My acquaintance Ron has been going through a divorce (now finalized).
Pretty simple actually. They have no minor children, no huge debts, mortgage paid off.
They are going to sell the house and split the proceed. Ron is currently still living in the dwelling.
Wife came up with an agent. Ron checked out the agent and all seemed well except he was leary that the agent was from the same small town his ex moved to. Rons attorney advised that this was probably just because ex looked in a limited area. So Ron agreed.
Over the last month Ron has been griping about this agent. How she is insisting that things that are of little consequence need to be repaired and the cost of those repairs is mounting. How she is in daily contact with his ex but never calls him and takes a long time to return his calls.
I’ve sold property before and have dealt with an actual crooked agent once. This agent just seems to be a pain but nothing more.
Except…last week when Rons divorce was finalized the agent went on his ex-wifes Facebook and posted “Wahhoo! Good for you!”
Now Ron is convinced that the agent is colluding with his ex. He just can’t figure out what the plan is.
I say the agent shouldn’t have done that as she works for both of them. I won’t go so far as to say it was unethical but I will say it was in bad taste and a poor business decision.
What are your opinions on this? And what, if anything, could his ex and the agent be up to. Trying to get him to spend unnecessary money seems like a dumb plot and not very sinister as it may help get more for the house.
If Ron suspects a conflict of interest of some sort, I’d talk to the realtors broker. If the realtor is ignoring him or failing in her duty as both Ron and his Ex are named in the sellers agreement then he might be able to break contract if he wants to divorce the realtor too.
And when the house sells if I were Ron I’d pay very careful attention to the wording in sales contracts and closing documents.
Ron is that realtors client too she should give congrats privately to the Ex.
My ex-wife and I were getting a divorce and selling our house earlier this year, and we both agreed on the agent we were going to go with, who happened to be our next door neighbor.
If my ex had picked a random agent without my knowledge, I would have explained to that agent I wasn’t going to sign her sales agreement, which she would need me to do in order to represent the house. At that point, the agent would probably ask me to talk to her broker about it, but to no avail. In the meantime, I would interview various reputable agents in the area where the house is located with my ex to decide who we would to go with. If my ex refused to cooperate with me on finding a new agent I would let my lawyer work it out with her lawyer.
As far as paying to fix things that needed to be fixed, that’s usually done after the inspection report is made, but I have been getting obvious things fixed now to avoid having to deal with them later, when I have more important things to worry about, like quickly finding another house to buy. And of course, that’s a shared expense that both co-owners are obligated to pay.
Let’s presume that the repairs will increase the gross sale price, as the buyers won’t have “I have to fix this.” as part of their calculus.
Higher sale price is a plus for Agent, since she gets a percentage.
Higher sale price is potentially a plus for Ron and Ex, depending on the cost of the repairs.
If Ron is footing the cost of the repairs, but sharing the benefits with Ex, then it’s probably a Lose for Ron and a Win for Ex.
Since the proceeds will be split per the divorce agreement, and Ron is living in the house right now, it’s unlikely that Agent can wrangle something truly shady. There may be lawyers reviewing the documents and it’s a heavily regulated type of transaction.
It’s clear that Agent thinks Ron is a lousy person and is firmly in Ex’s Corner re: the divorce. That’s fine, but she shouldn’t have made that clear to Ron, however, I doubt there’s a plan to screw him over. Maybe annoy him with inconvenient showings?
When I sold my house after moving in with my gf, there were a couple of minor issues I assumed the inspection would discover, and I was prepared to have those things addressed. Then I had someone interested in purchasing the house for my asking price, but wanting an expedited closing (who doesn’t?).
In exchange for an expedited closing, he agreed on bypassing a home inspection and signing off on that!!
Empathy is being a shoulder to cry on and direct (ie private) remarks such “I’m so sorry you have to go through this,” or “I’m glad it’s all over now.” A public “Wahoo!” seems a little over the top. It’s very publicly declaring, “I’m taking sides between the two clients I am supposed to be impartially representing, and here’s my choice!”
Having said that, I don’t think it’s necessarily evidence that anything nefarious is happening. (We also don’t know the circumstances of the divorce - maybe the ex-wife deserves congratulations.)
But repairs should be jointly paid for, unless husband is living rent-free while wife pays for new housing, and as part of their arrangements they agreed he would pay for upkeep. That doesn’t necessarily seem unfair, although there should be some kind of cap on what he’s expected to spend.
My take on it is that the agent is a friend of the ex-wife, since the ex-wife found her, from the same town she moved to. Clearly the agent (at least subconsciously) thinks of herself as the ex-wife’s agent, and the ex-husband is just an annoyance. That’s not how it should be, but clearly it is.
That doesn’t mean anything actually nefarious is happening, but it does mean the ex-husband needs to look to his own interests, as I don’t think the agent will be doing that.
Any costs of repairs should be borne by both sides, either upfront cash when the repairs are done, or an agreement to reimburse the person who paid upfront after the house is sold, before the proceeds are divided between the two. So long as these costs are shared, they should both come out further ahead, as they really shouldn’t do anything that doesn’t pay back more than it costs in increasing the value of the house.
I don’t have a problem with the Wahhoo message. Agents and clients can be pretty friendly.
I’d reconsider the agent for no other reason than not being in/from the area of the sale. It’s not an accusation of bias or wrongdoing, just not likely the best individual.
A lot would depend on the relative proximity of the places. I live in a city surrounded by several “small towns”, but they’re close enough that real estate agents from the small towns regularly sell houses that are located in the city proper. There’s no way they’d have enough sales opportunities to stay in business, otherwise.
The last time I sold a house, our realtor made a list of things that “needed” to be repaired before the house was listed (holes patches; fixtures repaired; some fencing replaced; etc.). She also had a list of “optional” things that she thought was result in a worthwhile return (painting cabinets, changing light fixtures; replacing door hardware). I did most, but not all of them, and griped the whole time. She was right, though, I think.
Of course, if Ron is paying for them himself, but is expecting to split the proceeds of the same 50/50, then he has an issue.
Yeah, but isn’t Ron also a client? Not sure how friendly that remark was towards Ron. If nothing else, it suggests poor judgment/lack of professionalism.
For the life of me, I’m not sure what they could be colluding about. Unless Ron and ex-wife greatly disagree as to desired price or terms of sale. I’d be more concerned if the ex- was living in the house, and they were delaying the sale. By all means, Ron should keep a list of repairs, and insist on ex- contributing.
Passing a Code of ethics course is required for membership in the NAR. It’s one of the many continuing education requirements to retain your designated REALTOR status. It’s a pretty easy test to pass and doesn’t really prevent or determine if a REALTOR is up to something unethical while working with clients.
My “Realtor” was a total nut-bag. She had me sign over POA so that we could expedite closing, which was cool. But when I stopped at the office to pick up my $$$ check, she wasn’t there. Neither was the check. The secretary looked everywhere. When the secretary tried calling the “Realtor” she didn’t answer.
That’s when the owner of the business came out and calmed me down, explaining that he carried insurance for situations like this. He looked nervous though.
Turns out she was just an addle headed idiot and her phone battery died and she ran out of gas.
Ron’s not the agent’s point of contact and, until the recent point of Wahhoo, was the other party in a potentially adversarial court proceeding.
He’s tolerated or acquiesced to stuff like this: