Here is a scenario that I have come upon. I have a client that I helped into a lease property about 10 months ago. They contacted me recently wanting to see some houses. I obliged.
Then last night, I believe that there was considerable trust built with them and the man finally opened up to me. He admitted that they were just getting out of a deal on a house that went very bad. That is when they contacted me.
Anyway, to make a long story short, this person contacted the listing agent on the sign and got into a messy deal. They told the agent they wanted representation since they didn't feel comfortable with him handling both sides and so they put the sale in the MLS under his brokers name and said the broker was now their agent representing them. Of course, that is an intermediary situation and not representation. He also said this broker was never present when they signed the contract or never showed them the house. They told the listing agent that they were participating in a bond program and it was mandatory that the closing be 45 days out and the listing agent said, "we'll just write the contract for 30 days and when we get closer to closing, we'll extend it". So now, he appearantly can speak for the seller. He went on to tell personal details about the seller to the buyer and told them what to offer. He told them not to be very picky on their inspections because the people were just wanting to dump the house and the price was good. He wrote an amendment on the contract to allow some money (less than $500) to be given to the buyers for repairs POC but told the buyer NOT to provide the amendment to his mortgage company...anyway, the list was long and ugly on bad advice, unethical behavior and just downright seeming criminal acts.
So this client wants to know what they can do to hold this agent accountable. I told him I would think about it and at least gather his options but that I was not endorsing any particular action.
What is your feeling on advising a client on a topic like this? I feel that if the things done were really done, that a complaint with the real estate commision is warranted, but our state commission is running about a year behind on dealing with complaints...
Thoughts?