Why are you telling me this? I know if you are telling me not to share it with my clients, you shouldn’t be

A couple months ago I was working on a transaction with another agent and the transaction was going smoothly when… BAM! Like a ton of bricks, something happened and we didn’t know what. Our buyers were fine, they were ready to go, but something on the seller’s side was slowing the process down on this short sale.

Well, the other agent sent me some very confidential information that came from a conversation between the bank and the seller and she was passing it on to me. The first thing the emails said was “This is for your eyes only and not to be shared with your clients.” Well, to me, my job is to get my clients the best deal possible and if you give me information that will get them a better deal, you bet I’m going to do it.

When we first presented this offer, we put in that the sellers bank was to contribute up to 3.5% toward the buyers closing costs, buy a home warranty, and close with my client’s choice of Title Company. This is normal for me, but sometimes I ask for more and on this one we did. We wanted the bank to close by a certain date or pay for additional rent for my clients since they were required to sign at least a 3 month lease or they would get a 30 day notice from their landlord.

Well, the letter came and it said they could close by the date so they wouldn’t have to pay, but the sellers were the ones balking on this date because they had nowhere to move to yet. They thought they had a placed lined up, but they wouldn’t be able to move in to that location until 22 days after the scheduled close date and they were asking the bank to send a letter to the buyers saying they were not going to pay the additional rent and they couldn’t close by the scheduled close date.

The bank did this and my buyers were very upset, because they had a contract and now the contract was being changed, but not by the party who signed it originally, but by the bank who agreed to it after the sellers originally agreed to it. My clients were now stuck with a moving POD and no place to take it with less than a week to close.

This agent sent a copy of the letter to me trying to get me to lie to my client on why there was a delay and to try to calm my clients down and stop the talk of a lawsuit for breach of contract. Well, I of course brought this up with my principle broker and we both agreed that we had the right to bring this up with my buyer, it wasn’t our fault the information was leaked to us.

I called the bank told them that we had a copy of the letter and if they didn’t close on time, and have the sellers out on the closing date, we would be in court for all costs incorporated in the sale, plus an additional $8,000 if we couldn’t find another home and close by April 30^th since they were first time home buyers.

They bank called the sellers on my behalf and told them they had to be out no matter what because the sale depended on them being out by the date on the contract and the contract stated they had to be out by the 29^th. The bank apparently told the sellers that if they weren’t out, and that if there was a lawsuit, they would be responsible for all fees and judgments if they lost in court. 

Well, the happy news for my buyers is they moved in on time, but the bad news for the sellers is they had to move in with friends. I’m guessing they also had an E&O claim against their agent for revealing information that they shouldn’t have.

What would you have done in this situation if you got information from the other agent that was going to cost your clients $4,500 and you knew that what you were originally told and what really had happened was different? Personally, if I was buying a home, I would want my agent to protect me and if they got any information such as this, I would expect they would share it as well.

Todd Clark (broker w/ Ken's Home Team)
Keller Williams Realty
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)746-9573

 

 

 

 

 I am a licensed Realtor who specializes in Washington County, Oregon and also work in both Clackamas and Multnomah Counties including the cities of Aloha, Beaverton, Canby, Clackamas, Gladstone, Gresham, Happy Valley, Hillsboro, Milwaukie, Oregon City, Sherwood and Tigard. All information contained in these posts are copyrighted and cannot be used without prior written approval authorization from the author me Todd Clark. If you are looking for an outstanding agent please give me a call I would love to help you with all your real estate needs.

 

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