Bob Hertzog

Hi Brittney,

Unfortunately, you have run across another Real Estate Agent that shouldn't be conducting short sales. We only submit ONE CONTRACT to the lender on our short sale listings. Our decision to do this is simple. A Seller can only sign ONE CONTRACT on their home, otherwise, they run the risk of selling their home to two Buyers. Unless these buyers want to be roommates, this type of scenario usually doesn't play out too well. :)

My question to you is, do you have an executed contract (signed by both Buyer & Seller)? If so, you may have a leg to stand on (but highly doubtful). If your contract isn't signed by the Seller, you have simply put in a "bid", like you said in your original question, which basically means you have nothing but a useless piece of paper. You have basically given the other agent "ammunition" to take to other potential buyers, in order to drive the price up before submitting anything to the lender. Not being represented by a qualified Agent (which I assume is the case here) didn't help matters either.

There are a myriad of issues that could have come into play here, that resulted in the home selling for $3,000 less than what your "bid" was for. i.e., was the Buyer's Agent represented by the Seller's Agent, resulting in more commission for the Dual-Agency? Or, was the Buyer's Agent represented by someone in the same office? Better yet, are you sure this wasn't an "arms-length transaction"? Did your offer have a financing contingency, and the other offer was an all-cash, no contingency offer? If you worked with an agent on this deal, he/she should look into these possibilities. Or, if you'd like, I'd be happy to look into it for you, at no cost, of course.

The bottom line is, IF THE SELLER DOESN'T SIGN YOUR CONTRACT, YOU DON'T HAVE A CONTRACT, AND YOU DON'T HAVE A DEAL.

Personally, rather than take legal action, I would go find an Agent who has experience dealing with short sales, and find another home. Your time would be much better spent. Besides, hiring an agent costs you nothing, as the Lender pays their commission.

In this day and age of listings being on the internet for everyone to see, it's very easy for Buyers to become "Overnight Real Estate Agents". I'm guilty of it too. We all are. Anytime one of us (ok, maybe it's just me, but I doubt it, after talking to some of my Dr. friends) has an ailment, the first thing we do is google search our symptoms, and try to self-diagnose our problems, before finally going to the doctor. When we finally show up at the doctors office, we already know what the diagnosis is, only to find out we were wrong. The same thing goes for Real Estate. There are WAY too many moving parts to a Real Estate Transaction to not have a professional representing you. The bottom line is, call an EXPERIENCED AGENT who knows what they're doing, and tell them what you want. You will be MUCH happier in the long run.

This was not meant to be a rant, so please don't take it as such. It's simply reality, and what we, as Real Estate Agents/Brokers deal with on a daily basis.

Either way, good luck to you!

Bob - Mon Aug 31 2009, 22:05