Joined May 2010
L8: Grand Teacher
Forum Thread
Should I sue my real estate agent? or do I have a case.
April 13, 2023 at
03:31 PM
Thread Details
Long story short.
I know nothing about real estate or agents. Never owned a home.
So I saw a place on Zillow. I contacted the agent (seller's agent) and asked to look at the place. He accommodated and I liked it. He told me 8 people saw it already (this is day 2 of the listing) and that he will be holding back all offers until day 4. After that he (the owner's wishes) won't be taking any more offers.
I'm ok with that and the next day (Day 3) I tell him I'll offer the asking price. He said that's fine and he can write up the offer for me. Seems simple enough so I get docusigned papers for the full asking with only a septic inspection. I notice he's also listed as my agent so I guess he would get both commissions. I'm ok with that to be honest and he seemed nice enough to show me the place.
So I'm excited. But that all falls apart when 2 days later (day 5) I get a txt from the agent saying the seller went with a "higher" offer.
Now I'm annoyed to put it mildly. If I was told that higher offers were required then I would have at least been aware to make that decision. I would have gone up to 10% higher. And since he was the seller's agent he would have known all the offers...so I'm scratching my head wondering why he was ok with my "lower" offer. Especially now in retrospect he wa technically my agent and should have looked out for my best interests/desires. This was a unique property an I doubt it'll come up again. Plus I'm not young anymore.
I feel like I was swindled somehow; or at least deceived. And most of all I've missed out on the home.
So I'm looking for a way to recoup my sense of loss on the matter.
Do I have any case against the agent for damages of losing the home?
Thanks
I know nothing about real estate or agents. Never owned a home.
So I saw a place on Zillow. I contacted the agent (seller's agent) and asked to look at the place. He accommodated and I liked it. He told me 8 people saw it already (this is day 2 of the listing) and that he will be holding back all offers until day 4. After that he (the owner's wishes) won't be taking any more offers.
I'm ok with that and the next day (Day 3) I tell him I'll offer the asking price. He said that's fine and he can write up the offer for me. Seems simple enough so I get docusigned papers for the full asking with only a septic inspection. I notice he's also listed as my agent so I guess he would get both commissions. I'm ok with that to be honest and he seemed nice enough to show me the place.
So I'm excited. But that all falls apart when 2 days later (day 5) I get a txt from the agent saying the seller went with a "higher" offer.
Now I'm annoyed to put it mildly. If I was told that higher offers were required then I would have at least been aware to make that decision. I would have gone up to 10% higher. And since he was the seller's agent he would have known all the offers...so I'm scratching my head wondering why he was ok with my "lower" offer. Especially now in retrospect he wa technically my agent and should have looked out for my best interests/desires. This was a unique property an I doubt it'll come up again. Plus I'm not young anymore.
I feel like I was swindled somehow; or at least deceived. And most of all I've missed out on the home.
So I'm looking for a way to recoup my sense of loss on the matter.
Do I have any case against the agent for damages of losing the home?
Thanks
16 Comments
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You can file an ethics complaint but you won't win a legal suit because your damages are basically not existent. Losing out on a place can be emotional distress, but it's some you have tolerate because it isn't outrageous and extreme.
If you're in protected class, then maybe you have a housing discrimination case or complaint to file. But again, don't expect a win in terms of results; it's more to just put on a record the agents' actions. It might give a signal to that agent to be more wary of what he does in the future.