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I Bought this House- Now, Who is Going to Pay for the Pool?

September 3rd, 2008 category: Real Estate News, Real Estate Philosophy

Perhaps it’s because I’m a partner in a real estate company; perhaps it’s because I relocated.

Either way, the practice of a real estate agent showing our listings under “seller agency” has created issues. We just don’t permit it, and our sellers know why. Permission from them case by case.

“I’ve been selling real estate here for fifteen years, and THAT’S THE WAY WE DO THINGS!” was one response from a very successful local agent wanting to bring buyers to the listing.

In an effort to quickly and (hopefully) efficiently dispel the notion that changes are for the purpose of rocking a boat, the following scenario occurred with a recent showing:

A brand new agent enthusiastically presented our listing to her buyers. Mentioning that the front yard was huge, the response to her buyer’s query about the possibility of a pool in the front yard was met with, “SURE! There’s plenty of room!”.

Coming in as a sub-agent (or, with a buyer having the “seller agency” box neatly checked on the NYDOS disclosure- same thing) creates this problem for our seller (owed fiduciary, per NYS).

New York State added to the menu of offerings “BROKER AGENCY”. While somewhat difficult to decipher, it does include the following :” THE BUYER AND SELLER THEREFORE DO NOT HAVE VICARIOUS LIABILITY

FOR THE ACTS OF THE BROKERS AGENT”. Good for our seller.

Problematic for ourselves, as owners of a real estate company, is the last line in that agency agreement:

“THE LISTING AGENT OR BUYERS AGENT DO PROVIDE DIRECTION AND INSTRUCTION TO THE BROKERS AGENT AND THEREFORE THE LISTING AGENT OR BUYERS AGENT WILL HAVE LIABILITY FOR THE ACTS OF THE BROKERS AGENT”.

I REALLY don’t want to pay for a pool that was represented. Under either of the above scenarios, the possibility exists that either our seller, or ourselves, will be out with shovels after closing.

Bring your buyers- please. That we want to sell the house is in evidence with the integrity that we’ll bring to the table, respecting both you, and your buyers. But, let’s start the process accepting our respective responsibilities, for which your buyer is paying part of the fee that our seller is offering.

Keeping our seller “off the hook” with respect to inadvertent misrepresentations is what we agreed to do for them when we listed the house.

I’ve never been good at digging holes, and I don’t want to learn this late in the real estate game- besides, the cute shoes that the selling agent was wearing would be ruined, when I pick her up at 1 a.m and hand her a shovel! * after dark- the town will not accept this front yard pool, due to setback requirements.

To see industry comments on this blog post, please visit Active Rain Real Estate Network.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Real Estate News, Real Estate Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “I Bought this House- Now, Who is Going to Pay for the Pool?”

Michael Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Laurie-
I think you are exactly right! The only thing is that 98% of the agents, 99.9% of the customers and clients and 95% of the brokers have NO IDEA of what you are saying and what the entire disclosure/fiduciary/brokers agent ‘legalise’ means or is even intended to accomplish. It’s one of the facets of being a “REALTOR” that makes me crazy.

This whole fiduciary mess is like a “WHO’s ON FIRST” skit with NYSAR leadership and NYDOS burearcrats looking like the THREE STOOGES.

I happen to believe that even trying to educate your fellow Realtors (used VERY loosely), is a waste of time. I think creating a defensive posture is the only way to handle the situation until we can unite and elect leaders in our industry associations who will create a plausable and transparent set of disclosure and fiduciary regulations that all will be able to understand and apply.

THAT will be the day that the real estate agent gets off the bottom of the “Who do you trust” list conducted annually…my 2 cents…md
laurie mindnich Says:
September 5th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Michael, it’s obvious to me why you carry the respect that you do “around these parts”- the The state of New York could use YOU heading up the whole show. I hate to think that education is a waste of time, but frankly, remaining blue in the face (my own) is getting tiresome.
Practices engaged here, for a real estate business owner (I own the site, not the company)are impeding our own growth. We simply cannot funtion effectively with the misunderstandings (and huge potential legal ramifications) that abound. Better safe (and poor) that sorry (and owing a million bucks to a consumer that is 100% in the “right”).
What’s wrong with this picture?
I can’t be the only person concerned about the rampant non-disclosure and potential consequences.
Your “two cents”, to this recipient, is worth a million bucks. Thank you.
Laurie