You might find funny.....

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Hey Guys,

As some of you may know ( or may know and don't really care which is ok also..lol ) I finally sold my pet boarding kennel in Harrisonburg,VA. However, due to disagreements with the real estate agent( who was SLIME....and did nothing) I am being taken to court for failure to pay my real estate agent.....and I wont until the judge tells me too.

We had an offer to which I countered and nothing happened....then his contract ended and then nearly 60 days later the person who wanted to buy the kennel came back and asked if I had changed my mind to his offer...and I said NOPE......but in the conversation I decided to come down $ 15,000 and he came up $15,000 and we eventually did the deal...

Long story short....the agent said he is still entitled to his 6% commission and I disagree because the contract was over and while the paperwork says if we end up selling the building to anyone that was shown while under contract with him...that he gets is commission. However, it had no date on it and no limit...in fact if I had sold it to the guy 20 years from now technically he would be due a commission. I disagree and will let the judge decide....

Anyway since it is ME against a Real Estate Agent ( you know they are my favorite people...if you ever read my post about them on here....do a search for it...lol) I will keep you all posted as I am (strange enough) excited about it.

[KEVIN WOOD]

Paul that is too funny.
By the way I was really impressed at the Nachi TV schooling you did with Ben. It is always good to see a Master at his work.

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Good luck Paul Please keep us informed ... Roy

[Russell J. Hensel]

What I find about Paul is that its more than a master at his work, its the energy and you can tell he likes what he does and it shows. Loved the video and thinking of bringing him here to SW Florida for a class. Just got to get dates set up, or possible go to a place where he is, if he has the class room set up.

[Joseph Hagarty, CMI]

Originally Posted by pabernathy

Hey Guys,

As some of you may know ( or may know and don't really care which is ok also..lol ) I finally sold my pet boarding kennel in Harrisonburg,VA. However, due to disagreements with the real estate agent( who was SLIME....and did nothing) I am being taken to court for failure to pay my real estate agent.....and I wont until the judge tells me too.

We had an offer to which I countered and nothing happened....then his contract ended and then nearly 60 days later the person who wanted to buy the kennel came back and asked if I had changed my mind to his offer...and I said NOPE......but in the conversation I decided to come down $ 15,000 and he came up $15,000 and we eventually did the deal...

Long story short....the agent said he is still entitled to his 6% commission and I disagree because the contract was over and while the paperwork says if we end up selling the building to anyone that was shown while under contract with him...that he gets is commission. However, it had no date on it and no limit...in fact if I had sold it to the guy 20 years from now technically he would be due a commission. I disagree and will let the judge decide....

Anyway since it is ME against a Real Estate Agent ( you know they are my favorite people...if you ever read my post about them on here....do a search for it...lol) I will keep you all posted as I am (strange enough) excited about it.

Paul,

Best to read (and have your Attorney read) your Listing Contract.

In PA, you would be Liable for Costs.
Realtor presented a Contract Offering.
You entered into a Subsequent Agreement with Same Client
upon Expiration of Listing Contract.

Virginia mileage may vary....

[Robert Meier]

Originally Posted by pabernathy

Long story short....the agent said he is still entitled to his 6% commission and I disagree because the contract was over and while the paperwork says if we end up selling the building to anyone that was shown while under contract with him...that he gets is commission. However, it had no date on it and no limit...in fact if I had sold it to the guy 20 years from now technically he would be due a commission. I disagree and will let the judge decide....

This is pretty standard for a real estate contract and protects the realtor in case the buyer and seller decide to wait for the contract to expire and then work out their own deal possibly splitting the commission.

[Jeffrey R. Wicklander]

Probably be cheaper to pay him now than to add on the court fees on top of the agent's fee when the judge comes up with their decision. Quite a few people have intentionally waited for the contract to expire and gpo through with the transaction.

Jeff

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Originally Posted by Robert Meier

This is pretty standard for a real estate contract and protects the realtor in case the buyer and seller decide to wait for the contract to expire and then work out their own deal possibly splitting the commission.

So you are assuming me PLANNED this....thats the problem with this case...everyone assumes alot but the fact is their was no time limit...so are we saying that a real estate contract that has expired and with no end date.....can continue. We ended up making the deal 60 days after the end of the agents contract....60 days..........and the price was not the figures on the agreement and counter offer...this was a new negotiation by me and the guy when he called me out of the air (60 days later) and asked me if I still wanted to sell...I said I would like to sell but not for what his offer was back when we had a contract. I could not afford to sell it so he asked me what I would sell it for and I said....look If you meet me half way between our asking price of 250,000 and his offering price originally of 220,000 i would consider selling it....I said you come up 15,000 and i will come down 15,000...we meet in the middle and make this happen....

