No I don't owe him any money. He just thinks that it's pointless to go through a broker when people can sell their homes on their own. He mentioned an attorney the one time we discussed this and that sparked this question.
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Well some people can, and some people can't, and some people don't want to. Just because he thinks it's pointless doesn't mean everyone else feels the same way.

What was it that they thought you did that "tricked them"?

I recently had a listing presentation with a very close older couple who treat my DH like a son. They had listed a couple of years ago with a relative whom they were no longer speaking to (first red flag?). For about 200,000 over what they should have listed.

I was completely honest with them, gave them a market overview, showed them comps, did not give them an exact number to list at, because it seemed to me they weren't motivated or realistic. After that, we were over for dinner one night, and the wife told me her husband was unrealistic about their house. Three days later their house showed up on our office caravan, listed with another agent in my office. I spoke to the husband, and expressed my disappointment that he had not told me he was listing with another agent, which resulted in a tirade about how I had "hated" their house, said a lot of negative things, and how could I sell something I disliked so much, so he listed with this other guy.

He is still priced $200,000 over what he should be listed at.

People who see no reason for a Realtor often have never bought or sold property. Or if they have, they had a problem-free transaction, a good agent, and a smooth closing, so weren't aware of much of the 'work' being done on their behalf.

So in cases when someone questions the need for a Realtor, I usually ask them a few relatively simple questions... such as who is responsible for providing the survey, who is responsible for the title insurance policy, what happens if the home does not appraise, who pays for the HOA docs, what disclosures are required when listing a home, what happens if it turns out after the sale that the property is located on a toxic waste dump? Etc, etc.

Generally, they scratch their head and realize that there's a lot more involved than sticking a sign in the yard...

If they still insist that FSBO's are the right way to go, I let them know that only about 30% of FSBO's actually sell. If that doesn't convince them, nothing will.

My offer to them was to represent them on the sale side for free. Totally free. At the time I was at a 100% office so I had that kind of autonomy. I explained that they have to offer a commission to the buyer's agent, they agreed. I suggested listing it "exclusive" for 10 days to give me the chance to sell it myself. They signed an exclusive listing agreement that I explained to them in detail. I helped stage the house, I ran a nice ad, held an open house and sold it THAT DAY for more than asking and closed it in 30 days without incident. After closing, they asked when I was going to refund them the commission. I was like "uh, excuse me?" And they proceeded to say that I said I would sell it for FREE and they wanted their 3% back. I responed with "but you signed an exclusive listing agreement with me for 3% for me to sell the house, which I did." Then they said something to the effect of "you tricked us we didn't know what we were signing". So, they would have rather paid a stranger the 3% to sell the house than me based on what they said. And, by the way, these are not stupid people! There was no way they didn't understand our listing agreement. I explained it the way I do to every client and NOBODY has ever claimed they didn't understand what I was talking about. Besides, don't you think after closing is the wrong time to say you didn't understand your listing? ooooh I'm getting pissed thinking about it again...

In-laws can be bad. In this case from what you have said, hubby should have stood up to them and ended it that way. It looks to me like the money was more important than family. I would have burned that 4k in front of them, before I would of just handed to them. But it's easy to say what I would do. BigC

I certainly think that your seller is being extremely obtuse, but. . . when you said you wanted 10 days to have the chance to sell it yourself, did you explain that if you sold it during those 10 days you'd be paid? Did they sign such a contract?

I was thinking the same thing as Paceryder. It doesn't mention anywhere in your post that your services were anything but free.

Now I'm curious as to what the 10-day exclusive contract was for. Otherwise, couldn't you have just sold it in 10 days without an exclusive?

Linda