Real Estate & Property Law
Real Estate Agents Become a Tempting Legal Target as Home Prices Fall
Posted Jan 22, 2008, 06:49 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A trial begins Monday of a San Diego woman’s claim that her real estate agent is to blame for failing to tell her she was overpaying for her home.
The case could be the first of many brought by buyers as their homes drop in value below that of their outstanding mortgages, the New York Times reports. In the past, suits by buyers usually alleged undisclosed defects in their property. But suits over pricing could become more popular, coinciding with the increase in real estate agents representing buyers.
The San Diego case pits buyer Marty Ummel against her agent, Mike Little of ReMax Associates.
Ummel says that soon after she bought her home for $1.2 million in 2005, she learned that a house down the street sold for $105,000 less, even though it was the same size as hers and also had a swimming pool. She claims Little didn’t want to tell her about the other house for fear he would lose his $30,000 commission.
Little told the New York Times the case was ridiculous and he didn’t do anything wrong. He says Ummel is suing simply because of the bad real estate market. “When people see their home values and assets declining, they always feel there’s someone to blame,” he said. “This is a dangerous time for all of us in the industry.”
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Posted by Desperate Agents - 10 months, 1 week, 3 days, 5 hours, 4 minutes ago
Mr. Little had a fiduciary duty to show his buyer the comps and craft the purchase contract accordingly.
Posted by Mary - 10 months, 6 days, 6 hours, 25 minutes ago
The buyer had a duty to do her own due diligence. Zillow.com would have told her what other homes in the neighborhood were selling for, and it would also have given her information about the house she was purchasing. If she was too stupid to rely solely on the Realtor’s representations (and we all know that the Realtor is a creature of the seller) and not do her own checking, then maybe she deserves what she gets.