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So I've been increasingly frustrated with my realtor. And I wasn't getting answers from her as to what she was doing about it. After 90 days on the market and 2 other homes in the neighborhood selling in my price range (or just a bit lower once all said and done), I decided to end it.
I picked out a new realtor and on Wed. this week emailed the realtor to end it. By that afternoon she'd conceded and said she'd fill out the paperwork and take down her signs.
I tell the new realtor we're set and that the next day we can go forward.
Next day comes (Thursday, yesterday), and by 10:30 am the MLS hasn't changed despite my agreement with other realtor that it's over. I sign my part of paperwork with new realtor and take them home to be signed by husband when he gets back into town (which is tonight, Friday).
I wait all day for MLS to change so my new realtor can put hers up. By early afternoon I get frantic messages from former realtors office that they want to show it and they aren't taking MLS down until midnight (nowhere was I told this before) , so I'm obliged to do it and I get a rather unpleasant message from the broker to this effect.
So, despite my having picked up the paperwork and key earlier, I have to take key back to them for a 5:50 showing.
Well, lo and behold an offer comes today from those people. Now I'm hopping mad, as it's for the price that I've listed with new realtor (who did list with MLS this morning), minus some amount of closing cost. I'm also angry as I don't know if this is legal at all and I'm leery to go ahead. Esp. with husband still out of town.
I tell this realtor that she'd better find out what's legal before I counter. Counter has to be back by 5pm, btw, and this is maybe noon.
By 3:30 she calls and emails to say that lawyer for local Board of Realtors says that because my husband hasn't signed papers with new realtor, nor papers with them cancelling other contract, that we are still forced to be under contract with them.
Well, now I'm totally ticked and feel stuck and taken advantage of. We want to sell. It's a tough market and our house has been on for like 93 days now. But I committed to the new realtor and wanted this over and done with.
I feel like it was a dirty sneaky trick. I don't know what the lawyer really said, I didn't get official written confirmation.
By 4 I'm waiting to hear from husband if he wants to do this. He does, as we want to sell. So at 4 I write to tell realtor to send our counter offer. I have written to new realtor to tell her the deal, and apologize. She says that she thinks because she already listed with MLS (other listing expired at midnight last night) that they are wrong, but she won't argue.
I feel pretty sh**** about this. I never wanted this to happen. It's awful. I used to like other realtor, but just didn't think she saw things the way I did so I made the decision to leave, but she felt it was ok to behave this way despite what I wanted and what we agreed to.
If we sell, it's all well and good. But not really, as I'll never think of this as something that went well. It's been a terrible process and I don't think I'm feeling very trusting at this point. I'm just frustrated and need to vent.
Be happy you sold and don't worry about the rest. If your husband hasn't signed yet then it's not a contract. If the new Realtor didn't know that then you don't want him/her either. Work it out, sell the house, and move on.
Well you have several issues here... 1) In Oregon you would have to agree to a dual agency in order for your agent to bring you a buyer. If you didn't agree to it, then you have a problem.
2) You have to follow the termination terms of your contract. If the contract says that they have 24 or 48 hours to terminate the listing, (it takes a while to get everything pulled offline), then you need to follow the contract.
3) While I usually agree with Brandon, if your husband verbally agreed to the contract, you have a contract with the new agent. Verbal contracts are just difficult to prove which is why we like things in writing...no misunderstandings.
4) If you did not sign termination paperwork with the other company, then you are still bound to that contract. Most contracts require termination in writing. It's unfortunate that your agent is not honoring the termination, but you already said you were frustrated with them.
Having said all that. I agree with Brandon. It's a tough market. Work out a deal with the buyer and move on. Then don't refer that agent to anyone else.
It was pulled off of MLS at midnight last night. The offer came in today. That is where I see a problem. But I know nothing of the legalities.
I won't refer this agent ever. That's what makes me so mad. She did the paperwork for us to buy the house we're in now, and we were happy enough with that, so we let her list our other one. We didn't ask for any sort of drop in the commission (though several people told us we should as we were "repeat" customers) so I would've expected this to be fair and just when I decided it wasn't working. I never expected anything quite so nasty. The call from her broker was especially unnecessary and unprofessional.
Hopefully it will go through. And then I'll never ever buy or sell another house again. Can't trust another realtor for a long time.
I'd suggest that you have this "offer" vetted by an impartial 3rd party.
My sister had an experience once, where the listing agent produced a "buyer" just a few days before the listing(which wasn't going to be renewed) expired.
Agent 3 weeks later: "Oh, oops. The buyer couldn't obtain the mortgage. But, it's o.k. because comps have increased and "we" won't have any trouble finding a new buyer,blah,blah,blah".
Fortunately for them, my BIL's b.s. detector is pretty keen and he knew the agent was just trying to hold onto the listing. Not all are unscrupulous, but unfortunately, many are.
