Real Estate

Agent reduced listing price after house has sold firm

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  • Jul 18th, 2017 2:15 pm
Jr. Member
Apr 30, 2017
134 posts
59 upvotes

Agent reduced listing price after house has sold firm

I have made a couple of posts on this forum regarding unreasonable requests our agent has asked of us. His latest request was for us to sign some paperwork to reduce the price of our home to below the sold price agreed upon by us and the buyers. His reason was such that it would appear the house has sold over asking, instead of at almost 50k below. Is this common practice for realtors to prop up their business, by manipulating sales data? Is this reportable to the TREB?
25 replies
Member
Jun 12, 2017
377 posts
377 upvotes
Sharpies wrote: I have made a couple of posts on this forum regarding unreasonable requests our agent has asked of us. His latest request was for us to sign some paperwork to reduce the price of our home to below the sold price agreed upon by us and the buyers. His reason was such that it would appear the house has sold over asking, instead of at almost 50k below. Is this common practice for realtors to prop up their business, by manipulating sales data? Is this reportable to the TREB?
Tell him you'll do it if they accept 0 commission. Otherwise I'd tell him/her to take a hike.

But anyway on a more serious note, don't know about the legality and ethics surrounding this, sorry.
Deal Guru
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Mar 23, 2008
13006 posts
10009 upvotes
Edmonton
I would tell him to go sexually satisfy himself...

C
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2009
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another troll post gotta love it
Deal Expert
Feb 22, 2011
16521 posts
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Toronto
Sanyo wrote: another troll post gotta love it
His posts have been that he had an open house with zero showings, then he had an offer but couldn't close because they couldn't sell, now his listing they are asking him to reduce asking price (which is already documented I might add). Seems awfully coincidental every hot topic has happened to him.
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2009
12381 posts
11307 upvotes
rjg4235 wrote: His posts have been that he had an open house with zero showings, then he had an offer but couldn't close because they couldn't sell, now his listing they are asking him to reduce asking price (which is already documented I might add). Seems awfully coincidental every hot topic has happened to him.
it had zero showings cause you cannot sell a house you rent :P
Deal Expert
Feb 22, 2011
16521 posts
21872 upvotes
Toronto
Sanyo wrote: it had zero showings cause you cannot sell a house you rent :P
Lol I just imagined someone calling an agent for an appraisal and then having to explain after "Oh no I'm not selling, I rent this place. Some guy on the internet said the price isn't dropping and I want to prove him wrong."
Jr. Member
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Oct 21, 2016
117 posts
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Toronto, On.
Sounds like he's doing this for himself and not the market. It's sort of a joke.
Sales Representative, Right at Home Realty, Toronto.
Deal Fanatic
Dec 5, 2009
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Only normal in Keswick. Come back to civilization.
Deal Addict
Mar 14, 2006
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the same OP that's creating troll threads non stop. can mods ban this guy
Deal Guru
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Feb 2, 2014
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Sanyo wrote: it had zero showings cause you cannot sell a house you rent :P
Care to share the property with us?

I have a very hard time believing this tbh.
Kevin Somnauth, CFA
Principal Broker/Owner - First Toronto Mortgage - MA (Ontario #13176, BC #X301007)
Real Estate Salesperson - Century 21 Innovative
Jr. Member
Apr 30, 2017
134 posts
59 upvotes
CdnRealEstateGuy wrote: Care to share the property with us?

I have a very hard time believing this tbh.
For obvious reasons, I won't be able to share details of the property here. But I'd be happy to share it with a moderator of this subforum in private. If they have access to MLS listings, the price change info should be available.

I assure you all that this is not a troll post. Knowing how many people think that this request of our realtor's borderlines trolling amuses me however as it shows just how ridiculous and full of sh*t he is. I confronted the realtor, and he actually spinned it around and said he suggested the price change for US, to make US look good. Anyway, the drama is over. The house is sold firm, after 50 days on the market, at almost 100k below our initial asking price.
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2009
12381 posts
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Sharpies wrote: For obvious reasons, I won't be able to share details of the property here. But I'd be happy to share it with a moderator of this subforum in private. If they have access to MLS listings, the price change info should be available.

I assure you all that this is not a troll post. Knowing how many people think that this request of our realtor's borderlines trolling amuses me however as it shows just how ridiculous and full of sh*t he is. I confronted the realtor, and he actually spinned it around and said he suggested the price change for US, to make US look good. Anyway, the drama is over. The house is sold firm, after 50 days on the market, at almost 100k below our initial asking price.
Cool story bro.
Deal Addict
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Sep 4, 2005
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Can you give us the town or city? Congrats on finally selling.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 3, 2011
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Thornhill
I believe you!

Admittedly the last time I saw this done and heard complaints about the practice was when prices were consistently coming in at under 98% of list price. I suppose the advent of artificially low listing prices curtailed the practice. I'm dismayed and even a little surprised that it would be brought back.

Only the unethical among us would do that and it's to boost their sale to list price ratio with prospective sellers.

