Q: Is it legal for a real estate agent/company to make you use them for a specific house or unit?
My wife and I found a condo we wanted to purchase before signing a buyer agreement with an agency. After we signed and submitted an offer, we discovered that our agent sent two consecutive offers that had incorrect terms on them, including one that would have required us to place an 80% down payment on the unit (which is more money than we have). The sellers completely lost faith in us and the realtor, so we decided to try and be released from our buyer agreement. After much back and forth, they finally sent a release letter with the exception of the property that caused all of the issues in the first place, basically stating that if we ever wanted to buy that property we would have to go through them. Is that legal?
A: You should not be signing offers without reading them. You might hire an agent to represent you, but you need to be very careful about looking for properties in the first place. It would be wise to hire an attorney to continually assist you, and check out prospective properties prior to you making an offer. Apparently you were extremely close to being sued for breach of contract. Do not continue trying to buy real property in the way you are doing.
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