Expert: Connie Wildasinn-Broker,GRI,Realtor® - 6/8/2011

Question
Hello, my wife and I are closing on a new house tomorrow afternoon.  We have a great realtor working with us and he provided us everything we needed to make the selection.  The house we chose is truly the house we want.  The problem is the realtor representing the sellers set our closing date to June 3rd in our contract that was signed by all parties after 1 round of negotiations which included us getting $750 for repairs (listed on the inspection) and a refrigerator.  We moved from Biloxi, MS on the 26th of May and on are currently staying in a Hotel in Oklahoma City.  We found out on May 30th that the realtor representing the sellers was supposed to put in a closing date of June 9th because the family that is currently in there (military family) does not have government movers scheduled until the 8th.  We understand the TMO process of moving being as we are a military household as well but are very irritated because this caused us to leave work (without pay) and our former home a full week early thus raking up a large bill at our hotel and the storage expenses of having our household goods in a rental truck.  We itemized the expenses and sent it to their realtor which exceeded $1,900 and she countered saying she would only compensate with $200.  This seems like an insult and although we know we can take the sellers to small claims court we would like to avoid it because it wasn't their fault but the fault of the lacking realtor.  My wife signed an addendum on the 2nd to push the closing back to the 9th because we did not want to lose the house because of this realtor.  We would like the realtor to pay for this as a compensation for breaking the original contract.  Do you have any thoughts on actions we could take?  I spoke with the realtor's boss and did not get anywhere and the realtor herself does not return phone calls or emails to us or our realtor. I am very savvy with internet reviews and aside from posting on multiple sites about the poor outcome of working with this realtor and her boss, I am at a loss.

Answer
Hi James,

Although I can tell you in 10 years this will be a story for the kids, it stings right now...

You assume the realtor is to blame?  They only know what is being told at the time to them.  Both Principle sides (buyer side/seller side) signed and agreed to a contract.  Every party read the contract, every party went to the closing table per the contract...

It sounds like the family moving, may well have not known/or changes at HR until after the signatures were signed and everyone had an agreement.

You may have an option to close on a later date if the seller can not proform, check with your lender... and be sure the seller agrees... if not and you must close to contract, I would suggest you counter back now with another offer to settle outside of small claims.  Have you tried to negoicate? or only one shot over on what you'd like to see happen?

Be real on the fact that everyone pays for the roof over the head daily, so do not expect them to cover 100% of the charges,  but all sides being fair... your cost to stay in a hotel less <normal daily rent/mortgage charges>, storage for the items you can not move in etc...

As for the realtor paying, honestly they are not the cause, they are the messenger and sometimes the messenger of news not appreciated. Keep in mind the other realtor is barred from speaking with you on an ethics level, but they should be speaking to your agent and your agents broker (has your agents broker gotten involved?) ... your communication must go through your realtor...

Please bear in mind... you are not getting the whole story, and most likely never will... so decide what is most important to you, how much if any you want or must have to be satisfied and go after that... small claims may be your only remedy.. my goal would be to get them out!