, and right from the start the process was mishandled. I offered full price, only to be told the home was mispriced — they raised the price, another bidder entered, and I ended up paying $35,000 over asking. The agent even told me if I listed my own home with him, he’d get my offer accepted. He was right — but it came at a huge cost.
My entire plan was to use their “Guaranteed Offer” program so I could close on time. Since I was assured I had a guaranteed offer, I removed my home sale contingency. What the agent failed to disclose was that listing with them was not the same thing as a guaranteed offer — and in fact, guaranteed offers are not always guaranteed. Because my condo had a door code, no one would make a cash offer.
That left me stuck:
– I had to list my home at a terrible time in the market.
– I had to take out a $100k+ bridge loan just to cover my down payment.
– I was forced to sell my home at a huge loss because I was desperate to get out of the bridge loan.
All of this happened while I was already under contract on my new place.
The agent himself was severely unprofessional — to the point he left the company the same day leadership confronted him. Everything took days to get done: even basic tasks like adding my listing verbiage to the MLS. Marketing materials I asked for were never provided. Meanwhile, he was busy posting TikToks of himself drinking entire bottles of alcohol. I ultimately asked to be released from my contract because they added no value and wasted valuable time.
I escalated my concerns to Jan Cooper, VP of Mark Spain’s Franklin office. At first, she seemed horrified and willing to help. But ultimately, she only offered minimal concessions if I kept my listing with them. Even then, she wouldn’t clarify what the “reduced commission” would be. When I decided to take my listing elsewhere, she refused to do anything to make it right — despite my purchase involving Mark Spain on both sides and their clear role in creating the mess. I even requested just 1% of my purchase price as a concession (a fraction of what I lost), and they refused.
Their reviews are also highly questionable. Many are batched in waves to promote specific agents, and many appear to come from their own employees — something I later confirmed is incentivized internally.
At the end of the day, I did get my new home, but it was in spite of Mark Spain, not because of them. They cost me a massive amount of money, time, and stress, and they took zero accountability.
If there’s one company I can’t say enough bad things about, it’s Mark Spain Real Estate.