Broker with ownership interest
I’m looking at a property in which I believe the broker has an ownership interest that they have not disclosed. Do they legally need to disclose this? They tend to say “I don’t know” in answer to every question and act like they cannot obtain answers from the owners. But I gather from property shark…
I’m looking at a property in which I believe the broker has an ownership interest that they have not disclosed. Do they legally need to disclose this? They tend to say “I don’t know” in answer to every question and act like they cannot obtain answers from the owners. But I gather from property shark that they or a relative may own the place.
I wasn’t planning on using a buyer’s broker, but wonder now if one could help me get more info. I fell like I need another expert to advise. The lawyer I contacted (recommended often here) seems to charge a large fee to deal only with contracts/closing. He says he has no role in researching property, interpreting city records, or negotiating the offer. Not sure what makes him specifically a real estate attorney then.
Any advice? Opinions?
I am in the same position right now-would it be a brick 4 family in Greenpoint? I know that the original owner sold it to an LLC in March this year and now they are marking it up 50% one month later. I believe as well that doing something dishonest and they certainly are doing no renovation to warrant an increase. I’m all for flipping and free market capitalism, but as the above posters mentioned, the broker is evasive.
Something is rotten in denmark,
maybe brooklyn, too.
I agree with 7:55. It’s the fact the broker is hiding this info that is suspicious and would make me paranoid about all the other lies being told.
Threaten to report them to the New York State realtors board if they don’t come clean and be honest with you. I bet anything nondisclosure of ownership when “representing” a property as a broker is a big no-no with the RE board.
If you don’t buy the house definitely report them to the RE board.
If the broker is hiding that they’re the owner, they’re probably hiding something about the house too. Dishonest is dishonest.
3:07 again — and Jen KG is absolutely right that you need to know who the owners are to write the checks, but the title search should reveal that and clear it up. If a person is not listed in the title records, they have no property interest that desreves a check from you the buyer. (Again, check with your lawyer, but I am pretty sure this is the case.)
If the seller wants the buyer to direct the payment to a third party (e.g., the seller is an LLC with two members and the memebrs want the checks paid directly to them rather than the LLC), that should be hadnled explicitly in the closing documents.
Wow. Eye-opening. Are you expected to research all this yourself when buying a house?
Thanks all for the comments. I’ve spoken with another lawyer who says something very similar: they do the contracts (including title/lien searches) and closing. They don’t tend to get involved in the offer negotiations.
The additional investigation I was looking for involved the multi-family status, the violations with various city agencies, the cost of getting c of o and converting to 1-2 family, etc. Architects say this is the lawyers job and lawyers say it’s the architects and both end up paying an expediter. I don’t want to deal with the city bureaucracy either if I can avoid it, but it seems the only people who do are the ones in the mix who didn’t get an advanced degree.
Just to respond to 3:07, it really is necessary to be fully certain of the identity of the property owner before going to contract, as you don’t want to give a down payment to someone who does not have the power to give you the property. It could be very, very difficult to get that money back.
Also, I believe that NY law has an rule which allows owners to give a $500 discount on the property and not discuss existing hazards or problems. HOWEVER, I am not a real estate attorney and do not know if this law says that knowledge of defects can be (falsely) denied OR if it is just that known defects need not be affirmatively mentioned. A good, experienced real estate attorney should be able to explain this to you as well.
“you’re lawyer’s an idiot.”
hilarious.