Realtor tries to kill deal - Posted by Anne-ND
Posted by Anne-ND on July 17, 2001 at 22:01:25:
I called on an ad in the paper for a house to rent. I was looking for a place to buy so I could get a tenant out of a house that I need to sell. Something about this ad smelled more like a seller than a landlord.
Sure enough, she wanted to sell, in fact had the house listed. I described how we buy (with seller financing), and she said to come by a few nights later when her tenant was showing it to some prospective tenants.
When we got there the seller was there too- even though it was a 90 minute drive for her, she wanted to meet us. We hit it off, we liked the house, she agreed to our terms. We agreed to pay the commission at closing and take possession subject to, she would allow us to pay for her equity in three years time when we were to either refi or sell.
I went to fill out the purchase and sale agreement at the Broker’s office, and they insisted on writing it up as a CfD on their contract, I said okay, but let me also submit a purchase and sale agreement (Bronchick’s) with the subject to deal that the seller and I had verbally agreed to. She can choose the offer she likes better.
I get a call back from the Broker/Realtor demanding all kinds of things from us (supposedly from the seller), including a higher interest rate on the equity, and our personal credit reports. I said no way, and figured that was it. By the way, the higher interest rate was part of the offer I’d written up on my P & S agreement.
Today I get a call from the seller, very meek, telling me she had been instructed NOT to speak to me under any circumstances by the realtor (that’s right, realtor with a small R). The realtor had also told her outright not to even read the purchase and sale agreement I had submitted, to just insist on changes in the offer that was written up on her own contract. We again verbally agreed to some terms that would work for both of us (this time she agreed to hold the financing for 6 years rather than 3 years). She begged me NOT to inform the realtor that we had spoken, just asked me to resubmit my offer with these new terms which are more advantageous to us (because we like the longer terms), and she would sign it tomorrow. As we often try to do, we gave her her full asking price with the stipulation that we get to choose the terms.
I know the realtor was trying to protect her seller, but if the seller had not called me both of them would have lost the deal. It’s only been listed a week, and it was a full-price offer to close in a week. A confused mind says no, I guess. When the seller hung up she kept telling me how much she appreciated that I was still willing to work with her- no problem, she’s a nice person, I liked her and I really like her house and the terms we got. It just made me think about all the offers I used to put in through realtors, and the time I spent to explain Bronchicks (very simple) P & S agreement. Probably very few of them even got shown to the seller. Sad.
Just had to vent a little, usually I don’t have a problem with realtors, but this irked me.
Anne