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/u/whimski
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My grandfather passed away last year and as part of his estate, his house was placed in a trust, and our family has decided to sell the home. My mother has been put in charge of selling the home and found an agent who specializes in this particular area of town and has a pretty good volume of similar houses sold, a good reputation, and is from a well established brokerage for the city we live in.
Before the house was fully marketed and "sent out", our listing agent found a buyer, offering 6% under asking. The house has been shown to 2 total interested parties so far, and since this buyer was found, there have been no other showings. Our listing agent has a previous relationship with the buyers and is representing them. This already raises some yellow flags but when dealing with the particular nature of the home we kind of figured that it was somewhat common as the listing agent is assumedly bringing in or marketing to buyers from out of town that may not have prior representation.
However, after being notified of the offer, he mentioned that he discounted 1% of his commission on the buyer's side (ie a kickback) "so that they were able to make a higher offer". When asked if he is willing to drop 1% of his commission on our end of the deal he declined, and mentioned "1% off for them is the same as 1% off for you since the offer is higher. While this is technically true if it gets the buyer to an offer high enough to make the deal, the sheer fact that he is willing to lower the commission on their end of the deal and collude with them to make an attractive offer, but is unwilling to work with us to keep the deal fair raised major red flags for us. Additionally, when asked about countering above asking to compensate for the buyer side 1% commission discount, he stated that he "wasn't sure if you could counter above asking price legally". Which is obviously complete and utter bullshit. I am not an agent and I have only a few experiences buying or selling my primary home but even I know you can counter with whatever number you feel like. There have been a few other similar small comments here or there that make me firmly believe he is either straight up gaslighting my mom or is incredibly incompetent at his job, and a lot of things keep conveniently lining up in favor of the buyer, like offering exactly in the middle of the price range he estimated the house to be at, how the buyer needed a counter/response the same day for X reason, or how the buyer just so happened to be the first to see the house when it wasn't on the market yet.
Based on this and the immediacy of the offer as well as the extremely short time on market, we decided to counter at full listing price with 1% off the comission on our end of the deal. Which is a bit of an aggressive counter but the time on market was only a few days at that point and we are not in a rush to sell. The market value of the home could very well be what was offered, so the initial offer isn't necessarily a horrible offer or lowball. That counter expired on Monday, and our agent was nowhere to be found. My mother had a call with him and he proclaimed "Oh wow it is Monday huh? I guess the counter does expire today." as if he had forgotten all about it, with no explanation or attempt to contact his buyers to get an answer for us. Meanwhile when his buyers made the offer on the house, he was blowing up my moms phone with texts and calls all day long. He also made a snide remark about how my family "wouldn't miss $X (1%)" when discussing about the commission.
Ultimately we want out of this contract as the trust between us has broken down and we are not confident that he is acting in our best interest. This guy is throwing way too many red flags and we do not feel comfortable working with him anymore. Is there a way out of the listing contract that isn't just "amicably part ways"? Do we need to bite the bullet and hire an attorney if he refuses to relent? Can we just take the home off the market and then sign later with a different agent? Are we in the wrong for not taking it on the chin and making a more reasonable counter, as the offer is in the ballpark of what the home is likely worth?
This was longer than I had anticipated. I am a third party to this, I just hate the potential of my family being taken advantage of by this guy, and my mom does not want to deal with him any more. I was hoping to get some opinions volunteered before pursuing other avenues like an attorney. I greatly appreciate any insight people may have. Thank you!
TLDR: Our listing agent is representing the buyers who made offer on home. Offer is fairly reasonable but the circumstances around it are not and really smell of collusion against us and in favor of the buyer. Listing agent has gaslighted my mother on very basic parts of the offer/counter process, as well as made some rude snide remarks. We want out of the listing agreement, is there a way to do this besides getting an attorney and potentially paying penalties to current agent?
submitted by /u/whimski
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Dual agent w/ poor ethics is gaslighting (seller). How to cancel listing contract?
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Before the house was fully marketed and "sent out", our listing agent found a buyer, offering 6% under asking. The house has been shown to 2 total interested parties so far, and since this buyer was found, there have been no other showings. Our listing agent has a previous relationship with the buyers and is representing them. This already raises some yellow flags but when dealing with the particular nature of the home we kind of figured that it was somewhat common as the listing agent is assumedly bringing in or marketing to buyers from out of town that may not have prior representation.
However, after being notified of the offer, he mentioned that he discounted 1% of his commission on the buyer's side (ie a kickback) "so that they were able to make a higher offer". When asked if he is willing to drop 1% of his commission on our end of the deal he declined, and mentioned "1% off for them is the same as 1% off for you since the offer is higher. While this is technically true if it gets the buyer to an offer high enough to make the deal, the sheer fact that he is willing to lower the commission on their end of the deal and collude with them to make an attractive offer, but is unwilling to work with us to keep the deal fair raised major red flags for us. Additionally, when asked about countering above asking to compensate for the buyer side 1% commission discount, he stated that he "wasn't sure if you could counter above asking price legally". Which is obviously complete and utter bullshit. I am not an agent and I have only a few experiences buying or selling my primary home but even I know you can counter with whatever number you feel like. There have been a few other similar small comments here or there that make me firmly believe he is either straight up gaslighting my mom or is incredibly incompetent at his job, and a lot of things keep conveniently lining up in favor of the buyer, like offering exactly in the middle of the price range he estimated the house to be at, how the buyer needed a counter/response the same day for X reason, or how the buyer just so happened to be the first to see the house when it wasn't on the market yet.
Based on this and the immediacy of the offer as well as the extremely short time on market, we decided to counter at full listing price with 1% off the comission on our end of the deal. Which is a bit of an aggressive counter but the time on market was only a few days at that point and we are not in a rush to sell. The market value of the home could very well be what was offered, so the initial offer isn't necessarily a horrible offer or lowball. That counter expired on Monday, and our agent was nowhere to be found. My mother had a call with him and he proclaimed "Oh wow it is Monday huh? I guess the counter does expire today." as if he had forgotten all about it, with no explanation or attempt to contact his buyers to get an answer for us. Meanwhile when his buyers made the offer on the house, he was blowing up my moms phone with texts and calls all day long. He also made a snide remark about how my family "wouldn't miss $X (1%)" when discussing about the commission.
Ultimately we want out of this contract as the trust between us has broken down and we are not confident that he is acting in our best interest. This guy is throwing way too many red flags and we do not feel comfortable working with him anymore. Is there a way out of the listing contract that isn't just "amicably part ways"? Do we need to bite the bullet and hire an attorney if he refuses to relent? Can we just take the home off the market and then sign later with a different agent? Are we in the wrong for not taking it on the chin and making a more reasonable counter, as the offer is in the ballpark of what the home is likely worth?
This was longer than I had anticipated. I am a third party to this, I just hate the potential of my family being taken advantage of by this guy, and my mom does not want to deal with him any more. I was hoping to get some opinions volunteered before pursuing other avenues like an attorney. I greatly appreciate any insight people may have. Thank you!
TLDR: Our listing agent is representing the buyers who made offer on home. Offer is fairly reasonable but the circumstances around it are not and really smell of collusion against us and in favor of the buyer. Listing agent has gaslighted my mother on very basic parts of the offer/counter process, as well as made some rude snide remarks. We want out of the listing agreement, is there a way to do this besides getting an attorney and potentially paying penalties to current agent?
submitted by /u/whimski
[link] [comments]
Dual agent w/ poor ethics is gaslighting (seller). How to cancel listing contract?
Continue reading...