Shady tactics by real estate agent? (Pottstown: broker, buying a house, buying)

[heavyjay]

On Sunday, July 20, we made an offer on a nice house in Pocono Mtn Lk Estates. The owners, who live in Pottstown, were on vacation, but the listing agent was able to reach them with our offer and came back with a counter the next day. We countered the counter, and on July 22 we had verbal acceptance from the seller, who also asked if we would be interested in buying some of the furnishings. The listing agent told our agent the signed contract would be faxed the next morning (July 23), but she considered us "under contract" and told her to tell us to go ahead and schedule the inspection. Sometime on the evening of July 23, I get a call from our agent, who had just received word from the seller's agent that another offer had come in and the sellers were going to continue showing the house. When our agent reminded her that we were supposed to have already received a signed contract, the listing agent said the sellers were unable to find a place to fax it and that they had decided not to accept our offer and continue showing the house. They never did show the house again and ended up accepting the other offer, which by the way, came from the listing agent's office, thereby keeping all the commission in their shop. So, was there intentional foot dragging here in order to try to push any in-house buyers toward this house for the purpose of keeping all the commission? I think so, although I can't prove it.

But wait, there's more.
Fast forward to Friday August 1. We looked at another house, same listing broker, different agent. The seller was up for the weekend from Staten Island so he was readily available. We again make an offer. The next day (Saturday, Aug 2) we get a counter offer, we counter the counter, and within 3 hours have verbal acceptance. Our agent faxes the revised contract to the listing agent who says she will take it to the seller the next day (today) to be signed. We make the 3 hour drive home expecting to be under contract by the time we arrive. About 3 hours ago, our agent called, totally p***ed off. The listing agent had called her claiming she never received the revised contract. Our agent told her it was faxed to her office and has the confirmation printout showing the fax went through. Of course, the seller is now back in Staten Island, so the contract has to be mailed to him to sign, and he'll have to mail it back to the listing agent. Even if she overnights it to him, we're looking at Wednesday or Thursday before it gets back to the listing agent's office. That leaves plenty of time for them to steer any potential buyers who happen to wander into their office toward that house and again keep all the commission in their shop. There are only two possibilities here: Either this is SOP for the agents in this realty, or I was struck by lightning twice in two weeks and am the unluckiest man in the world. I guess I'll find out by the end of the week.

[poconoproud]

IT sounds as though you are getting the run around.

[InspectorAshburn]

I am sorry that you are experiencing this, I know that it is frustrating. Welcome to the world of realestate. I see this all the time and it is just plain unethical. People will do most anything for money.

[heavyjay]

This really sucks. You'd think they'd be happy just to get the listing sold, especially in this market.


ETA: I also forgot to mention, on the first offer we made, instead of returning my earnest money check, she deposited it, 3 days after the seller entered into a contract with the other buyer. And then had the nerve to ask for my bank statement to prove the funds had been debited from my acct. Are they all this crooked up there?

[Acevaz]

I feel for you. I went through a bad situation a few years back with a real estate agent. I saw a home I really liked. The home was on the market for maybe 2 days tops. I had my pre approval ltr, checkbook and began signing the paperwork to present an offer. That was on a Thursday. I come to find out that my real estate agent did not present my paperwork to the other agent until a week later. By that time the home had 3 other offers. You know I was not too happy.

[Summering]

You have to push for that contract to be signed by your seller ASAP. We had an agreement, verbal. Everything was set. They accepted our offer. The house was ours.
We were putting our things in storage because we gave the owner two months to find something, and our home was sold.
At that moment, we got a call that another bid was coming in from a broker at another office. That was allowed because someone didn't go right away and get the contract signature of the seller.
Because of that, we had to go up to full price to get the house. We lost about five thousand because things were not done as fast as possible.
But, that was the least that could of happened, as we almost lost that home.

[scrantonluna]

I lost a house to the same thing, they wanted the full commission. They wound up getting more for the house, I think it was around an additional 12k, so I suppose they did their job, but they screwed me to do it. The realtor was pretty upset, I spotted the listing at the last minute on a Friday, which only listed the tax ID, price, and nothing else - I was able to trace the ID number, had someone go speak to the owners, and got in to see the house that night before anyone else; it should have been mine. They dragged the offer out until Tuesday (it's supposed to be accepted or denied within 24 hours), and by that time, of couse, they had other offers.

Buying a house is NOT easy; I had to be my own realtor, home inspector, banker, and financial advisor, even though people were getting paid for these services. The only part that went smooth was the title search, mainly because I knew the people doing it.

[scrantonluna]

Just a thought, with the market being so dry right now, I'm sure they'd sell out their own mother for another 1 or 2%....

[heavyjay]

Originally Posted by scrantonluna

Just a thought, with the market being so dry right now, I'm sure they'd sell out their own mother for another 1 or 2%....

That's what gets me. The market is slow, but the office that listed these two houses seems to have buyers falling out of the trees.

[okaydorothy]

Our agent was fantastic. She made sure everything was signed, sealed and even delivered everything herself. She was awesome. But i also did get the impression that others arent so great. NOw granted we bought a newly built house, the builder even regretted not hiring her to sell the house ; then the listing agent wouldnt have gotten a dime. That agent didnt deserve a penny ; my agent did all the running.

d