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This just happened to me today, my customer, whom I had shown the home to 3 weeks ago, calls me today to tell me he wants to see this home again, thinks he now is ready to make an offer. I go to MLS only to find it has expired. I call him back and tell him I will look into whether it is in the process of being re-listed. I then call the listing agent, who I have previously spoken to. He says, yes, it it being relisted as soon as he can get over to sellers to have papers signed. About 1 hour goes by, I get a call from the lsting agent who says my customer just went to the sellers (who do not live at the subject property) to see what was going on, they could not get through the guard gate, but left into. Sellers called listing agent. So I call my customers to see why they did that, only to find out that the sellers have just called my customer to tell them they are not re-listing with this agent, because they did not know the listing expired, and are now mad at him. This agent is in my company, and the customer - that's my uncle. What would you do?
First of all, you should probably talk to your Principal Broker/Manager to get his/her perspective on this. There are lots of very competent folks in this forum but...I sat here trying to lay out what I'd do, but the MLS rules and other elements are so different from state to state that I'm not sure it would be useful (I'm from Oregon).
The best advice I can give you is from a Professional Standards seminar I attended...what would YOU want them to do if it was YOU in that situation? (Be it the seller...or the agent?)
I would say to focus on YOUR client and their best interests (not the $$); be upfront and honest with everyone; and it will work out right.
This would make a GREAT case study for an Ethics class.
I'm not quite clear on this, so I'll ask if I have it correct.
The customer is your uncle.
The listing agent is in your office
The seller and your customer have spoken
The seller is not relisting with the listing agent
Your customer and the seller have not made any deal
Do you have a buyer/broker agreement with your client/uncle?
It's the customers decision to relist or not. You can't help that.
You don't want your buyer to lose a house that they want.
Do as Dave suggests and speak with your broker.
Speak with your buyer to see where he stands.
Your broker could tell you to speak with the seller and see if he'll list with you. (If he's mad at the listing agent, and the listing has expired, then he is out of the picture, and other agents will be going afer the expired)
You have a buyer so you may want to get in there and talk to the seller to see what you can work out.
Your listing agreements probably protect the agents commission for anyone who has seen the home for some time, so if your client buys the property then the seller may owe the listing agent a commission anyway. That should be explained very nicely to the seller (if this is the route you take) so it would be best if he have the listing agent go ahead and represent him for this deal. They could extend the agreement for 15, or 30 days just so this deal could go through and everyone would be happy.
This just happened to me today, my customer, whom I had shown the home to 3 weeks ago, calls me today to tell me he wants to see this home again, thinks he now is ready to make an offer. I go to MLS only to find it has expired. I call him back and tell him I will look into whether it is in the process of being re-listed. I then call the listing agent, who I have previously spoken to. He says, yes, it it being relisted as soon as he can get over to sellers to have papers signed. About 1 hour goes by, I get a call from the lsting agent who says my customer just went to the sellers (who do not live at the subject property) to see what was going on, they could not get through the guard gate, but left into. Sellers called listing agent. So I call my customers to see why they did that, only to find out that the sellers have just called my customer to tell them they are not re-listing with this agent, because they did not know the listing expired, and are now mad at him. This agent is in my company, and the customer - that's my uncle. What would you do?
Bill - yes, you have the situation laid out correctly - although I'm not certain if my uncle and the seller may have discussed a deal. I think that's part of what is bothering me, that they may be working out a deal behind both our backs. It it wasn't a company listing to begin with, it would be a little less bothersome.
In any event, both of you have excellent advice, and I shall speak to my broker about this. I'll let you both know the outcome. Relatives can certainly be a pain.
Don't blow this. To our rules you have a golden opportunity. Here the Listing contract requires that the seller pay the commission for some period of time after the listing expires to the listing broker unless the property is relisted with another broker. So here if you relisted you get both sides. I would however counsel a referral to the original listing agent and an even bigger refrerral if he is in your office.
I am skeptical of what one gets by asking the broker. Mine is an excellent individual who knows all there is to know about the practicalities of Realtor arbitration procedures. But the fine part of contract law? You will do a lot better on the internet.
Do you have a buyer/broker agreement with your client/uncle?
He's in Florida...more than likely he's a transaction broker and doesn't have a buyer's broker agreement. He would still have a procuring cause case and that should be explained to both the buyer and the seller but the odds of the broker suing them is pretty slim unless it's a higher end home.
He's in Florida...more than likely he's a transaction broker and doesn't have a buyer's broker agreement. He would still have a procuring cause case and that should be explained to both the buyer and the seller but the odds of the broker suing them is pretty slim unless it's a higher end home.
That's a possibility, but procuring cause can be very difficult. In this case the buyer saw the house, but did not create an unbroken chain. He did not make a decision to buy upon first seeing it. He apparently saw other homes, and from what I gather, saw them without his nephew. So from the time he saw this house, and did not make a decision, there is a broken chain.
He is returning now, and said he "wants to see the house again" and "thinks" he wants to make an offer. He still has not made a decision to buy (according to the way the post is written).
As procuring cause was explained to me, there must be this unbroken chain of events, where another agent steps in and interferes with that chain.
A buyer views a home with an agent. (No buyer broker agreement) She has looked at many others. She loves this home and tells the agent that she wants to buy it. However, she wants to speak with her father so he can help her work up an offer.
The father tells the daughter that he has a friend who is an agent and she should use him. The agent friend of her father agrees to present her offer.
There was an unbroken chain up to the offer. The original agent showed the house. The buyer made the decision to buy it. She went to another agent to write the offer. She did not view any more houses.
The original agent had a procuring cause case.
That is sort of a classic text book case.
If I were the friend of the father and she came to me, I would stay above the table and telephone the other agent. I would explain to him that the buyer wants me to write the offer and ask how he wishes to handle it so we can let the buyer get on with the purchase, and avoid a procuring cause case. Would he be willing to take a 25% referral fee and agree to not pursue procuring cause? I would also be willing to negotiate with him.
If I were the original agent I would negotiate something so the situation could be resolved amicably. If I fought it for the full commission in a procuring cause case, I would probably win in this particular case, but it would cost me so much bad press that it would not be worth it. I would be the bad guy in the buyers eyes, even though I was in the right, and she would pass the word around about this greedy agent.
Bill
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