In a spot - agent wants to sue
I am new to buying a home. So I found an agent, he showed me a total of three homes. He told me now you have to pick this party you like or that part you like because you won't find everything you like in one home. So I decided to proceed with one home that had a nice pole barn but not so nice home. Over the course of this deal I was disappointed greatly with this agent. For one he never provided me with a market analysis. I kept asking him (through email) and he ended up giving me three listing of houses that sold in the city. Not where my house was located. I ended up looking it up using our ingham county website and found houses that sold on my street. In it I misread the pole barn was 1 year old. (this is a huge pole barn that's why it matters) Anyways I mentioned that I found it was a year old to my real estate agent and he didn't correct me. Also the floor in the basement was not wood. He didn't correct me on this. So I asked him if he thought this house was priced correctly for all that was wrong with it and does he have any other houses to compare against this house. He sent me back a bulsh* list of 17 houses. Saying the cheapest house he found was 170k in a search from 140-200k. Anyways I looked at the list none of the houses had a pole barn, any acreage, or a 1000sqft home. I did notice a house for 190k that I liked in the list but at that point I didn't want to use him anymore. I located the property on realtor.com and briarwood and then called the agent and set up a showing. I told my realtor to mail me back my check and that I was going to explore other opportunities. After that I saw three new houses, but liked the one in his list the most. I signed with the agent with her being a dual agent and offered full price for the house. Now the other agent claims he deserves to be in the contract and claims he will sue me if he isn't. Basically when setting up the first bid, in the slue of papers he had me sign an exclusive buyers agency agreement for a house in the greater lansing area, and for a range of approximately 100 to 170k. Also in order to get commission he must offer to show, or have shown me the house. In order to have shown me the house he must have first registered with the builder (which he never did). So it is clear he did not show me the house or that he had intentions to do so. The other thing is if the 190k is close enough to be considered in the approximate range of 100-170k. The houses I almost bought was settled on at 153k. What upset me a lot is that he didn't do his work at all and seemed to care less if it was a good investment for me - basically he just wanted to close the deal. So now this new house was signed as a dual agent, the builder has yet to accept. I really need some advise here on what I should do. Should I worry about a remax (independent) agent coming after me? Could I possibly not sign after the builder accepts the offer and sign the previous agent into the contract as my buyer's agent (the builder said they may need to rewrite the close date)? I talked to my realtor and she said I shouldn't be worried but she couldn't give me legal advise. Apperently, my previous agent got her number and they argued where he ended up hanging up on her. So as far as them splitting commission I am not sure that's going to happen. Thanks for your help! -Michael
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