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So you have a realtor, but you aren't able to discuss this issue, or you are affraid to ask....
So you are basically feeling you are without an agent and you are advised to do what every other person with or without an agent should do...get a real estate lawyer...whenever things are important that is the only one that can help you.
Eevn without an realtor I know that you need to have time and a contignency for inspections, etc...again many realtors aren't doing their job and the buyer and/or seller are the victim...It seems realtors on here know how how to do it (except for some of them), but it also seem they are never in the area where we need them....
IMo the 63 hours to become a realtor aren't the way....specially since a hairdresser needs 1500 hours and hasn't control of making mistakes that cost over aprox. $ 100.- while a realtor is giving advise on spending way over $ 100,000.-......something need to change and fast, JMO!
when you sign a contract you make certain representations. You are saying, I will buy your house, with due diligence. That seller takes your word (and your signature), and
a) refuses other offers that may have been available and
b) takes the home off the market for future offers that may have been available.
When did integrity and honesty go out the window? If there was a problem with the house or with financing, I don't know an agent on here (or that I know) that wouldn't recommend walking (with advice from an attorney). But just because you see a new, shinier penny is no reason to walk. Every day I see new shiny pennies... but I am not a bird. I can make a reasoned decisions and control my behaviour.
Second, to "give advice" on how to get out of a legal document would absolutely be malpractice. And I don't need 1500 hours of education to teach me that. Perhaps you do.
bentlebee - Not to hijack this thread, but I do agree with you on your basic point that the requirements for becoming licensed are on the low side. However, many of the licensed real estate sales persons that I deal with have 4 year degrees. Whatever the educational background, there comes a time when a situation is beyond the licensees area of expertise. I make it a practice never to give legal advice, even if my advice would be correct, I would be guilty of practicing law without a license. Something the BAR frowns on.
In this situation I have not had the opportunity to review the contract, to give advice other than "see an attorney" would be unprofessional.
I also agree that it's too easy to get a license, however, what helps our field is that it's incredibly difficult to make a living as a Realtor. The competition is incredibly high and over time, the ones that aren't any good fall to the wayside. Most of us that work hard and keep ourselves educated start to create name recognition in the field and don't have a problem staying around. Buyers/Sellers just need to do more research and interviews when hiring a Realtor to ensure they get one that knows what they're doing.
I also agree that it's too easy to get a license, however, what helps our field is that it's incredibly difficult to make a living as a Realtor. The competition is incredibly high and over time, the ones that aren't any good fall to the wayside. Most of us that work hard and keep ourselves educated start to create name recognition in the field and don't have a problem staying around. Buyers/Sellers just need to do more research and interviews when hiring a Realtor to ensure they get one that knows what they're doing.
The issue is that the good once hardly advertise since they have enough work, and many others advertise so much that for any seller or buyer it is hard to weed out the good from the bad once....sometimes the bad once can talk even better but it all comes down to performance and good advise....Please give good advise for all the people out here who are searching for a good realtor? I'm happy to work with a good reliable realtor but haven't seen them in my area...how can we weed to good once from the bad once....IMo it is almost impossible without the help of the licencing board who has to step in and do a better job.
I know every one has to have a chance to start in a job and it doesn't mean that new realtors should be worse than people who are in the field longer, but if we could see proof of how much knowledge they have it would help many more people.
As for the OP....when you sign a contract and have a realtor you might expect to get good advise and I'm not pointing my finger since I don't know all the facts and it might as well be the OP's fault to have signed and now want to change his mind....but for the way the contract is set up that is IMO the realtor who should have acted in the best interest of the client.
By making a longer and more intensive training to become a realtor and to keep up training to have knowledge of new facts in the business and giving a certificate for that...that might help.....
I don't believe in all the awards some realtors have hanging in their office...some may be great, others might have been given for no reason at all and just to look good....but a certificate of having extensive training would proof more to me.
You really should have bought that option period. I'm surprised your Realtor let you do that, because that's when you do your inspections. Wow.
Depending on how you wrote the contract, there may be a few outs here and there, but your easy out of the option period doesn't exist. Depends on how good your Realtor was.
