Listing Agent Tyranny

By Maggie Dokic on October 13th, 2014
Categories: For Buyers, Random Thoughts

Acting bigger than you are.

I had an interesting conversation with a foreclosure property listing agent just now.  Did I say interesting?  It was more like infuriating.  And if you know me, you know what happens when I become infuriated;  I write a blog post.

The property being discussed happens to be a Veterans Administration (VA) foreclosure.  My buyer submitted an offer on the property and after some negotiations, it was accepted by the VA.

The buyer did his due diligence and had the property inspected.  The home inspection findings were not to his liking, with a total repair bill of $25K on a $105K property not making enough sense for him to proceed.  So we informed the listing agent of his desire to cancel the contract and did so even before we had the signed documents back from the seller.  The point being, that the buyer was not dragging his feet nor was he wasting anyone’s time.  He was merely exercising his right to cancel the contract.

The listing agent, after informing me that the reason for cancellation was a “poor excuse” added that, although the cancellation had been processed, my buyer’s name would be noted and any future offers from him would not even be taken into consideration.  Oh really?  Does the VA know that you are picking and choosing which offers to present to them for consideration?  Do you, as a broker, know that the state of Florida requires that all offers made on a property which is accepting offers, must be presented to the seller for consideration, and be done so in a timely fashion?  I’m sure you do, yet you couldn’t care less.  I’m a broker also, and I am very well aware of that rule, and I abide by it.

Furthermore, unless you have a license to conduct home inspections, please don’t tell me that the findings on our home inspection are wrong.  I am not a home inspector.  I am real estate broker.  And for that reason, I recommend that my buyers hire a licensed home inspector to conduct their property inspections.  If I start making statements about whether polybutylene pipes are or are not dependable I am not practicing real estate within the scope of my license.  And that’s exactly what you were doing.

My buyer could have cancelled that contract if a 50 cent switchplate had been broken, yet you have the audacity to bellyache because we are cancelling for repairs amounting to 25 percent of the purchase price?  And you add further insult to injury by threatening him with being blacklisted from participating in future purchases for exercising his right to cancel a contract?  Last time I checked, I had left Cuba behind, and along with it, tyranny.  Tyranny is ugly, whether it is practiced by a ruthless government, or a business entity wanting to act like one.

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