Look, an ethical buyer's agent who has an agreement to help you find a house gets paid whenever you buy ANY house. So it is in his interest to make sure you get the best house you can afford. That way you will tell your friends how great he was and he will continue to find clients. If he worrys about how to sell you one piece of crap house just to get a quick commission then he is not an ethical "buyer's agent". I know its hard to find that type of agent but I think they exist.

Real estate agents don't get paid until they sell something. This is a surprising revelation somehow?

Deepsea - that's why a buyer's agent should be "Fee paid" - by the BUYER. (Are you saying it's hard to find an UN-ethical agent???)

In everyone else's sceanario, the buyer's agent gets paid by the seller, yet nobody can see any conflict of interest??

They'd better stay away from this town. They'd lose their bloomers in a heartbeat.

Where are you getting that it's a conflict of interest?

In the most basic terms I can come up with to explain how this works:

Seller wants to sell a house. Signs a listings agreement with a listing broker for 10%, and decides that half (5%) will be offered to ANY buyer's broker upon completion of the terms in the listing agreement.

I guess I'm still not getting it. WHo had better stay away (buyer's agents?) and why would they lose their bloomers?

It is not surprising that everyone seems to be unable to make Lost in Maine understand this most simple concept.

Lost in Maine has an axe to grind as she says she was misrepresented and lied to by All involved in the purchase of her mobile home in a trailer park.


Lost in Maine,
If everything you say is true then I find it very hard to believe that there is no attorney in the state of Maine that would accept your case pro bono!

Every word is true......sigh .....I want to live in YOUR world, too.

Things are different up here. Most people don't even know how to use computers. When the Board of REALTORŪ's "Ethics" committee forwarded all of my personal and professional email to the accused REALTORŪs involved, the CEO thoughts that the emails were coming directly from ME, since he didn't know how to use a computer.

So he threatened to sue ME for harassment, and brought up this fact at the hearing, and so "outed" his own accomplices.

Towns like this are owned and operated by extended networks of "Good Ole Boys" - and they have been like this for generations. People break laws unthinkingly, (Maine ranks #50 in the nation for enforcement of laws, even where they do exist) and, with the proper connections, people just assume that they will get away with just about anything.

Folks around here stick up for one another, no matter what.

http://www.maine.rr.com/05/portmag/hunting/default.asp

This is not your mother's America.

WOW, Glad he is not my client!

Should you have an issue take it up with the State where your agent carries his license. Frankly though it sounds like you are bored and just trying to cause trouble.

You must be joking. This is Maine - I'm told the most corrupt state, (next to Georgia, but I don't know personally...)

Newspapers, TV, every form of mainstream media are in the pockets of the players, and the blogosphere around here is so right wing.

In Maine, it's perfectly legal for a real estate agent to put his real estate sign on the lawn of any mobile home in a park, take you into his real estate office, fill out the real estate purchase and sale agreement, and all of the other legal real estate forms.

You then get a legal real estate tax bill on a legal real estate form, which you are expected to pay with legal tender.

However, what nobody bothers to tell you, because they're not required to, is that your home in the park is still not considered "Real Estate", so the Real Estate Commission has no authority. (And one wonders whether they would use it if they did).

They can break any law they want, and thumb their nose.

And you've read what the Maine Branch of the NAR is like. (I've affectionately dubbed mine the Bangor Board of BIMBO'sŪ - just a personal opinion mind you. )

And even if it were illegal to do these things, I don't think anyone would enforce it.

In Maine, the Attorney General (unlike the other 49 states) is selected by secret ballot by the legislature, which is in turn put in power by the wealthy developers and REALTORS. He is available for 5 minutes a year to film a public service message. That's about it.

The people who own this trailer park are the self professed biggest single taxpayers in the state. And everyone in town tells me to give up hope.

Maine has the highest rate of domestic violence in the country, the highest rate of teen suicide, and one of the highest rates of drug and alcohol abuse. It's a troubled place.

As I said - it's NOT your mother's Amercia, and it's too bad that something couldn't be done.

MAYBE WE CAN SELL IT TO JAPAN! ;-]

(Sorry about the rant. A friend of mine was just badly hurt as well....)

I had to edit this post to say that it also has some fo the most AWESOME people in the country. Maybe the nice ones have learned to be twice as nice to compensate.

Here's praying that the best win out.

I've listed and sold a few mobile homes, with my sign in front of them. I explain to buyers that a mobile home is not considered real property, it is personal property. In my state they are considered motor vehicles. That is why most banks won't mortgage them. I find they buyer the seller signs the registration or title and the seller gives me my commission. I don't like selling mobile homes, but people sometimes ask me to list them. IMO, the best thing about selling a mobile home is you can be ruthless in qualifying the buyer. If they don't have the cash for a downpayment and financing in place ahead of time it's pointless to show the home. I don't know what you mean by "you get a real estate tax bill".

Why should it be illegal for me to sell a mobile home? I'm ignoring all the red herrings in the post, though, I don't know what they have to do with selling anything.

No red herrings here, - only facts.

I pay regular (quite high) real estate taxes, even though my home is on rented land.

I'm glad you're honest. Even in this town, honest agents do exist.

I mistakenly asssumed that MY quite dishonest agents and the REALTOR involved were acting as licensed professionals, and were honest.

But they did not even NEED a license for my sale.

I'm sorry I was mean and lost my temper. I find this all very hard to believe, too..... (that's what's so strange and weird.)

But I will find a way out, and what goes around comes around.

Thanks.

Hey --PS --REO Dayton---I'm NOT bored. I guess that's a good thing, LOL--at least this not boring!

(Maybe I can write a book)

Why do you feel Compeled to continue to come to this forum to whine about your situation?

Just pack up your stuff and go rent an apartment! Send your lender the keys and a letter telling them to come and get it! Then get on with your life!

Best. thread. evah. I am rofl!

So you say there's a high rate of drug and alcohol abuse in Maine, eh?