how do i fire my realtor?

[zach477]

Just looking for opinions or past experiences here….we currently have our home on the market, looking to upgrade. Our realtor we are using is the realtor we used to buy the home, I wasn’t overly impressed with her the first time but my wife felt it would be best to list with her because of our history….fine with me. From the get go, we told her we would either be building or buying, whatever works best for us. We got a bid through a builder that she put us in touch in case we decided to build. We have gotten bids from 3 other builders and since I have a number of relatives and good friends in the building industry, I have gotten the house bid out myself acting at the general contractor. When we looked at the numbers, I would save approx $30-35k doing the home build myself and at that time talked to the bank about a construction loan. The banker goes to church with our realtor, and opened her mouth about me getting bids on my own. My realtor texted me (because she can’t talk on the phone I guess) and basically chewed me out for getting bids on my own and thinking about not using the builder she introduced us to. She also went on to say that I would owe her 3% of my build cost if I built my own home. The next day we lowered our price on our home and her attitude was sour to be polite; she was pushing and was rushing me to sign the price change agreement because she was late for a showing. What I did not notice when I signed the price change contract was that she pushed her contract out until Nov 2012 and also included that if I were to build the house on my own that she is entitled to 3%. I was PISSED and called her, of course no answer, but a text instead. Long story short she threatened legal action if I wanted to remove the 3% if I build and that she is entitled to that money “I put that in there to protect myself” she said. The relationship since has of course been crappy, we are not receiving any feedback from our showings and she does not answer my phone calls but instead will reply with a text. Do I have enough complaints to remove my listing with her and relist with someone else? How much does this contract cover her butt? Technically she is working for me, and I feel this is no different than being fired, but most days I feel I am working for her. I could go on with the complaints (like driving 15 miles to look at a home only for her to not show up nor call, this has happened twice), she is holding us accountable for her being upside down in the house (she has spent more on advertising than she is getting out of it) because we have been on the market too long and were overpriced at first when I asked her if the price I wanted out of it was ok and she said yes, we wanted to look at some preexisting homes, one was a ranch one was a 2 story and her reply was (do you want a ranch or do you want a 2 story, I’m tired of wasting time with you). I could go on……

 

[snowmobilesrme]

Just looking for opinions or past experiences here….we currently have our home on the market, looking to upgrade. Our realtor we are using is the realtor we used to buy the home, I wasn’t overly impressed with her the first time but my wife felt it would be best to list with her because of our history….fine with me. From the get go, we told her we would either be building or buying, whatever works best for us. We got a bid through a builder that she put us in touch in case we decided to build. We have gotten bids from 3 other builders and since I have a number of relatives and good friends in the building industry, I have gotten the house bid out myself acting at the general contractor. When we looked at the numbers, I would save approx $30-35k doing the home build myself and at that time talked to the bank about a construction loan. The banker goes to church with our realtor, and opened her mouth about me getting bids on my own. My realtor texted me (because she can’t talk on the phone I guess) and basically chewed me out for getting bids on my own and thinking about not using the builder she introduced us to. She also went on to say that I would owe her 3% of my build cost if I built my own home. The next day we lowered our price on our home and her attitude was sour to be polite; she was pushing and was rushing me to sign the price change agreement because she was late for a showing. What I did not notice when I signed the price change contract was that she pushed her contract out until Nov 2012 and also included that if I were to build the house on my own that she is entitled to 3%. I was PISSED and called her, of course no answer, but a text instead. Long story short she threatened legal action if I wanted to remove the 3% if I build and that she is entitled to that money “I put that in there to protect myself” she said. The relationship since has of course been crappy, we are not receiving any feedback from our showings and she does not answer my phone calls but instead will reply with a text. Do I have enough complaints to remove my listing with her and relist with someone else? How much does this contract cover her butt? Technically she is working for me, and I feel this is no different than being fired, but most days I feel I am working for her. I could go on with the complaints (like driving 15 miles to look at a home only for her to not show up nor call, this has happened twice), she is holding us accountable for her being upside down in the house (she has spent more on advertising than she is getting out of it) because we have been on the market too long and were overpriced at first when I asked her if the price I wanted out of it was ok and she said yes, we wanted to look at some preexisting homes, one was a ranch one was a 2 story and her reply was (do you want a ranch or do you want a 2 story, I’m tired of wasting time with you). I could go on……

you already know shes full of crap when she says she spent more on advertising than what her cut would be from selling the house. realtors advertise at the click on a mouse, or a push of some buttons on a keyboard. that doesnt cost hundreds. the supplies to print out the paper used for advertising, doesnt add up to hundreds. when most likely, when a realtor gets a cut out of a house, is thousands.

