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Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
6,957 posts, read 22,311,234 times
Reputation: 6471
A bilateral contract (you give me something, I'll give you something) requires that both parties agree. Otherwise you just have a proposal. When I bought this real estate company, the guy I bought it from did much the same thing. Multiple emails with a variety of proposals and then he acted as if I had agreed to them.
This could be why there's no lawyers left in this county that will represent him.
This is where choosing the correct realtor is the most important factor.
A competent realtor will price your home correctly and it shouldn't sit for months and months. If it does, shame on your realtor. That's their job. Changing the rules after the game starts is not the way to do business. OTOH, a seller is at the realtors' mercy and unfortunately in a lot of cases are not worth the money.
I'm not sure we're fully understanding you emilybh. Do you have a written listing agreement with this agent stating a specific commission that was signed by both parties?
Actually a better analogy would be: you saw the sales quota and the commission associated with each revenue amount provided 6 weeks ago. Considering your sales were less than the lowest level, don't whine and complain that you aren't getting paid at the highest level.
I actually did give the agent different price points and what the commissions would be reduced to at each one and he said he "had no problem with that". The lowest price point was $7500 more
than what the selling price was.
Now he's threatening to ruin the deal if he doesn't get the highest commission level and claims he doesn't agree even though he received multiple written messages with the commissions spelled out.
This is actually an acceptable commission type called the graduated commission structure...at least I think that's what it's called. Is somewhat common in commercial real estate, and as long as the terms were spelled out in the listing contract and agreed to by both parties, that agent better not be ruining the deal. They were willing to accept the structure to get your listing, they better live up to it.
However, when people say "Isn't something better than nothing?" It is! However when we take a listing we immediately are out of pocket a certain dollar amount, and the only thing we have to justify our risk is the listing agreement we have with the seller. So when I take a listing I have to ask "Is negative $XXXX better than nothing?" I access this risk by what potential I have to sell this house.
I just think it is completely wrong for a seller, after coming to a mutual agreement at time of listing for a specified commission, to ask for their agent to take a pay cut. The seller knows how much they will have to pay in commissions, and if the market dictates that your home will only sell for so much, there isn't much the agent can do. We can justify a higher selling price and negotiate until the cows come home, but if a buyer is only willing to go so high, the will only go so high. It is completely up to the seller to determine whether or not to accept a deal or wait to see what happens in the unknown future. I mean are you as a seller, in this market especially, going to kill your own deal over 1 or 2%???
I would only consider a reduction in commission at closing if that 1% or 2% is the difference between a short sale or a seller being able to just walk away.
How many home sellers out there have reduced commissions before signing the P&S agreement to compensate for low ball offers and poor ability of agents to get reasonable sales prices on your home?
Aren't most agents willing to accept less? After all something isn't better than nothing?
Have any agents ruined a deal (told their buyers not to go though with it) when a seller did this?
There's no way on God's green earth I would let you pull this with me, Emily.
Your agent isn't threatening to ruin the deal - you are. If your home did not receive any offer during the listing period, would you be open to the agent renegotiating the listing agreement to a flat fee for listing the property?
Sure, it wasn't in the listing agreement you signed, but perhaps your property was overpriced, wasn't clean enough, or you didn't allow showings 24-7.
Give me a break, Emily.
If you didn't like the offer and were so confident that a better one would come your way, you should have turned it down and waited for the next one.
And on a final note - I seriously doubt if your agent is going to see your position as anything other than a contemptible bluff. The agent did his job: he brought you and offer that you found acceptable. The question is are you willing to lose this sale - in a market that nearly everyone expects to decline further?
Last edited by Eric Young; 11-02-2007 at 09:55 PM..
I'm not sure we're fully understanding you emilybh. Do you have a written listing agreement with this agent stating a specific commission that was signed by both parties?
I'm not sure I fully understand either... Are you a FSBO and a Realtor brought the buyer? Do you have a listing agreement with this Realtor AND he brought the buyer?
The operative words here "agreed to it orally". I don't know what state you're in, but in VA if it's not in writing, it never happened. I'm also wondering about the "multiple written messages". Were those messages made a part of your agreement with the agent? Did you all sign off on the changes?
If *I* list **your** property and I get more than the list price you have chosen, do I get a chance to renegotiate my fee upward, before you accept the contract?
*I* being any licensee in good standing
**you** being any seller with a signed service agreement.
So that I make sure I understand, you aren't happy with your net and you think your agent is to blame that your home isn't worth more? You would like your Realtor to make less so you can make more? Do I understand you correctly?
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