Denise's Dilemma

My agent friend, Denise, posted a story about her and another agent. It did not end well. Denise said she will be filing an ethics complaint. So, I called her.

"Take down all of your posts. Now." I ordered. 

Denise had told me when this issue happened she was annoyed, and now that it has escalated from bad to worse, Denise is doing the right thing by filing a complaint. Because I already know too much, I will recuse myself. That said, I will enlighten all'y'all.

Denise listed a home for $175,000 (not really, I don't know how much the home was listed for, but these numbers work for this example). A buyer's agent brought an offer for $179,000.

Denise's client ran the numbers and found that after they paid off their mortgage, they would be $2000 short of reaching their (never before mentioned to Denise) goal of having netted $100,000. That is to say, after all of the seller costs and mortgage paid, they would make $98,000. And by golly! This was something so important they were loosing sleep over. They just couldn't possibly net $98,000. So, Denise offered to pay for the title policy, which was $1500.

Therefore (for those of you playing along in the home game) the seller would make $99,500.

The seller said no to the buyer (being $500 off from their new non-negotiable goal) and cancelled the listing with Denise.

The very next day the home was on the MLS listed for $179,000 and it was under contract. The new listing agent was the buyer's agent from before.

The home closed recently and Denise found out the same buyers bought the house and the other agent was the buyer and seller's agent in the transaction.

Denise feels like she is owed a commission. Now before you form an opinion based only on the paragraphs above, do know this is a common issue and there is boilerplate language in the Arizona Listing Agreement that addresses this specific issue. There is also a Code of Ethics in place the other agent has to adhere to which would prevent him from listing this house. Even if it was an honest mistake (did the seller go behind Denise's back, perhaps?). The buyer's agent should have said declined.

I happen to agree with Denise, but she knows I will never hear the case on the Grievance Committee. I suspect the High Inquisitor Squad will agree too.