it does not cost thousands to advertise a house being sold. hell, a sign out infront of a house, is all you need.

on the whole 3% thing, and you not noticing it until after you signed the paper, look into seeing if anywhere in the guidelines or the contract if its required that she make it known to you that you understand the 3% thing.

a contract that is thurough, and honest would be more than willing to make it known. and if she somehow subtly hid the 3% thing, and pressured you into signing without reading, then thats real shady, and she probly needs to be kicked in the teeth.

many contracts have cancellation terms, and notices of cancellation that you sign. contracts should be very thurough, and the person presenting the contract should be very thurough.

document everything. her actions, not returning phonecalls, only being able to text, any business person knows that phonecalls and faxes, if not face to face are the next solid way of doing business. her 15 year old son could be texting you all this bullcrap. she seems to be very unprofessional. and for being unprofessional, and yelling at you, you should fire her. either just come out, and say it, or take her to small claims court if you have to, and make sure you have all the information you need.

i cant see any of the contracts, so that my best input...

 

[2broke4new]

The banker goes to church with our realtor, and opened her mouth about me getting bids on my own.……

Enough said. Call the banking authority and advise them they get to pay the 3% for breech of confidential info

 

[snowhawkaddict]

Burn it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrpXArn3hII&ob=av3e

 

[av8er]

You need to go to her broker which is typically her Boss

and tell him or her about her actions and shady demeanor. also when did your original contract end before u signed the extension , the extension should be avoidable thru the broker, especially if you threaten legal action. truth in lending and contracting act, you obviously signed a contract without full disclosure from the realtor, then tell the B!tch to step off.

 

[av8er]

PS, I just closed on my new home today at noon

so i'm somewhat knowledgeable about this but by no means am i a lawyer.

 

[cubby]

I suppose that every state is different but I know when I bought my house I choose my realtor and that was a blessing for her because there was lots of them out there. Now I know it might be a lot different as to where you are asking someone to sell your house which they will get a commission off of, but what she is probably mad about is the fact that she won't get a kick back from her contractor for using them. Instead she's tring to make more off of you. If you were to buy a house from her then of coarse she is making a commission off of that one to. To me the first contract is the one that should hold you accountable for the selling fee, does the first contract say anything about a commission for using her contractors if you decided to build your own?

 

[skibreeze]

Very simple. You file a complaint with her office owner, then the BBB, and the state liscensing board. I'm willing that eventually get you out of the adendum.

 

[CANNONMAN]

Tell her to hit the road. Document everything and call her boss. If she is a Realtor she and her boss the Broker are responsible not just her. They will have a huge burden of proof and standards to adhere to and it will not be worth it to them to have you angry. I would be willing to bet you can be out of your contract by Monday afternoon. Most Realty contracts have escape clauses. I built homes for 21 years and dealt with all kinds of Realtors and never saw a contract that could not be broken quite easily. Simple way may be is your home in both your names? Did your wife sign along with you? There are a ton of questions like this an atty. can use. A couple hundo spent with a quality atty. will get you out of this and it sounds like that would be money well spent for a chitty job. Try it yourself first. I think you will be suprised what they will do. As you can probably tell I am not a fan of Realtors. Some I dealt with were great and they can do you a good job and we both made money, but the majority would throw you under the bus in a heartbeat. Let us know what happens.

 

[Skogen]

Enough said. Call the banking authority and advise them they get to pay the 3% for breech of confidential info

X2... Fire both of them. Especially your banker. That is a huge violation of releasing confidential information...



Lession #1 If you fail in life, you either run for public office like President of the USA or become a realitor...

 

[05900]

I bet the local board of realtors president would love to talk to you as well as the bank president...

