I love to hear the first part... that someone found me on Activerain. But the second part, about can our agent do this? Oh, I hate to hear that, because I usually know that it isn't good, and more than likely, it is going to be a legal question that I can't answer anyway.
Well, today's question that was brought to me was this...
Myself: Thank you for calling this is Todd, how can I serve you today?
Seller: Todd, my name is blank and we have a home for sale and we found your name on Activerain.
Myself: Great, how can I help today then?
Seller: We have a question for you about our agent and if he can do what he did or not.
Myself: Well, more than likely this is going to be a legal question and I may have to refer you to the state, I can get you that number.
Seller: Ok, but let me run by our scenario with you and see what you think.
Myself: OK, shoot!
Seller: Were a FSBO and this agent came to us before we were ready to list. Finally, my wife and I decided we needed the help of an agent and this guy seemed to be helpful prior to listing our house, so we thought we would give him a shot.
He was good, did everything we expected and promised he could have our home sold in 90 days, as we requested, because we have another home under contract contingent upon this home selling.
So, we gave him a 90 day listing and after 60 days we had about 15 showings, but no offers and he suggested we lower the price and sent over a price reduction form, which I agreed to discuss with my wife. While discussing doing this we got a call for a showing the next day, and decided let's see what happens before we lower the price. Then we got another call, nd then another for a showing. In two days we ended up having 10 showings. We thought we had hit the lottery and decided not to lower the price just yet.
Myself: I could understand that and I wouldn't have either with that much activity.
Seller: Exactly! After 48 hours we got 3 offers, all lower than we were willing to take. But the last one had a multi offer addendum and a little note at the bottom that said, this is just in case our offer isn't the best already, but being we are offering $2000 more than your present asking price, we really hope ours is the best. My wife and I just looked at each other and said "WHAT?" It was actually $18,000 less than our asking price and we decided to head to the internet to read that the price of our home had been lowered the day before by $20,000 and the description line said, "Seller's desperate $20,000 price reduction, we need to sell or we will lose our new home!"
We couldn't believe what we were seeing, we hadn't signed the price reduction yet and if we had, we still hadn't discussed how much we were going to lower it yet, if we did.
So, my question to you Todd, can our agent do this without a signed document from us?
Myself: Well, no he really can't and I would call the Oregon Real Estate Agency and tell them what you told me. They can tell you exactly what you need to do and who you need to talk to. I'm sorry I really couldn't be of more help other than giving you the phone number, but that really is a question for the Oregon Real Estate Agency Legal department. I wish there really was more I could do, but here is the number it is 503-378-4170 or you can e-mail them at orea.info@state.or.us and please keep me informed of what happens.
If you are a buyer or seller and have any questions about real estate, please don't hesitate to call the Oregon Real Estate Agency, they are there to protect consumers. If you would like to ask me a question about real estate, I would love the chance to sit down and talk with you, educate you, and hopefully build a friendship!
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