buyerbeware,

You gave no information in your first post. I did ask for additional information in the post directly under your original posting. You asked what you could do. The answer is nothing as you had have no exclusive agency relationship with this agent. You wanted us to tell you he did something bad and that you could do something about it!

He must be new if he told you he could not assist you with an unrepresented seller. He should have had you sign an Exclusive Buyers Agreement with you agreeing to pay him X% commission on the home you would buy with him acting as your agent.

He wrote up the offer per your instructions and the real owner of the property wanted more money and refused to pay your Realtor fees. Had your really wanted the house you would have increased your offer and agreed to pay the Realtor fees yourself but you made a choice not to buy the house.

The time to have voiced concerns to the seller would have been before you wrote the offer. Did you tell your agent before hand that you had a couple of concerns that you would like to have addressed in the offer? Obviously not because you decided to voice them directly to the seller instead of the agent. The agent did not handle the objections in the best way possible but you really should have told him before writing the offer.

The reasons you did not buy the house had nothing to do with your agent.
1. Seller refused to pay his fee and unless you were willing to do it he is under no obligation to work for free.
2. Seller wanted more than you were willing to pay.
3. Your Mortgage Broker lied to you.
4. You did not have enough saved for the downpayment.


He called you weeks later to let you know he had bought the property which he was under no obligation to do. Had you been in contact with him in the weeks between the rejected offer and the call? Were you having him search for other homes for you? Had you gotten a new lender?

Why did you not offer to purchase the property from him or ask him if he was willing to lease it to you as previously discussed?

Yes the moderator is nice because he told you what You Wanted to Hear and Not the actual Facts! Had you taken a few extra minutes to post the details and picked a better forum alias you would not have gotten many of the comments you did. Now break out your common sense and ask yourself why you are blaming your agent for #'s 1-4 that I posted above. Sorry what I have said is not all warm and fuzzy but it is the honest truth.

Freak,

Basic agency did exist in Illinois but once the seller refused to pay the Realtor fees and the buyer did not agree to pay them and the offer was rejected and the seller did not make a new offer the deal was dead. The agent did not divulge any of the buyers confidential information and the offer was not presented directly to the seller. Had the offer been accepted the root issue and the heater issue could have been addressed with a repair agreement after inspection.

2 weeks passed before the agent made an offer on the property. There was nolonger any agency in regards to that property.

Technically the son was practicing real estate without a license as he was not the titled owner of the property and was trying to sell it!

Correction: The moderator is nice because he can empathize with other people's situations and he recognized the one fact that was originally posted and commented that the agent was not effective in negotiating the best terms for his client.

Correction,
There was no negotiation as the offer was REJECTED by the real owner who also refused to pay the Realtor fees and the buyer was not willing to offer more money and did not have enough money for the down payment and was not willing to accept the mortgage companies terms! So tell us Freak how would you have negotiated tat!

Well let's see if I can answer some of these points.
1- Realtor told me he's been in business over 15 years and how much he has made for his company, etc, so no he is not new.
2- Realtor never told me about a Buyer's Agreement and I did not know about such a thing, it was verbal on his behalf.
3- I voiced my concerns to the Realtor about the tree beforehand, and he said he would look into it and thought it might be a county issue. Never heard anymore from him on that so it was brought up at the table with the seller present.
4-The heater issue only came up with the seller because I raised the question of how old it was.
5- I decided to back out of the deal, not because of the seller asking for more, but because(and my agent knew this) of the good faith estimate which basically told me that without a dp my interest would be much higher than originally stated by the broker. My realtor told me that since it had been more than 3 days since we wrote the contract and the seller was given 2 days to review it, that the contract was moot. Yes, I could have purchased the home and yes I did love it, but what it came down to is that I was told by the realtor that if I went with that mortgage company I would have to come up with a lot more money at closing than I thought. Being a first time home buyer and thinking I could buy a home with no money down at a decent rate of interest ( which I was told my the mortgage company) I wasn't prepared financially and made a decision to let the house go. My plan at this time is to do three things.
1- Save more money for a downpayment
2- Get educated by taking a course in the home buying process.
3- Only choose realtors and loan agents that are referred to me.
I don't care that my realtor bought the house. It was his unethical actions during the entire process, not to mention the actions of the mortgage lender.
And by the way the only reason he called me to tell me he purchased the home was because I had originally called and left a message with his secretary to tell him that I had received my voided check and a copy of the Good Faith Estimate that I had requested. He called me back to tell me of his good fortune for which he thanked me and also he said during the conversation, "I told Brad(seller's son) that he got a much better deal from me than he would have gotten from you. NICE!
Well, can you see why I did not post all of this on the first posting. I feel like I've been typing for hours. FYI- The moderator can empathize and has a more pleasant way of dealing with people. I'm sorry that I cannot say that for you Mr. Oaks. Do you always "tell it like it is without considering people's feelings.You need to tone it down a bit. I think you were very rude to call me names even without having all the facts.
What it all boils down to is this. The realtor was looking after his own interests, not mine and that's why I wanted to know what to do. And I'll just ask the moderator this. Was his treatment unethical?

One more thing, I did ask the realtor if he intended to do a lease/purchase to me, and he said he has to make some money on it, then dropped the subject.

Paul,

I would like to correct some errors in your statement.

• The seller DID agree to pay the commission of the agent.

• It doesn't matter who paid a commission or if one was paid at all in regards to agency relationship.

