It’s not entrapment at all. No one is tricking him into doing something he wouldn’t do otherwise. PK is just planning to record what he’s already been doing as evidence to present to the people he reports too. Ethics aside, it’s not entrapment.
If PK’s friend, during the tour of the house said ‘hey, if I give you $50, would you punch a hole in the wall’ and then PK ran to the cops with the tape, that would be different. But that’s not what’s going on. This is no different than putting a security camera in your driveway to catch the guy that’s been slashing your tires every morning.
Also, to confirm what PK said (not that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about), in Wisconsin, only one party has to be aware that a phone call is being recorded for it to be legal.
To add to the chorus, I wouldn’t record him or do any of that. I think that’s really going to skeeve people out and you might find out that all those people talk. Of course, if you’re planning to just sell it on your own, it doesn’t matter.
Anyways, you have plenty of ammo to just call them (and whatever boards the others have been talking about) and complain. Just tell them that “4 or 5” people tracked you down and called you and tell them what you told us and then you had your wife pretend to be interested in the house and he said the same thing.
I’d guess he’s just lazy. But if it’s that low, it should be a quick flip. So he get’s a few grand less, BFD, he just has to show it once or twice and take the first person that hits your asking price. Is it worth it to him to have it on the market for 6 months instead of a week and have to show it 60 times in stead of 4 just to make a few extra dollars?
No, that’s what makes this situation so strange. Agents will routinely prefer that a seller accept a lower price in return for a quick sale. Six percent of $275k is only $1,500 less than six percent of $300k. And that commission is split four ways (listing agent/ listing broker/ selling agent/ selling broker), so for a listing agent, it means he makes about $4,125 rather than $4,500. If it ends up not selling while he has it listed, then he makes $0. So taking a price that’s a little low is better than waiting for a slightly higher commission and a lot better than having the listing expire and making nothing. There is a chapter on this topic in Freakonomics.
Again, nothing about this situation makes sense from an honest agent’s perspective. That’s why something shady has to be going on, and likely something the owner/broker isn’t aware of. Although I think calling the broker would be the easiest solution, I am curious how the cloak and dagger stuff works out for the OP, and what he finds out.
I stated “I hope he doesn’t”… not that I think he would. I have no clue if he would even have a case. I do think you should consider what push back you might receive if he did lose his job over it. Why wouldn’t he go after you if he can get a lawyer to take the case on a contingency.
My guess is the broker would just inform agent that he/she is cancelling the listing and life for the agent will continue as it did.
Because all I’m doing is “testing” my employee. Employers do it all the time. It isn’t “entrapment” (:rolleyes: ) and there isn’t anything civilly litigious he can successfully do about it.
I did speak with my attorney, BTW, and he suggested what everyone else has, dump the agency and be done with it. He said it will be easier to just let the contracted time run out and simply not renew. But he said that seeing I have the time, and we haven’t physically checked on the house for a while, there was nothing legally wrong with driving up and testing the guy.
Might be interesting to get there around 4 or 5 in the morning and take a look in the windows, just to see if someone is squatting in there. It would make for a fun turn of events. If that turned out to be the case, personally, I’d call the cops and tell them someone’s in my house and have them come out to deal with it. PK, I know you’re LE, but I’d let the locals deal with it. Unlock the door and let them go in with flashlights and guns out. You could even press charges but drop them later (after verifying there’s no damage to the house) just to make him sweat for a week or two for all the frustration he’s put you through.
Personally, I think he’s just lazy though.
Have you tried calling him ‘just to get an update’? I’d be interested to here what he has to say. I wonder if he’d say ‘nope, no one’s called about it yet’ or ‘I’ve had a few bites, but everyone put in low ball offers so I turned them away’.
Rattle and Hum, you’re making the (very common) mistake of comparing a private legal situation to one that involves criminal law.
It’s absolutely not “entrapment” in the legal sense of the word, and this realtor would have no viable cause of action against the poster (and could be sanctioned for a frivolous lawsuit, though that is super-dooper rare). Only a lawyer with the ethics like this realtor would take such a case, and definitely not on contingency. Indeed, the poster has a cause of action against this person and his broker/employer, not only for breach of contract but doing so with actual malice (which doesn’t mean what laypeople think in this context). There are any number of viable claims.
The notion that the broker knows nothing about this person’s lack of integrity strikes me as highly improbable, unless the dude just started working there and the broker didn’t bother to do any reference-checking or due diligence. At any rate, it’s reckless disregard on the broker/employer’s behalf, 'cause there should be internal protocols to review each listing and what’s occurring.
Certainly sounds to me as though the realtor’s attempting to take gross advantage of the long-distance seller, and treating the seller as though an idiot. I’d nail the bastard to the wall. I’d also skip some informal local broker’s group and go directly to filing a complaint with the real estate commission. This person needs to have their license yanked immediately (or, rather, as soon as the arduous process will allow).
“IF” he can get a lawyer to take it on contingency. I could be mistaken, but it’s my impression that lawyers take cases on contingency when a) they see the cause of action as a slam-dunk to win, and/or b) they see the putative defendant as having deep pockets (or a deep-pocketed insurance company).
It appears to me that pkbites’s real estate agent would be pretty hard-pressed to persuade any lawyer that such conditions exist.
Way back when, my parents were trying to sell a house. They never heard from the agent. Somebody went by the house and found that there was somebody living there. The agent had been renting the house to somebody and pocketing the money. My parents got the broker to compensate them a fair amount of money, and the fuckers surely learned when money is involved.
Rather than involve your friend immediately, go by and see if anybody is living there. But, don’t go there at 3 or 4 in the morning and look in the windows. That’s a good way to get your head blown off. Go there around 8 or 9 at night. If so, doing what Joey P suggested will be worth a thousand friends ‘assertively demanding’ a showing. Maybe telling the police, truthfully, that you wanted to inspect your house, and found trespassers. You can imagine the excitement!!
An ‘assertive demand’ may tip the agent off that you are wise to him, and he may just start to plod, which will be just as bad as what he’s doing now, only you won’t be able to catch him in the act as easily.
Threaten the Broker with the promise of calling the Commission and Board of Realtors, and, if you aren’t fully satisfied immediately, follow through.
He’s *your *attorney???:eek:
Actually, it would be easier to let the time run out and renew with the same agent automatically, but, you might want to have something done in *your *interest.
My major concern would be the amount of Days on Market that keep accruing on your house. That significantly affects the sale-ability, IMO, and thus the final asking price.
Pardon my abysmal ignorance, but, if I read the OP correctly, I thought that you wanted the house
Sold, and that
Quickly.
Again, if you want to know what your options are, and easy, just give the house to a local charity. That would make it an *easy *exercise of one of your options. Problem solved.
Technically it’s my wifes house, not mine, and she is not going to give away a 150K house. If we wanted to give it away why would we be angry about the agent not trying to sell it?
With that said, my friend found out something huge and at the advice of my attorney I should no longer post on this thread for the time being.
OK, I hope that you’ll come back after this gets resolved and fill us in. Nothing like an “at the advice of my attorney” line to pique everybody’s interest…
Indeed, the poster has a cause of action against this person and his broker/employer, not only for breach of contract but doing so with actual malice (which doesn’t mean what laypeople think in this context). There are any number of viable claims.