 

[sevenhundo]

The way the government is now that realetor and banker could get into alot of trouble. Ask some questions. If your not in a contract which you shouldnt be as a buyer?? Even selling its easy to get out of the contract. Just tell them your not getting the amount of people in and you are not happy with their service. We did it a few months ago and they were happy to take out the contract.

 

[dmkhnr]

Just call her up and tell her she is fired.
After reading your first post, I can tell that you have little experience dealing with people (not an insult, just something that you've never had to do). If she persues you, you have plenty of validity for the termination. I wouldn't give it a second thought as an attorney would tear her apart.

If you want to sell your house, ask around and find the most aggressive realitor in your area.

If you want to build a house, hire a general contractor. If your signing contracts that entitle the realitor to a house your thinking about building, and didn't catch the extension to listing, (I knew this was going to happen before I read it in your post) then you have no business building a house as an owner builder.
Building a home is a full time job, and if your not going to be on site supervising, and doing layout with the foresite of the finished product, the $30k you saved by diy will be gone before the foundation is out of the ground.

 

[zach477]

Thanks for the advice everyone. This isn't the first time I have had to fire someone, but i have found out recently that my realtor has been a huge b*tch in this situation in the past and I wanted all my bases covered when i approach her so its a quick process, the last thing i want is it to take 2-3 weeks when I only have 6 weeks remaining before the market shuts down for the winter. I think I'm being the bigger person if I fire her in person, but I know there will be a lot of crying and melodramatic acting so would it be acceptable to get rid of her over the phone?

 

[SnoKing]

Thanks for the advice everyone. This isn't the first time I have had to fire someone, but i have found out recently that my realtor has been a huge b*tch in this situation in the past and I wanted all my bases covered when i approach her so its a quick process, the last thing i want is it to take 2-3 weeks when I only have 6 weeks remaining before the market shuts down for the winter. I think I'm being the bigger person if I fire her in person, but I know there will be a lot of crying and melodramatic acting so would it be acceptable to get rid of her over the phone?

I would phone her and tell her (or her VM) that you are cancelling your real estate contract with them. Before you do that, draft a letter of termination of contract stating some or all of the items listed in your initial thread (you should spend some time rewording it)emphasize how she hurried you in signing it, but don't tell her you have this letter.
You can finish your conversation with something like "My attorney suggested we try to do this without contacting "the local Board of Realtors" or state licensing bureau.

I was a real estate agent in ILL and even when there was an ending date specified in a contract, the fine print stated that you had to advise them in writing 30 days before the contract ended or it would continue in force.

If you donot receive a satisfactory result from the verbal contact, send the letter registered mail with signature reguired.

At the bottom of the letter add CC: "local Realtor Board" , "State Licensing Bureau" and if you have an attorney his name ( or pick one from the phone book as long as it isn't hers). That doesn't mean you actually have to send those copies, but whose to know.

I had a purchase go bad in Georgia years ago and they wouldn't return my deposit. I found out there was an attorney on the Georgia Board of Realtors. When talking with the agent I said. my attorney "his name" would be happy to take my case. Had my deposit back the next morning hand delivered.

Good luck

 

[m8magicandmystery]

she is a cougar...she knows this kerfuffle will cause a chism between you and your wife ...then she plans to jump all over you...

 

[niles]

I read this the other day, and thought about it a while.
The more i thought the more upset i got. What makes her think she is entitled to 3% of the cost of your new house. Even if you use "her" builder.
Is she a contractor? wtf. What work has she put in it to entitle her to 3%of 300k. 9000 dollars for a few calls.
This frustates me cause i am a contracor and where i'm from the customer complains paying the contactor this much.
FIRE her.
Pick up the phone and simply say your fired.

I always wanted to use the spitting dude.

 

[POLZIN]

YOUR FIRED! AND IF YOU DONT LIKE IT COME AND GET ME! They wont bother. Unlike the lies the tell you about advertiseing expenses ,etc . Hiring an attorney to come after you actually does cost $$ .That will be the end of it. As mentioned most realators are parasites. They cant survive without you( your money).

 

[milehighassassin]

Your first post was way too much for me to read with my ADD. Send her a letter letting her know you will not be using her services anymore and she need to return all keys to you. Real Estate agents are a dime a dozen, no need to use a bad one.

 

[SLEDIOT]

with a .357 lol