All Forum Posts by: Jacob Mendrin

Thank you for your comments Nathan, they express exactly how I feel. My only problem is the amount of money it would take to defend myself does not make it worth it. A 10 hour drive plus a hotel room and two days off of work just make it not feasible. 

My thoughts exactly but when you’re new to selling and an agent calls you and assures you it can happen I fell for it. 

Not quite, let me put things in some chronological order here:

1) On June 1st, rent was due in the amount of $1,250. 

2) After 5 days the rent according to our lease was deemed LATE. No response when we attempted to make contact. But since we were in the process of selling to them it made us hesitant as to what we we’re going to do next. 

3) On June 15th we received a call from our agent stating that the renters would not be able to close and pay the rent at the same time. So he asked us on behalf of them to forgive the rent. Subsequently we would not have to pay our mortgage and both of us would walk away happy. He stated that as long as we closed on the 15th, our mortgage payment would not be considered late. I stated, “That’s all fine as long as it was true. If I do not have to pay the remaining amount that I owe to the bank, then they don’t have to pay the rent.” 

4) On Monday we received a statement that showed a deduction (after the fact) of $1,147.00 from our profit and included a late fee that our mortgage company charged. 

Since our verbal contingency was not honored, and also feeling that the agent and the buyers were working together in this, we kept $1147.00 from their deposit (a default in rent is a reasonable cause to keep some of the deposit according to CA law) and sent the rest to them. 

We have already sent them the rest of the money due to the fact we live far away, but I cannot help but feel slighted and ripped off to put it mildly. Learned alot in the process though. 

Because I was under the assumption the prorated mortgage that we owed on the home did not need to be paid (the realtor’s exact words were “don’t make the payment”) I just let the closing process take its course. So because I was late on the house payment I was charged a late fee plus interest. 

The agent stated clearly to me the following:

“Don’t make your house payment. You won’t have to pay it anyway.”

“Forgive their rent.”

Both sides will be happy. 

Turns out that was not the case. 

Thanks Ned, very helpful. The deduction did come out after I signed. This was all done after the fact. The first time I seen it was on my final closing statement sent to me with the check. Regardless I’m now in the position to return the complete deposit and go after the realtor. Not much I can really do though after reading other people’s opinions. This leads me to another question:

If a realtor can lie to you and not really face any real sort of repercussions (because it’s all verbal no proof of anything) then why even have one? I mean I’m sure I would’ve spent less then 10k in consulting a lawyer on all of my legal questions and just managing the sale myself. Ultimately the responsibility is solely on the seller so why trust a potential dirty agent (not saying all are like this) to handle it for me... 

 1) My agreement to “rent forgiveness” had a “contingency” that was not conveyed to the buyers. The agent outright lied. 

2) My mortgage payment should have been covered by the prorated rent that the renters owed. The agent did not clarify any of this and never conveyed my wishes. So much so that I suspect they both were together in this. 

3) I believe I have a right to blame someone else for being lied to. Granted I should have demanded that my request be put into writing. After speaking with the escrow office they were shocked the agent did what he did and said it was definitely mishandled. 

Thanks Doug, the agreement was completely verbal and done through my realtor who I am not sure even expressed my true wishes to the buyers in the first place. My agreement to “waive the rent” had a contingency attached to it, and that contingency was “I did not want anymore money to come out of my pocket.” Of course, there’s no paper work confirming or denying any of this.

That seems to be the whole crux of the matter. My forgiveness of the rent had a contingency. That contingency was not met. What my realtor told me was not true. He even stated clearly there would be no late fee on my account; there turned out to be a late fee. In your experience, if a realtor misinforms you or out lies, what ways can you turn to protect yourself from something like this? 

PS. Nobody is trying to rip anybody off here, I have to say this whole situation turned ugly quickly and it seems I’m the one left holding the bag. 

Thanks guys for the responses, very insightful. 

I'd like to clarify a few things. Just for everyone's benefit and learning. 

1) The new owners of the home ARE the renters. While they were living in the property (under my ownership) they did not pay rent for 22 days.

2) Under California law, a security deposit CAN be used for defaults in payment of rent. 

3) The instructions I gave to my realtor were not fulfilled (he essentially didn't know what he was doing or outright lied). I stated that I would only forgive 22 days of rent as long as it did not come out of my profit of the house sale.

4) The amount that was deducted from my profits was essentially for the mortgage that was not paid, as well as interest and a late fee tacked on. The realtor stated this would not happen and has essentially gone into hiding. 

I'm viewing this more as realtor malpractice because who knows what he told them. It's either that or I've been taken, in that, to get a quick sale, he managed to convince them to not pay rent in order to save them some money. That may be far fetched but who knows. More comments are appreciated. Thanks. 

Hello all, apologies if this question has been asked before but after searching through the forums for a while I found nothing to match my particular situation. 

We have recently sold our rental home to the renters. The day of closing, my agent calls me and explains to me that the buyers were asking for me to forgive their rent for the month so they could afford to close that day with their available funds. My response was I was fine with it only if I am not going to be held liable for any more money out of the deal. 

Long story short, we received our final statement from the escrow company and found that they deducted around $1,100 dollars from our profits. After seeing this, we opted to keep this amount from the renter's security deposit and returned the rest. After informing them of the reason, they are now threatening to sue us. So my questions are:

1) Do they have a case? The only thing they have going for them is the agent telling them they wouldn't have to pay rent. But nothing was ever mentioned about the security deposit. 

2) I live out of state (in Arizona), I would have to miss a few work days, pay for a plane ticket, hotel room and rental car just to defend myself in court. How are these situations normally handled? 

This feels like a complete scam, the agent I feel was working with the buyers to screw us out of the 22 days they owed for rent. Has anybody had any experiences like this? How did you handle it? Is it worth the fight? Normally I just give in to situations like this but this time it feels different. Appreciate any comments and feedback. Thanks!