Buyer Deceived Because Realtor Needed Commission!

Yesterday I got a call from a Broker in another office and company, not an unusual thing, but the conversation was unusual. This broker has had her license longer than I, she has lived in our community for almost as long as I have, and her lack of knowledge down right scares me.

She has a buyer that has an accepted offer on a lot, in a subdivision that is fairly popular. This broker has done a few transactions over the last couple years in this area and should know the zoning and area well.

We all know what a RR10, FP, WA and LM are (in order they are Rural Residential, Flood Plain, Wildlife Area, Landscape Management). She has not added a due diligence contingency to the accepted offer, and each of the above are listed for zoning on the County Records for this property.

Closing is a week away and her buyer has gone to the County to start the permit process which because it is LM will require additional permits and issues. Her buyer had no clue; of what this would entail when the County pulls the property information (which is available on line to the public) they inform him that the building area of the lot is very small.

He is amazed that he can not just build anywhere on this soon to be his lot. However, when you look at the Flood Plain Map you can clearly see that there is only a small corner of the property not in the Flood Plain. The ground is generally very "spongy" in the area in Spring.

He does what any responsible buyer does and calls his Realtor. She is clueless, she has not given him any of this information prior to his writing the offer, neither of them have looked at any of the zoning prior to writing the offer. They ASSUMED that because the sewer hookup was paid you could build on the property.

Her question is, what can she do? How can she get the County to allow her client to build on the land? When I explain the hard facts to her that even if she could get this changed the land would not be suitable, insurance would be sky high and they would have to have flood insurance, something that is not common here, her response was but I need the commission. How can I keep this together?

At this point I did something I do not think I have ever done before. I asked her to kindly remove my phone number from her phone, to not associate with me with anything that had to do with business.

I am amazed still that she would ask me to help her deceive her client so that she could have the commission. We all get hungry but when you put your own needs before your clients you are asking for more than Karma issues, you are asking for a law suit. Just as she was hanging up she asked again, "What would you do?" My response was simple - "Who do you represent?"

So remember who you represent, and be sure you take as much care with their money as you would your own. Know your area, know everything you can, and remember if needed write in a due diligence period in your contract.

Read the Update Here