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This line can be seen in each of the posts linked below: "Either party may terminate this agency agreement at any time prior to location of a suitable property."
That line is templated into my Buyers Agency Agreement, NCAR Standard Form 201, and it certainly would have served the OP to require such a line in the agreement he signed.
How would this have 'served the OP'?
What does 'location' mean in this context?
Presented to the buyer (i.e. he's 'located' it for me and told me about it)?
On some short list in the agent's office (i.e. he's 'located' it for me)?
On the MLS that the agent subscribes to (i.e. he pays for access to a database of house 'locations')?
Even if you use a strict interpretation of 'location' (say, to present and show a property to the client), it's nonsense, meaningless and offers very little protection for the buyer.
If I tell you I want a 3 bedroom house in Cary, and you 'locate' me one (i.e. it's 'suitable' --- it meets my stated requirements), I cannot terminate after that, according to your wording. I would not be able to terminate the contract and go and find a completely different house by myself or with another agent. You've already met the conditions where I can no longer terminate as long as one 'suitable' property for me has been located. So how would this have served the OP, assuming that the OP's agent 'located' at least one 'suitable' property for them?
But...quite often a buyer finds a house himself online or drives by and then engages a buyer's agent. The 'location of a suitable property' has already been accomplished even before the agent was engaged. The wording does not say that the agent even needs to locate the 'suitable property'. If the buyer does it himself, he can no longer terminate.
The termination clause is important. How can an industry that deals in contracts get something so simple so wrong? Why are the simplest things so often botched beyond recognition in realtor-land?
I'm talking about the selling agent's boss ... broker in charge etc., broker that manages his office.
People are too quick to 'get an attorney, sue the b***ards. Gets you nowhere but a pile of legal bills and other expenses. This is not a case that will ever get to a judge; attorneys don't have time for minor cases like this.
Believe it or not, it is not a big deal .... the only 'big deals' are if there are substantial damages. Which neither the agent nor the buyer can sue for. If the OP continues to slander his original buyer's agent, however, he will regret it.
What makes you think it will never get in front of a judge? When I was an agent, the broker in charge had several attorneys on his speed dial ready to sue anyone who avoided paying the commission.
Presented to the buyer (i.e. he's 'located' it for me and told me about it)?
On some short list in the agent's office (i.e. he's 'located' it for me)?
On the MLS that the agent subscribes to (i.e. he pays for access to a database of house 'locations')?
Even if you use a strict interpretation of 'location' (say, to present and show a property to the client), it's nonsense, meaningless and offers very little protection for the buyer.
If I tell you I want a 3 bedroom house in Cary, and you 'locate' me one (i.e. it's 'suitable' --- it meets my stated requirements), I cannot terminate after that, according to your wording. I would not be able to terminate the contract and go and find a completely different house by myself or with another agent. You've already met the conditions where I can no longer terminate as long as one 'suitable' property for me has been located. So how would this have served the OP, assuming that the OP's agent 'located' at least one 'suitable' property for them?
But...quite often a buyer finds a house himself online or drives by and then engages a buyer's agent. The 'location of a suitable property' has already been accomplished even before the agent was engaged. The wording does not say that the agent even needs to locate the 'suitable property'. If the buyer does it himself, he can no longer terminate.
The termination clause is important. How can an industry that deals in contracts get something so simple so wrong? Why are the simplest things so often botched beyond recognition in realtor-land?
Your really grasping at straws. You think NCAR got three realtors together who decided to write the standard agreement between post golf Margaritas? Do You really think they didn’t have their own lawyers vet it before sending out a standard agreement used by most every realtor and buyer/seller?
The meaning is pretty clear. You can fire your agent as long as you don’t do so before finding a house you want. I can’t imagine a judge would see it differently. You can present 1000 what ifs but it isn’t complicated. Suitable would be defined as a property the buyer wishes to make an offer on.
Thanks, Guys….I understand that court will not accept all of my eMails conversations which I had with the agent to terminate the contract before buying new home…….
However what about Realtor’s Association and Agent’s company management…..Will they also not consider my email conversations and all those unprofessionalism that agent did??
Moreover, I will surely share this horrible experience with public forums including agent’s company LinkedIn profile too
Will above steps help me in any way?
Who says the court will not accept all of your email conversations? They may, they may not. That and everything else depends on the judge you get and what side of the bed he woke up on.
There is a clause in the contract "Broker will Put the interests of the client above all others, including the broker's own interests;"......However, he always put his own interest above than us. He never helped us in reducing the asking price….He always pressurize us to put higher bid……Moreover most of the time he sent us only those listing which was listed by his company only.....
Is this an acceptable argument in court?
Most agents CANT do anything when it comes to pricing. They can point out issues or explain/justify why the offer is less but as far as the agent having since divine power to lower the property price isn’t gonna happen.
I have never signed a buyers contract with any agent. If i did have to in order to purchase, there will be a escape clause.
Some pressure to pay more so you can close the sale or get the accepted bid. AT NO TIME are you forced to up your bid. My agent tried that. I simply said no I don’t want to do that.
What makes you think it will never get in front of a judge? When I was an agent, the broker in charge had several attorneys on his speed dial ready to sue anyone who avoided paying the commission.
And I don't blame him! Otherwise people would do what the OP did all the time to get out of paying commission! This is their salary OP! You broke a contract, good luck!
And I don't blame him! Otherwise, people would do what the OP did all the time to get out of paying commission! This is their salary OP! You broke a contract, good luck!
Just wanted to reiterate that I dropped that agent only after his miserable unprofessional behavior. He took me to few properties only one time and my entire family decided to drop him after that showing only.
Moreover, before dropping him I requested him a lot to terminate the contract and let me go. However, he didn’t agree and told that I can't have another agent until the end date which is 5 more months.
I completely felt trapped with no option left. Moreover, due to a good (or bad) timing, I found a dream home myself. Hence seller didn't agree to pay anything to buyer agent.
Not sure whether the court will consider my position. However, I think that any genuine family would have done which we did.
Just wanted to reiterate that I dropped that agent only after his miserable unprofessional behavior. He took me to few properties only one time and my entire family decided to drop him after that showing only.
Moreover, before dropping him I requested him a lot to terminate the contract and let me go. However, he didn’t agree and told that I can't have another agent until the end date which is 5 more months.
I completely felt trapped with no option left. Moreover, due to a good (or bad) timing, I found a dream home myself. Hence seller didn't agree to pay anything to buyer agent.
Not sure whether the court will consider my position. However, I think that any genuine family would have done which we did.
You're the one who signed the contract! You agreed to whatever was in it.
Many people have asked what this unprofessional behavior was. You STILL haven't answered. So it's making me wonder if there was an real unprofessional behavior or if he just said something like you can't afford that house. That's not unprofessional. That's the truth if you have been preapproved for $250K and you want to look at $500K houses.
He didn't let you out of the agreement. So what makes you think you don't owe him? You signed a contract. What part of that don't you understand?
I've worked with plenty of realtors I wasn't thrilled with. This isn't personal. You're not going to be bffs. No one is going to hold your hand. This is a business transaction. Nothing more. Nothing less. So many people get hurt feelings over nonsense....usually it's the truth that butt hurts them.
However, he always put his own interest above than us. He never helped us in reducing the asking price….He always pressurize us to put higher bid……Moreover most of the time he sent us only those listing which was listed by his company only.....
maybe there's a language/communication barrier here, but this is much different from "he showed us a group of houses 1 time".
still, I'd say my last post is more relevant.
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and LOL.
