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Does any one have any info on suing a real estate agent?

On October 7, 2009 / By Real Estate Law Help / In Real-Estate-Attorneys

Last year my wife and I decided to sell our house and had a buyer almost immediately . We knew what house we wanted to purchase and put the bid in when we knew it was a solid buyer. About a month before closing the deal on the new house fell through and we weren’t able to buy it. We were unable to purchase a new home and wanted to cancel the deal on our house. We found out that there is a clause that stats we need to find suitable housing or the deal is dead. Well our agent FAILED to put that in the contract and our Attorney failed to catch the mistake. After speaking with several real estate agents they all said 99.9% of the time you put that clause in the contract. We were forced to sell our house and are currently renting. I know real estate agents pay a monthly fee so they are covered if they do get sued. I would like to know if we might be able to sue the agent for not putting this clause in the contract resulting in us losing our home.

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3 Responses to “Does any one have any info on suing a real estate agent?”

  1. lucy said:

    Oct 07, 09 at 7:55 am

    This reminds me of a personal situation with my husband and a former friend of mine.

    My friend was looking to buy a house and my husband is a lawyer. My friend was "cheap" and was very odd. Since he was a friend, my husband would have provided his legal services for free like he does with most family members in the past.

    Anyway he found the house he wanted to purchase and left the contract at our house for my husband to review. My friend stated that he read the entire contract and it took him 20 minutes to read, (which was his way of saying if my husband charged him for it, he expected to be billed for 20 minutes).

    Well, like my husband said, he could read the contract, but that is not the reason for having a lawyer review a contract, since it was a lawyers job to determine anything that should be added/omitted to the contract so that our friend would not be held liable, otherwise, as a lawyer, he could get sued for malpractice. My husband spent couple of hours reviewing the contract, made notes and talked to my friend on the phone for probably a hour with his suggestions/ideas.

    My husband had no intent of billing him, but as a joke would ask for a bottle of whiskey ($20) as payment for his services. (He bills at $150 per hour). Well after he was done, instead of saying what do i owe you and my husband could have stated a bottle of whiskey, he said thanks and if i buy the house, i will want you to handle at the closing.

    Needless to say, he charge him $50 which my friend paid and we are no longer friends since unfortunately he did not get it.

    Now back to your question. I suggest you contact a 2nd lawyer for his legal advice. Like the agents you spoke to, it is not uncommon to have 2 to 3 people involved in the selling/buying of a home. So if one defaults, it starts a domino effect on the others in closing. Since this was last year, this could have fell when everyone was getting loans with no money down or proof of income and they were selling homes left/right, then the roof came crashing down with the economy and everyone started defaulting.

    You most likely paid your lawyer for his legal advice and he did not catch or put in the contract a provision if you did not get a house. As for the agent, I am sure this happens 1 out of 5 or maybe more on any sale/purchase so is expected.

    In the end, you could lose, but 1 consult with a 2nd attorney could let you know if you have a claim or not.

    good luck

  2. OldJimmy said:

    Oct 07, 09 at 12:37 pm

    It sounds kind of iffy to me. You are talking about an Errors and Omissions claim under insurance coverage the realtor would/should carry. Are you also considering pursuing your attorney for a malpractice claim?

    If this clause is sometimes in a contract and sometimes not, I think the realtor could argue that they discussed this with you but you decided not to put it in because you didn’t want to sour the deal with your buyer (give them the additional concern that their deal will fall through if you don’t find "suitable" housing). That may not be the facts, but I would find it a compelling argument.

    I don’t see why you’re complaining, though. You sold your house (in a down market) to a willing buyer for a price you felt was fair. So you have to rent for a while; it gives you a chance to shop around. Time has been on your side; home prices certainly haven’t shot up lately so you might even end up with more house than you were planning for.

    I don’t think you want to pick this fight as you probably won’t win. You don’t really have much in the way of damages to make it much of a claim anyway (maybe some storage for extra furniture?). This might be a time to count your blessings and expend your energy finding that better house.

  3. wineone said:

    Oct 07, 09 at 4:01 pm

    It is a contingency clause, most realtors put in the contract, the deal is contingent on you purchasing your house. They should have discussed this with you, you should have asked them about this. If it was not in the contract I believe you have no case.

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