I hope someone on here can provide some legal advice to a frustrating real estate deal I am working on. I am currently selling my home and purchasing a new one. I have an accepted offer on my home and have been working with a realtor for the sale. As of Friday my realtor switched companies, moving to another real estate agency. In doing so, she switched the status of my home in the MLS listing from accepted offer to under contract....... While admitting to me that she needed to do this in order to "protect" her commission. Needless to say I lost my mind and am now looking into what recourse I may have. While the house is now listed as under contract (when it is not), it is no longer searchable on any of the MLS listing site (e.g. realtor.com) so I am now missing out on the exposure of my listing. In other words it is basically off of the market. The realtor is still working the accepted offer trying to get them to commit and go under contract, I need this sale to purchase the new home, jist dont know how hard to push this and if I can sue this realtor for negligence or fraud? Any advice?
Real Estate Legal Question
- Thread starter meth
- Start date
thanks for the feedback - I want to be somewhat patient while I still have a potential buyer on the hook. Will put in the complaint when/if I close on this deal. I am wondering what recourse I have from a commission standpoint. Since the original listing company did not technically sell the house, they just fraudulently listed it under contract, and I do not have an agreement with her new company, can I just tell her to screw off at closing and not pay the 5% commission?
Lastly, if this deal falls through, can I sue them for the value of my home? This is such a frustrating deal.
Lastly, if this deal falls through, can I sue them for the value of my home? This is such a frustrating deal.
Assuming you have a contract with the broker, it is with her old company and not with her. She absolutely should not have listed it as "under contract" if it is not, as it will not be shown now by other MLS brokers and you are losing out on the exposure. No listing should be listed under contract if it is not. If she loses out on the commission because of whatever deal she has or doesn't have with her old company that is her problem.
I would tell her in no uncertain terms that she is to immediately change the listing and that if she doesn't you will file a complaint against her with the Department of State. You should also contact her boss at the old company regarding what she did as they are going to still have a claim for the commission if it goes to contract with this buyer that she produced wihile you worked with her and her old company. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITH HER NEW COMPANY AS YOU ALREADY HAVE A WRITTEN AGREEMENT WITH HER OLD COMPANY. You must protect yourself against gaining drawn into a dispute between her and her old company and her new company and her old company regarding entitlement to the commission.
You probably cannot avoid paying a commission if the deal closes with this buyer and you probably do not have a claim against them if the deal falls through with this potential buyer.
I would tell her in no uncertain terms that she is to immediately change the listing and that if she doesn't you will file a complaint against her with the Department of State. You should also contact her boss at the old company regarding what she did as they are going to still have a claim for the commission if it goes to contract with this buyer that she produced wihile you worked with her and her old company. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITH HER NEW COMPANY AS YOU ALREADY HAVE A WRITTEN AGREEMENT WITH HER OLD COMPANY. You must protect yourself against gaining drawn into a dispute between her and her old company and her new company and her old company regarding entitlement to the commission.
You probably cannot avoid paying a commission if the deal closes with this buyer and you probably do not have a claim against them if the deal falls through with this potential buyer.
Call the broker that she worked for and tell that person to switch it back to active until attorney review is finished. Also tell the broker that you want the house to be shown until an accepted offer finishes attorney review. Normally that process takes 3 days. But it could be shorter, or it could be longer. The reason to keep showing it is to get back up offers, in case this current one falls through. The reason she switched it to UC is to protect her commission. If she left and went to another company, an agreement was probably made that she will only get paid for your listing if that current deal goes through. Normally a broker will not let an agent take a listing to another company without some kind of compensation, which would cut into her profit.
Billy, thanks. I plan on calling the broker in the next day or so. I will give the agent until the end of the week to get this under contract. If not then I will, cancel my contract with the original firm and find another reputable broker. Unfortunately the purchase of my new home is contingent upon this and if I don't sign that contract by mid week next week I will lose that house as well.
Seek the advise of your RE atty. They are well versed in the antics of RE brokers. Rule No.1....protect yourself. Rule No.2 if it ain't in writing, it's worthless in the real estate world. Rule No.3 never believe what a broker tells you.
