Right to Represent Buyer Contract?

I signed a Right to Represent Buyer Contract and want to break the contract, due to the fact I found a house with a friend of a family for sale by owner. In the contract it states I need to have a written agreement between both parties to due this. When I asked my realtor to break the contract they didn't want to due this. If I pursue the house with for sale by owner, which the realtor had nothing to due with and if they don't break the contract with me am I still liable to pay them commission on the sale of this house? Or do I have to wait until the contract expires? What action should I take from here?

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by CTHomeBuyer
I signed a Right to Represent Buyer Contract and want to break the contract, due to the fact I found a house with a friend of a family for sale by owner. In the contract it states I need to have a written agreement between both parties to due this. When I asked my realtor to break the contract they didn't want to due this. If I pursue the house with for sale by owner, which the realtor had nothing to due with and if they don't break the contract with me am I still liable to pay them commission on the sale of this house? Or do I have to wait until the contract expires? What action should I take from here?

**A; read the contract or better yet have an attorney review it for you.

[HUD-1]

In general, CT has two Right to Represent Authorizations:

Under an Open Right to Represent the fee is earned if "during the term of this Authorization you enter into a contract for the purchase or exchange of real property we have introduced to you and all material conditions have been met or are subsequently met;"

Under an Exclusive Agency Right to Represent the fee is earned if you "enter into a contract of sale for the purchase or exchange of real property during the term of this Authorization and all material conditions are met or are subsequently met;"

Read your contract carefully!!!!

Under an Exclusive Agency Right to Represent the fee is earned if you "enter into a contract of sale for the purchase or exchange of real property during the term of this Authorization and all material conditions are met or are subsequently met;"

Is the contract I signed...In the contract it states that "Modification. This contract may be modified,wavied, or dischared only by a written agreement between the parties."

I asked my realtor to do this and they did not comply with my request. What can I do from here? This seems to be my only way out of it, can I do anything else. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by CTHomeBuyer
Under an Exclusive Agency Right to Represent the fee is earned if you "enter into a contract of sale for the purchase or exchange of real property during the term of this Authorization and all material conditions are met or are subsequently met;"

Is the contract I signed...In the contract it states that "Modification. This contract may be modified,wavied, or dischared only by a written agreement between the parties."

I asked my realtor to do this and they did not comply with my request. What can I do from here? This seems to be my only way out of it, can I do anything else. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

**A: read your contract. It states by mutual agreement.
If agent refuses to terminate the contract, then you do not have a mutual agreement. Why would the agent agree and lose the commission? After all, the commission is earned even if you buy from your friend of a FSBO.

How long are you under obligation to this contract? In my opinion, it is unwise for a realtor to enforce this clause. Real estate is a business that is very reliant upon word of mouth advertising. The realtor in this case must be desperate to close or he/she would hapily release his/her client in hopes that they would tell thier friends and family, etc. about how easy and friendly they are to work with. When you consulted the realtor about this matter, asking him/her to release you from the contract, what reason did they give you for not complying with your request?

Originally posted by 5geckos
How long are you under obligation to this contract? In my opinion, it is unwise for a realtor to enforce this clause. Real estate is a business that is very reliant upon word of mouth advertising. The realtor in this case must be desperate to close or he/she would hapily release his/her client in hopes that they would tell thier friends and family, etc. about how easy and friendly they are to work with. When you consulted the realtor about this matter, asking him/her to release you from the contract, what reason did they give you for not complying with your request?

I'm under contract until August, a bad over look on my part. I've used this realtor before and everything went great when I bought my first home. I thought the same thing that they would release if asked but was wrong. As for them wanting their commission that is fine if they had something to do with finding this home, but didn't its a friend of a family that approached me. Haven't done anything yet until I get this straighten out. I could see no releasing me if they found the house for me or if I went with another realtor but I'm not. Going to try one more time to see if they will release me...wish me luck. Any other suggestions, getting lawyer to handle this is my last resort, trying to save some money.

Good Luck!


This obligation is lunacy. I can't immagine how short sighted this realtor is.
Maybe this is the thought process:
"Great, I get this commission if he buys this house no matter what.
(time lapse)
Gosh! This sucks, where are all of my referals going? Why don't I have any business? Hmm. Better do something to boost my immage like force someone to pay me because I have them backed into a corner... That got me paid last time..." lol.
I mean, I've been a loan officer for a mortgage brokerage for several years, as well as a financial planner. I have never ever once considered FORCABLY makeing someone pay a commission for services that they no longer want. Seriously, the few hundred dollars in my pocket now is worthless compared to the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars that their good will and referrals will bring and thier good will and referrals will bring and so on. Which brings me to my next question. Is the realtor that you have signed with the broker or just a sales agent? You could approach the company on a larger scale. For instance, unless this realtor is his/her own broker, he/she is likely to answer to someone. And certainly the company will step in and take a stand one way or another. Odds are that the company will have the perspective of "the bigger picture" and not want the company name tarnished. Especially since you are repeat business. Or perhapse if you go through a company that is a franchise, like ReMax, you could call the corporation themselves and get them involved. I would suggest that escalation is your next move, just like if you go to out to dinner and the waiter/waitress gives you poor service... go to the manager.

I would suggest that perhapse the BBB would be of assistance to you, but I'm not sure that the company is actually doing anything "wrong." They are just providing you with really poor customer service. But giving them a call couldn't hurt either.

Let me know what they say, I am absolutely fascinated that they won't release you... I am assumeing you do have friends, family and coworkers, right?

