Do Realtors Lie - Do Consumers Get Justice ? EVER...

Buying or Selling a Home - realtor lied?

Expert: Todd Thornton - 6/23/2004

Question

Hi Todd!I contacted a real estate attorney .According to him the chances of winning a case against my realtor are very slim .First of all he thinks I could have measured the house myself before signing the papers and discoverd the problem .

Also ,he thinks that the realtor will most likely blame it on the seller and say the seller gave him the wrong numbers.The attorney suggest I may have a case against the seller , but ,again ,slim chances of a positive outcome (especially since the seller moved out of state).He said that I could write a letter of discontent to the realtor and his agency and ask for compensation(somwhere between $8,000-$10,000) but he doubted I would get it.

I still haven't given up on this.I still feel I was cheated.I find it strange that ,in case the seller gave the realtor the wrong numbers ,the realtor didn't verify them.Isn't he supposed to make sure the information is accurate?

If he's not ,does it mean I could get a realtor to list my house and tell him to list the house as 820 sqf instead of the 718 , and then hope somebody would fall for it?I am not sure what the realtor's responsability is.I read on the National Association of Realtors' website ,in Articol 2 of the "Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice" that : "Realtors shall avoid exaggeration,misrepresentation or concealment of pertinent facts relating to the property or the transaction."Also : "Realtors should only be obligated to discover and disclose adverse factors reasonably apparent to someone with expertise in those areas required by their real estate licensing authority."

The realtor responsible for the listing of this home claims to have 17 years of experience.That is a bit strange ,since the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce issued a licence for him only less than 16 years ago ,in the summer of 1988.Still ,with 15 years or more in real estate shouldn't he have noticed that the seller may have been lying to him (if that were the case) ? Or did he list the house without even looking at it? I am sorry to take so much of your time.

If there's no way for me to get compensated for those 62 square feet ,I would still push to get this realtor's licence suspended if possible.Where or whom can I contact to report this problem?Thank you again!Alin Mogosanu-------------------------Followup To Question - Hi Todd!Thank you for the fast response and for the advice.

I measured the house following your instructions and I ended up with 718 sqf .So,the realtor did exagerate the size of my house ,wheather on purpose or through negligence.

I will contact a Real Estate Attorney to see what I can do about it.Digging through my papers related to the buying of this home ,I also found a flier in which this realtor is advertising the house as having 2 bathrooms.Not true.The only way there could be a second bathroom is if that bathroom were entirely located in those fictitious 62 square feet.

I think this non existing bathroom and the exagerated square footage would prove either negligence ,not to call it stupidity, on the part of this realtor or that his marketing strategies are so agresive that he lies ,he will say whatever it takes to get people to look at his listed properties.

Thanks again Alin-------------------------Followup To Question - Hi Todd!I purchased a home in the summer of 2002 in Minneapolis ,Minnesota.It is a single family home and it was advertised as a 780 square feet house (foundation size 780 sqf and above ground square footage also 780 ).

However ,now,two years later I found out that from the City of Minneapolis property information web site that my house has a foundation size and above ground square footage of only 718.I know there's not much difference from 718 to 780 sqf ,but I am angry to see I have been lied to.

Is there anything I can do about this?I feel I've been cheated.Do you have any suggestions ?

Thank you AlinAnswer - Alin,It is possible that the city information is incorrect. I'd suggest you look at your appraisel. (request a copy from the bank if you didn't get one at closing)or you could measure the home youself.(which you'd need to do anyway to double check the figures) The measurement is length x width. For instance 26x30=780. There could be different ways of measuring depending on the area, but the most common for a single family would be measuring on the outside of the home. The real estate agent may not have lied intentionally. They could have measured the home incorrectly or taken the measurement from another source that was incorrect.

Assuming the 780 is correct, you could contact the agent and ask to be reinbursed for the difference in square footage.

The broker of the real estate office would be the contact person you'd need to call. You could figure out how much per square foot (from the appraisel)you'd need to multiple by (62) as to an appropriate amount to ask for. I'm not sure about Minnesota, but most agents are required to carry errors and ommission insurance which could cover this issue. (Assuming it was not intentionally done) If the error and ommission company won't pay, you could press the issue by filing a complaint with the real estate commission in your state.

FYI- Most real estate contracts state in the fine print the information given to you is not guaranteed as accurate.

That doesn't excuse the agent for giving you incorrect information. If the agent (or there broker) refused to work with you to rectify the situation, I'd suggest contacting a local attorney. In fact, you may want to go ahead and contact one now to explore your options.

Real estate law is state specific so they would have information on how judges or a jury have reacted to previous cases. Good luck and I hope everything works out.
Sincerely,Todd Thornton

Answer - Good luck and I hope everything works out for you.
It sounds like you will have a pretty good case.
Sincerely,Todd Thornton

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