• The ethical issue at hand (the topic of this forum) is AT THE TIME the agent made the comment in front of the seller about him buying the house if his client didn't he was not acting in the best interests of his client. Let me refer you to article 15 of the Illinois Real Estate License Act of 2000:
  
  • (2) Promote the best interest of the client by:
    
    • (F) Acting in a manner consistent with promoting the client's best interests as opposed to a licensee's or any other person's self‑interest.
    
    

 Quote:

Originally posted by Paul Oaks:
Freak,

Basic agency did exist in Illinois but once the seller refused to pay the Realtor fees and the buyer did not agree to pay them and the offer was rejected and the seller did not make a new offer the deal was dead. The agent did not divulge any of the buyers confidential information and the offer was not presented directly to the seller. Had the offer been accepted the root issue and the heater issue could have been addressed with a repair agreement after inspection.

2 weeks passed before the agent made an offer on the property. There was nolonger any agency in regards to that property.

Technically the son was practicing real estate without a license as he was not the titled owner of the property and was trying to sell it!

I love agency discussions they always go whacked. All agents are always assumed to be working for the Seller always. Real Estate 101, it doesnt matter what state you are in.

Who are you working for and who is paying? Always the seller.

Agency exists between the seller and the listing broker and between the listing broker and the selling broker. When you have an escrow you have 3 documents. One confirms agency between the seller and the listing agency, another between the selling broker and the listing broker and another that breaks that agency and says the selling Broker represents the Buyer only.

Paul nails it in a previous post. Can we stay out of personal values & judgements?

Sorry Mr. Opportunities but you couldn't be more wrong. What you are describing is a sub-agency and that is contrary to the Illinois Real Estate Act.

• Sec. 15‑10. Relationships between licensees and consumers. Licensees shall be considered to be representing the consumer they are working with as a designated agent for the consumer unless:
  (1) there is a written agreement between the
  sponsoring broker and the consumer providing that there is a different relationship; or
  
  (2) the licensee is performing only ministerial acts
  on behalf of the consumer.
  
  (Source: P.A. 91‑245, eff. 12‑31‑99.)

Sorry I did not have enough empathy for you with so little information to go on. Your agent was obviously not the best fit for you and for that I am sorry. It would have been good to mention from the beginning that you were a first time homebuyer and the entire story.

What you need to do from this point on is find a new mortgage broker who fully understands your situation. Get pre-approved and know in advance what you will have to put down, what is the max you can afford and what is the most you are comfortable spending if that number is different form your max approval amount. There are tons of programs available for first time buyers.

Get from the lender a pre-approval letter for the max you are comfortable spending.

Look for an agent the specializes in first time home buyers. See if any area agents are holding a first time home buyers seminar and go to it. Once you select a Realtor I would suggest signing an Exclusive Buyers agreement as that agent will then be only working for you.

I do wish you best of luck in the future.

I am sure sure the mod will say the agent acted in an unethical manner(he always does) but he actually violated no part of the COE. He obviously is lacking in some areas and I am very surprised he has been in the business for 15 years.

Best advice is find an agent with whom you feel comfortable and an honest mortgage broker.

In my opinion his actions at the very least showed poor judgment and skill. At worst he acted unethically.

Thank you Mr. Oaks for that very tactful response. I admit to not having put everything down. To be honest there was just so much information, and I know I've left things out, such as the fact that I did have a pre-approval letter. Thanks for the help, I will most definitely have a Buyers Agreement signed by my next realtor and take a First Time Homebuyers Course. I know the name BuyerBeware is offensive, but I actually only meant that Buyers need to beware to know their stuff before they go out shopping for a home, get educated and make sure you have money in the bank. (money talks). My biggest mistake was in not shopping around for lenders. By the way something else I neglected to mention is that the lender advised me not to bother with a home/termite inspection as they are really just a waste of money. He said PA doesn't have termites. That was really a red-flag warning to me, but I was so excited to actually think I might be able to buy a home( been renting way too long). He has been in business for 18 years. I believe they both acted unethically and sorry to say but this is the reason for the bad rap on your profession.
For the future I intend to be very prepared up front. If anything I've learned a valuable lesson. I'm much too trusting and that's not always good.

I don't know how it is in other states, but in Texas the customer/client must be presented with an agency relationship form which describes the various agency relationships that can exist and defines who works for whom.

What is the law in other states? It seems like this would be the proper thing to do regardless of whether or not is required by law.

I'm sorry you had such an unpleasant experience.

From my quick read of this it seems like the only thing done wrong was that the agent made an oral promise that (s)he did not keep, namely to lease the property to you with an option to buy.

However, since this was oral it would be a tough case to argue in a court of law or ethics board.

I am not an attorney and am not giving legal advice.

Note from moderator: I have edited out the name calling as it detracts from an otherwise valid point of view.

[Edited by moderator]

AS for the poster...Loyalty...How is your loyalty breeched if you did not buy the property.

Did you attempt to buy the property and not proceed for a number of reasons? Did he start his purchase after you were no longer an elligble buyer? If thats the find another agent.

I do have a problem if he told you that he would buy the property if you didn't in front of the seller. This would certainly disadvantage you at the onset of the negotiations and be in conflict with your interests.

[Edited by moderator] remember that not all agents are created equally just as not all surgeons are created equally. How much effort did you put into selecting your agent and if you feel so strongly that this is a problem contact the agents regulatory body and take it up with them. [Edited by moderator]