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Just trying to call for perspective Mike. Agent appears to have either forgot, or forgot to keep current, an Agency Agreement, on a year long relationship that is ending in a house that is currently under contract.
I think it should have been kept up, but I don't see anyone's hair on fire. It's not worth running around waving our arms about.
This is why there is legal review process at brokerages. In case something gets dropped. People get busy, lots going on... it happens. This one doesn't cost anything to fix. Sign it, solve the problem, move on. My two cents.
Calling for YOUR perspective that sloppiness is acceptable.
Clearly, I disagree.
Mine is that competence, ethics, and legalities matter greatly in the relationship, and in building trust for the agent.
Broker review is to assure that i's are dotted and t's are crossed, not to require that fundamental documents are actually used.
This is more than "no biggie" in agent execution.
Calling for YOUR perspective that sloppiness is acceptable.
Mine is that competence, ethics, and legalities matter greatly in the relationship, and in building trust for the agent.
Broker review is to assure that i's are dotted and t's are crossed, not to require that fundamental documents are actually used.
This is more than "no biggie" in agent execution.
Nothing I said said it was acceptable. It absolutely needs to be fixed.
You're making a lot of noise about it Mike, but I'm no longer clear on what more you think should actually be done about it.
Last edited by Diana Holbrook; 06-16-2019 at 01:47 PM..
That's OK - The firm and agent are the only ones with an actual problem.
The OP doesn't actually have a problem. And I don't understand all the hand-wringing like this is the end of the world. It's just NOT.
Quote:
I think the process matters.
Great. I do too. Right now the process that matters is the OP wants to close on his house. I think it's important to say this detail should not interfere at all with the closing on the house, whether the OP signs the agreement or not. I don't think it's right just keep creating drama and mistrust and claiming there is no solution.
OP doesn't have to give the agent a major award at the end. But he doesn't need to let the transaction burn up over minutia either.
That's OK - The firm and agent are the only ones with an actual problem.
OP doesn't have to give the agent a major award at the end. But he doesn't need to let the transaction burn up over minutia either.
Just to confirm, the agent will still get their 3% free from the listing Broker if I don't sign the agreement correct?
In all likelihood, yes. The split is typically offered by the Listing Broker through the MLS, so they would probably not even know whether your agent had all of their ducks in a row. The question to you is whether you think it's a big enough issue to potentially cause problems for the agent (of course, you wouldn't be the one who caused the problem). Personally, I would feel better about it if the agent simply admitted that they had messed up. You might ask him if not signing would cause any problems and tell him that you're uncomfortable signing the contract this late in the process. Perhaps he'd fess up then. In any case, it's your call.
Just to confirm, the agent will still get their 3% free from the listing Broker if I don't sign the agreement correct?
What I said was your house should still close. The listing broker does not care at all about this issue... won’t even know there is an issue. Escrow will follow whatever payment instructions have been submitted to them. Depends on your agent’s brokerage. As agents we are often told that we will not be paid until our file is approved… I don’t know how far a brokerage will go in actually withholding payment over something like this their client refuses to sign.
What I worry more about than your agent getting paid (They will likely work it out) Is it creates unnecessary tension and mistrust in the relationship And I don’t know if there’s work to be done yet between now and your getting to closing. I just don’t see this document as being worth a big fight for you! My advice is still to just get it done!
I absolutely agree with MikeJ that this was completely sloppy by the OP's agent and that "competence, ethics, and legalities matter greatly in the relationship, and in building trust for the agent." Any kind of agency agreement that needed to get signed should have been presented long ago. However, Diana also is right in saying what's done is done at this point and the OP has come here looking for advice on how to proceed and we should help them with that to the best of our ability.
Here's my 2 cents and keep in mind I'm not licensed to assist with real estate transactions in PA (and I don't believe anyone else on here is either).
1. I would inquire with your agent to see if signing this contract is a state requirement and if not signing would impact your transaction in any way. If the answer is "you don't need to sign this for everything to play out as expected" then don't sign it and move on.
2. If you have to sign it then I would insist that quite a bit of language be added to it. I would personally want to see the following in there:
A) Language limiting the agency agreement to this one transaction in case your agents sloppiness with this contract has inspired you to work with someone else.
B) Either add language or cross out language so that the contract indicates that the brokerage will accept whatever compensation is being offered on MLS for this sale and that this will be their entire commission. If they wanted a particular minimum commission they should have asked up front and not in the middle of the transaction. So, at this point as my kids' babysitter says "you get what you get and you don't get upset."
summing up from info the OP has provided, hopefully:
You should have had this agreement in place no later than when you wrote offer #1. This is an important oversight on your agent's part, and does not speak well to their full professionalism in following legal and agency requirements.
You would rather HAVE that official relationship than not, so signing such an agreement is in your interest. However ...
In exchange for signing it, the agreement should be further clarified to remove your responsibility to pay his commission.
******
Now, for any other consumers, I would add:
Many good points were made by other agents. You even get to see that different agents have different operational styles, processes, and priorities.
But, at a minimum, the consumer should be prepared to understand and accept/sign any DISCLOSURE that is given to you by an agent very early in the process. This disclosure never (or rarely, which the agent should be explaining to you) "ties you to that agent". And agents thus need to be more diligent about providing this disclosure when they are required to. Our world in NC is full of agents basically scared to provide the disclosure because they fear they'll automatically lose that prospect. Or, they are not professional enough to KNOW the requirements and intentionally choose not to follow. The former is sad, the latter is bad. But both cast a stain on our profession.
summing up from info the OP has provided, hopefully:
You should have had this agreement in place no later than when you wrote offer #1. This is an important oversight on your agent's part, and does not speak well to their full professionalism in following legal and agency requirements.
You would rather HAVE that official relationship than not, so signing such an agreement is in your interest. However ...
In exchange for signing it, the agreement should be further clarified to remove your responsibility to pay his commission.
******
Now, for any other consumers, I would add:
Many good points were made by other agents. You even get to see that different agents have different operational styles, processes, and priorities.
But, at a minimum, the consumer should be prepared to understand and accept/sign any DISCLOSURE that is given to you by an agent very early in the process. This disclosure never (or rarely, which the agent should be explaining to you) "ties you to that agent". And agents thus need to be more diligent about providing this disclosure when they are required to. Our world in NC is full of agents basically scared to provide the disclosure because they fear they'll automatically lose that prospect. Or, they are not professional enough to KNOW the requirements and intentionally choose not to follow. The former is sad, the latter is bad. But both cast a stain on our profession.
All I would add, is that the OP should directly contact management at the firm, and agree to sign the document only if it includes management providing another agent to represent the OP.
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Agent appears to have either forgot, or forgot to keep current, an Agency Agreement, on a year long relationship that is ending in a house that is currently under contract. 
