May have screwed up big time! (realtors come in!)

Petunia844

We are hoping to buy in a new community, and our realtor gave us ridiculously good deal on selling our house on the condition that we also use him to buy.  He told us not to sign up for the interest list b/c that would obligate us to use them as our realtor.  Well awhile ago I posted about how he was kinda not being super pro-active and I was worried we'd miss out on something, so I joined under a fake name so I'd know what was going on.  Well, lo and behold there were emails to my fake account that they had started prequalifying for phase one of building and you should start working with the lender.  That's super important for us... and our realtor hadn't said a damn thing about it.  So I contacted the woman with my real email, but informed her we would be working with our realtor.

Well... now she said the website is the procuring cause so their policy is our realtor won't get a commission.  Sh!t! She now has my real name from my email.  I know you'd say well you're realtor dropped the ball so it's his fault if he misses out.... but with his deal he literally saved us like $10k... so if he's not our realtor for the sale, then we owe him that money.  I'm flipping out and I don't know how to ask him about it because he'll be super mad I contacted them.  

ETA: I wrote her back and said that our realtor pointed us to the community and that he was signed up for the interest list and not us... she said it won't be a problem them.  PHEW!  Still super pissed he hasn't said anything about the prequal issues....but annoyances aside 10k is 10k. 

Petunia844

Wow... this is getting interesting.. so I ended up telling her I got the info from him and it should be all fine....but then she's saying she can't find him on her interest list, WTF.  Spoke to my realtor and he swears he's on it... he's going to call her.  If he isn't even on the list it's 100% his fault if he loses the commission.  If I hadn't signed up w/ my fake account we would have completely missed the opportunity for early approval!  I'm both mad at him and also worried b/c he's a good friend and I still want him to get his commission.  His wife is pg, they need the $.

numberonemama

BandEddie:

Yikes. My experience is, if he brings the buyer, he gets the commission. I've never heard anything about procuring cause from an email list, but maybe things are different where you live (I practiced in MA and NH). For instance, if I walk into an open house, the agent showing the open house doesn't "own" me just because my agent didn't come with me! You're working with whom you say you're working with. 

Do you have an explicit buyer agency agreement (if they do them in your state)? The only tricky part about them is, even if you buy through another agent, you may owe your original realtor a commission. You would know if you signed a specific buyer agency agreement, as it's different from your listing agreement.

You may not have a specific agreement. If you're working with a friend, any other agent is going to consider it buyer agency by default (because it's hard for a friend not to work in your interest exclusively). (ETA: Not for commission purposes, just for disclosure of sensitive info).

this is my experience also. Good luck! 

Ziegeficker

Wasn't this guy your friend or a relative? This is why I hate using friends for business :-/ It's so awkward if they screw up. 

I have no advice but I wanted to say I hope this resolves soon. It sounds so stressful! You were out in a tight spot with that one, and I am not sure there is an easy way out. 

Petunia844

Yea, I think we're ok.... but I do think he royally screwed up.  In the end they have nothing that shows I joined an interest list and only my word that the realtor told me about the community.  We haven't been there yet and the first time we go he'll be with us.  We're mad because we're a week behind to get pre-approval and it's completely his fault....but on the other hand he saved us $10,000.  We aren't going to do anything more other than obviously watch his a$$ and make sure we stay on top of it.... but we won't recommend him anymore to friends as a realtor which we have done in the past.