Kev - Midland TX is in the middle of West TX oil fields and there is usually a severe housing shortage when a oil boom hits, He may have had multiple offers and not been able to have an option period.
With that said I'm surprised also he does not have an option period for inspections.
Agreed, realtors shouldn't try to give legal advice for a number of reasons. It's not that the realtor's advice is necessarily going to be wrong. In fact, I'd bet (and I'm an attorney) that an experienced realtor would have a better chance of correctly advising someone of the legal consequences of breaking a contract than a medical malpractice attorney or criminal defense attorney. But one big difference is that an attorney's advice is confidential and cannot be compelled by a court in most circumstances. I don't believe that's the case with a realtor - it's not where I live, anyway. And good luck suing a realtor for giving you bad legal advice.
I am not trying to give the OP legal advice. But here are some ways I have seen people get out of a contract.
1. Offer to give up the earnest money. In many cases, the earnest money deposit is viewed as liquidated damages for breaching the contract. Many contracts provide that the seller may recover actual damages on top of the earnest money, but some courts may still view this as a liquidated damages provision. In a buyer's market it's tougher to do this since there may not be anyone else waiting in the wings to purchase the property.
2. Play hardball with the results of the inspection. Many contracts have an inspection contingency, meaning the agreement is dependent on the buyer's satisfaction with the inspection. If the inspection reveals some flaws, the buyer has a time window in which s/he can request the owner give credit to repair the property. If the buyer and seller don't agree to the amount of credit, the contract may be terminated without penalty. There are limits to this, but there's nothing to prevent the buyer from getting estimates from the most expensive contractors in town to support the buyer's request for a credit.
3. Make minimal efforts to get a loan. This is getting into dangerous territory here for sure. Many contracts have a financing contingency - a buyer has a certain time to get a loan for the property, and if s/he cannot, the deal can be terminated. In my state, a buyer must make a good faith effort to get a loan, but what constitutes "good faith" varies from one court to the next. It's not necessary to go to every lender in town, but it usually takes more than a single attempt to get a loan. This may not help the buyer if s/he has good credit and will be approved, but if the house is close to the lending limits, a buyer might be turned down at conservative lenders. Obviously, the buyer can't falsify loan documents or blow the down payment on a flatscreen TV to get around this, but sometimes when a buyer terminates based on the financing contingency, the seller decides it's more trouble than it's worth to take it to court and will strike a compromise.
Having said that, I have to agree with the previous posters. Once you sign a real estate agreement, the house goes off the market, yet the owner continues to pay the mortgage, taxes, and utilities. If it's relisted, some realtors may view that as a red flag that makes it less desirable, and in any event, the seller has to go through the same negotiations and delay with the next buyer. There will always be a better deal out there if you look for it, if for no other reason than that the grass often looks greener on the other side of the fence. And who's to say you won't find a house you like better next year, or the year after that?
bentlebee - Whatever the educational background, there comes a time when a situation is beyond the licensees area of expertise.
This is so true, no matter what the field. For example, I worked for an attorney who not only had all the education required, but he was Board Certified in his area had 30+ years' experience, and had served on our state board's ethics committee. However, if a question came up that was outside his particular area of expertise, he recommended talking to an attorney whose area it was.
Your answer is in the contract. You should ask your agent for help and not a public forum. We don't know what the contract states. Call your agent, ask them to sit down and review it with you if your havn't already. I'm sure they'll do what they can for you.
And Bentlebee, OP never complained about the agent not doing the job, not being knowledgable, or not being available. The OP asked a simple question on a forum so why must you take each opportunity to jab at Realtors and hijack threads? Most Realtors have a 4 year degree and the best Realtors typically have a lot of experience and far more than the minimum hours to become an agent (90 in SC and more to become a broker). I believe you're way off base here.
Last edited by Brandon Hoffman; 09-15-2008 at 03:27 PM..
I know the OP didn't complain but neither did he give a compliment. For the OP to have to ask here and not even know why there wasn't a contingency for the home inspections, or at least not to write it...shows me this buyer isn't very experienced and should get the best advise and/or explained to him that in this case it either wasn't possible since the seller wouldn't agree on a contract with a contingency or the realtor didn't do his job!
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