That's what the seller's relo company demanded.

Well the earnest money was $1,000. The seller demanded a 2nd more substantial deposit within 10 days of signing the contract.

What do your listing agreements say about contingencies? Any contingencies you listed in the MLS would have to be noted in the listing agreement right? (i'm not being difficult, i'm trying to disect this further)

Our offers are the same. The seller should read a copy the offer before they sign the listing agreement so if any of these contingencies will be a problem for them they can put it in writing before they sign the listing agreement. If they don't and they refuse to sell because of a standard contingency then the seller is refusing to sell and owes the listing agent a commission.

When I write an offer on an MLS listing I need to know what terms the seller will accept. If the seller won't accept an offer per their terms as stated or not stated in the MLS, I will be expecting a commission. Our MLS only has a field for the loan contingency but there is always the broker's notes.

The strange part is watching listing agents roll over and letting their sellers do whatever they want as if the listing agreement is not a binding contract.

If the MLS listing did not say cash only you probably could have/should have gotten a commission from the listing broker provided there weren't multiple offers on it.

There was another offer on the table, quite a bit lower than ours.
But at any rate, it was NOT the brokerages fault. I wouldn't have even considered going after the broker for the commission...the listing agent was just as frustrated as I was. The sellers got screwed by having to sell their home for less because of the relocation company. This was also the least deal in this area that the relocation company was doing (supposedly) so that would have been a dead horse too. Not worth the aggravation and heaven knows how much money in legal fees!

You would not have incurred any legal fees. The MLS typically will take care of the situation between you and the listing broker for free.

It was the listing brokerages fault for not holding the seller to the terms of the the listing contract. If the listing agent would have stood up to the relo company they would have backed down to avoid paying 2 commissions, the seller would have made more money and your clients would have gotten the property they wanted. Some agents don't realize a listing agreement is actually an enforceable contract.

Both times this happened to me I didn't worry about the aggravation and I got the properties for my clients.

I'll keep this in mind if it ever happens again - it's all water under the bridge now, unfortunately. I do not know the details of the listing contract so I can't really comment with any kind of authority WHAT the brokerage would have or should have done.