Exclusivity Problem- Help Please!

**californiabuyer** · 08-22-2008, 05:01 PM

My situation is as follows:

My parents live in the San Fernando Valley area in Los Angeles.
For the past month and a half they have been looking to purchase a home in this area. They have made several offers with a real estate agent they have been working with, but nothing has come to fruition yet. So in the mean time, they ask him about homes in the Simi Valley area, to which he replies that he cannot becuase he doesnt work in that area.

So my parents were referred to another agent that DID work in the Simi Valley area, they put out a few offers and one of them had been accepted. The talks have escalated to which point the deal is in escrow now. All of this went on without the knowledge of the other agent becuase he wouldnt show us any houses in Simi so we felt not to concern him until a deal was made.

The problem is, now that we have informed our first agent, he claims that he is due some sort of commision. He did not show us or even mention the house in Simi Valley that we had made a deal on with the other agent. But what he does claim is that he holds a document signed by my parents which says he is their exclusive agent. He did not mention anything about document to my parents at the time, and now we feel as if he had slipped that paper into the stack of documents for an offer my parents signed waaaay back when they had started off looking. It was most likely the first offer they made.

If we had known of the exclusivity document, no way would we have been dumb enough to disregard it and continue with our dealings in Simi Valley.

What my understanding is that the commssion for the agent comes from the seller's party. But whats stressing is the fact that now, the San Fernando Valley agent is threatening to sue if he doesnt get his money.

So, any advise or help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

**jamesww** · 08-22-2008, 09:59 PM

I will being by giving you tips on how to avoid ever having this trouble again. If the agent you are working with tells you that he does not work in an area request that he give you a referral to another agent that does work in the market of interest. This allows the agent to earn some money preventing them from having a right to be upset. Agents spend a sizable amount of time and money working with a buyer so when the buyer just jumps ship it is upsetting for them.

Now to address your concern,you may be able to avoid paying a commision based on the agent not being capable to service your needs. This means they would have been not working in your best interest if they forced you to purchase a property in their market area. All agent are held by federal law to work in the best interest of their client. Now to sort out how and whether you would have a case must be answered by an attorney. No real estate professional can answer this question in entirety for you. I have provided a link below that might give you a chance to have these questions answered without charge.

http://forum.freeadvice.com/

I wish you the best of luck.

**californiabuyer** · 08-22-2008, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by jamesww

I will being by giving you tips on how to avoid ever having this trouble again. If the agent you are working with tells you that he does not work in an area request that he give you a referral to another agent that does work in the market of interest. This allows the agent to earn some money preventing them from having a right to be upset. Agents spend a sizable amount of time and money working with a buyer so when the buyer just jumps ship it is upsetting for them.

Now to address your concern,you may be able to avoid paying a commision based on the agent not being capable to service your needs. This means they would have been not working in your best interest if they forced you to purchase a property in their market area. All agent are held by federal law to work in the best interest of their client. Now to sort out how and whether you would have a case must be answered by an attorney. No real estate professional can answer this question in entirety for you. I have provided a link below that might give you a chance to have these questions answered without charge.

I wish you the best of luck.

thanks for your help, i will check out that link

**TomAnto** · 08-23-2008, 10:30 AM

In what form is the correspondence indicating that the non-simi valley agent is not qualified to work in that area? Also, how was the simi valley agent referred to you by the non-simi valley agent?

An exclusivity agreement is common. However, you are not actually paying the commission, the seller is correct? How does this non-simi valley agent propose to extract the commission from the deal?

**Greg** · 08-25-2008, 07:51 AM

Let the agent sue. He will not stand a chance in court. These agreements are not as binding as some agents like to think they are.

There is no way he can hold you to a contract where he could not perform his end of the contract. When he said he didn't work in that area he abandoned his clients. He broke the contract, and it is a two way contract where both side have to perform for the contract to close. He did not perform so he broke the contract.

Most likely if you just ignore him he will go away.