I am so proud to be in business with the finest real estate company in the country--not many places have our backs these days and this is why The Rawls Group of Keller Williams in Atlanta has the top offices in Metro Atlanta this year in sales (#1 & 2 respectively).
The following is an UNREAL situation that you would never think you would be involved in and how we handled it....
Superstars...
If you like REALLY interesting stories about what NOT to do in real estate, then this message is going to make your day. Today, I was made aware of one of the most unique violations and criminal acts that had occurred in a transaction, and it involved one of our agents. Thankfully, the improprieties involved the OTHER company in this particular transaction and not "us."
It appears that our agent successfully negotiated a binding contract on a piece of property, the terms of which included our buyer placing $10,000 of earnest money with the listing broker. That's the good news.
Check out the bad news:
1. The listing agent fraudulently signed the contract on behalf of the seller without the seller's consent;
2. The listing agent also (and fraudulently) signed two other contracts on behalf of the seller without the seller's consent, none of which were made to believe that their contracts were anything other than primary contracts;
3. In addition to the $10,000 of earnest money that our buyer paid to the Listing Broker, there was an additional $50,000 of earnest money paid by the buyers of the other two contracts;
4. All of the earnest money was cashed. However, not by the Listing Broker.
5. When I questioned "How in the world an earnest money check made payable to "Company X" could be cashed by anyone other than Company X?", the broker explained that the agent had opened a bank account under the name "Company X," which allowed the agent to deposit the earnest money funds into this account.
6. Even more unfortunate is that the Listing Broker informed me that his agent was "duped" into taking the earnest money by an internet scam that led the listing agent to send all of the $60,000 of the buyers' earnest money to Nigeria in hopes of receiving untold amounts of riches. I kid you not.
7. The listing agent stole $60,000 of earnest money, sent it to Nigeria and has nothing to show for it. And even better, the listing broker doesn't have it either.
8. Our Team Leader, our agent, our buyers and the broker for Company X are all freaked out.
9. Did I mention that the listing agent is 62 years old, married and an associate broker with his firm?
More Good News:
1. After getting off of the phone with the listing broker and realizing that he doesn't have the funds to do the right thing, I immediately called our client to let them know (a) of the thousands of real estate transactions that I've been involved in over the past 20 years, his is, perhaps, one of the top 3 most interesting, and (b) The Rawls Group is going to write him a check for his $10,000 so that we can bear the burden of getting the money back from the listing broker, not him. This will allow him and his family to get back to work finding their next home without any stress or delay.
2. When I called our agent to let her know of my conversations with the listing broker and her buyer, she tearfully told me how she's always read that "I got your back stuff" and just sloughed it off, never realizing that I really did have her back until I had an opportunity like this to prove it.
3. Under the circumstances, I don't really see covering our buyer's loss from this freak incident as anything more than the right thing to do.
The Morals of this story are:
1. Agents should never take earnest money from buyers that they deposit into their own accounts only to send those funds to Nigeria to cash in on a get rich quick internet solicitation. If you do, then you'll probably go to jail like I believe the listing agent will.
2. Who you are in business with and who you do business with matters.
3. Doing the right thing is sometimes expensive. However, the right thing to do has nothing to do with profit or loss.
4. I recommend that we (Keller Williams Realty - The Rawls Group) hold earnest money as often as possible because it will always be held and disbursed appropriately and legally.
5. Just when you think you've seen it all, you're wrong!
Please, please, please use your common sense out there. Operate with the highest level of concern for your reputation, your integrity, your profession and your broker. The liabilities and the risks that we take everyday are staggering. No transaction is worth your reputation, regardless of the amount of commission you could earn.
Thanks for always being a shining example of the integrity and the professionalism that I want The Rawls Group to be known for. I appreciate you, and...
I really do have your back!
SHAUN
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