Got a question for Realtors? or Lawyers

[jtdumallard]

My house has been on and off the market for about a year. Recently I sank about 2500 into new ceramic tile floors in the bath rooms and kitches and counter-tops in the kitchen. When i started all of this updating i took it off the market completely and just recently place a For Sale By Owner by in my yard. The wife was wanting to hurry up and sell so i put it back on the market with a different agency than i previously had it listed with. I signed papers on wednesday afternoon and on thursday I had a lady call in responce to the By Owner sign still in my yard. She wanted to come see it and I immediattly told my realtor to wait and put it own the market and she said ok. I didnt tell her that I had a lady very interested. Well yesterday the lady shows up with an approval from the bank and earnest money.
Now heres my question. Since it hasnt gone on the market and the realtor didnt do anything to sell the house, is she due commision, legally? She never listed it on her website, the MLS, or even put a sign in my yard which would lay claim to the property as being on the market. Can I just call her up and tell her I sold it by owner? I dont have a copy of the contract i signed with her, thats why im asking if we have any realtors that may have gone through similar situations. I want to do the right thing but im hard pressed to turn loose of commision for something ive done all the work on.

[lilwhitelie]

My house has been on and off the market for about a year. Recently I sank about 2500 into new ceramic tile floors in the bath rooms and kitches and counter-tops in the kitchen. When i started all of this updating i took it off the market completely and just recently place a For Sale By Owner by in my yard. The wife was wanting to hurry up and sell so i put it back on the market with a different agency than i previously had it listed with. I signed papers on wednesday afternoon and on thursday I had a lady call in responce to the By Owner sign still in my yard. She wanted to come see it and I immediattly told my realtor to wait and put it own the market and she said ok. I didnt tell her that I had a lady very interested. Well yesterday the lady shows up with an approval from the bank and earnest money.
Now heres my question. Since it hasnt gone on the market and the realtor didnt do anything to sell the house, is she due commision, legally? She never listed it on her website, the MLS, or even put a sign in my yard which would lay claim to the property as being on the market. Can I just call her up and tell her I sold it by owner? I dont have a copy of the contract i signed with her, thats why im asking if we have any realtors that may have gone through similar situations. I want to do the right thing but im hard pressed to turn loose of commision for something ive done all the work on.

If you signed any contract before you were contacted by buyer then YES you will pay comission if the realtor pushes it which I am sure they will when they see you sold it. Sucks but that is waht contracts are for. Now look at contract and see start date etc see if you can find a loop hole. Hopefully they will not want the whole 6% but i KNOW SOMEONE THAT DID AS YOU AND GOT THE SHAFT. I have one FSBO now and was contacted by someone then 4 hours later contacted by their "realtor" to represent them. FSBO and I still gotta pay comission but only 2 %.

[TODO]

I imagine the contract was legally binding upon being signed. Im not a realtor or lawyer, just an internet expert, but im thinking shes gonna want that commission, and your gonna legally be obligated to pay. She should just take one for the team and let it go thou, but i doubt she will.

[jtdumallard]

I sent her an email to see how much it would cost me to get out of the contract. Told her that I wanted to just keep it for sale by owner. Will see what she says. I still want her to represent me in buying a new house and i stated that in my email, so maybe she will see that shes getting commision on the back end.

[the doctor]

I think the realtor will have a case if the contract was signed before the potential buyer called

however since the potential buyer called in response to your efforts you can certainly ask the realtor to exclude her as a buyer and/or reduce/eliminate the commision if your buyer works out

since you are working with them on another house they may be more helpful than you think and you havent lost anything by asking

black and white answer is they could probably get you for the commision...but ask I can assure you arent the first this has ever happened to

the doc

[Damn_It_Boy]

Had you excluded this buyer in your contract with the RE, then you would owe nothing. Since you didn't, you may or may not owe up to 3% to your RE, depending upon how the contract was structured. (ie: 3% to listing agent, 3% to selling agent). Regardless, you won't owe the full 6% unless you signed some type of weird contract. The RE should settle with you for about 1% if they are a legit operation because they had out of pocket expenses (ie: advertising, ect).....

