Commission and deal-killing

Why do these things keep happening to me?

dont trust (most) realtors. ever.

David, Is there is a specific number you wanted to pay in your written email to the broker?

If it is say 5.5 percent, I would think that the brokers will take that to make the deal happen.

I think it's Season Four, Episode Five of "Episodes" where Stephen Mangan, as Sean Lincoln, goes on a rant about the difference between "lightning in a bottle" and "a bottle." You might want to watch that before you speak with her.

But seriously, how do these prizes snag so many listings?

300,
She just agreed to 5%. I still feel bullied. I had told her in the beginning that it should be 4 at this level of price cut. I was trusting her - she's an old friend from college.
It's not just that it's only 5% though. It's the feeling of being misled.
front_porch,
There was some slinging of lIghtning in a bottle (haven't watched the episode but get the idea). I wasn't particularly buying it. I wanted to work with someone I knew. Her initial ask proposal was high so I was clear that she could have the high percent if and only if we got that price.

I think 4% is really being unreasonable if the original level was 6%. After all the buying broker expects to get paid 2.5% at least. I am glad your broker agreed to 5%.

Friendship is for beer tabs. Business should be done in writing.

Ali,
How many listings do you take at >20% over what they are worth?

In manhattan, 4% is pretty good for brokers

300_mercer,
Especially if the buyer's agent has agreed to kick them back 2% already.

30, fair point, but in all honesty, I can't say I've *never* done it either

30, My point is a little different. Buyer's broker does not care about seller wanting to revise the commission on the selling broker. They still want 2.5% after making concessions from original 3% to get the deal happen. It is a different matter if the original total commission was 4% with only 2% to the buyer's broker (that is just free market). But I am glad in this case, the deal is happening.

And what does the REBNY Universal Co-Brokerage Agreement say about brokers splitting commissions?

30, Just say what you want to say rather than asking question. I am not a class with you as a teacher.

REBNY Legal Line
Question of the week
September 10, 2020
Question:

I am a REBNY member and I have an exclusive listing. When I first listed the property on the RLS, I inadvertently entered the incorrect commission. I corrected the inaccurate information but now another broker is claiming that I owe the higher commission originally listed. Do I owe the broker the higher commission?

Answer:

Whether you owe the higher commission depends on two things, as set forth in the REBNY RLS Universal Co-Brokerage Agreement Rules and Regulations (the “UCBA”). According to Article IV, Section 2(B) of the UCBA, the exclusive broker or exclusive agent will be liable for inaccurate commission information if the information is not corrected before the earlier of: (1) the first showing of the exclusive property, or (2) the first offer submitted by the co-broker.

Therefore, if either of the aforementioned events occurred prior to the time at which you corrected the inaccurate information that was disseminated on the RLS, you will owe the higher commission that was originally listed.

Any incorrect commission information that has been disseminated over the RLS must be corrected by the exclusive broker and/or exclusive agent for the listing in order to avoid any potential liability. As long as the inaccurate information was corrected prior to the first showing or the first offer submitted by the co-broker, no liability for the higher commission will result.

I agree with the legal interpretation. That is why I am calling 2.5 percent instead of 3 percent a concession from the buyer’s broker to make the deal happen.

Thanks all - this was very informative! So in fact by putting it in the database, it becomes clear that there was no intention to honor what I had said.
I also believe I amended the contract to handwrite that the commission would go down with the price. It was back in early February which is now a blur. The manager took forever to sign (almost a month) and I'm pretty sure they replaced the page with my change. I was pretty distracted by then.
Regarding the price, I also thought the first proposal was high. It was likely a ruse to get the commission up. Though I think pre pandemic I could have gotten 100- 150k+ more (in fact I did multiple times 2017-2018, though legal complications back then made it impossible to proceed.)

Unless you specify what lower commission, the following has no meaning. If you specified 4%, it is possible that you may not have had buyer's broker showing you the apartment (I am not opining on the legality of it, just what would likely have happened).

"I also believe I amended the contract to handwrite that the commission would go down with the price."

typo "showing your"

I would not have written anything unless I was going to specify very precisely.
As I said, it was someone I trusted to be up front with me. She was not.

I'm surprised you do not have a copy of your contract with the broker in-hand that you can check for specifics. "I think I hand wrote" a rider is not helpful. Regardless of what the broker put or didn't put into the database your contract dictates your specific agreement with her.

The agreement was sent to me for signature when I was on a chaotic business trip. She told me at least 5X that my copy had no value without the managing broker's signature. I should have copied my own, yes. I didn't. That is my fault. I did ask at some point if they were making changes to it because it took so long. But it didn't occur to me until later. As I said, I wasn't super vigilant because I thought I was working with a friend. The latter, to me, was the mistake.

That said, I did send emails that are concurrent with the agreement and make reference to it. I used those already to get the commission down to 5%. I am still very annoyed to have been subjected to that bother.

The emails do in fact reference 4%. And 4% has been in the discussion all along. It's only at the last minute that 5% was made to sound unreasonable and 4% preposterous.

Did she agree in email to the 4%? If I were you I'd get my hands on the signed contract. If you put in a rider for 4% commission below a certain sale price and that rider was accepted by the brokerage in the signed contract then that is the agreement.

I'm not an attorney but swapping pages around in a contract without the counterparty's signoff sounds unethical to me, and possibly fraudulent. What does your lawyer say?

bramstar
She didn't respond to any of the emails. All of her responses were given by phone.

front_porch
I agree. I told my attorney this morning. He has written back to me but not responded to this.
Other than the emails, I can't produce evidence. I wish I'd had my guard up.

At the moment, the deal is happening at 5%. I think what I'm doing here now is diligence on the ethics of her approach because it's relevant to how I evaluate this person generally and if/when I review her.