You can, if you know for certain this was the case, report it to the real estate board the listing was placed on and they'll discipline the Realtor if they have the proof of it. If it's TREB and you'd like to know what the contact is feel free to send a pm and I'll provide it.
Sharpies wrote: For obvious reasons, I won't be able to share details of the property here. But I'd be happy to share it with a moderator of this subforum in private. If they have access to MLS listings, the price change info should be available.

I assure you all that this is not a troll post. Knowing how many people think that this request of our realtor's borderlines trolling amuses me however as it shows just how ridiculous and full of sh*t he is. I confronted the realtor, and he actually spinned it around and said he suggested the price change for US, to make US look good. Anyway, the drama is over. The house is sold firm, after 50 days on the market, at almost 100k below our initial asking price.
Deal Guru
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Sep 8, 2007
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Way Out of GTA
licenced wrote: I believe you!

Admittedly the last time I saw this done and heard complaints about the practice was when prices were consistently coming in at under 98% of list price. I suppose the advent of artificially low listing prices curtailed the practice. I'm dismayed and even a little surprised that it would be brought back.

Only the unethical among us would do that and it's to boost their sale to list price ratio with prospective sellers.

You can, if you know for certain this was the case, report it to the real estate board the listing was placed on and they'll discipline the Realtor if they have the proof of it. If it's TREB and you'd like to know what the contact is feel free to send a pm and I'll provide it.
If I was a buyer with a firm deal on a price that I bought for $50k under list.... I would get a creepy feeling if the sellers agent came back to me and asked to play around with the listing price. It would be a sense of something fishy going on. It's also stupid since agents can see all of the previous list prices.

Not only is the selling agent based on the prior posts lazy...but now add to it unethical.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 3, 2011
6517 posts
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Thornhill
The Realtor asks the seller to sign a listing price amendment. The buyer doesn't know unless their own Realtor notices it. I recall a complaint made by a buyer and their Realtor that the listing Realtor did this after the deal was firmed up. Their argument was that they would have offered less had they known about the price change. The seller's Realtor argued that at the time the offer was made the price amendment was signed but it had not been made to the listing. The argument didn't hold up.
cartfan123 wrote: If I was a buyer with a firm deal on a price that I bought for $50k under list.... I would get a creepy feeling if the sellers agent came back to me and asked to play around with the listing price. It would be a sense of something fishy going on. It's also stupid since agents can see all of the previous list prices.

Not only is the selling agent based on the prior posts lazy...but now add to it unethical.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 3, 2011
6517 posts
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Thornhill
cartfan123 wrote: Not only is the selling agent based on the prior posts lazy...but now add to it unethical.
Here's an interesting tidbit for you. I just tapped my notifications to clear them and noticed my post that you quoted was downvoted by someone.

Obviously someone in here thinks this sleezy practice is fine.
Jr. Member
Apr 30, 2017
134 posts
59 upvotes
Thank you for pointing out the risks associated with this practice.

In our case, I stupidly signed the agreement to the listing price amendment without paying attention to the content. (The realtor is a friend of my spouse's friend and he bypassed me and contacted my spouse directly with this proposal of a price change to which my spouse agreed. So when the request came to me to sign it, I signed without paying attention to the content because I trusted my spouse's judgement and because there was so much papers to sign recently that I just didn't bother verifying the content of each document.) After I realized what had happened, I immediately asked him to retract the price change. Confrontation ensued. Afterwards, he sent us another price amendment to sign to change the price back to what it was listed for. The buyer's agent would see two price changes within 24 hours and must think that something fishy is going on.

licenced wrote: The Realtor asks the seller to sign a listing price amendment. The buyer doesn't know unless their own Realtor notices it. I recall a complaint made by a buyer and their Realtor that the listing Realtor did this after the deal was firmed up. Their argument was that they would have offered less had they known about the price change. The seller's Realtor argued that at the time the offer was made the price amendment was signed but it had not been made to the listing. The argument didn't hold up.
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Jul 3, 2011
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Thornhill
Once the sale is recorded as firm on TREB's system the Realtor is unable to make any changes themself. If you want to ensure that the correction was made you can ask for a copy of the listing showing it as sold. The last listing price will appear directly below the sold price.

Good for you for keeping them honest.
Sharpies wrote: Thank you for pointing out the risks associated with this practice.

In our case, I stupidly signed the agreement to the listing price amendment without paying attention to the content. (The realtor is a friend of my spouse's friend and he bypassed me and contacted my spouse directly with this proposal of a price change to which my spouse agreed. So when the request came to me to sign it, I signed without paying attention to the content because I trusted my spouse's judgement and because there was so much papers to sign recently that I just didn't bother verifying the content of each document.) After I realized what had happened, I immediately asked him to retract the price change. Confrontation ensued. Afterwards, he sent us another price amendment to sign to change the price back to what it was listed for. The buyer's agent would see two price changes within 24 hours and must think that something fishy is going on.

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