Hi! I got an offer from a newbie agent yesterday. On the fax cover page he indicated that they need my sellers to pay all of the buyers closing costs, so he marked the box that says closing fees to be paid by seller. The sellers would not be willing to pay all of the buyers closing costs. However, the box he checked just covers the title company's fees. I'm pretty sure he's under the impression that he covered all of the lender fees in that as well- and maybe even pre-paids. If he really wanted that done it would need to go under "additional provisions" in our contract. My question is -Should I bring this to his attention. My sellers say "no". They understand that the buyers might just not have the money and won't be able to make it work the other way. But they also know that if this doesn't come out until the agent sees the HUD- that he could very well eat it out of his commission to make sure his clients are done right. I'm working for the seller- I've got to do best by them, but I feel sorry for this other agent. Do I just leave him in the dark? (I am guessing this is his first deal or close to it because his deadlines didn't make a lick of sense...)

You should at least ask him what his buyers want. That way there isn't any big ordeal at closing. Maybe they just some of them paid.
On a similar note, your market is SO different from here... it's a total sellers market, and when I first read your post, I giggled. That would never happen here.
Good luck. Working with new/inexperienced agents can sometimes be challenging.

Your sellers sound like real sweethearts. :rolleyes:

If the situation was reversed what would you want the other agent to do for you???

Although you are required to follow all the lawful instructions of your client I'm not sure potentially setting one of your fellow Realtors up to suffer for what you say is probably an honest mistake falls in that category.

If the buyers are unable to come up with the necessary funds to close this transaction and the new agent is not willing to throw his paycheck into the pot to help your sneaky sellers then the mortgage company could deny their loan and the deal won't close.

Unless your clients expressly forbid you to tell the other agent of his mistake I would be on the phone to him today and explain his error before this gets too far along and lots of bent feelings occur.

I've always found that if you ask up front what the exact intent is, and it's agreeable up front with all parties, then everyone knows what they are obligated for, the escrow goes smoothly, and everybody is happy. That is the bottom line.

Why wait till the end of the transaction, try to slam the other guy, either watch them pay or the deal fall apart. what has been accomplished?

Thanks guys. The sellers definately don't want to pay those closing costs. So I left a msg with the listing broker expaining the contract. I said that if he still needed my sellers to pay all the buyers closing costs that we could raise the sales price to adjust for those costs. I hope they go for it.

i feel that honesty with the new agent would be the right thing to do. i am a new agent and i will probably run into a problem someday and i would greatly appreciate another agent helping me out with what i did wrong. put yourself on the other end.

I have to agree with Jim and Len here. I think your seller's would be a little annoyed if when you get to the closing table the new agent refused to give up any of his commission and the deal fell apart. Also they would probably blame it on you..if they're willing to throw him under the bus so easily don't you think they'll do it to you?