Commission Held for Ransom

Now throughout the years, agents have all felt unappreciated by one buyer or another and we have cut our commision or bought that home warrenty to make a deal work. Well, now a new gimmick has come to the forefront. It's the first one I have heard of, but I am sure it won't be the last.My office had a deal going on a short sale. Yes, it was the typical short sale with all the bumps along the way and aging a another year by the time it was done.The bank in this case, insisted on clearing a certain amount and would not budge from that amount. The buyer had to agree to pay the agents' commission because there were not enough proceeds on the bank's end. The buyer agreed. As closing approached, we find out that there are $46,000 owed in arrears. The title company gave an amount of 21K. Now of course the buyers are having an attack because it means that they need to come up with 46K not 21K (remember the bank already gave their accepted amount without taxes included). We got the bank to agree to pay for part of the taxes and we think, "Whew, now we can close."Not so fast. The buyers and their lawyer arranged a closing, but without informing the seller's agent (that would be us) as to the date and time. Next thing we know, we find out about the closing that just took place. We got no commission check; remember it is being paid by the buyers, thus it was not a set sent check from the bank. The buyers now want to renegotiate down the commission and their lawyer is holding onto the commission check til a deal is made. Know we all know there is a name for buyer's and lawyers like this, but this is a public forum so use your imaginatian.We notified the bank who is actually not releasing the lien until the commission is paid. Nice bank.So there you have it; we will eventually get our check (hopefully soon and in full).

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Comments

Clay Kime, REOM, CDPE, RDCPro December 17, 2009 at 11:22am

I'm not a lawyer, but it sure seems the attorney that did such a thing would have licensing problems were the ABA to find out about it. What stinkers!

Hope it works out for you, and never happens again.
Richard Lawler December 17, 2009 at 10:27am

That is why I like California using Escrow and not lawyers. We have to have it all spelled out before closing. Even if one party hires a lawyer it all has to be in writing and in escrow before the transaction can close. It's sad that we work so hard for really a small percentage of the deal then to have someone hold it up without any real reason!
Best of luck
Dorit Katz December 17, 2009 at 8:43am

Thanks, I'm sure we will especially since we have the ank on our side. I think people are just desparate to try anything.
MeLisa Minter December 17, 2009 at 8:34am

Wow! I hope you get your check. That is totally unfair.

This reply was deleted.