pebblebrook
Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California
My wife and I were looking to move into a larger house and found the perfect house to purchase (call it "SM") prior to putting our previous home (call it "PB") on the market for sale. When we met the seller agent of SM (without a real estate agent), I asked if there would be any consideration for "coming to the table" unrepresented. He said that we could talk about it after he saw the house we would be selling.
We agreed to meet with him at our home so that he could give us a presentation on what he felt our house could sell for and also further discuss making an offer on "SM". As we began talking he kept moving the conversation toward how he could sell our house and I kept moving toward talking about buying the other house and keeping the two issues separate. (The next day, my wife and I were meeting with another agent that had sold many homes in our neighborhood, including the same model two doors down just three months prior, and we were leaning toward using their services to list our home.)
Later on in this same meeting, another member of their “sales team” arrived and I again focused the conversation on the purchase of “SM”. They explained to me that they could indeed give me a “rebate or credit toward closing costs” at the close of escrow and the conversation progressed with setting a specific dollar amount. The agents asked repeatedly what I felt was “fair” to which I answered, “I don’t do this for a living, what do you feel is fair?”. After going back and forth the female member of the team asked if, “1% of the purchase price sounded fair?” To which I agreed.
At that point her team-member stated that the “rebate” cannot be a direct correlation to the purchase price of the home, but rather, it had to be a set amount. Since the home was listed for approximately $1,230,000 we set the rebate at $12,000. We then drafted an offer to purchase “SM”, contingent on the sale of “PB”, which included a statement that we would be receiving $12,000 from the agent commissions to offset applicable closing costs. We made a conscience decision to purchase this home based on this verbal agreement. All we needed to do was satisfy my end by purchasing the home and we would realize a rebate of $12,000.
The offer was presented to the seller of “SM” (who, by the way, had previously worked for the seller agent in a sales support role and had a CA real estate license) and along with other counter-offer items, she had not agreed to the $12,000 rebate. Verbally the agents told us that the seller would not consider our provision for the rebate (that it was the sellers right to determine where her commissions would be directed), deemed our offer a “bad offer”, would not waiver from her full asking price and intimated that we would require this rebate to purchase the home. Lastly, she required that “PB” be listed immediately with the seller agent or complete removal of contingencies and rebates before she would consider our offer. The agents agreed to split the rebate between both homes so that we would still realize the full $12,000.
We wanted the “SM” house so badly that we agreed to list “PB” with these agents - at a full 6% commission, which is above the going rate of 5% in our area. In San Diego, where the housing market is one of the hottest in the nation, this was our biggest mistake. Without selling “PB”, we closed on “SM” according to the dates on the original escrow documents, and I assume our agents realized their commissions from the sale of this home. We were credited $6,000 at closing, which was applied to our costs.
It is now six-months later. Our listing agreement for “PB” is expiring this week and I have been paying two mortgages for half a year. I have contacted the broker’s branch manager to discuss the situation and explained to her I wanted to allow the listing agreement to expire; that I had lost all confidence in her sales agents; and that I wanted the remainder of my money from the original agreement I had with these same agents. Her response has been less than understanding and our conversations have not provided me with any assurance that they are going to stand behind what their agents had presented.
The agents have tried to sell our home – conducting open houses almost every weekend. But their efforts have only provided two bona fide offers in six months and their advice during negotiations has not produced any results. Other houses in our area have been listed and sold, while ours remains on the market.
Please help with some advice on how I can recover the full $12,000.
Thank you in advance for your help.
My wife and I were looking to move into a larger house and found the perfect house to purchase (call it "SM") prior to putting our previous home (call it "PB") on the market for sale. When we met the seller agent of SM (without a real estate agent), I asked if there would be any consideration for "coming to the table" unrepresented. He said that we could talk about it after he saw the house we would be selling.
We agreed to meet with him at our home so that he could give us a presentation on what he felt our house could sell for and also further discuss making an offer on "SM". As we began talking he kept moving the conversation toward how he could sell our house and I kept moving toward talking about buying the other house and keeping the two issues separate. (The next day, my wife and I were meeting with another agent that had sold many homes in our neighborhood, including the same model two doors down just three months prior, and we were leaning toward using their services to list our home.)
Later on in this same meeting, another member of their “sales team” arrived and I again focused the conversation on the purchase of “SM”. They explained to me that they could indeed give me a “rebate or credit toward closing costs” at the close of escrow and the conversation progressed with setting a specific dollar amount. The agents asked repeatedly what I felt was “fair” to which I answered, “I don’t do this for a living, what do you feel is fair?”. After going back and forth the female member of the team asked if, “1% of the purchase price sounded fair?” To which I agreed.
At that point her team-member stated that the “rebate” cannot be a direct correlation to the purchase price of the home, but rather, it had to be a set amount. Since the home was listed for approximately $1,230,000 we set the rebate at $12,000. We then drafted an offer to purchase “SM”, contingent on the sale of “PB”, which included a statement that we would be receiving $12,000 from the agent commissions to offset applicable closing costs. We made a conscience decision to purchase this home based on this verbal agreement. All we needed to do was satisfy my end by purchasing the home and we would realize a rebate of $12,000.
The offer was presented to the seller of “SM” (who, by the way, had previously worked for the seller agent in a sales support role and had a CA real estate license) and along with other counter-offer items, she had not agreed to the $12,000 rebate. Verbally the agents told us that the seller would not consider our provision for the rebate (that it was the sellers right to determine where her commissions would be directed), deemed our offer a “bad offer”, would not waiver from her full asking price and intimated that we would require this rebate to purchase the home. Lastly, she required that “PB” be listed immediately with the seller agent or complete removal of contingencies and rebates before she would consider our offer. The agents agreed to split the rebate between both homes so that we would still realize the full $12,000.
We wanted the “SM” house so badly that we agreed to list “PB” with these agents - at a full 6% commission, which is above the going rate of 5% in our area. In San Diego, where the housing market is one of the hottest in the nation, this was our biggest mistake. Without selling “PB”, we closed on “SM” according to the dates on the original escrow documents, and I assume our agents realized their commissions from the sale of this home. We were credited $6,000 at closing, which was applied to our costs.
It is now six-months later. Our listing agreement for “PB” is expiring this week and I have been paying two mortgages for half a year. I have contacted the broker’s branch manager to discuss the situation and explained to her I wanted to allow the listing agreement to expire; that I had lost all confidence in her sales agents; and that I wanted the remainder of my money from the original agreement I had with these same agents. Her response has been less than understanding and our conversations have not provided me with any assurance that they are going to stand behind what their agents had presented.
The agents have tried to sell our home – conducting open houses almost every weekend. But their efforts have only provided two bona fide offers in six months and their advice during negotiations has not produced any results. Other houses in our area have been listed and sold, while ours remains on the market.
Please help with some advice on how I can recover the full $12,000.
Thank you in advance for your help.