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Thanks, Guys….I understand that court will not accept all of my eMails conversations which I had with the agent to terminate the contract before buying new home…….
However what about Realtor’s Association and Agent’s company management…..Will they also not consider my email conversations and all those unprofessionalism that agent did??
Moreover, I will surely share this horrible experience with public forums including agent’s company LinkedIn profile too
Will above steps help me in any way?
Written communication in any form is legal, valid and binding unless specified otherwise.
Just wanted to reiterate that I dropped that agent only after his miserable unprofessional behavior. He took me to few properties only one time and my entire family decided to drop him after that showing only.
Moreover, before dropping him I requested him a lot to terminate the contract and let me go. However, he didn’t agree and told that I can't have another agent until the end date which is 5 more months.
I completely felt trapped with no option left. Moreover, due to a good (or bad) timing, I found a dream home myself. Hence seller didn't agree to pay anything to buyer agent.
Not sure whether the court will consider my position. However, I think that any genuine family would have done which we did.
Dude, why are you still arguing about this? You may not like but you've got the answer from multiple posters. This is only the court of public opinion which has no bearing on your actual case. We are not privy to the contract. Go back and read your contract. If you don't understand it get an attorney to read it for you. What you did was dumb, so own it. Next time you have a contract honor it or get it cancelled before doing something dumb, and possibly underhanded.
And are you worried about a potential suit or are you here because you are being sued? Has the broker even contacted you yet? I'm wondering what his side is because I'll bet it's much different than yours.
Well, as a matter of practicality, the agent will probably not pursue it. Depending on the price of the house that you purchased, it would probably cost more to wring it out of you than it would be to simply chalk you up as just another flake and move on.
But, if the agent and his broker DOES decide to pursue it, you are probably going to have an uphill battle defending your actions vis a vis the contract. Be prepared to make a settlement.
I didn't comment on what anyone was drinking or anything else. Let's stick to the wording. The termination clause is pivotal to this topic so it's useful to consumers to discuss it and for them to understand it.
The meaning is very ambiguous in the text that Mike posted. In fact it would be difficult for it to be any less clear. I'm not suggesting that we give legal advice and obviously any unclear areas should be reviewed by a lawyer but it's helpful for consumers to understand the general parameters for termination and what issues they should look out for in the contract, including the potentially very misleading interpretations of Mike's text.
Even within one post from one person, you've given us two different explanations already -you said that 'suitable' is:
1. a property that the buyer 'wants'
2. a property that the buyer 'wishes to make an offer on'.
(cleanly?) terminate a buyer's agent contract up to the point that they notify their agent that they intend to make an offer. Is this what you mean? Do agents agree with this? Somehow I doubt that many agents would see it this way as they could be doing a lot of work - including actually locating and doing other work around the house that they eventually buy.
Which leads to the next point that has been ignored in Mike's post. Of course, 'termination' is not always 'termination' as you can 'terminate' but you still may have to pay commission to your 'terminated' agent. The real issue is not just termination. So Mike's assertion that this termination clause would have 'served' the OP is very misleading. If we're going to educate and help people, let's do it responsibly. The issue here is about having to pay commission or not. I think it's very misleading to suggest that if someone has this clause, they can sever ties cleanly up to the point of making an offer (or whatever alternative trigger point anyone else wishes to suggest) and 'serve' any concerns about being tied to paying commission to an agent that you did not work effectively with. Perhaps agents are not so worried about termination because they have enough ways to legally capture their commission anyway, should they decide to exercise their rights under their contracts.
Nobody is suggesting that agents should not be protected against clients who try to cheat them out of rightfully earned commission under the spirit of their agreement but consumers need to understand how this works and what to watch out for (including misleading explanations of termination clauses).
If it's so clear, can anyone properly explain under that clear wording, when a client can terminate their agent and what terminate really means?
Do you look for things to confuse yourself?
The termination clause would have allowed OP to "fire" the agent, provided he didn't do so before seeing the house he made an offer on.
It isn't hard. You can sever your relationship and owe them nothing at any time before finding the house you want. "Suitable" would reasonably be defined as a house that the buyer is willing and able to put in and offer on. Courts routinely use the "reasonable person" standard. IE, no reasonable person would consider one 3 bed, 2 bath house interchangeable for another 3/2 in the same town. Courts use the same "reasonable person" standard for professionals. No "reasonable Realtor" would think that one 3/2 house is interchangeable; if they did they wouldn't have to show buyers many different houses and neighborhoods.
Thanks, Guys….I am planning to meet an attorney today. Since lots of people asked about agent’s “miserable unprofessional”. So just wanted to share. My wife and teens have some strong belief towards the structure of the living area and they conveyed that requirement as a complete deal-breaker in the first meeting itself. However after visiting first few homes when my wife reminded the agent that none of the homes met her most important criteria than agent started to almost laugh as my wife is a dumb person. After that, both of them had a heated argument for 3-4 minutes and I had to step in.
Never knew that a piece of paper which we signed is more important than our own dignity. Anyway will talk to my attorney and will keep you posted.
Please Note: Till now I have received 16 personal messages about the Name and License number of the agent and I have shared with them. So if you also need the name and License number of that agent and his broker then please send me a personal message
Man, you fired an agent because of a 3-4 minute argument? Sounds like the agent dodged a bullet.
