This week an agent who hangs his license under my Brokerage closed a short sale with the approval of the Seller and Lender.
Two days later the escrow company hadn't issued commission checks so I called to enquire why there was a delay. The escrow officer requested I send her a breakdown of the commission between my brokerage and my agent. I confirmed that I had sent this information to escrow weeks ago, but that I would resubmit the commission allocation.
The escrow officer then called the agent to say that she had insufficient funds on hand from the escrow proceeds to issue complete commsission checks, and that my agent would need to negotiate with the Seller and Lender to recover any shortfall in commission.
Upon hearing this unacceptable explanation, I called the escrow officer and insisted it was her duty to only close the escrow after ensuring she had sufficient funds on hand to make the necessary disbursements. It was obvious this escrow officer would not listen to reason, so I aksed to speak to the owner of the Escrow Company. Reluctantly she gave me his contact number and I called and left him a message. As I write this post, I have still not received a reply call from the owner of the escrow company.
I called and attorney at the California Association of Realtors who confirmed that the escrow officer appeared to have acted negligently, and the attorney recommended I report this to the Department of Corporations and the Department of Real Estate - and that any shortfall in commission be claimed through the small claims court.
I emailed the escrow officer again and explained this position to her.
About an hour later I received an email from her stating that the commission checks, in full, were being prepared and would be available later in the day.
There's a twist in this tale. Later in the day the Escrow Officer called to say he "boss" was reviewing the facts and she would let me know his conclusions.
So is escrow doing a 180 degree turnaround on what they said they would do?
Why was this unpleasantness necessary?
Would didn't the escrow officer assume her responsibility to begin with?
I fully appreciate that our business involves a lot of pressure and stress, especially in the current market, but that's no excuse for negligence.
I'm curious to hear if fellow members would report this incident to the appropriate authorities, or just let it pass?
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