Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

I am a Real Estate Agent in NYC and me and my Broker have some questions we cannot answer. Scenario: So we have a Owner of a 200+ Unit Residential Bldg, etc who says if we (Broker and myself) sell his Open Listing we can get upto 4% Commission. When we asked the owner to put it in writing to cover ourselves so we can move forward with a potential Hedge Fund to purchase the listing we came across some "Shady" words in the owners Commission Agreement for Sale/Purchase. It states that " The following constitutes and and confirms our agreement regarding the proposed sale and/or joint venture of the listing between XXX Marketing Group,LLL (herein referred to as" Exclusive Agent" for listing having its principal office at XXX . Our Brokerage is the C0-Broker with the Marketing Group . So the Marketing Group which is a LLC (claims to also be the Exclusive Broker) agrees to pay our Brokerage a Co-Broke Commission Agreement . The( Owner) which is the Marketing Group & the "Exclusive Agent agrees to pay at least 3 days business prior to the closing of the deal.

So the question is IS IT LEGAL IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK FOR A BROKER WITH AN OPEN LISTING FROM AN OWNER WHO CLAIMS TO BE A NY MARKETING GROUP LLC & "EXCLUSIVE AGENT" TO HAVE A CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT ? HOW DO YOU WORD SUCH A CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT ? WE SUSPECT IT'S NOT LEGAL. INITIALLY THE OWNER TOLD US HE IS NOT A REAL ESTATE BROKER AND WE CAN KEEP ALL COMMISSIONS BUT YET HOW CAN HE SAY HE IS THE EXCLUSIVE AGENT THAT REPRESENTS THE LISTING AS A MARKETING GROUP ? VERY CONFUSING. CAN THE SELLER BE THE EXCLUSIVE BROKER AS PER HIS CO-BROKE AGREEMENT?


Asked on 10/10/17, 2:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Bryan Richard Bryan Attorney PC

Sorry fellows; this question is much too complicated to be answered by email. Also, you’re in business and legal fees are ordinary expenses in running a business. There’s a lot on the table with this transaction: hire a lawyer.

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Answered on 10/13/17, 6:52 pm


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