I'll preface this with the fact that I haven't signed to purchase any house yet. I'm just overwhelmed with recent events, and am in the middle of emails between my buyer's agent and a seller's agent.
I had met an agent who was showing my mother a condo. She seemed very knowledgeable and said she specializes in coaching first time buyers. She gave me her card and said she could help me out as well. Next day, I was out and about seeing what was nearby and showing, and came upon some new construction homes. I signed in, talked with the seller, looked at some layouts that were being built, and left with a packet of info. I was impressed with what I saw, but wanted to look into it more. New construction hadn't been on my radar, and what I'd found online said I should definitely have an agent representing my side of things.
So I contact the buyer's agent (I'll use BA) to let her know that I've found something I'm interested in and we decide to meet. BA set's me up with MLS, I sign the buyer's broker agreement, and she say's she'll look into the new construction for me.
Meanwhile, the seller agent (SA) from the new construction sends me some friendly emails with updates to the floorplan as well as the spec sheet which I didn't get the first time. I let BA know that I've got some updated info and that I'd like to go look at the property again. BA says she'll contact SA since it should go through her now. Makes sense to me.
Sorry if that was too much context. But now here's the issue. SA emails me to tell me that my BA should have been there at the first showing. That the builder has rules that do not allow them to pay a BA at this point and that I already registered with SA. All I thought I had done was like other showings is leave my name and email. BA says to me that they really shouldn't make this an issue, and it falls in line with some shady things she's heard about the builders reputation. BA asks to see dual agency disclosures and things I should have signed if I were really already "locked in" with SA. SA claims that I put down Redfin as how I found out about the property and doubts BA is the procuring clause.
I'm probably not going to be able to proceed with this new construction home. And maybe in the end it's saving me from future headaches. But I feel I was just trying to do the right thing. This is kind of putting a bad taste in my mouth about both sides of the equation. But my BA agreement is for the next 12 months (something I probably should have looked into what that meant before signing, too).
Should I have just tried going through the process myself without a BA? That feels wrong to me.
Is one not supposed to go to any open houses on their own before getting an agent? I just wanted to compare what I was seeing online to how it actually was in person.
Is there possibly some clean way to resolve this? It feels like we're trying to play hardball with the SA and maybe they'll turn around and give up the commission for the BA if they need the sale.
Sorry if this type of post isn't allowed. I did do a search for procuring cause before posting.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/dp0evv/fthb_unknowingly_causing_a_procuring_cause_dispute/
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