Home inspection question- can...?

Question

Here is our situation (I am changing figures around)- a seller is listing their house for $400,000. They have an agent, who's commission is $30,000. No one had put an offer in yet. His contract expires with his agent in 2 months, and he is willing to sell to us for $30K less when his contract expires. So, he will essentially be listing it as a FSBO in 2 months, and we would buy without an agent for a lot less because of this.

Question is this: if we had a home inspector do his work in 2 weeks to let us know of any possible problems, could the seller's agent turn around and sue the seller down the road because of this oral deal we have with him regarding waiting til the contract with the agent expires? Or, should we play it safe and just wait until the contract is up before we have our inspector come in...

Answer 1

If you have already looked at the house and the agent has your name, the seller may be obligated to pay the commission regardless of when you buy it (assuming the seller signed the typical boilerplate contract).  This type of language in the agent's contract is there to avoid the possibility that the agent does a lot of work and the seller makes a side deal to sell after the contract expires.

If you haven't formally seen the house (open house, tour by agent), there is some gray room, but obviously, if the agent finds out you have been talking to the seller, he/she will invoke the contract again and will be owed commission.

Answer 2

It all depends on how the listing contract was written.  Often the realtor has a claim to a commission if the house is sold to someone he/she showed it to for a specific period after the listing contract expires, BUT this is not always the case!  I suggest you sit on your hands and cross your fingers that no one buys it while you are waiting around for the lower price and then keep your fingers crossed that no competition arises from the lowered price.

Answer 3

If you have viewed this house under the terms of the listing contract, the agent is entitled to his commission, regardless of whether you wait until the contract expires or not.  Regardless of what this clown put into his listing agreement, ANY buyer brought to the property due to the listing agent's listing will result in a full commission for the listing agent.

Your neighbor is unethical, and you sound quite similar.

Answer 4

play it safe

Answer 5

In your scenario, the listing agent gets paid when you later buy the house.  Anyone who viewed the house during the listing, and later purchased the house, would result in a payment to the listing agent. You have viewed the house, haven't you?  /

Answer 6

WHY would you even consider buying from someone this unethical?  You think he’s going to s***w over his agent and then give you a fair shake?  

Have you actually viewed this house? If so, your questions are null. It won’t matter if the listing agreement is over. That agent will still be entitled to his commission because you saw the home while he had the listing.

In fact, many listing agreements state that if the seller gets an offer within a certain period after the agreement expires, the agent gets commission anyway, since their marketing efforts likely brought the buyer to the table.

You’re letting an idiot who has no understanding of basic real estate law lead you down a dangerous path.

No reliable inspector will go into a home until you have an accepted offer, so you’ll have to submit an offer before moving on to that step. You do not want a seller present for a home inspection! It should be you, the inspector and an agent. The buyer will only get in the way, and attempt to taint the inspector's responses.

Please get some professional guidance. Either get a buyer’s agent now who will get part of this commission and help protect you from this fool or get an attorney to represent and advise you whenever you choose to write an offer. Do not go into this alone!