And you deserve to have great representation in buying and selling.
I know it's business. I do. Which is exactly what I told her when I ended our listing (or thought I did!).
Your last is exactly what I plan to say to her. We deserve great representation and in this case, didn't get it!
It's hard to understand why she made such a fuss. We bought a huge house and she made a double digit commission when we bought. She'll get much much less on this sale!
Be happy you sold and don't worry about the rest. If your husband hasn't signed yet then it's not a contract. If the new Realtor didn't know that then you don't want him/her either. Work it out, sell the house, and move on.
As usual, spot on.
Right now, 90 days market time is a drop in the ole bucket in most of the U.S.
Real estate is not fungible- no two properties are alike. So for whatever reason, 2 buyers prefered other area homes to the OP's and somehow this was perceived to be the OP's Realtor's fault. Hmmm.
With less competition, the third buyer who wanted to live in the area, decided to buy the OP's home at the 11th hour.
How fabulous is this. My goodness, the OP is among the very fortunate who has a contract and can move on with life.
Well, when we were already $15,000 less than the other 2 homes I couldn't figure out why. But that's not the problem. I continually asked her how she was marketing and she kept giving me the same answer. I asked her to do something different (as in put it on the broker tour) but she didn't.
I'm upset because I wanted to terminate our contract, she didn't and went ahead otherwise. To me, this is legal according to our situation, but unethical and that upsets me because now I have another realtor mad at me for the situation.
Can't I come here and whine just a bit about it? I'm still happy that finally the house will sell. I never complained about it. but mean phone calls from the broker to me is not a nice way to make it happen
Here is my input.
Our 1st contract expired, at 10 days later, we were still on the MLS. I emailed, telling her we weren't renewing, she kept telling me it was inactive. I tell the new agent this, he says no, it's active & he can't list it if it is. I wrote a letter to the broker, faxing a copy to the agent, finally satisfaction.
My question is, how did agent 2 list on the MLS if it was still active? If it was cancelled & inactive, then agent 2 might legally be entitled to commission, no?
As for dropping the key back off, I wouldn't have. I would have stayed to let them in and told them to lock up on their way out.
I'm glad it worked out in the end, or hopefully it does work out in the end.
Good luck.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mandib
So I've been increasingly frustrated with my realtor. And I wasn't getting answers from her as to what she was doing about it. After 90 days on the market and 2 other homes in the neighborhood selling in my price range (or just a bit lower once all said and done), I decided to end it.
I picked out a new realtor and on Wed. this week emailed the realtor to end it. By that afternoon she'd conceded and said she'd fill out the paperwork and take down her signs.
I tell the new realtor we're set and that the next day we can go forward.
Next day comes (Thursday, yesterday), and by 10:30 am the MLS hasn't changed despite my agreement with other realtor that it's over. I sign my part of paperwork with new realtor and take them home to be signed by husband when he gets back into town (which is tonight, Friday).
I wait all day for MLS to change so my new realtor can put hers up. By early afternoon I get frantic messages from former realtors office that they want to show it and they aren't taking MLS down until midnight (nowhere was I told this before) , so I'm obliged to do it and I get a rather unpleasant message from the broker to this effect.
So, despite my having picked up the paperwork and key earlier, I have to take key back to them for a 5:50 showing.
Well, lo and behold an offer comes today from those people. Now I'm hopping mad, as it's for the price that I've listed with new realtor (who did list with MLS this morning), minus some amount of closing cost. I'm also angry as I don't know if this is legal at all and I'm leery to go ahead. Esp. with husband still out of town.
I tell this realtor that she'd better find out what's legal before I counter. Counter has to be back by 5pm, btw, and this is maybe noon.
By 3:30 she calls and emails to say that lawyer for local Board of Realtors says that because my husband hasn't signed papers with new realtor, nor papers with them cancelling other contract, that we are still forced to be under contract with them.
Well, now I'm totally ticked and feel stuck and taken advantage of. We want to sell. It's a tough market and our house has been on for like 93 days now. But I committed to the new realtor and wanted this over and done with.
I feel like it was a dirty sneaky trick. I don't know what the lawyer really said, I didn't get official written confirmation.
By 4 I'm waiting to hear from husband if he wants to do this. He does, as we want to sell. So at 4 I write to tell realtor to send our counter offer. I have written to new realtor to tell her the deal, and apologize. She says that she thinks because she already listed with MLS (other listing expired at midnight last night) that they are wrong, but she won't argue.
I feel pretty sh**** about this. I never wanted this to happen. It's awful. I used to like other realtor, but just didn't think she saw things the way I did so I made the decision to leave, but she felt it was ok to behave this way despite what I wanted and what we agreed to.
If we sell, it's all well and good. But not really, as I'll never think of this as something that went well. It's been a terrible process and I don't think I'm feeling very trusting at this point. I'm just frustrated and need to vent.
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