There were many titles to give this post, but most would be inappropriate for this website! This is how I got shafted on my commission by the bank on a foreclosed condo. I have dealt with this particular listing group before and the last closing dragged on an additional 3 months due to trouble getting a clean title. OK, that can happen, but after this last closing, I know one company whose listings I refuse to show anymore!

The MLS said 5% commission on each side and since the condo was for just under 50k, I could understand why it was 5%. My buyer was paying cash and wiring the funds in from Canada which happens often since many of my buyers are Canadian.

But there were a couple of things going on that I was unaware of until the closing. The closing took place in Texas! The property is in Clearwater, Florida. Why Texas??? Well, that is where the bank that had the property was located.

As usual, I called the title company to make sure all figures were correct and we agreed.....until the HUD was e-mailed to me to preview. Suddenly the max commission was $1000!!! I called and said there was something wrong and even e-mailed a copy of the MLS. They could not have cared less - there was a paper that the listing agent/company did not mention or put into the MLS that stated max commission was $1000. (However, the HUD also showed the listing agent getting a BONUS commission on top of that grand).

I called my broker who called the title company - in the end there was nothing we could do because it closed out of state!!!!! I learned a valuable lesson and want to share that so you don't have that happen to you.

These REOs and short sales take more time and are a lot more work. To then get shafted on the commission makes me really upset! And that the listing agent was aware of everything and he got a bonus was like the icing on the cake! BEWARE of being taken on a REO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The company that did the listing is a national company with offices everywhere, so this was not some little office that was involved!