Should I go to the state board?

[Joe Turner]

I'll try to be brief.

I was shown a house and the MLS remarks had a city project id, there was an assessment and the payment to the buyer from the city for replacing a retaining wall and fence.

My buyer's agent called the listing agent, who casually explained that it was a little utility work and sent a URL to some newsletters the county sent out several years ago when they were voting for the project.

I called the city and talked to someone in the engineering project to see what was up. The city engineer basically stated that the project would be very disruptive, and would take place over three years. The street would be closed to all traffic and be completely torn up; they would be digging down 20 feet to replace a 36" water main, within feet of the house. Also, they are replacing sewer (150' per day) and putting the power lines underground. Moreover, they were going to excavate in the front yard and behind the house. Construction is going to start in April, end in November, and resume the next year, and finish the following year.

I felt like the listing agent was misrepresenting, but my agent said he expects the other agent to be ethical and professional.

I offered $145k (listed at $175). The seller's agent was not pleased. My agent states that the listing agent basically told him that she would not present the offer to her client because it was too low. Apparently, there was some back and forth and I got the same URL in an email. I called the city again, got more information. The sellers had negotiated (and was paid for) a temporary easement from the county, and also negotiated a payment plan for the assessment with the city. I hammered out an email with the facts from the discussions with the city, and cc'd the listing agent.

So I know the sellers knew of the construction. They met with both county and city personnel.

A few days later, I asked my agent to see if the buyers had received the offer.

The listing agent sent back a terse email to my agent stating that they are taking the house off the market rather than deal with offers that low.

Fine. Maybe the listing agent got ambushed by the seller not telling her.

Today, we start looking at open houses and guess what? They had an open house. I attended. I saw they had MLS printouts and I asked about the city project. The agent said, "Its a little utility work; I think they did most of it already."

I feel like the listing agent is misrepresenting by omission material facts. What do you guys think? Should I make a complaint to the state? Or just chalk it up to the low ethical standards in the real estate industry.

[Joel Owens]

Joe first off I can't give legal advice.

This broker / agent might not be a REALTOR so code of ethics violation would be a non-starter in most states as the real estate commission doesn't handle that.

The real estate commission helps to protect the interest of the general public and enforce the license laws and regulations. From what you have said it appears some possible license laws may have been violated. You are supposed to submit all offers in most states unless instructed otherwise by the seller in certain instances.

The seller could have told the listing broker that the buyer could " go to hell " with such an offer and they wouldn't respond and the listing broker turns around and puts it in nicer terms.

The fact that the listing broker was minimizing after gaining knowledge of the extent of the repair work appears to show deception. The listing broker is supposed to carry out the wishes of a seller with fiduciary duty UNLESS the request is unlawful or otherwise misleading with a material fact.

I am surprised the real estate commission would just let you e-mail a complaint. In most states you have to get the complaint certified as an affidavit. The reason is the investigators are typically understaffed. So they only work on the most hard core cases where the complaining party signs under perjury to be true. They want to eliminate parties just being spiteful and having them investigate half truths or outright lies and using up valuable commission resources.