Jenny Lane

Melanie,

Thank you for your question! The big question that could answer your question is whether you signed an Exclusive Right to Buy agreement with the real estate broker that you were working with? One thing that an "agent" (which is only obtained by signing this agreemnt) must do is "Promoting the interests of Buyer with the utmost good faith, loyalty and fidelity. " Without signing this agreement your broker is acting as a "Transaction Broker" and does not adhere to the same rules as an "agent" does.

There are other things at play here though. It sounds like from your description that you had not actually written an offer on the property, but that someone else had and the seller was already writing a counter offer, which your broker likely learned from first speaking with the seller's agent. Right away this would take away any bargaining power you had, no matter what your broker said. If the seller already had another WRITTEN offer, you would have to offer more to even consider the property, "most likely". Maybe you could have presented the case that you were a better buyer, but most likely with another written offer already there, the only thing that sellers will respond to is more money.

In my opinion it is not technically a breach of confidentiality. As a Transaction Broker or an Agent, a broker is not allowed to say what your motivating factors are or if you are willing to pay MORE for a property. But offering less is not a motivating factor.

Personally I would not have spoken with the other agent about price though without a written offer, I think it helps to get the seller excited before seeing a written offer.

Most importantly, it is hard to answer your question without knowing specifically what was said.

Best of luck,

Jenny Lane
Realtor - Wed Sep 30 2009, 04:53