You say you found your dream home by yourself... perfect homes don't exist. It's a matter of managing expectations and making compromises. How long have you been looking by yourself and how long with the agent? Agents have different styles and if he was a good agent (not your opinion, but by volume of sales he does in the area) then you should give him a chance to understand your family's tastes.
Often times new buyers come in with these ideas of what they want--which may be really quirky and bad for resale. A good agent can gently guide you towards a home he/she thinks will suit your family well. After all they've seen thousands of homes from list, sale or sale of sale over many years. They see the crazy houses that get relisted every few years. Or the homes with a hidden defect that make it hard to sell. I've worked with a realtor before who was a golden goose--every home she told me to buy doubled in value, every home I picked out myself only went up 15-20% in the same time. My husband still tsks to this day about how my "tastes" threw out all the winning lottery tickets.
This time around, my new agent found us a wonderful home. The first two times I saw it, I still didn't like it. I thought it was overvalued, not the perfect size, blah blah. She kept bringing me back time after time and you know what, now that we've closed, I can't imagine a more suited home for us that sold on the market within the last year or is listed now.
TLDR; stop being a cynical jerk to your agent and realize they are human too.
The OP still does not realize, that he signed a contract for an agent to be his exclusive agent on any home he purchased. He does not understand that the buyer (OP) is obligated under such a contract to tell the agent about the home he found on his own, and is under contract to have the agent write and submit the contract to the seller.
He says the agent would not submit a low ball offer from him on a home he liked, but he simply cannot realize that a lot of times an agent will know that offers better than his wanting to offer had been turned down, and there were multiple offers coming in. From his post, it sounds like the agent was telling him if he wanted the home, he would have to bid above the asking price and to do so to beat out other offers that would be at or above the asking price.
He says this is unprofessional, it is not. It is a good sign of professionalism, and is a sign the agent knew what as a minimum it was going to take to be able to buy the home. And his suggested offer, may not in the long run be enough to win the bidding on the home.
I don't see where he said that this is what happened.
Thanks, Guys….I am planning to meet an attorney today. Since lots of people asked about agent’s “miserable unprofessional”. So just wanted to share. My wife and teens have some strong belief towards the structure of the living area and they conveyed that requirement as a complete deal-breaker in the first meeting itself. However after visiting first few homes when my wife reminded the agent that none of the homes met her most important criteria than agent started to almost laugh as my wife is a dumb person. After that, both of them had a heated argument for 3-4 minutes and I had to step in.
Never knew that a piece of paper which we signed is more important than our own dignity. Anyway will talk to my attorney and will keep you posted.
Please Note: Till now I have received 16 personal messages about the Name and License number of the agent and I have shared with them. So if you also need the name and License number of that agent and his broker then please send me a personal message
This description of the problem is really vague. Strong belief toward the structure of the living area? What does that even mean?
If you give the name and license number to any of us what can we do with the information? If any of the rest of you are getting personally involved I think its a bad idea.
Just finished a one-hour discussion with an experienced attorney. Here is the outcome.
1. Let’s wait for the official legal suit document. The yesterday’s phone call from agent means nothing to court.
2. Be ready to file an official complaint in TREC with all of your eMails and SMS.
3. Let's send a letter to agent’s company top management with copies of your eMails and SMS.
Moreover, I also asked what can we share our story in open forums like Zillow and Redfin. Attorney told that as long as you put all correct details that should be fine. My wife already shared our story in Zillow and Redfin and already got 71 potential buyers views.
Just wanted to reiterate that I dropped that agent only after his miserable unprofessional behavior. He took me to few properties only one time and my entire family decided to drop him after that showing only.
Moreover, before dropping him I requested him a lot to terminate the contract and let me go. However, he didn’t agree and told that I can't have another agent until the end date which is 5 more months.
I completely felt trapped with no option left. Moreover, due to a good (or bad) timing, I found a dream home myself. Hence seller didn't agree to pay anything to buyer agent.
Not sure whether the court will consider my position. However, I think that any genuine family would have done which we did.
I understand that you would no longer want to work with that realtor. However, you do need to realize what is in the agreement you signed, and read the agreement, and work within the parameters of the agreement you entered, or find an amenable way to be released from it. You can't merely feel that since you were insulted, the agreement is null and void regardless of what the agent claims or does.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldtrader
The OP still does not realize, that he signed a contract for an agent to be his exclusive agent on any home he purchased. He does not understand that the buyer (OP) is obligated under such a contract to tell the agent about the home he found on his own, and is under contract to have the agent write and submit the contract to the seller.
Curious, under what typical terms does one have the ability to cancel such a contract?
Quote:
Originally Posted by I love boots.
I don't see where he said that this is what happened.
Right Here...
Quote:
Originally Posted by commonman790
There is a clause in the contract "Broker will Put the interests of the client above all others, including the broker's own interests;"......However, he always put his own interest above than us. He never helped us in reducing the asking price….He always pressurize us to put higher bid……Moreover most of the time he sent us only those listing which was listed by his company only.....
Is this an acceptable argument in court?
This pretty clearly is a case of a language and cultural misunderstanding. OP could very well be from a culture where negotiations begin with a much lower opening offer than is customary here. While OP feels that he is being pressured to offer more money than is in his best interests, the agent sees it as a chance of ruining the negotiations from the outset, and that advising or presenting so low an offer would be poor guidance. So, while OP feels its in his best interest to offer $200K on a $265K house, the agent feels that will turn off the sellers, and chill their appetite for entertaining further offers. Hence the disconnect.
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