Is the realtor entitled

Anonymous
Working with a realtor (no contract). Ultimately, I found a new house without realtor's help. I then closed without realtor's help. Do I have any obligation to the realtor?
Anonymous
No, none.
Anonymous
How did you close without the realtor
Anonymous
Real estate contracts are form contracts. No need to have a realtor interpret them for you. Sellers are often more than happy to deal with buyers directly, as it saves them from having to pay commissions to the buyer's agent.
Anonymous
Sellers are often more than happy to deal with buyers directly, as it saves them from having to pay commissions to the buyer's agent.


Not always true, but in any case you would have to proactively write that into the contract if you don't have an agent.

OP, to answer your question, no. But I'm curious as to the situation that led you to identify and close on a property without a realtor when you were working with a realtor. Was it FSBO?
Anonymous
You don't have a legal obligation if you had no written agreement, but how long were you working with the agent? If he/she showed you a few houses, you went out a few times, no big deal. But if you were looking at houses in earnest with this agent and you went all the way to closing without telling him/her, that's pretty rude. In full disclosure, I'm an agent and this kind of thing is unfortunately part the job. But I ask people to at least fill me in if they're going another route. At least be honest about it. My time is valuable too, I could be with my family or working with someone who is going to be up front about our relationship.
Anonymous
The house was Fsbo and was a random find. I still plan to have the realtor sell my existing house. I like the realtor and want to do right by her. That is why I posted the question.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Working with a realtor (no contract). Ultimately, I found a new house without realtor's help. I then closed without realtor's help. Do I have any obligation to the realtor?


No.

If you did not sign a brokers agreement for a fixed time period you are fine. And if you signed a contract for a specific property and later found/bought a different one you owe nothing.

If the realtor tries to scare you by entrapment that s/he is your de facto realtor regardless of lack of docs, no dice. Have your settlement attorney put him in his place. You represent yourself. No bullying from the realtor.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Sellers are often more than happy to deal with buyers directly, as it saves them from having to pay commissions to the buyer's agent.


Not always true, but in any case you would have to proactively write that into the contract if you don't have an agent.

OP, to answer your question, no. But I'm curious as to the situation that led you to identify and close on a property without a realtor when you were working with a realtor. Was it FSBO?


Time to wake up. Lots of people choose to buy or sell without a real estate agent, especially given (1) the technology and info out there nowadays, (2) the amount of people familiar with the area and what they want, and (3) the high 3-6% agent fees.

We have bought twice with no agent. Used Redfin.com for houses in market, open houses and valuation/comparable purposes. Used our title/settlement agency for the contract submit trance and legal review, etc. Easy peasy and saved $60k.

Btw, no one but you can best stick up for YOUR interests, no conflicts with agents trying to max their commission and close on deals that shouldn't be happening...
Anonymous
Getting a rebate back really helps with moving and new furniture.
Anonymous
22:27 agent again. I don't have an issue with anyone not using an agent. Do what you want, there's lot of info out there for the taking. My point was don't use/abuse the agent. Be up front about what you're doing. You can't have an agent and then decide that you don't want to and think it's ok because you don't have a legal obligation. If you did this purchase completely on your own and then use her to sell your current house, great. But if you had her show you lots of houses and then found one on your own, without filling her in, that's not right.
Anonymous
Hey agent, is it so not right that the agent, on principle, won't agree to sell the OP's house? Didn't think so.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Hey agent, is it so not right that the agent, on principle, won't agree to sell the OP's house? Didn't think so.


Not the agent here, but I don't think she ever said she would not sell the OP's house. I think if you're working with an agent and find a FSBO and it works without an agent that's fine. i think if your agent gets your home to list, that seems fair.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Sellers are often more than happy to deal with buyers directly, as it saves them from having to pay commissions to the buyer's agent.


Not always true, but in any case you would have to proactively write that into the contract if you don't have an agent.

OP, to answer your question, no. But I'm curious as to the situation that led you to identify and close on a property without a realtor when you were working with a realtor. Was it FSBO?


Time to wake up. Lots of people choose to buy or sell without a real estate agent, especially given (1) the technology and info out there nowadays, (2) the amount of people familiar with the area and what they want, and (3) the high 3-6% agent fees.

We have bought twice with no agent. Used Redfin.com for houses in market, open houses and valuation/comparable purposes. Used our title/settlement agency for the contract submit trance and legal review, etc. Easy peasy and saved $60k.

Btw, no one but you can best stick up for YOUR interests, no conflicts with agents trying to max their commission and close on deals that shouldn't be happening...


not an agent here, just a home owner who bought with an agent (for various reasons it was the right thing to do for us). this is a genuine question. you say you bought twice and saved 60K. did you buy directly from the owner? otherwise, I did you save? when we were looking most of the homes were sold by an agent (including the house we bought), if we did not have an agent, the seller's agent would have gotten the entire 6% commission, with no saving for us. so, how did you save the 60K?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Sellers are often more than happy to deal with buyers directly, as it saves them from having to pay commissions to the buyer's agent.


Not always true, but in any case you would have to proactively write that into the contract if you don't have an agent.

OP, to answer your question, no. But I'm curious as to the situation that led you to identify and close on a property without a realtor when you were working with a realtor. Was it FSBO?


Time to wake up. Lots of people choose to buy or sell without a real estate agent, especially given (1) the technology and info out there nowadays, (2) the amount of people familiar with the area and what they want, and (3) the high 3-6% agent fees.

We have bought twice with no agent. Used Redfin.com for houses in market, open houses and valuation/comparable purposes. Used our title/settlement agency for the contract submit trance and legal review, etc. Easy peasy and saved $60k.

Btw, no one but you can best stick up for YOUR interests, no conflicts with agents trying to max their commission and close on deals that shouldn't be happening...


Please explain how you did this. I use redfin.com. I've bought and sold several houses, looking for another. I sold one house without a realtor, but that was in another part of the country. Here, I bought one house, but we used the realty company's title/settlement co, so I don't see how I could get them to make the offer for me without using one of their own realtors. How does one find a reliable title/settlement co who will make the offer? I can write the contract but need help with legal review, etc. I'd love to save that $$ the realtor makes for doing almost NOTHING (in my case).

BTW, the realtor lobby spends more money in Washington than the gun lobby! They have so much power!! They make it almost impossible for people to buy and sell their own houses without extracting OUTRAGEOUS fees. On a $1M house (common in DC area) a realtor gets $50-60K doing almost exactly the same amount of work as another realtor selling a $500k house, who gets half that amount. When will we come to our senses and refuse to pay! Fee for service is the way to go! I'd happily pay a realtor to show me houses if I were from out of town, but as a local, I don't need that service, and don't see why I should have to pay it. We'd sell a LOT more houses if realtors didn't take such a HUGE cut on each sale.
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