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But for clarity, in any negligence claim you'll have to prove that the purchase being contingent on the sale of your home was an essential term of the contract, that you specifically requested it be in, that your agent failed to put it in and you suffered damages.
A complicating factor is if you'd read what you were signing there would be no damages whatsoever, and it doesn't appear that your agent deliberately did this. In many real estate transactions what we want as contingencies are traded off in order to get the house (ie were there any discussions about the fact that if your offer was contingent on your sale it is possible/likely that the sellers would not have chosen it?). If those discussions occurred it makes your claim less likely to be successful.
If your agent has confirmed their error (that you instructed them to do something and they made a mistake) then obviously your claim is strengthened.
Agents have fiduciary duties to their clients. The client instructed them to put the contingency in the contract. Yes, the OP should have got it, but either those fiduciary duties mean something or they don't.
This past year, one of my agents left out the closing costs that his buyers requested he add on a contract. He was very, very busy and didn't double check what he had written. The buyers missed it when they signed and of course, the seller accepted the contract not expecting to pay out those fees. My agent had to waive a good chuck of his compensation and ask the listing agent to reduce it on their end to compensate for his mistake (Oregon doesn't allow rebating). He made a mistake and without question solved it before I even knew he'd made one. Agents aren't perfect, but if a client asks you to do something, you need to do it (outside of illegal things). If you make a mistake, then you need to apologize and correct it. It is that simple.
I go over in painstaking detail with my clients what is in the contract they sign. It is so they know what they are signing and I can make sure I didn't forget anything. 95% of my clients won't read the 10 page contract in size 8 font on their own. My policy is that they have to read it or listen to me summarize it which takes about 30 minutes. I won't submit an offer if one of those two things hasn't happened. My clients have lots of questions so writing an offer or reviewing one generally takes 1-2 hours. I have a reputation in town as having great buyers. What I have are well informed buyers and that is what makes them great. If real estate agents didn't have fiduciary duties to clients, placing them blame solely on the OP would work, but once they have those legally bound duties, things change.
Except the OP doesn't even know what they signed. It may be the language is in there and fine and the agent has completely done their job.
I am not clear on why the OP is completing if contingency language is in there. Seems they are choosing to complete anyways.
I'm told, by the agent, that there is nothing in our contract with a regards to a contingency on selling our current house. However, when we signed everything I remember going over and reading a section specific to this. Again, it's been a couple weeks now and I don't remember the exact wording.
I've been looking in to our options at this point. We are suppose to be settling on the new house at the end of this month. Our current house has been on the market and we are even considering renting if it comes down to it. I just feel like the agent should be partially responsible if what we agreed on wasn't included in the contract and now we have no way of getting out of it if we can't do something with our house in time.
Agents have fiduciary duties to their clients. The client instructed them to put the contingency in the contract. Yes, the OP should have got it, but either those fiduciary duties mean something or they don't.
This past year, one of my agents left out the closing costs that his buyers requested he add on a contract. He was very, very busy and didn't double check what he had written. The buyers missed it when they signed and of course, the seller accepted the contract not expecting to pay out those fees. My agent had to waive a good chuck of his compensation and ask the listing agent to reduce it on their end to compensate for his mistake (Oregon doesn't allow rebating). He made a mistake and without question solved it before I even knew he'd made one. Agents aren't perfect, but if a client asks you to do something, you need to do it (outside of illegal things). If you make a mistake, then you need to apologize and correct it. It is that simple.
I go over in painstaking detail with my clients what is in the contract they sign. It is so they know what they are signing and I can make sure I didn't forget anything. 95% of my clients won't read the 10 page contract in size 8 font on their own. My policy is that they have to read it or listen to me summarize it which takes about 30 minutes. I won't submit an offer if one of those two things hasn't happened. My clients have lots of questions so writing an offer or reviewing one generally takes 1-2 hours. I have a reputation in town as having great buyers. What I have are well informed buyers and that is what makes them great. If real estate agents didn't have fiduciary duties to clients, placing them blame solely on the OP would work, but once they have those legally bound duties, things change.
Totally agree. But the OP says there was contingency language in there.
Did you sign the standard 11 page MD purchase and sales agreement? If so, Para #31 states the sale of current home contingency is to be listed as addendum to contract.
Maybe in other parts of the east but around here it isn't typical.
Yes there. not merely "typical"... the norm. (I'm from Maryland)
Look back on your notes to see how you got the notion that "no, you don't need a lawyer"
ever got into your head in the first place. Who put it there?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Bill
Around the Phoenix area there are no real estate attorney's that will charge only $100/hr.
High $100's would indicate a rate closer to $200/hr, which may be doable.
But that level is still rare (maybe a lot of hand-holding?)
Again... the numbers I stated are not PER hour... that is for the whole deal.
Is it possible that she left out that portion when passing our information to the seller and now doesn't want to admit she is wrong and risk loosing the purchase?
I've already expressed how upset I am over the fact that what we discussed isn't included. She didn't offer an resolution. I've been looking through my emails and I don't see any copies of anything with regards to that. I may have to ask her for a copy.
Is it possible that she left out that portion when passing our information to the seller and now doesn't want to admit she is wrong and risk loosing the purchase?
I've already expressed how upset I am over the fact that what we discussed isn't included. She didn't offer an resolution. I've been looking through my emails and I don't see any copies of anything with regards to that. I may have to ask her for a copy.
What state are in you? Each state has a different process and paperwork.
Yes there. not merely "typical"... the norm. (I'm from Maryland)
Look back on your notes to see how you got the notion that "no, you don't need a lawyer"
ever got into your head in the first place. Who put it there?
But that level is still rare (maybe a lot of hand-holding?)
Again... the numbers I stated are not PER hour... that is for the whole deal.
Maybe it's who you deal with but from speaking with others about this process it isn't the norm. Again, that's neither here nor there.
I never said "no, I don't need a lawyer" .... what I said was that when buying a house my first thought isn't to run out and get a lawyer.
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