Expert: Russel Ray - 3/15/2007

Question
I HAD A AGENT FOR ABOUT A YEAR, AND IN THE LISTING THEY HAD INACCURATE FACTS ABOUT MY HOME AND DIDNT SEEM TO WANT TO CHANGE THEM. AFTER 1 CONTRACT, WHICH FELL THRU I FIRED THEM AND HIRED ANOTHER RELATOR. WITHIN THREE DAYS I HAD 3 OFFERS AND ACCEPTED 1. NOW MY FORMER RELATOR SAYS SHE IS STILL THE LISTING AGENT. WHAT SHOULD I DO?  

Answer
That can depend on several factors. Sometimes the situation is addressed by legal statutes, but mostly it's addressed by the type of contract you signed with the Realtor. Let's use a six-month exclusive contract as an example. Many such contracts have a fine-print clause that basically says that if, within 90 days after the contract has expired, a purchase offer is received, then the contract covers that purchase offer. So some 6-month contracts can very easily be 9-month contracts. Some clauses are a little better in that they state that the contract would only be extended to someone who visited an open house or otherwise contacted the agent during the six months and then made a purchase offer within 90 days after the contract expired. The purpose of the clause is to prevent a prospective buyer from looking over a property and then waiting until the listing contract expired to make a lower purchase offer, believing that he could do so because he wouldn't have to pay the commission of the listing agent.

I had a similar situation seven years ago. I listed my property with a well-known agent who negligently failed to tell me that she was going on a 30-day cruise to Rio starting this coming weekend. Uh-huh. It's well known that the first 30 days on the market can be critical to selling a property. I had 4 open houses and received 2 purchase offers. She came back and wanted 3% commission on a $680,000 purchase. Uh, no. We couldn't come to an agreement, so I took it off the market. However, the buyer's agent called me to see if we could work something out. Ultimately, my agent reduced her fee to 1˝% and the buyer's agent paid my agent her 1˝% commission out of his 3˝% commission. So it turned into a win-win, but not because of my agent, that's for sure.

So read your fine print to look for that fine-print clause. If you need further help, I'm happy to read over your contract for you to see what little things I can find. Also be looking around for a good real estate attorney, but keep communication lines open with your old agent just in case. Money turns family against family and friend against friend, but try not to do that too early in the process.