Changing My Realtor?

Question

I am purchasing a home in Florida and I am having some problems with the realtor that is working with me. If I decide to use another realtor (I had not signed any paper with her). is there any legal issues here?

Thank you

Answer 1

If you haven't signed a buyer broker agreement you are free to change anytime. But if you've already made an offer to purchase and signed all the paperwork you've also signed an agency agreement, which means she's your agent for this transaction, period.

But consider telling her what the problem is so that she can fix it. She's probably done a lot of work for you so far, spent a lot of time driving you around to show you homes, and if she doesn't know there's a problem she'll be blindsided (and really PO'ed.) If she's incompetent, always unavailable, or there's a big personality conflict you certainly should find someone you feel more comfortable with.

One way to ease any hurt feelings is to ask her to refer you to someone else with her brokerage. That way she'll get a 25% referral fee from the new agent and will at least be compensated for the time she spent with you.

Answer 2

If you did not sign anything there shouldn't be any legal issues unless you end up buying a property that she first showed you. Having said that if you tell her flat out that you would prefer to work with someone else most agents and brokers usually respect and appreciate the honesty instead of using two agents at once. By the way I know some of the best agents and experienced agents in all of Keller Williams in Florida. If you end up needing a different agent I would be happy to have one of them call you.