Can I sue my real estate agent? They used every trick in the book to under price my mother’s house?
I signed through POA while she was sick in europe, but I regret not doing a lot of my own research. The house could have been priced 150,000 higher than it was. The price we got is ridiculous and I started to get a bad feeling when the offers came in very quickly, but the agents were very rude everytime I suggested we could get more. This was my first time working with an agent and I feel I was taken advantage of in order for them to make a quick sale.
Here’s the additional info. some people requested:
- the house sold for 529k (most of it in mortgage) and based on a lot of research after the fact I believe a fairer price would have been 650K+
- why would the agents insist on a low price? this way they guarantee a quick sale, make money and move on, an extra 150,000 in my pocket is not much more for them considering their contract might have run out prior to the sale
- I am very young and trusting, numbers that were being presented to me sounded normal but I have been looking into them and they were rounded down in every possible way … for example, average price increase in my area had been 7%, they told me 5% (this is yearly, and we owned for 6 years) also none of the work put in (20K) was accounted for in the selling price
yes I should have educated myself more, it was a very bad year for my family and I was thrust into something I had no experience with and I realize I got terrible advice.
also, before signing the final sale contract I was discussing with them that I thought offers were coming in too easily and that we could get a higher price, at this point the two agents stood up and got really agitated “What makes you think you can get more! You’re lucky to have an offer like this! There isn’t even enough light in this room….” etc…
It just seems like they were supposed to work with me based on their initial consultation and once they had their contract they took over. This whole business seems very crooked.
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WHen you agree on a price and sign the contract you are obligated to perform under those conditions. You can sue anybody anytime but in this situation you will lose.
You will have a hard time winning a suit.
You could have declined the offers and waited for something higher. They could argue that you owe them a fee if an all cash offer at the agreed price arrived and you did not take it.
The court will wonder why you signed the offer if you had doubts. At some level the decision was yours to make and you made it. Maybe you received less than perfect advice. The court might notice this but they will still focus on the fact that you signed the offer when it was presented rather than wait for a better price.
How do you really know you could have received a higher price (up to $150K)? Can you prove that this was a fact and that the agent should have known prior to setting the price?
If you do not mind spending a bit of money consult an attorney so you can get their view.
If you were this much of an expert, why did you hire an agent in the first place?
You had every right to refuse any and all offers. If they were “very rude” you should have fired them!
Taken advantage of? Surely you’re kidding.
As the previous respondent wrote – you may sue for anything you’d like. Will you prevail is the question though. Not likely.
As a side note: it would not have been in the best interest of the agent(s) to force a low price; given that commissions are paid on the sale price. They may have known this was in YOUR best interest however and encouraged you to accept.
Sorry for your sellers remorse and best of luck!
You should have fired him if you didn’t like his service. You are stuck now, if you accepted an offer on the house.
FWIW, it is to the agents advantage to get the highest price, as this affects his commission.
the first thing you should do is get a sellers appraisal . . if the appraisal is 150K higher than the listed price possibly you have a case but don’t count on it cause you signed a contract. . we almost used a real estate agent once but she was not looking out for anyone but herself . . see didn’t want us to have the house inspected or appraised because she wanted her commission after the inspection and appraisal we offered the fair price and the realitor hit the ceiling cause it was 40K less than she wanted but the seller knew about the problems with the home and even though the realitor advised them to wait for a “stupid” buyer they sold to us for the lower price. The home owner was able to cancel thier contract with the realitor because of her advice.
Sue them for what? What is your value based on? There is NO agent in the world that woudl under sell a property since their commissions are tied to the sale price…..sounds like you are reaching here!!!!!
Did the home sell to anybody related in any way to someone at the real estate office? Or was the buyer brought by another company, totally unrelated?
You might have a case if it got sold to the broker’s brother, etc.
Also, what percentage of the sale price is $150K? If the house ended up selling for $300K and it should be $450, then that’s BAD,. If it sold for $2.3 million, and you think it’s worth 2.45, well that may just be opinion. For a fast sale with little or no repairs, a lower price is the way to go…
I don’t know about the sueing but I had a similar problem when selling my father’s mobile home he just had to have. I priced it reasonably for a quick sale. They showed it a couple of times without me being present-OK. Then they said I would have to lower the price for it to sell. She kinda smirked. I just had the feeling they were going to snatch it up which is illegal. One nice thing about a mobile home is it is mobile. I had my bf take down the skirting immediately and it was gone. “Someone” must have called her as the skirting was coming off and the real estate agent ran by and told him to stop. He called me and I even had the pleasure of telling her off among a few other things. Real Estate agents have a code of ethics they are supposed to work by. Quick sales are quick money for them and that’s also part of their job. If they get rude, so what. Demand what you want. Do not let anyone ever intimidate you. It seems this was an expensive learning experience. Keep checking if you have any recourse against them or their license. LOL And as a second thought-check and find out who the person is that bought it. Did they do a friend a favor? I think that pricing is part of what they are supposed to do to help you but not sure. If so, put a complaint against their license. That was real shabby work on their part. Don’t forget you have resources such as reporting them to the Better Business Bureau and your state’s Attorney General. If you were wronged, get mad and get even.