I was having coffee with an agent with a competing brokerage the other day and she told me of a situation at her firm. She was the listing agent on a transaction involving a divorced couple. She had both parties complete the listing agreement they listed the home for sale. Another agent in her office bought a buyer by the home and they made an offer that was accepted.
When the title search was complete, the abstrator found that the home had a second mortgage that was not figured into the calculations. When the agent confronted her clients, she discovered that the husband was unaware and the wife had taken a second while the home was listed to extract her portion of the home. The problem: she took too much money out and now the seller owed money to come to closing. The wife had already spent her portion.
So the listing agent attempted to do a short sale with the bank but the buyer was growing impatent because the closing had to be pushed back while they were working through the short sale process. She had also given the buyer and their agent the right to back out of the contract without penalty as a result of this new revelation but they were content to ride it out...so it seemed. One day, the buyer demanded to either close or sue the brokerage and everyone involved. So the agent, buyers agent, broker sat down to discuss their options. They all agreed that they would all reduce their commissions and get the sale over with instead of waiting or getting sued.
At home later that night, the broker calls the listing agent and says that the buyer's agent is really the big loser here and while no one was at fault, the buyers agent thinks they deserve any and all commissions arising from this transaction. The listing agent was stunned because they just all had a meeting and they all agreed that they would each bear the cost of this transaction. Not to mention, in a short sale, rarely do agents get away without have a commission-ectimy.
I expressed to her that we at Keller Williams would never do such a thing because its just not in our culture. I'm suprised that a broker would consider doing such a thing to one of their agents. Sellers do it all the time but from within the company? After all, neither agent works for pure joy of selling real estate.
So if you were in this situation, what would you do? I can tell you that I'd tell them where they could stick their check!
Sincerely;
Jonathan Osman
The Charlotte House Hunter
Charlotte NC Homes, Charlotte Real Estate
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