Quote:
Originally Posted by legion
I have zero expectation that I will get my money back from the old realtor. My questions are the following:
1) How long should I wait before filing a complaint with the local realty association? I don't want it to be too soon so that it looks like my complaint does not have merit.
2) How long should I wait before pursuing legal action? I'm thinking small claims court for the $500, but I want to give him a "reasonable" amount of time to pay.
3) Assuming I win a judgement, and he still does not pay, can I 1099 him for the debt? How does one do that?
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in real estate, just like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. around here when the boom was going on you saw NextHome signs all over the place as they advertised a flat $800 fee for selling your home, quite attractive when you consider normally you pay 7% of the sales price. the nexthome agents gave you every bit of service you paid for. the property would be listed on the mls, signs put up and that was about it.
being an appraiser i deal with agents on a daily basis. it is the listing agent's job (normally) to take care of things like setting up appointments, showing the house, advertising, etc. when you go with a cutrate company you get cutrate service. every nexthome deal i got was the same thing - call the agent who tell me to call the home owner directly.
as far as your questions....
1. most real estate agent contracts are for a 6 month period.
2. as stated, send a certified letter and give him at least 10 business days.
3. here in ohio winning a small claims court decision is just the start of your work. it is your responsibility to research the other party and find where the available cash could potentially come from - work, bank, etc. once you have that you can take it back to the court and they will attempt to help you collect but don't hold your breath. over the last 2 years i have won 3 small claims court cases (one for owed taxes on a property i bought, one for damage to personal property, one for an accident) and i have never been paid on any of them. small claims court is a joke.
i think in your case it the best thing to do would be to make a formal complaint to whoever is above this agent, be it an office supervisor/manager or someone higher if there is a parent company (like a regional supervisor). let them know how this agent is representing their company, but again don't expect much. they really don't care about you since you are only a $500 payday, and the agent cares less because he was already paid and won't be making any more cash off of you.
you have to ask yourself - is it really worth the time and effort to go after $500 when the odds are you will never see it?