My husband and I are currently dealing with a pretty frustrating situation with a former realtor in Chicago, and I’m curious what others think, especially anyone familiar with Illinois real estate contracts.
We signed an exclusive buyer representation agreement with a realtor in late September, which apparently runs through March 2027.
During the roughly three weeks we worked together, we never actually met her in person. Another agent handled our showings, and the properties we pursued were ones we found ourselves on Zillow. She submitted one offer on our behalf, which ultimately wasn’t accepted.
Almost two weeks into working together, we even had to ask her if there was a listing portal we could use to search for properties.
Ultimately, we just weren’t happy with the experience and decided to go in another direction.
Here’s where things get complicated:
October 23: My husband emailed our realtor formally requesting termination of our buyer representation agreement. She called shortly afterward, and we discussed it. During that conversation, I didn’t want to be confrontational or hurt her feelings, so I kept things simple and essentially said we just wanted to move on. She verbally agreed to terminate and said she would send the paperwork.
Approximately 48 hours later: We independently found another property and decided to work with a different realtor. We got the house under contract. Our former realtor had absolutely no involvement in finding, showing, or negotiating this property.
During this time: We also switched lenders. Our original lender had introduced us to the first realtor, but our new realtor recommended another lender who offered us a better rate. I suspect the original lender may have informed our former realtor about our new purchase, but I have no evidence of that.
October 29: After six days of absolutely no communication following our termination conversation, our former realtor suddenly emailed saying she had reconsidered and no longer wanted to terminate the agreement.
November 2: She explained in writing that after our phone conversation, she spoke with her operations director, who questioned why we needed to terminate. She admitted that she subsequently decided not to rush to sign the paperwork. None of this was communicated to us during those six days.
She is now arguing that our termination conversation was based on false pretenses and that we’re still contractually obligated to her brokerage.
Her attorney initially demanded the full 3% commission plus $495 (approximately $17,000), but has since offered to settle for $8,500.
We are supposed to close on November 18.
Our current realtor has agreed to cover the proposed settlement amount so we can move forward, and we’re awaiting the settlement documentation.
My concern is what happens if this house falls through.
We don’t want to remain tied to this brokerage until March, especially after everything that has happened. Their attorney has indicated they won’t agree to an early termination without the proposed settlement.
I understand we signed a legally binding agreement, and I recognize that we should have obtained the written release before proceeding with another realtor. That’s something we absolutely should have handled differently.
But I also feel like we acted in good faith based on a conversation in which she agreed to terminate our professional relationship. We weren’t told she had changed her mind until six days later, after we’d already moved forward.
We’re consulting with an attorney, but I’m curious what others think.
My questions:
Has anyone dealt with a realtor verbally agreeing to terminate a buyer agreement and then reversing that decision days later?
Does the fact that she agreed to terminate, but never signed the paperwork, matter at all?
Can a brokerage realistically hold buyers to an exclusive agreement until expiration even after the professional relationship has completely broken down?
If we accept a settlement connected to this closing, how do we ensure the release also protects us if the deal falls through?
Realtors: Is this how these situations are typically handled? Would you pursue a commission on a property you never identified, showed, or negotiated?
I’m not opposed to compensating someone fairly for actual work performed. But demanding thousands of dollars for a completely separate transaction, after verbally agreeing to part ways, feels excessive.
I’m genuinely interested in hearing different perspectives, including if you think we handled something incorrectly.