To make a long story short, I have my house on the market for a few months. I was selling it because my family was in financial trouble and selling my house would eliminate all of their issues.  I got a few offers on her but they were below what I was asking so I declined them.  I had a couple who looked at it the other day and their agent called me to say they wanted to make an offer and wanted to know how long of an escrow I would like. I told him point blank that I needed to speak with family members (there are signs of them doing much better financially so I was unsure if I needed to sell my home to help them)...but he told me that I didnt need to speak with anybody at this point as all he wanted to do was make an offer.  I told him that in order to relocate it would take a few months time.
foward to today when my agent calls me and says they came in with an offer 5k below the asking price. I told him to decline and to take the house off the market.  He called the other agent and I guess this royally pissed him off. He said that he had spoken with me and I agreed to the escrow terms and he and his client had time invested in looking at my home (I only talked to the agent 2x...once on friday nite when he called to tell me his clients wanted to come by to look at the place...this was a NO because I work nites and was about out the door to go to work)...he said his clients would come by sat afternoon...they were here by themselves, no agent, spent about 4 minutes looking through the place and left.  Agent called me to say they wanted to make the offer..thats the time that he has invested.

Anyways, my agent says tht they guy said he was gong to seek legal councel in order to seek compensation for their time and that if I didnt want to sell the house it shouldnt be on the market to waste peoples time.  Now that I know I dont need to sell her anymore Ive told my agent to pull the house. I dont see what a lawyer can do...he came in with an offer below my asknig price and I can decline it for that reason..
Why do people always have to go running to lawyers? crazy world.

Quoted: Anyways, my agent says tht they guy said he was gong to seek legal councel in order to seek compensation for their time and that if I didnt want to sell the house it shouldnt be on the market to waste peoples time.  Now that I know I dont need to sell her anymore Ive told my agent to pull the house. I dont see what a lawyer can do...he came in with an offer below my asknig price and I can decline it for that reason.. Why do people always have to go running to lawyers? crazy world.

Dude, this is America!  I've had drug addicts scream at me that they were going to "get a lawyer and sue your fucking ass" because I wouldn't give them a Rx for narcotics.  

When I was looking to buy a house we had visited at least two that were pulled off the market after we made an offer.  Big woop.  I fail to see how/why the real estate agent can think they will actually win a lawsuit.  The only people to make out will be the lawyer$.

DUPE!

Quoted: DUPE!

They are full of shit.  They offered below your asking price, so you have no obligation to them whatever.

Sounds like they are trying to strong-arm you.  Tell both real etate brokers that you are going to file a complaint with the BBB and possibly put up some informational signs and ads unless they cease and desist immediately.  Also, find out who their superiors are and report them.

-Not an agent or lawyer, but I have bought and sold enough houses to know that they are wrong.

You can pull your house anytime you want, up until a contract is signed between both parties.....



Im im no lawyer, so who knows...  Sue em back.

There is no signed document, i.e. contract or receipt of money, that the buyer agent can produce. End of story.
If that was the case, there would be a ton of buyer agents filling up court time with undocumented sales or contracts and wanting monetary compensation.

Typical real estate agent BS.  They think they can scare you into settling for a lot less money.  I've seen them pull crap like this probably two dozen times or so.  Just ignore the agent and he'll go away.  Just make sure you make a point of telling the idiot that you're going to describe what he did to everyone you know.  That hurts them where it counts since good real estate agents are successful because of referrals.z

The real estate market has calmed down here in NV and the agent is probably hungry. I wouldn't worry about it. The only ethical and possibly legal circumstances arise when someone meets your terms and you still decline. They may claim racial or other discrimination and make trouble that way. In that case, it might be wise to plan on keeping your house off the market for six months or so.

I'd definitely warn freinds and neighbors about this agent.

It's crap like this that spurred my wife to get her real estate licence.  At first just so we could do our own transactions.  Apparently a Realtor with ethics and customer service is a shining light in a see of darkness and she has managed to keep a steady stream of new clients via word of mouth.  

Go tell ass hat Realtor to pound sand.  You are not obligated for a thing.  

Realtors, and car salesmen, very few are believable, and will say what they think you want to hear to gain a sale.  

Shit - if my father in law sued every time someone bailed on a realestate deal (and won) we would be ASS rich. I mean whiping our asses with 1000 dolla bills.

He has has people bail ON THE DAY OF THE SIGNING. LOTS of time invested.

Anyway - sounds like that guy is an unproffesionl prick. I bet he is blowing steam. If he sued every time this happend, he wouldnt have time to be a real estate agent. I wouldnt worry about it unless you actually get something from a lawyer.

If you do - then go get your own, and counter sue for harrassment. You didnt enter any agreement with that agent.

asked my wife (Realtor) about this and she said the guy is full of shit.  No law suite will be forthcoming.

Strong arm tactic.  What a douche.

As one of the GOOD brokers tell him to FOAD!  My best saying is "if it's not in writing, it doesn't exist!"

Southern NV or Northern?  If it's southern, Please IM me with his name and company.

I guess I did a double tap when I posted this, sorry for the duplicate threads.  I think I will just wait it out and see what happens. If the guy makes another threat of a lawsuit then I guess I will get a lawyer and take it from there.
BTW, Im in Vegas...


What really pisses me off is that I work nights, get home about 6-7am..the listing specifically said to call AFTER 12pm. But I would get calls as early as 8am asking to show the house at 10am. I would say ok...get out of bed, get no sleep and wait and wait and nobody would show up.
My agent is a friend so he was understanding about pulling the house from the market, I didnt want to sell her in the first place but I decided to sacrifice for my family..luckily I dont hae to do that now.

