I recently purchased a house that is still in escrow. The agent that showed me the house told me that the house was a new listing. In fact, it is so new that he still had the listing in his briefcase and it was not submitted yet. The agent took me to see the house and push me on purchasing the house. He kept saying that I would get a good deal on the house because he is going to work with the seller to save money.

I found out later that he made a deal with the seller to give him cash (so it could not be traced)for a referral fee. He did not submit the listing. The brokerage company he works through ended up with nothing even though he is their agent. the seller is going to save on commission and he will work out a deal and get a "referral fee" from the seller.

He then told me that he has worked out something with the seller but that he cannot be involved in the negotiation of the offer between the seller and me as he is pretending that he knows nothing about it. I decided to make an offer on the property and the agent insisted on being there. He also chimed in and put in this opinions and advising the seller. All the time, telling me that I was getting a great deal. I was stilling there with no representation. When the agent came to the negotiation, the seller and I had basically come to an agreement on the price but not the other things like appliances, closing date, conditions ... etc. However, once the agent was there, he was telling the sellers what to say and also telling them that they should not give in to appliances ... etc. Basically the discussions after that did not go very well.

Can someone please tell me how an agent can take cash from the seller for the referral when he has the listing? How can he behave this way? Is there anything I can do about his interfering in our negotiations?

Thanks

Your interests are not being properly represented.

I think you should either get your own buyer's agent (get a REALTOR whose fiduciary duties as an agent run to you) or get a lawyer to help sort out your transaction.

My psychic powers tell me that this deal will fall through as soon as you get proper representation because of the personalities of the seller and the shadowy agent you have been dealing with.

Humm---I wonder what his broker would think about his actions, trying to cut the broker out of the deal. He may want to know. :rolleyes:

If the complaint were made to the right people in Ohio instead of selling houses you could be living in "the big house".

How did you "find out" about the agents "deal" with the seller?

You seem to know WAY more than you should if there was something shady going on.

Sorry to seem skeptical, I just find it hard to believe that the agent and/or seller would discuss illegal compensation plans with you as well as the fact that you know what the brokerage is or is not getting in this transaction.

I do agree with the above posts. I don't know why you would make it up & hope that you have not. If it's true, then call the real estate commission for your state and file a complaint.

sounds like the agent isn;t very smart, and a blabber mouth to boot. Get yourself a Buyers Broker asap if you want the property, make a complaint with your broker, esp if it falls through, or find another property. Dupe you once shame on him, dupe you twice.....

housebyng
Go to the agents Broker and if you get no where there then run, don't walk to the real estate commisioner.

Have a lawyer handle every part of the real estate transaction. Agents are just glorified sales men. They've tried to legitimize the practice over the years with licenses and exams and stuff like that, but it should always be handled by an attorney is you ask me.

Those are fighting words in a real estate forum!

Hmmm...
Yikes!

An attorney to handle all aspects of real estate transaction. Yahh..just call that attorney and ask her orhim to show you that house, demonstrate knowledge of the market, area and comparables and then do a GFE and write the offer!

Fighting words is right Auburn CA, but in another post here on the forum openmls also believes it is descrimination to dis-allow sex offenders a re license...so consider the source.

I try to NEVER feed an attorney... unless there's a hungry alligator near by... then I'll feed him - to the alligator!