Need serious help!

if you don't trust your broker, get a new one. Dont do the deal if you are not happy.

we still have a few months in contract.I know it's not good if the apartment stays too long on the market,though.She call me daily to update me how much worse the market will get in the next few months.My concern is we are not getting all offers.I remember trying to see an apartment time ago(we want to move)and the sellers broker did not answer to 3 emails and 4 phone calls.What to do?

Have a friend pose as a potential buyer and call about your property. See exactly how she represents it. Then we'll talk next steps.

thank you.That's a great idea!

Tell your broker that you want to add an addendum to your contract with her that specifies a lower commission to her if there is no buyers' broker, politely explaining that in this case she would not have to share her commission with someone else. Ask her why she didn't advise you to cover this situation in your original contract with her.

Otherwise, go with the advice of gcondo.

SEJunkie - right- it's always okay to change a written contract afer the fact? Just because ----- you want to? With all the info here on SE - sellers should inform themselves BEFORE they sign a contract.

of course we can discuss with her, but we cannot force her agree to a lower commission.I'm concerned she does not inform us of more favorable offers while pushing the same deal

"Dont do the deal if you are not happy."

I'd go with this.

I want to know what broker is telling you that the market is going to get worse. Can you imagine Barbara Cocoran's reaction to one of her brokers saying that? Really?

This is not a healthy relationship. If you don't trust the broker, call the broker's manager and say that you want out of the exclusive agreement. The mamanger may step in and make it happen. Guess what? The market is actually getting a little better, not worse. If you are priced right, your apartment should move. Of course, size/price/and school district would give us a clue if it is.

I don't want to post the listing and "out" her.But we are willing to go below the listing price,though not as low as the offer we have right now.And we consider decreasing the listing price,but I am still concerned she will present us only offers favorable to her(i.e. buyers without a broker).Is this a thing common with brokers?Theoretically, she should look after our interest first...There must be some "code"of ethics there...this is my husband's house we are selling, and none of us has any experience with selling.

Ha ha ha. Code of ethics. That's a good one.

The buyer is probably her friend or she has made an arrangement to split the difference with a shady shark of a buyer. If you are really talking about the difference between a 1BR and a 2BR there is little rational excuse for her to be pushing you to take this offer unless you aren't telling us about some horrible condition that exists in your apt.

Take the apartment off the market pronto. Change listing agents. There is little reason to trust a broker when all things are going well, let alone when the market has been depressed for a year.

The bottom line is that a broker (and pretty much anyone else) will look out for his or her own interests first. And probably last. If she needs a quick buck, she's going to push for a bird in hand rather than risk a better deal taking longer.

Or - your price expectations may be unrealistic. How did you come up with the listing price? Did you and she determine it together based on realistic comps? Or did one of you shoot for the moon (she may have overpromised to get the listing and you may be expecting to get a 2007 price)?

she suggested it,I was even thinking we might need to price it lower.there is the listing price and we left some room for negotiation.I am willing to decrease the listing price,will probably get more offers.maybe there even are more offers now-I don't have a way of knowing

the strange thing is that she is calling every day to convince me to accept this particular offer, and tells me how much worse the market will get

First of all, it is flat-out against the law for the broker not to present all offers to the seller "immediately."

So it's not just a courtesy, or whatever. IT IS THE LAW.

The only exception would be if you *insisted* that you did not want to hear anything about offers below $X amount. If you were my client, I would make you put that in writing because of the aforementioned law.

Your agent (salesperson) has a fiduciary responsibility TO YOU. That means putting the clients' needs above their own. That too is THE LAW. Not a mere code of ethics, baby. It's the law.

Yes there are plenty of knucklehead agents out there, and it sounds like you may have one, unfortunately. The agent may be flat broke and desperate but that is no excuse, sorry. I am especially distressed to hear you have "a few months left in the contract"--yikes.

What I would do is ask to cancel the contract. I personally will do this for anyone who asks, because why oh why do I want to work for someone who doesn't want me working for them? I don't.

If agent says no, move up the ladder in the brokerage firm. The "broker's manager" is actually called the "supervising broker," and if at all smart, s/he will cancel the contract for you. This broker is the agent's boss (them and you. A listing agreement is an employment contract).

So, if I were you I would make every effort to fire the agent, as the relationship is toast.

If that is impossible--the firm won't let you out of the contract--then you just have got to have a tough little chat with this chick and tell her you don't appreciate the pressure to accept an offer you consider to be too low, and remind her about the above facts of her license which I promise you she knows, they test like crazy on this stuff.

Without hearing both sides it's impossible to make a deeply informed call here, but the most salient fact is that you have an employee (a real estate agent) whom you no longer trust. She is there to work for you, it's as simple as that.

{Manhattan real estate agent.}

thank you so much everybody for your help.I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and yes,the problem is I don't trust her anymore.I will probably not accept this really low offer,decrease the listing price to what we are actually willing to accept(so no much room for negotiating),and that number would be still much higher than the offer we have now.the school district is very good,apartment a nice size and we had tons at traffic at the open houses.Again,thank you everybody.

How much below list price is the offer? How much are you thinking about decreasing the listing price?

I think Fluter has good advice - cut and run from this agent, this relationship isn't improving and you don't need to accept an offer that is measurably below whatever amount the agent herself valued the place at. Good luck with the upcoming conversations ...

It does sound as if the broker is trying to push this apartment to a friend or is trying to get a quick sale for the commission. There is no reason that you cannot post the listing. "Outing" her is not your problem. You feel you are not getting all the information you want and if you post the listing the people on this site will be very helpful, at least most of them will. And there are some really sharp people that will respond.

You could also wait a day, sign on with a different screen name and say "what would you bid for this place?? Posters here love that game and are very good with comps!

Can't do it now that you said it, now can they ;).

no,inoanda, I will not do it now!but it's a good idea.also,scoots-you said it better than I could have ever said it-why accept an offer way below the price that she herself considered "right for this market"?
did the market change so much in a couple of weeks?

onlyinnyc, DO NOT let your broker convince you the market is tanking. unfortunately for buyers, it's not. (and i'm a buyer, so i can say that accurately...) if your place is in good condition, nice location, and good school district, you should easily get a FAIR price for it (provided your apartment is marketed strategically). i recommend you speak to the agent's manager. there's no issue in expressing your concerns, in fact the manager may WELCOME you doing so. if i were managing a team, i'd want to know who was underperforming in terms of #s and service. you should express your misgivings and focus on the agent, not the firm. you should insist on discounted brokerage if there's only 1 agent. 4% is normal versus the full 6%. do not let her push you into a deal you don't want under any circumstance. remember, in the end, the agent doesn't get paid if you don't sell, so you have a lot of leverage / power.

"Problem is,our broker is trying to push us into signing a very non-favorable deal"

Never forget that YOU are in the driver's seat.

The broker works for YOU.

If you don't like the deal, PASS. Tell the broker to bring you something better. And if she can't, tell her you'll find one who will.

inonada - people do it all the time.

it looks like she's looking for a very cool direct deal, but we don't have all the necessary information. bottom line you don't trust her so you should not work with her anymore. if they don't agree to an early termination at least have it off the market until their contract ends..