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

Michael,

There have been many similar stories here on this board. You signed a buyer's agreement. You didn't like the services of the agent you signed it with. Instead of cancelling the agreement you went ahead with another agent & signed a purchase contract with agent #2. Agent #1 finds out & threatens to sue.

Bottom line, you did not cancel the agreement you signed with agent #1. I'm assuming you're using an attorney to close your purchase (buyers do here in IL, not sure where you're from) and I would speak with that attorney to see what can be done.

You might have some kind of leverage if the agent did not disclose certain known facts to you & you might want to remind agent #1 of those items and that you could file a complaint against him. Maybe he'll back off but I would make sure he cancels the agreement for you.

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Michael

As Judy stated in her reply, you should have cancelled the agreement with your first agent before moving on to another agent. However if the EBA that you signed was an agreement for you to use that particular agent to purchase a home between the approximate price range of $100K to $170K only, then that might just be your way out of all of this. You should of course consult an attorney.

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beachgal
Realtor and wannabe webmistress.

Pensacola Real Estate
Florida Pre-Construction Condos

I would call the Broker-in-charge of the Re/Max office and ask him/her to release you from the EBA. That broker has the authority to correct the situation and is your best bet. You could speak with your attorney, but you risk buring a bridge in the Realtor community which could be a very bad thing when you try to sell a property in the area. I think that your best bet is to speak with the Re/Max broker and come to an agreement there. I have seen too much bad come from attorney interference in the past.

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Thanks,
Grant

Read about Nashville Homes and Nashville Condos on my Nashville Real Estate Blog.

One of your questions was $190k close enough to the $100-170k range and I would say without a doubt. I would talk to the broker and see what they will do, mine would tell you that you have to work it out with me, others give into buyers that want out of a contract without fail.

As an agent I wouldn't let you out of the contract. You ended up buying a home that the agent sent you the listing on and that alone showed thast he was willing to show the property to you. At that you admit that you found the listing because of him then went to R.com so you could talk with the listing agent. You are the exact reason Buyer Agency agreements are needed. If you where unhappy with the agent you should have told him so and ended the contract BEFORE going out and working behind his back.

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My thoughts on the Sarasota Association of REALTORS actions.

Just for your info, he could care less about whether I spent 150k on a bad house. In fact he did things to pursuade me into this. Yeah he gave me a listing of 17 random houses.... Why? To say to me look, here are the houses that are way more expensive then yours, this is why you should by it. And they had absolutely NOTHING to do with having a pole barn, acreage or a house 1000 sqft. I am not the reason for these contracts. The reason for these contracts is to try and provide some barrier to keep people with the person who did all the work. If you think about it for a second, why would I have ditched him if it cost me nothing? Obviously because he wasn't doing his job. Its too bad my mistake was signing that document - I was more concerned about getting things like wetland/floodplain contingencies into the contract because he would not provide that information. Along with his insistence on a closing date that was near impossible to meet. It sucks that he had to send me 17 houses and it happened to be in that listing. I wish this agent for the new house would work with him on some percentage, but he has acted like a jerk this whole time. And sometimes you get what you ask for....

As for the attorney, going to speak to today... as for the broker, already called to appeal to him (unavailable right now)...

There is a house next door for 200k. Is that enough from 170k to be substantial? That's one that wasn't in his listing. And I could have them build me a home, which would take a year... all because of this guy.

I probably could let him sue me and dodge as much of the 3% that I can. He probably has that time on his hand based on the type of job he provides.

Thanks for all your help!

Okay well legally, the guy screwed up pretty bad. Under "compensation of the broker" he didn't write any fee in any of the blanks but wrote "Other: Buyer's agent to accept mls co-op fee from list broker" and in this case there is no fee to accept. So if he wants commission he doesn't need to be bothering me, but the list broker. Also, my lawyer said that since he said "to accept" that means that he will accept what the broker offers. If he wrote "to receive" that would mean he expected a fee. So, I guess I could even allow him to show me the house and in the end he can "accept mls co-op fee from the list broker" which is $0. I just narrowly missed this one, it still may come back to me. Warning from the lawyer: Remax agents are interested in two things: 1) signing the contract 2) the sale. Once you have signed the contract they can do virtually nothing for you for the time period and if you happen to buy a house they get commission. He said there are some people out there that are really good, but most of the time you dont' really need a buyers agent.

Michael,

It saddens me to hear that your attorney would make such blanket statements about Remax agents and buyers agents. Your experience with your first agent has obviously left a bitter taste in your mouth. You'll find there are good and bad people in every profession and unfortunately that includes real estate. But for your attorney to make such blanket statements is very unprofessional. There are thousands of Remax agents world wide and I doubt that your attorney has had dealings with even 1% of them, so he shouldn't make statements about what Remax agents are, and aren't interested in.

I am not a Remax agent, but I am a buyers agent. 99% of my clients are out of state and buy property through me without even seeing what they are buying. They trust me to find them a good deal and with that comes a lot of hard work on my part and a lot of responsibility. Believe me, I earn every dollar I get paid.

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beachgal
Realtor and wannabe webmistress.

Pensacola Real Estate
Florida Pre-Construction Condos