re: What do I do here? Caught my real estate agent in a lie

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lsufanintexas

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We believe we've caught our real agent in a lie and feel there is collusion with the buyers agent.

We are in final throws of selling our home where an appraisal has been done by the buyer. We were pretty clear with our agent that we felt we agreed to a sales price that was way to low compared to market value. Every buyer she has brought to us offered the same price which was like 20-30k lower than our asking price. Anyways, during this last offer which we accepted after pressure from her, We asked her to let us know appraisal value once the appraisal was completed.

Realtor responds after appraisal was completed and says they were not provided appraised value.

Today I am accidentally cc'd on the email thread by our real estate agent where our appraised value was revealed to her after the appraisal was done thus indicating she knew the appraised value and lied about not knowing when I asked originally. I ask again, playing dumb with my agent if we can get the appraised value, and she again claims she was not given the appraised value.

Should I get a real estate lawyer involved at this point? I Or is my only real option to cancel the sale and find another real estate agent?

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#1 - Not sure why you didn't just spend the $ to get your home appraised before you ever put your house on the market, or found a realtor. You never wanna take the suggestion of a realtor. Come with that in hand and let them do their own research and have them give you their opinion on it.

#2 - You honestly are not required to be made privy to it.

#3 - I would absolutely require the realtor to defend the chain of events and the timeline which seem to point to them being dishonest.

#4 - Social Media is an incredible tool for professionals involved in real estate sales, finance, etc. I would encourage you to share your opinions there using any channels the realtor you are unhappy with may be using to advertise themselves or their services..if the resolution to #3 doesn't suit you.

I used one of Dave Ramsey's ELPs once.

.... but found she was the same as the rest of them. Didn't want to run comps and high pressure to buy now, now, now! before the market shoots up even more!

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anc

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It's a long story - I'll post it on Money Talk one day, but I once interviewed for a job at Dave Ramsey's parent company, the Lampo Group.

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I am looking forward to this. I have heard from other avenues something similar multiple times. That guy could lead the next Jamestown with his followers.

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Why wouldn't the realtor want to sell it for you at the highest price possible?

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The difference in their income on a $10,000 increase to a purchase price is pretty minimal compared to the work they would have to do to find another buyer.

I read an article comparing sales prices of realtor's own homes to their clients and there was a significant increase in the prices, but also more time on the market.

At the end of the day this is my fault. I could have said no to the offer but we were pressured by our realtor to accept because she tells us "you don't want it on the market too long otherwise people will think there is a problem with the home".

I normally sell land & commercial property myself but I went with a realtor this time to handle everything for me due to the amount of business travel I have been doing and the fact that I've never sold a residential property before.

Trusted their guidance rather than trusting my gut. Lesson learned. At least it was only a 10-15k loss and not a few hundred k.

I consider myself a pretty level headed person, and you appear to be the same. I don't think I would let the realtor walk away from the deal without her knowing I knew she lied to me, nor that I didn't feel she represented MY best interests. I certainly wouldn't blow up on her, but a nice, polite email letting her know your feelings, and letting her know you wouldn't recommend her services to anyone would make me feel a lot better.

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What do I do here? Caught my real estate agent in a lie by stout
Technically she isn't allowed to disclose the appraised value to you since you didn't pay for it but she could have said that instead of lying to you.

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I'm confused. She is his agent and supposed to represent his interests alone. Wouldn't that include any information she obtains related to the sale of his home that might impact the deal? Are you saying it's ok, even legally required for a sellers agent to withhold info from their clients pertaining to the sale of their home?

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Email it to her? No, you're doing it wrong. When you want to put someone on the spot for doing something like this, you do it in person. Why give a suspected colluder an opportunity to collude further?

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This all day. I want to see her non verbal reaction. That will tell you everything you want to know and would give me more pleasure than giving her an opportunity to formulate some explanation.

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Email it to her? No, you're doing it wrong. When you want to put someone on the spot for doing something like this, you do it in person. Why give a suspected colluder an opportunity to collude further?

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Good point. I'm a fan of having a paper trail though. A call would be more fruitful though.

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She is his agent and supposed to represent his interests alone. Wouldn't that include any information she obtains related to the sale of his home that might impact the deal?

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Not appraisals. Those are protected and can only be disclosed to the person that paid for it AKA the buyer unless they allow the info to be shared. As an agent, disclosing that info is setting yourself up for a huge lawsuit otherwise. The appraisal is also completed after the deal had been met so it has zero impact at this point other than making him feel like he sold too low.

Now, she may have mislead him prior to everything and that will be up to him to decide to pursue or not but the appraisal is still the buyers private info and the agent does not/can not disclose it to him.