jacksonville, FL · Member since 2010 · 83 posts · 17 votes
If you feel/know that a realtor/broker is selling a bank foreclosure to a friend or relative and taking actions to give them a competitive advantage, like telling them other peoples bids, restricting access to property for others while the insider knows the true condition of property.... what can be done?
Even if afterwards, is there a hot line or something?
If it's a listing agent and they are not presenting all offers or mainipulating listing information you can file a complaint with the state RE commission and the Board of Realtors. If you can prove it. If it's a buyer's agent, they are doing thier job. Nothing prevents a Realtor from selling to friends. :)
Not sure if this applies to your situation, but I am dealing with a broker that I know is a crook right now. I went to the local DA's office and spoke with an investigator. Their advice was you would have to be able to show 8-10 incidents of this behavior (for them to take it seriously), take it to the local PD, then the case MIGHT get kicked up to the DA's office and local RE commission.
If you are the one being harmed and can win a civil lawsuit, most states have a recovery fund that will pay out on the judgment, and take it from the agent/broker''s commission(s) or assets, within a year of the judgment. Of course I found this out 4 years after my judgment was granted...
Not sure if this applies to your situation, but I am dealing with a broker that I know is a crook right now. I went to the local DA's office and spoke with an investigator. Their advice was you would have to be able to show 8-10 incidents of this behavior (for them to take it seriously), take it to the local PD, then the case MIGHT get kicked up to the DA's office and local RE commission.
If you are the one being harmed and can win a civil lawsuit, most states have a recovery fund that will pay out on the judgment, and take it from the agent/broker''s commission(s) or assets, within a year of the judgment. Of course I found this out 4 years after my judgment was granted...
The police do not enforce civil law. If the DA wants to file a case or investigate a case, they have their own investigations division. Going to the police will get you no where.
Thomas Dionne this does happen a lot, but also people who don't get the property they want often falsely claim this is what's going on. You can track the property's selling price, but even so there are other differences in offers. What specific events make you believe this?
Unless you submitted a higher offer with comparable terms (all cash, waived inspection period, etc) and you can show the property sold for less than that then it's going to be hard to prove. The agent has an obligation to submit all written offers to the seller so if you can prove that was not done then you can take your complaint to FREC. If you can't prove that then it's going to be pretty hard to get any type of disciplinary action against the agent. There's no way to prove that the agent restricted your access to the property but if you're running into cases where you feel the agent is restricting access then contact that agent's broker stating you wish to view the property but the agent will not provide access.
Yes it was sellers agent of course. In the end Im not interested in spending time "proving" it, I just want to ring to take a situation in which NOONE from a regulatory aspect even ask a question to at least making someone ask questions.
The big question is, would any governing authority consider it wrong if certain bidders on a house have information others dont if that information was provided by a listing agent. Especially if it proves that they knew each other.
What information you get might depend on the questions you ask!
Everything about a property may not be in the listing, asking the right questions in a manner that allows an agent to answer about an issue may have something to do with what you are told. :)