Where was my agent in this deal...?....his agreement had expired 60 days ago....so if I sell the freaking thing to this guy 25 years from now do I owe the agent a commission....give me a break man.....the contract had NO TIME limit on this part of the clause....everything else expired after 30 days and so on but they claim this was part of a negotiation set up by the agent which it was not...he offered me 220,000 back while under contract...I countered with 250,000 and the time expired and he did not accept then my agents agreement expired as well.....again 60 days later the guy calls me and I had not talked to the guy EVER before.....so we started a new negotiation and we met in the middle, I did the sale contract, i hired the attorney to close and we did it all in 30 days.....my SO-CALLED agent was no where to be seen....

Anyway....I got the funds.......lets let the lawyers decide....either way I retained the money from the sale just in case.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Originally Posted by kwood

Paul that is too funny.
By the way I was really impressed at the Nachi TV schooling you did with Ben. It is always good to see a Master at his work.

Thanks Kevin.....I do love what I do and thanks for noticing. I don't do video's or training for NACHI anymore frankly because they choose not to use me...which is all good....there choice but again thanks for noticing .

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Originally Posted by jwicklander

Probably be cheaper to pay him now than to add on the court fees on top of the agent's fee when the judge comes up with their decision. Quite a few people have intentionally waited for the contract to expire and gpo through with the transaction.

Jeff

I look at it differently...the court costs are not going to be huge and the agents commission (should he win) is already put aside for this case. I don't personally think he deserves a commission so I am not one to throw in the towel and pay the $ 14,100.00 commission for someone whom I don't think did their job. In fact, the only showing the guy had while under contract was conducted by my wife since my "Agent" was busy doing something else.

So...worst case I loose....14,100.00 commission + $5,000.00 court costs and legal fee's of his attorney = $19,100.00....I got that...lets ROCK !

[Jeffrey R. Wicklander]

Originally Posted by pabernathy

I look at it differently...the court costs are not going to be huge and the agents commission (should he win) is already put aside for this case. I don't personally think he deserves a commission so I am not one to throw in the towel and pay the $ 14,100.00 commission for someone whom I don't think did their job. In fact, the only showing the guy had while under contract was conducted by my wife since my "Agent" was busy doing something else.

So...worst case I loose....14,100.00 commission + $5,000.00 court costs and legal fee's of his attorney = $19,100.00....I got that...lets ROCK !

Talk to his broker to see what can be done based upon your details.

Jeff

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Originally Posted by jwicklander

Talk to his broker to see what can be done based upon your details.

Jeff

His broker is the one that got with him and bought this on. See, they have nothing to loose since the attorney is probably on retainer anyway.

Not you Jeff...but for those who want to give me legal advice and so on....trust me ( if you know me....) I am stubborn and will go to court anyway, win or lose I will lick my wounds and battle on. At this point I just want to be heard win or lose...so if it costs me an additional $5,000.00 to hear me spout off then again...lets get it on.....it's only money.

I just figured being home inspectors and everyone knowing what i think of real estate agents that you would get a kick out of me going to court over the issue.....again they threatened me, they tried to scare me into paying....now it's about principle BECAUSE the assumption was we tried to screw them....fact was I just wanted to sell and the guy calls me out of the blue and I had already raised the price back up to $ 299,000.00 and in thinking of all my wife has gone through working at the place for nothing over 18 years and being 60 years old this year and me living away from home and my son turning 13 and I dont ever see him since I am away all the time........I agreed to sell for $235,000.00 and move on. The fact he bought an offer originally is moot since in my eyes the negotiation ended when he did not accept my counter offer and it went 60 days.....where is the time limit....25 years from now???? it needs to state these things on contracts and not assume anything so thats my fight...I don't care about the money...its about the LAW I am trying to fight and maybe change.

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by pabernathy

His broker is the one that got with him and bought this on. See, they have nothing to loose since the attorney is probably on retainer anyway.

Not you Jeff...but for those who want to give me legal advice and so on....trust me ( if you know me....) I am stubborn and will go to court anyway, win or lose I will lick my wounds and battle on. At this point I just want to be heard win or lose...so if it costs me an additional $5,000.00 to hear me spout off then again...lets get it on.....it's only money.

Good for you Paul I agree... Thanks for doing this... Roy

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

Sorry to hear this Paul but I can almost guarantee you will lose in court. The listing contract has an expiration date for a specific period, however, the Buyer was brought to you as a result of the listing and regardless of how long you were without a listing contract, there is no way to argue how the buyer found you. The boilerplate language regarding clients brought to you will be upheld without a second thought. This type of listing contract language has been around a long long time and has been upheld in numerous areas around the country. Good luck.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Originally Posted by sstanczyk

Sorry to hear this Paul but I can almost guarantee you will lose in court. The listing contract has an expiration date for a specific period, however, the Buyer was brought to you as a result of the listing and regardless of how long you were without a listing contract, there is no way to argue how the buyer found you. The boilerplate language regarding clients brought to you will be upheld without a second thought. This type of listing contract language has been around a long long time and has been upheld in numerous areas around the country. Good luck.

We will see.......I like contracts with dates on it and finality. So you are saying that 25 years from now if this guy bought my kennel that the agent would be due a commission. Sorry I will challenge that one and win or lose....again it's only money.