Fellow Active Rain blogger, John Elwell of Bill Nye's Century 21 office in Zephyrhills, Florida, made an interesting comment to one of the people who wrote and asked the question, "How can I get out of a contract?" John noted that it is a question that seems to be posed here very frequently, and John's observation is right.
I'm one of those who doesn't understand the concept of not doing what a person says he'll do. So I frankly hate reading that question because more often than not, it means someone is letting the world know he's a weasel.
I once had a very lucrative agreement with a gentleman that paid me many, many thousands of dollars each year. Very serious money.
We negotiated our very complex agreement within an hour at our first meeting, and we didn't write it down. Our attorneys wanted us to put it in writing. We both resisted saying that we both knew what we'd agreed to, and we both had confidence we could abide by it without their help. Every year or so thereafter, one attorney or the other would write us telling us we needed to enter into a formal contract. Every year we'd ignore their advice.
For twenty years we followed our verbal, handshake agreement. When we completed our joint task, my client said that he wanted to have his accounting department audit our history to make certain all had turned out as it was supposed to. When they finished, he sent me a check for $12,000, claiming they had underpaid me. I would have never known.
That man's name is George P. Mitchell. He was the founder of Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. and the developer of the famous New Town north of Houston, The Woodlands. He is still blowing and going at 88, and I'm very grateful that I have had the opportunity to know and serve him. It probably is, remains and always will be the highlight of my business career. You know the frequently used promise, "My word is my bond?" Well when you do business with Mr. Mitchell, it is. I hope he feels the same way about the value of my word.
So back to wanting to know how to break a contract. While sometimes there is a good reason, I suspect more often than not it's just because the guy wanting out has decided he no longer wants to do what he promised he'd do. As Realtors, we can't rationalize where it is ethical behavior on our part to participate in these matters; consequently we should divorce ourselves from those discussions.
BILL CHERRY, DALLAS BROKER-REALTOR. MY 43RD YEAR SELLING TEXAS
Meet me on the web at www.billcherrybroker.com
{---George P. Mitchell
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Sage words. Bill. The days of a man's word being his bond are pretty much gone. I would love to go back to this time when what someone thought when they looked in the mirror was more important to them than what others think.
I have always said that my word is my bond and I have actually lost money on transactions when it turned out that my word was contrary to market conditions. In fact, I just closed a loan for a repeat customer in which, because of an error in my part, I priced the loan incorrectly and was going to lose almost one point.
However, my word is much more important to me than any amount of money so I ate the loss. Now, my client knows that I do what I say I will do and she will refer others to me. Do you really think she would refer business to me if I had changed the terms on her at the last minute?
Doubtful...