Quoted: Strong arm tactic.  What a douche.

+1

When you speak to them again, say that you are going to report him to their professional association (whatever that might be) for ethics violations.

That might make him go away.

Quoted: Quoted: Strong arm tactic.  What a douche. +1 When you speak to them again, say that you are going to report him to their professional association (whatever that might be) for ethics violations. That might make him go away.

Realtor is the name the association they belong to gives them.

A real estate salesperson licensee in what they are and is a state or fed license (cant remember)

File a complaint on their license and if that does not work file a complaint on the broker they work for.

I suggest you pay the scumbag realtor a visit to work things out.  Be careful not to slip & fall while on his premise

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: DUPE! He duped himself!

BAN HIM

this isn't your exact situation, but if you contract with an agent to sell a house and they present a qualified buyer that meets your asking price and you declined, the agent can sue you for real estate fees.  Bone up on whatever contracts you might have signed and their T's and C's.

Depends of course on state laws, though I can't see NV being a lot different than others.  Up front, you hvae nothing to worry about.  Yes, they can get a lawyer.  No, they don't have a leg to stand on.  Nothing in writing.  Statute of Frauds, basically Uniform Commercial Code.  Anything of a large amount of money (it's specified, but probably has changed since the last time I looked at it, so I'll leave it open), that is, in the thousands, has to be in writing to be enforceable.  They can present you with anything, as long as you have not accepted their offer (Offer and Acceptance are the critical terms in contract law)  there is no "meeting of the minds" and no contract. The only liability you might have is for fees if the offer is for asking (as Assaultrifler said).  But, according to your statement, that isn't the case either.  One problem you may have is with your current listing agent because the listing agreement is usually for a specified period of time, and I wasn't clear whether you had gone past that or not.

The other/selling RE agent is trying to bully you.  When they call again, depending on what you decide to do, tell them their lawyer will have to produce an executory contract in court.  (Just trying to bully them back to save you time and paperwork for a meaningless action).  

As many posters have said, anyone can sue anyone.  Why a suit is accepted by a court when the plaintiff can't produce a fundamental document (in this case the contract) is beyond me.  They would  not be infringing anyone's rights for redress, because the right does not exist because they lack a fundamental part of the case.  Even though an oral contract wouldn't work for real estate, even if the court stretched the "Parol evidence rule"  there is no evidence backing that.  Frankly, this is something that will get thrown out of court.  

Real estate sales people are usually licensed by the state.   Cal your state real estate board and raise hell.  I'd try to take the bastard's license first, then kick his ass for making threats.

Ops

Quoted: The real estate market has calmed down here in NV and the agent is probably hungry. I wouldn't worry about it. The only ethical and possibly legal circumstances arise when someone meets your terms and you still decline. They may claim racial or other discrimination and make trouble that way. In that case, it might be wise to plan on keeping your house off the market for six months or so. I'd definitely warn freinds and neighbors about this agent.

WTF. How is that possible? You're not allowed to decline an offer if the people wanting to buy your house are thugs and druggies and are going to bring down your neighborhood and can't turn them down because they're black or hispanic? I dunno that sounds a bit untrue. I don't have to sell anything to anybody that I don't want to. What if I get in a bidding war with another potential buyer? I don't  have to sell at the starting price.

The buyer's agent has no cause for a suit.  In this case neither does the listing agent.  But make sure you have something in writing telling your agent to take the home off the market and confirmation that it was received by their office.  You don't want the buyer's agent trying to get his buyers to turn around and offer a full price offer in an attempt to make a more ligitimate suit.

If an offer for the full purchase price had been submitted, and you didn't accept, you could be found liable by the listing broker for damages in the amount of the agreed commission.  The logic behind this is that agents spend their own money for advertising, and take a financial loss if a property doesn't sell.  It's more than wasted time.  Also, they have performed the job for which you hired them if a full price offer is submitted.

In this case, there was no full price offer, so no contract has been fulfilled with the listing company.  You made no contract with the buyer's agent and have no obligation other than what was stated would be paid if a contract was fully executed.

This agent sounds like an asshole, and there are plenty of agents that are horrible and even criminal.  The number of agents has gone through the roof due to the booming market, and a lot of unethical agents came on the scene.  Now the market is slowing, and those agents will be even worse until they get out of the business.

Most agents are nice to clients even if they are mistreated, because long term full-time real estate agents make their livings off of referrals from their clients.

And don't feel you did anything wrong, even a nice listing agent might be pissed, but they won't show it and it happens all of the time.  It's why I want out of the business as the market seems to be full of that right now.  Honesty is best when firing an agent.  I've had clients pull all kinds of stunts because their job transfer didn't go through and end up in more trouble instead of telling the agent why they need out of the contract or want their house off of the market.  It ends up being twice as much work and a stress for the agent and the client when they don't tell the truth.

If you have an offer at asking, and you still want to turn it down, you may have trouble with your agent, who has produced a buyer and wants her/his commission.   An out, by the way, would be the "terms", such as financing  or the closing date (too far off, too soon). If someone makes an offer for cash, and someone else makes an offer for 5% down, and the purchase is for the same dollar amount, you can take the cash over the other PROVIDED YOU HAVE NOT YET ACCEPTED by signature the other offer.  ANother possibility is, if it is allowed in contracts in your state, the "attorney review" period.  In some states, you may get out of a contract in 48 or 72 hours if your attorney says so, based on some term which may be objectionable.  This is going by the wayside with the "state standard" contracts.