Also, remain calm and placid in tone, 1 once of honey is worth 10 gallons of vinegar. Again, good luck!!!

[HomeGuru]

I would like to contribute an opposite view point on this issue.
Example:
I am the agent and have a client looking to buy a property. I meet with the client for several hours qualifying the client and then finding out exactly what type of property would fit this particular client.
An agreement is signed similar to the one writer of this thread signed.
With this agreement in hand, I know that this Buyer is serious and I will earn a commission if this client buys. Therefore, I spend numerous hours looking through MLS listing, doing computer printouts and comps, reading the real estate ads in newspapers and magazines, calling listing real estate agents, talking, emailing, faxing to my network of real estate agents, attending broker's open houses, attending open houses for preview, attending open houses with the client, contacting some owners to see if they would like to sell, writing up an offer, opening escrow, arranging inspections etc...and let's say the deal falls through because the Seller does not want to fix the roof. And then this client decides to buy a home from a FSBO friend.
Why after spending a good amount of my time, money and energy, would I want tell the Buyer that I do not deserve a sales commission? And why would I let the Buyer out of the contract?
Even if I did no work at all, per the contract, I still have a contractual right to get paid.
So being that I do not get paid by the hour in this example and I hate working like this for free, it is only prudent that I get my commission.
Concerning the writer's specifc situation, I suggest that you read your contract again. Then ask yourself, in the Court of law, who would prevail.

Point made, HomeGuru; however, would you not stand to make more money (many times over) by allowing your buyer, in this specific case a repeat customer, out of the contract and putting forth good will. No one is happy to work for free, and certainly I'm not suggesting that the realtor in this instance do all kinds of work on this deal to only be outflanked by a FSBO. What I'm suggesting is that the buyer, by being forced by the realtor to wait out the contract before persuing other interests, will go on and not only never suggest any of his friends, family and coworkers use this particular realtor, he will then tell all of them the "horror" story. They in turn will tell all of the people in thier lives and so forth. In the long run, it will take this realtor a lot longer and a lot more work to get more and better business. Worse case senario, the guy says nothing one way or another. Atleast this way the realtor isn't swimming upstream against bad press. Best case senario, the author of this thread would tell his friends to use this realtor because he/she is gracious enough to work with him in a tight spot. No?

Give you a little background..I did most of the work finding houses to look at, all the realtor did was arrange to look at them, which all together were 4 houses and only 1 was totaly arranged by them. Their not a broker just a sales agent. I can see both sides of the story here, and a really honest person. I want this to be resolve in a honorable manner, but still feel strongly that they should release me upon my request. Take for instance if I want to go back to this realtor to help me, should I trust them after this noway. Do they trust me..nope. So it should be a mutal agreement to release each other with this distrust between us. Don't get me wrong if she relesaed me from this right from the beginning I would've still recommend her to friends and family. Now if they release me I would go on my marry way and not give them a bad name. If I have to get a lawyer or go to the franchise manager then I am not going to hold back at all. Over all they did not spend a whole lot of time and effort on searching for a house or arranging showings of houses. If I was on the oppisite side of this I would have released them with out a question, its not worth the trouble or bad publicity. All I did was look a few house with them. So HomeGru I understnad your side and also 5Geckos side. I really appreciate both your point of views on this subject. I will let you know how it turns out, going to talk to the realtor once more today before going to the manager of the franchise. Thanks again...

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by CTHomeBuyer
Give you a little background..I did most of the work finding houses to look at, all the realtor did was arrange to look at them, which all together were 4 houses and only 1 was totaly arranged by them. Their not a broker just a sales agent. I can see both sides of the story here, and a really honest person. I want this to be resolve in a honorable manner, but still feel strongly that they should release me upon my request. Take for instance if I want to go back to this realtor to help me, should I trust them after this noway. Do they trust me..nope. So it should be a mutal agreement to release each other with this distrust between us. Don't get me wrong if she relesaed me from this right from the beginning I would've still recommend her to friends and family. Now if they release me I would go on my marry way and not give them a bad name. If I have to get a lawyer or go to the franchise manager then I am not going to hold back at all. Over all they did not spend a whole lot of time and effort on searching for a house or arranging showings of houses. If I was on the oppisite side of this I would have released them with out a question, its not worth the trouble or bad publicity. All I did was look a few house with them. So HomeGru I understnad your side and also 5Geckos side. I really appreciate both your point of views on this subject. I will let you know how it turns out, going to talk to the realtor once more today before going to the manager of the franchise. Thanks again...

**A: while I understand your position, keep in mind that you are missing one key issue. And that is you signed a binding contract already agreeing to its terms and conditions.
You talk about getting a lawyer and/or talking to the franchise manager but the bottom line as in all real estate contracts, is that which is in writing prevails.

Home Guru is right - If you entered into contract with an AGENT you did so with the idea that they would represent you. If you chose to not use the agent, your still bound by the contract.

I see no reason why the agent should release you, nor why you should expect them to. THIS IS THEIR LIVLIEHOOD, if their clients could simply terminate by request whenever they chose to, their role would be worthless.

I'd recommend making a settlement offer - If you are able to persuade them to accept a $$ figure instead of a commision you may be better served. The agent obviously spent some time with you, don't you think they should be compensated?

if the agent did release you from the contract,who gets the commission on the home?

quit your belly aching. you signed a contract. if you buy a house whether you found it or your realtor did it doesn't matter. make them earn their commision buy writing up the offer and looking out for your interests. friend or no friend it is always better to have at least one expert involved in the deal, and you my friend do not sound like an expert.