You Owe Me!
Jul 27th, 2010 by Nut
I got a question from a reader and I really don’t know how to answer it, so with his permission I’m putting it up here to see what you all think.
I was browsing real estate agent information and came across your website. Our real estate agent, Pat, wants to get compensated for a contact number he gave us. We are currently trying to get a house built and Pat also wants us to sign a buyer’s agreement. The builders say it isn’t necessary to use Pat. This man has been calling our cell phones on a daily basis and has contacted our lender and builders saying he needs to be compensated. He is saying he worked hard for us and that he has a family to feed. The builders say it’s up to us but we will be paying Pat $9,000 out of our own pocket.
How should we go about this? Pat is being very aggressive. Some background information: Pat did show us about six different overpriced houses and he gave us the number to the lender not the builder.
We actually just spoke with him and he said, “I deserve $9,000 for giving you a contact number, I am indirectly responsible for you finding a builder. If it wasn’t for me…” We haven’t even signed a blue print contract and he is already trying to push us into signing a buyer’s agreement. We were willing to compensate him something, but after our last conversation he obviously thinks it’s worth no less than what he is asking.
Could use a little advice…
What do you guys think? I went through a similar tiff with our real-estate guy once, and it made me angry when expected us to use him simply for all the places he had shown us even though he hadn’t shown us a winner yet…
Does Pat have a case here or should be bug off?
Is the realtor with a larger company? If so, it might be worthwhile to do an anonymous call to the front desk to get some general policies. While individual realtors have freedom to set certain rates, there is usually an over all general policy. If not, have a friend of relative call your realtor with set of hypothetical questions that are similar (but obviously not so much so as to mess up the jig.)
If this were my situation, there’s no way in hell I would pay this guy $9k. Get a copy of all paperwork and talk to a lawyer.
WOAH NELLY BACK OFF! This is a question of fact and law in your emailer’s particular jurisdiction. Once an agent passes a certain threshold (that threshold varies location to location) they are owed compensation. So while they may not meet your State’s particular requirement for a contract, they may meet theirs. Hell, they may not have even met the requirements to be considered an agent…but many many more facts are needed.
I would recommend they find a real estate attorney in their jurisdiction.
It sounds like Evan is on the money. If the agent met the requirements they may be entitled compensation. I’d talk to an attorney that specifically deals with real estate transactions.
However, I think it’s worth noting that if this person had behaved like a professional, was fully transparent and helpful throughout the process, providing the commission I’m sure wouldn’t have even been a question. Parachuting in and doing a minimum for a payday is shameful, as is harassment – that goes for anyone in any industry.