Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We made an offer on a house back in September, so we had to sign the brokerage agreement with a realtor. Well, they didn't accept our offer and it is now May. I know that the agreement goes until Sepember. Well, just this week, a neighbor came to us and said they need to sale their house. We would like to buy it, but I am wondering, whereas the realtor did not find the house, or show the house, are we still obligated to use this realtor?
Read your agreement. Does it have any kind of clause in there about this scenario? You may need an attorney. Have you been looking for houses with this agency since the one you offered on?
And even if there is not, any agent or brokerage worth their salt would NOT enforce this agreement b/c they didn't do their part. This is why I would never sign one of those buyer broker agreements. They totally favor the agent, not you.
Have you been looking at homes since then with the agent?
We have Oregon laws about "abandonment" here. If you haven't had contact with your agent since last year, then I would think that would qualify for abandonment. If you have been actively working with your agent and want to dump them after 9 months, that is a different story.
Have you been looking at homes since then with the agent?
We have Oregon laws about "abandonment" here. If you haven't had contact with your agent since last year, then I would think that would qualify for abandonment. If you have been actively working with your agent and want to dump them after 9 months, that is a different story.
Just wondering why you would think that is a different story. The realtor had NOTHING to do with this transaction. She didn't find the house. She didn't show the house. She did nothing to get paid for this transaction.
Yes, she did. She got a contract signed by the buyer. A contract that he has with her.
So, he needs to read the contract. If he's been working with her then he should be abiding by the terms of the contract. If he's been working with her then she's been doing her part. If they haven't been working together then there is a very likely chance that he can be released from the contract and do as he wishes. If he's been working with her then he should have told her that there is a neighbor with a house that he would like to purchase and utilize her services. That's what he agreed to do. In his CONTRACT.
Yeah, I suppose what you're saying COULD BE true in the strictest sense of the contract. But there is still a requirement that the other party do something, and I would guess it has to do with showing/finding a suitable property for the buyer. I still think that if the agent did nothing to find/show this house, then she's not entitled to a commission if the buyer wants to negotiate the sale and cut him/her out. I would bet a court, if it came to that, would agree with me.
I would be interested to hear the OP's response as to whether or not the OP has had any further dealings with the agent since September.
I would bet that they wouldn't. I would also bet it would be a heck of a lot cheaper for the OP to abide by the terms of the contract he signed then to find out.
But, as we've all said, we don't know if he's been working with the agent and then just found out about this house and figured, hey, let's just ditch her or if there hasn't really been a working relationship. I'm sure in his travels with her he's benefited from her experience, market sense, gained access to information he wouldn't normally have on his own and that is why there are buyer's contracts.
Now. Would I sign one? No. But then again, I have the ability to find out a lot of information on my own, would do my research on my own and I would know if I could or couldn't work with someone before I signed one. Even if I didn't sign one, I probably wouldn't do a FSBO without an agent and would let the agent I was working with know about a house that I found on my own.
But that's me and my ethics. Just because they didn't find that particular house, which was offered to me privately, doesn't mean they didn't do any work for me or that they wouldn't be of assistance and guidance through the buying process on that particular home.
I am loathe to hijack this thread, so I'll only make one more comment and then I'm done here. There is nothing unethical about someone negotiating a sale on their own and then letting the agent know that their services are no longer needed, especially (and you're right we don't know this) if there hasn't been anything but the one contact which resulted in an offer that wasn't accepted. If the buyer can negotiate a contract on a house that the agent had no input or work on, and can negotiate a cheaper price based on cutting out the agent, that is not unethical. If they do so after the agent worked on this particular deal, then I would agree.
A contract requires performance. Sounds like this agent didn't perform on this transaction.
And isn't this how the profession justifies their 6%? For these types of deals that "get away," the price of doing business?
And we will never know who the court would decide with b/c they almost certainly agreed to arbitration! LOL!
yes. It does. On both parties that sign the contract. The agent has an obligation and the buyer has an obligation. The agent can't do their job if the buyer doesn't perform as per the contract, which is to notify the agent if there is a property they find and are interested in.
So...performance works both ways.
Quote:
And isn't this how the profession justifies their 6%? For these types of deals that "get away," the price of doing business?
My fees are justified by my performance, skill and knowledge.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
