Q: I am a realtor and I have an anti-trust law question.
I lost some buyers because they communicated with the listing agent on facebook about the house they wanted to buy and did buy. The listing agent told them if they bought the house from her she could give them a deal because she would have both sides and could give the seller a discount so she could accept their offer. Could that be considered an anti-trust violation because she definitely had an unfair advantage over me.
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A: To the contrary, it would likely be an anti-trust violation if you somehow prevented those buyers from participating freely in the real estate market or prohibiting them from contacting certain agents. There is a grave difference between an anti-trust violation and an unfair advantage. It does not sound like the other agent participated in any form of collusion, price fixing, etc. Instead, it sounds like you had potential buyers who did not sign any contract with you that then found a house they liked and contacted another agent about the house. Thus, it seems unlikely any rights of yours have been violated.
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