I have a bit of experience with these brokers from my real estate transactions and all I have to say about them (and there are exceptions) is that they are the lowest lifeform on the planet. Used Car salesman are higher up on the food chain. These brokers will lie, connive, cheat, make up shit and do just about anything in that cut throat business just to close a deal. Because they make absolutely nothing until a deal is closed. Have you ever seen these scum sitting in on a RE closing? I was selling a piece of property and everything was peachy-keen between all parties and attys. At the closing there was a stupid minor issue between the two fucking brokers (buyer & selling broker) in the matter of about 500. and the deal almost didn't close. I took my broker out of the room, told her I will give her an extra 500. out of my pocket just to get her to STF up and let this deal close. Most of these brokers bring little or no value to a transaction. Some are merely taxi drivers escorting you from one listing to another.
I'm not surprised about the shit that was pulled on you. Not surprised at all. This thread just revived some shitty memories of these scumbags and I couldn't resist venting.
And to any RE brokers on UG....nothing personal.
I have a bit of experience with these brokers from my real estate transactions and all I have to say about them (and there are exceptions) is that they are the lowest lifeform on the planet. Used Car salesman are higher up on the food chain. These brokers will lie, connive, cheat, make up shit and do just about anything in that cut throat business just to close a deal. Because they make absolutely nothing until a deal is closed. Have you ever seen these scum sitting in on a RE closing? I was selling a piece of property and everything was peachy-keen between all parties and attys. At the closing there was a stupid minor issue between the two fucking brokers (buyer & selling broker) in the matter of about 500. and the deal almost didn't close. I took my broker out of the room, told her I will give her an extra 500. out of my pocket just to get her to STF up and let this deal close. Most of these brokers bring little or no value to a transaction. Some are merely taxi drivers escorting you from one listing to another.
I'm not surprised about the shit that was pulled on you. Not surprised at all. This thread just revived some shitty memories of these scumbags and I couldn't resist venting.
And to any RE brokers on UG....nothing personal.
Meth, be careful about canceling any signed contracts you have. In new jersey, you must have a valid reason for canceling a contract. Don't know what the rule is in NY. Usually what happens is if you cancel your listing you cannot go to a different company until after the original term has expired. So, if you agreed to a 6 month listing and then cancelled it after only 3 months, you would not be able to go to another company until the initial 6 month time frame is over. Alot of brokers will take legal action if this situation occurs.
RuffToy said:
Seek the advise of your RE atty.
I would not wait any time to get the listing broker to re-enter it on the active market. too many contracts go awry during attorney review, and besides you might get higher offers or offers on better terms that you might want to accept instead.
Good point, made the assumption they were mutually exclusive. Which goes back to what I posted....never believe anything a re broker tells you. That includes an atty referral.
Your re atty (provided he/she is savvy) will always be your best defense against any attempt to fuck with you. The best re attys are the ones that dot the "i"s and cross all the "t"s and read every single word in a contract. They are few and far betw but they're out there.
Your re atty (provided he/she is savvy) will always be your best defense against any attempt to fuck with you. The best re attys are the ones that dot the "i"s and cross all the "t"s and read every single word in a contract. They are few and far betw but they're out there.
What the broker did was unscrupulus. She has effectively prevented the showing of your house during that time period. If you have timing issues for your buy/sell and don't have the cash to close if this current deal falls through, you may very well have a negligence claim against the broker as well as a consumer fraud claim.
1deadman said:
What the broker did was unscrupulus. She has effectively prevented the showing of your house during that time period. If you have timing issues for your buy/sell and don't have the cash to close if this current deal falls through, you may very well have a negligence claim against the broker as well as a consumer fraud claim.
Meth, I hope you close on your deals. Before you go to the closing, make sure that you explain to your attorney that your broker changed firms, that your attorney reviews your brokerage agreement and ask him to make sure that the proper broker is being paid. [If your attorney was referred to you by the real estate agent, make sure that you send your attorney this request in WRITING (mail, fax, *****) to ensure that your attorney is looking out for you and not your broker.] See if you can get something in writing from the old broker and the new broker. As a last resort, if there is a problem between the brokers, ask your attorney to hold the brokerage commission in escrow at closing so that you can close. Brokers are like providers... not all are scum... but a few greedy ones give everyone a bad rep.