Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Our duplex was sold by real estate broker without appraisal. Duplex was appraised in 2003 $800,000. Now may be $1mil. It was sold for only $625,000. Can we take legal action against broker.
4 Answers from Attorneys
The question doesn't seem to make sense. A broker doesn't usually have the power to set the selling price. That's up to the owner. Also, between 2005 and about 2008, real estate values too a nosedive, with average values in many communities dropping by more than 50%, so maybe you did well to get $625,000. When was the sale? Also, did your listing agreement give the broker unusual authority to negotiate the price on your behalf?
Didn't you agree to the listing price?
Was it sold without your consent? need more facts as indicated above
YOUR real estate can't be sold without your full cooperation and signatures on numerous documents of sale and escrow, including a contract with your agreement to the sale price. If you thought the offer was too low, you should not have accepted it.
Prior or current appraisals have nothing to do with it other than as background to your decision to sell at the contract price offered, and the lender's decision to make a loan to the buyer. Property prices peaked in about 2006 and then crashed all over the country. They are only now beginning to rise again, temporarily.
So, unless you are claiming someone forged your signatures repeatedly and fraudulently sold your property without your knowledge, there appears to be no grounds for your 'claim' or legal action.