Posted by Brian (UT) on July 16, 2005 at 11:18:51:
Sue,
It’s apparent to me something is wrong. Your right, you wouldn’t need to sign anything is all was done properly. The only reason to have you sign anything at this point is to cover someone’s ass. I would let the sellers know you are planning to file a lawsuit and will file a Lis Pendens which will stop the sale in it’s tracks. I would then tell the Listing Broker the same thing, not the agent, the broker. Maybe then you will get some answers.
You said this was a great deal or else I would forget it. I would have my attorney send the seller a letter. This cost me about $100. I would also send a letter to your agents broker advising him that you will not be using their agency because it appears you may have to sue him and the agent, and you would also like the name of his errors and ommissions insurance carrier.
Your not obligated to pursue any legal actions but it should stir the water enough to find out if there is a shark in the water, maybe your agent and her boyfriend? At the least I would file a complaint with the real estate board and the Dept. of Real estate. When she was showing your husband the property did she say anything about the status of your offer, was there a time limit? I don’t know where this took place but in the areas I bought in, the buyers agent presented the offer along with the sellers agent. As a future tip, if that is not the custom in your area, put it in the contract that your agent is to be present at the time of the offer. And as a second tip, have your agent keep the offer until the time of the presentation so the listing agent can’t shop it around.
Posted by Susan Burgess on July 15, 2005 at 12:36:52:
I found the perfect home and looked at it with my agent on a Tusday afternoon. The house was for sale by another realty company and after talking to the sellers agent several times that day, we knew that the house was still available. I knew the home was perfect and the only thing affordable we had found. The house was truly a steal for the price! My husband hadn’t seen it yet, so my agent suggested making an offer contingent upon my husbands approval. So I did so and it was set to expire at noon on Thursday. On Wednesday morning, we took my husband to see the house and our agent came with her husband/boyfriend (not sure which). Her boyfriend loved the place and when finding out the price made it clear to her that she should have looked into the house before showing it to anyone. We said we wanted the house and we left. She said she would put in our offer and call me if I needed to come and sign anything else. I heard nothing from her until Friday morning. She then told me that someone else had put an offer on the house and kept encouraging me to look for another property. She said the offer was made at the same time as mine was made. Seems like we would have heard about this before? Anyway, my husband and I have a nagging suspicion that the other bidder was our agent or her husband. What can we do?
Posted by Natalie-VA on July 19, 2005 at 13:33:04:
Susan,
You need more facts to pursue this. I am a RE Broker, not an attorney.
First, if you have no contract (meaning the seller never signed), you have no standing to sue the seller or cloud their title in any way. Don’t do it.
Secondly, you need to find out whether the agent and her husband/boyfriend are the other buyers or not. Until you know for sure, you can’t do anything.
If they aren’t the buyers, then you just lost out to someone else. Happens all the time.
If they are the buyers, I would ask you if you had a buyer representation agreement with the agent. If so, then you might have reason to file a complaint with your state’s licensing authority. If you had no written agreement for the agent to represent you, it’s just your word against hers, but you should complain to the broker.
Posted by Brian (UT) on July 16, 2005 at 24:59:13:
Susan,
From what you say, you wrote up an offer but you don’t say it was presented and accepted. If it wasn’t accepted the seller is free to take other offers. I have a feeling the agent failed to present your offer and if she did, she failed to communicate your husbands o.k.
I personally would go directly to the seller and ask what the sequence of events were, then I would have the agent tell me what happened in front of the agents broker, and I would want to know who ended up with the accepted offer, and the name of their agent. Something smells fishy. I would decide what to do at that point. Either a specific performance lawsuit against the seller, or pursue action against the agent.
Posted by Sue Burgess on July 16, 2005 at 09:29:15:
I did call the sellers agent, who happened to be out of the office. I talked to another agent in her office who said my offer was received along with another and just said mine is in second. She could not say who the other person was, how much or whose was received first. My agent keeps telling me I need to sign some paper so that if I find something else in the meantime I will not be obligated to this house and will be out from under the contract. And she keeps telling me to look at other houses. Why should I need to sign something? If the other buyer gets the house, how am I under any obligation? Am I missing something?