Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
As a licensed real estate agent, I entered into a listing agreement to short sell a California house with a buyer whose brother had been the initial agent. As a result of their relationship the bank said that he could not close the sale because it was a non arms length transaction. After 6 long months of hard work I was able to obtain a short sale approval for him. His brother called me and asked me for a 50% split for which I obviously rejected. He called my client and because I didn't agree to pay him 50% he convinced my client not to accept the bank's offer. He suddenly became belligerent and said that he didn't want to entertain any offers and wanted my listing to expire. It expired and a week later he went into escrow. It closed escrow with another listing agent with the same buyer, agent and offer amount that I had presented him. The other agent is a friend of my client's brother so it's apparent that there is an under the table compensation agreement between them. Am I entitled to my real estate commission of $15,000 for having provided him with the same offer and for which he denied?
2 Answers from Attorneys
It sounds like you are. Do you have the resources to pay an attorney to chase $15,000, or an attorneys fees clause that would interest an attorney in a contingent agreement?
Any licensed real estate broker is supposed to know the rules and laws on 'procuring cause'. However, this one is not straight forward, in that the listing expired and a new and different broker listed it and sold it. You may not have a claim against the new broker. With these facts, you could consider filing a lawsuit against the seller himself, if you have any evidence to back up your story. Your approved offer is part of that proof. You need to determine if it is worth spending your attorney fees on it, and evaluate the risk of loss that would mean you'd pay the other side's attorney fees and costs. If serious about pursuing this, feel free to contact me.
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