Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York
Are we liable for a commission fee and or a home inspection fee?
A real estate agent that we hired brought one client to view my home toward the end of a six month contract after pressuring me to lower the price of my home by $20,000. This was the only client she brought in the six month period. After notifying her as to the inaccuracy on the website; it was never updated. The property was never listed to my specifications. A potential buyer through another real estate agent came to view the home and made an offer. We verbally accepted with the condition that we would still accept offers from other buyers. We never signed any binder or contract with these buyers. My agent pressured me to accept the offer and talked me out of having an open house or showing the home to anyone else. She insisted the buyers wanted to do an inspection ASAP. After going over this offer I realized that I would have to pay out of pocket to cover the real estates commission. We were offered the full asking price minus the $20,000 original price but we did not accept the offer as we decided not to sell at all. I am now faced with being sued by the real estate agent as well as the buyers. We were in touch with the buyers agent (their cousin) who stated he was a friend of someone in our agents office.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Are we liable for a commission fee and or a home inspection fee?
Unless you entered into a written contract of sale with the "buyers" you are probably all right. That is because a contract for the sale of real estate must be in writing in order to be enforceable.
However, if the agent brought you a buyer ready, willing and able to purchase your house upon your terms and conditions, the agent may well be successful in a suit for his commission.
This post is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is a comment on the legal question posed by the poster and should not be relied upon in any way. All readers are advised to consult an attorney to address their specific legal concerns. Additional facts could affect the answer given.
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