Our Realtor has not earned his commission (real estate, broker)

[cherie44]

We are very displeased with our realtor, we wanted to get out of the contract earlier and was told we could not get out of our contract until after 180 days with a 30 day written notice. Now you have to under stand that we were under and exclusive contract (didn't realize this) and when we asked about why our property was not on MLS we were told that they don't advertise there. That the only advertizing they do is a sign in the yard and an ad on Loopnet. (which I had an ad on loopnet already at the time we listed) so anyway we were alittle upset because this was not explained to us when we signed. We sent quite a few prospects his way and never got any calls back. Actually the interested parties contacted us because our realtor was not returning their calls!! After about 4+ months of this we sent a certified letter stating that we will be terminating our contract on the 181 day. It is amazing to us we recieved two offers within the next week and half. This was not from our realtor, but other realtors. We looked into one offer and decided it was something we could do. Owner financing, but still was skeptical, we were ready to turn down the deal then found out that the people that were wanting to buy our property had asked to speak with us directly to let us know of their situation and the realtor refused to give them our number so that we could talk to them and come up with a contract we could work with. The buyer came by our shop, this is really the only reason we decided to work with them because we met them in person. Anyway things got misrepresented he never got us a good faith estimate even though we asked for it. He gave us one after we signed the contract then we realized we are paying a lot out of pocket when we suggested that the buyers pay the majority of the closing costs! We are owner financing so they should be paying most of the costs we feel. Now we are going through some rezoning changes with the buyer and neither us or the buyer has had any calls or communication from the realtor. Basically he just isn't around and all you get is his voice mail. Also he said he was giving us a great deal on his commission would drop down from 10% to 7% and come to find out on commercial property/with building the commission usually is 4-6% even the attorney as surprised at this. Is there anything we can do. This has been a very disappointing experience and the closing was to take place with in 60 days and now is out to 4 months. We would have never signed this contract under these circumstances we were definatly mislead.

[apanda]

Did you read the contract? Or even shop around other brokers?

Oh and if someone does not advertise on the MLS, then they are not Realtors. Realtors abide by a strict code of ethics and they MUST list on MLS.

[lazy_d]

Originally Posted by apanda

Realtors abide by a strict code of ethics...

Har Har!

[riveree]

If you feel the realtor is unresponsive, have you tried speaking to the realtor's boss? I would state your case and ask for what you want (a lower commission, etc.).

It sounds like you are on your way to closing, so I'd find some way to make the best of the situation and keep things moving forward if you can.

[jackaroo]

You can file a complaint with the Florida Real Estate Commission.

Here is a link: RE - FREC

[Sunnydee]

cherie44, I'm so sorry you've gotten involved with what appears to be a terrible real estate agent. You might want to post your question on the real estate agents section of city data, so they can tell you what your options are. I hope things work out for you.

[trappedartist]

Obviously, I don't know the full situation, but if you were fraudulently induced into signing a contract (i.e. if the realtor told you something that was completely false and you made the decision to sign the contract based on that false statement), it is possible that the contract could be found to be void. It may be worth your while to talk to an attorney in Florida about this and see what they think, because the attorney may be able to draft up a letter stating that the contract was void because based on a fraudulent misrepresentation and then hold the disputed sum in trust until you work it out. From what I read, it sounds like rather than telling you something false to induce you into signing the contract, the realtor just failed to properly perform to your wishes (though he may have been performing as listed in the contract), so I am not sure that they made any fraudulent statements or fraudulently concealed information from you. I would suggest that you pull out your contract and read it VERY carefully. As to hiring an attorney, consider how much you stand to gain by not paying the realtor and whether it is worth your time and money to dispute this issue.

[cherie44]

Just found out an interesting fact! During this process we did ask our realtor about adjusting his commission, he said because it is with an outside realtor he could not do so. Our realtor is the owner of his real estate company, and we just found out that the realtor that brought us the buyer has worked for our realtor company for over a year and a half!!!! I just think this is pretty sneaky, as he used an excuse of adjusting his commission due to the fact that it was an outside agent. What do you think??
Thanks! For your thoughts on the original posting!
Cherie44

[cherie44]

He did not put us on MLS, said commercial property does not usually get listed there. The way we found out was friends of mine are realtors and wanted to check it out and possibly bring some interested parties in to see it. They could not locate it on MLS that is when we called and spoke with them and they told us they do not use MLS!

[dlblair1]

Cherie, not in defense of the broker you spoke about as many things you have stated here is not what i would consider to be acceptable to how a broker/agent should be conducting themselves as a professional serving the public.... but I wanted to add that most commercial property listed in the market is not listed on the Board of Realtors MLS NEFAR site.... even though they have a commercial section it is not utilized by most commercial brokers.... out of the top 20 commercial brokerage firms in North East Florida you may only find 3-4 of them on the NEFAR MLS... and those that are Residential brokers that have some commercial arm within them... and the top 5-10 commercial Brokerages are not on there! Again not in defense of the person your dealing with as brokers like that are out for themselves first when your needs should be first.... Thats why it is always important to do a little research about who your hiring and interview multiple companies before picking one.
Commission are traditionally 6% as 10% is unusually high.
You had ask the question "what do you think"..... I'd think he lied.... that surely is not honest....
not sure what the values of the contract are and what the property actually would be valued at etc but you may have been misled..... sounds suspicious enough