I would suggest offering them 1%, and not burn any bridges........

my 2c

[jtdumallard]

the only expenses so far that they have is the cost of the paper that the contract was printed on. She didnt have time to advertise. I called the next day after i signed the contract and told her to hold off on listing it or advertising it. I would have never have listed it if i would have thought that this person had any chance of getting qualified for a loan. First impressions told me that they couldnt and then they show up with a letter from a bank stating they were approved.

[three11]

I had a situation where I had a house FSBO and then decided to list it with a realtor. A person that I had shown it to twice before I listed it with the realtor called me about 4 months later and told me that they wanted the house. I explained to them that I had listed it, and they said that they would prefer to work with me, and not a realtor. I had a 90 day contract with the realtor(which had expired), and had told them that I did not want to renew the contract, but they could continue to show and advertise the house. That was fine with them. After I had a contract in hand with the buyers, I went to the realtor and explained my situation. I offered him a 3% commission, and he was glad to get it. Win-win situation. He advertised the house, and was compensated for that and more. I sold the house, so I got the other 3%(theoretically) just like I was a realtor from another agency. At the end of the day, everyone was happy.

In your case, you probably should have told the buyer that you had it listed with a realtor now, and given them the contact info. However, you did call the agent quickly and tell her to hold off. I feel like DIB is right. Offer them 1% and hope they are happy with it.

[lilwhitelie]

While we are on the subject I have a house fsbo. Couple contacted me to look at it etc. I said fine and then 3 hours later they get a real estate agent to call and say they were gonna represent them in their purchase. My question is how do you go about comission. I had told some agents early on if they brought a buyer id give 2.5 %. Now keep in mind I have shown this house to realtor and couple making offer today but there has been NO mention of their comission. Sure it will pop up in contract but shouldn't buyer eat some cost since they are having one represent them??? Take it off your end or mine whichever makes em feel better. Turns out they were old friends and could be kicking back comission to the couple who knows but I should get offer this afternoon. They live in freakin Australia and want rental property at REZ.

[deltadukman]

I would not pay it. They wanted the agent, they pay it. She didnt do anything for you. They want her to rep them...fine..they pay for it. You dont owe them a bit.

[Hambone]

Read the contract and see what it says. If it's adverse to you, talk it over with the agent, preferably in person and certainly not by email. You might be able to reach a compromise position, particularly if you sign a contract for representation in purchasing your new home.

[Faithful Retrievers]

What about the deal that you can not sale the home by owner to someone that the agent showed the home to after contract expires. Since they had really no cost in the deal I would offer to let them represent you in your next purchase and you give them a donation of your choice or you pay them what they want and move on. Especially if you find a home they have listed.

[eSJay]

Just be crystal clear that your hoese is FSBO & you will not pay any agent fees. I've sold all my home by owner & went through the same thing on the last one. some buyers are just not comfortable without an agent or they have already been looking with a realtor & they don't want to hurt their feelings or upset them. That's fine - it's their prerogative to have a buyers agent (if you so choose to agree), but it's not your responsibility to pay for that comfort.

While we are on the subject I have a house fsbo. Couple contacted me to look at it etc. I said fine and then 3 hours later they get a real estate agent to call and say they were gonna represent them in their purchase. My question is how do you go about comission. I had told some agents early on if they brought a buyer id give 2.5 %. Now keep in mind I have shown this house to realtor and couple making offer today but there has been NO mention of their comission. Sure it will pop up in contract but shouldn't buyer eat some cost since they are having one represent them??? Take it off your end or mine whichever makes em feel better. Turns out they were old friends and could be kicking back comission to the couple who knows but I should get offer this afternoon. They live in freakin Australia and want rental property at REZ.

[Damn_It_Boy]

Good thing you aren't in the home building business, or you would be broke........If you have been successful selling FSBO, then you are in the minority. Or.......you have sold them to cheap.

[pstone]

It really depends on what contract you signed.....Find your paperwork and tell us what type contract it is....