I'm in the process of trying to do a short sale on my house. I hired a realtor back in September and we decided together that we would ask $125,000 for my house. I bought it last yaer for $150,000 and have almost no equity in the house, as I financed 100% of the purchase price. The house at that time was appraised at $165,000, but now it might be hard to get $100,000 for it. Right afetr I hired a realtor and she told me that my house was in the MLS,I went to the MLS website and viewed the listing. It was listed at $124,900, which was what we had agreed on. I went back to the MLS website today to view other houses in my area to try to determine why I hadn't even had one showing in almost 3 months. I was quite surprised when I saw my house listed for $114,900. Apparantly, my realtor decided all on her own to drop the asking price by $10,000. Is this legal? Since I'm doing a short sale and won't see a dime no matter what the house sells for, I don't care what she lists the house for. But, it still seems wrong to me. We have a listing agreement that clearly states in the very first paragraph that I am authorizing her to sell my property at the price and terms described in the agreement (The agreement says $125,000). I've carefully read over the entire contract and all of the addendums and there is nothing authorizing my realtor to amend any part of the agreement without my consent. If she would have asked me, I wouldn't have had any problem with amending the asking price, but I haven't heard a single word from her since we met at the house to show her around and give her a key to put in the lockbox almost 3 months ago. Should I be looking for a new realtor? The listing is for 6 months which wouldn't end until March. Could I get out of the contract early without penalty? Thanks for any comments or advice that anyone can give me.

If it was listed for $125,000, I don't even understand why it showed up in the MLS at the beginning as $124,900 . . . . That's "Close"; but it's not the same !

I have Sellers who get upset when we accidently advertise at $169,900 when they wanted $169,999 ! Mathematics are very objective - and unforgiving. Lawsuits are built on such trifling differences; and some would argue they display an intent . . . . or a degree of carelessness.

I don't know anything about what your options are in Florida; but your Post didn't say anything about your having already obtained an Agreement from the Lending Institution regarding the Short Sale. They are the ones who would want to see that you're attempting to obtain the maximum. I hope that is the case.

Short sale is a tough job, It's wrong to change the price without your OK 1st or pre- arrangement, Here in Birmingham, realtor will get a $500 fine doing that if you can prove, which is easy to prove in your case, a printout the listing sheet and a copy of the listing agreement. If you want to know why prcie changed, call the realtor or the company's broker to get clarification; if you want to cancel the listing, easy to do, just call the realtor's broker and states you want cancel without any penalty, I am sure they will be glad to do so since short sale is a tough job anyway. If the broker does not agree to cancel, just inform them you are going to call the realtor association to complaint, that will change their mind.

Just my 2 cents, I will cancel any client's listing anytime regardless without any penalty even I did not do anything wrong.

Best wishes

"but now it might be hard to get $100,000 for it"

So if you know this is the case why in the hell is it listed at 124,900 to begin with.If you aren't going to incur the cost or losses list it low to get offers on it say 95,000 and then submit to the bank and see what they will sell it for.Technically they just own the mortgage note but they are the REAL seller in this not you as they are taking the loss so the final decision falls with them.

Usually short sales aren't considered as a workout option until you are 2 to 3 months behind on the mortgage payment.The reason is before they take a big loss that you will be forgiven for they would much rather work out a loan modification to get you current then.

Short sales are for homeowners in severe hardship that show financials to the bank.They are not for people who bought a house as an investment and lived in it and decided they "no longer want the mortgage payment or the house".

In my state all price drops we have to get signed in writing from the seller.

If this broker/agent hasn't contacted you in 3 months since the listing they know nothing about short sales. I did them for years and you price in the bottom 10 percent of listings to get an offer and then once you have an offer the bank will look at it.

They won't really work your file until an offer is on the table as that assett manager has hundreds of defaulted files on there desk.They are going to work on the ones they can close out and put off the other ones for now.

No legal advice but it sounds like you need a broker/agent who is well versed in short sales.

I can't really understand your frustration. Selling the house is the number one priority in a short sale situation. It sounds like your agent kept it on the market at the higher price for quite some time. The agent then made a decision to lower the price to try and obtain offers. Maybe they should have spoken with you first, but it really doesn't matter. I bet the agent wouldn't have done that in a normal sale. Because it is a short sale, you really have no reason to get frustrated with them. Their goal is to get the property sold for you. It sounds like that's what they're trying to do.

The agent has to obtain authorization from you to make any changes to the original listing agreement. Where I am, it has to be in writing shortly after the verbal acceptance.
Regardless of your circumstances, the agent did WRONG!
Call the agents broker, switch to a more pro-active agent, or just cancel the agreement and re-list with a more knowledgeable and ethical agent.

http://www.realtor.org/mempolweb.nsf/pages/code#Duties%20to%20Clients%20and%20Customers

Just tell her you want out of your listing contract.

I would ask to be released from the listing agreement. Not just because of the unauthorized price reduction but because your agent obviously does not do a good job of communicating with their clients. I've personally handled short sale transactions and I now write automatic price reductions into every short sale listing I take. I do this because list/sale price means absolutely nothing to the homeowner as they are unable to profit from the sale anyway. More importantly I set the expectation right up front that traffic is king in this market and I may need to adjust the liting price regularly to generate offers to present to the bank.

ccfcj70- Just playing devil's advocate here... maybe it was a mistake. At my company our receptionist who inputs our listings can also edit them once they are online. MAYBE there is someone else from your agent's company with a listing on your street and her clerical person changed the price on the wrong house. At my office we have 120+ agents and this has happened before.

If it wasn't a mistake, there is no excuse for it. With that being said, since it does not matter what the house sells for price it to get some activity or it will never sell. You need to mitigate the short sale circumstances in the buyer's eyes with an enticing price (within reason- too low and people will see the scam). FIND YOURSELF A SHORT SALE PRO- it will be worth it.
Good luck!

...and now you want to fire her because she didn't ask you. wow She's trying to help you get out of foreclosure but you got in a snit cuz you didn't get asked first.

Let her try and sell the house and you not try to pick prices or anything -- just sign the forms as you get them and step aside. You're not helping, you're hurting yourself. And you're making yourself look petty and vengeful for no good reason.

I understand Artiste's response but it is out of order for the agent to do a price reduction without consulting with the owner first. I think this has fostered a feeling of distrust and therefore the owner may well be better off with another agent.

Unfortunately the distrust created by one action also clouds whatever other actions might be ongoing too.

Imagine if her surgeon opened her up, took out a tumor and found another one and took that one out too and then this woman, the patient, throws a fit about it because she didn't get asked permission to remove the second tumor.

I think the agent should fire her.

No offense Artiste, but I hate it when our profession is compared to the medical field/surgery- as if the two are anything remotely close to comparable.
surgery/medicine = life and death decisions, literally
real estate = NOT life and death decisions

Ok, so a plumber's been asked to remove a clog and he finds another clog in the line...

Still a poor comparison. Hire the plumber to clear the drain, not to count the number of clogs. Ask a real estate agent to sell your house for a specific price, expect offers for consideration (not an agent saying you will sell it for less than you agreed at the time of listing).