This is a good point. I have a somewhat similar story. Our lender tried to give us a mortgage for the appraisal price of the house, not the sale price. He incorrectly assumed we wanted the "extra money" to buy furniture, etc. (We were not first-time buyers.) I saw the "mistake" and quickly called his attention to it, and he changed the borrowed amount to the sale price. Read everything closely, particularly the numbers!

Just trying to follow this story since attorneys are rarely used (at least in my experience) in my neck of the woods but wouldn't it be your job to guide your client into signing the correct paperwork? Isn't this the point of using a realtor in the first place?

wouldn't you want your real estate agent to look at the contract before you sign it? Just as you would want your lawyer to look at it?

The agent can't give LEGAL advice, but he or she can certainly help remember all the parts of the deal that were agreed upon.

Of course the buyer has the ultimate responsibility, but I'd want my agent to look at the contract w/ me, ideally (before me at the worst)

I'm not following the paper trail in this case. In the buys and sells that I have been involved in, the real estate agents moved the contracts back and forth between the two parties, with lawyers simply reviewing them.

I'm confused by this: "...never verified the selling price on the contract with my paperwork, and the sellers attorney made a mistake,and raised the price of the house by $5000. Since this is the contract that the buyers and sellers signed, nothing could be done at this point. I had negotiated a price that everyone had agreed..." So where you are, your paperwork and the contract are something different? Is it that where you are the realtor negotiates the price and then it gets turned over to attorneys and principals to put together the contract?

This is confusing to me, and I wonder if it's a regional thing again. Where I am, the buyer works with their agent to write up a contract. If there is a counter offer, it comes to me through my agent. My agent points out any differences between the offer and the counter. Once we reach agreement, my realtor writes up the final contract and buyer and seller sign it, then we submit it to the attorneys who do the title search and set up the closing. The attorney couldn't 'make a mistake' and raise the purchase price on us, they're presented with a final, signed contract by the realtors and have to abide by it.

There is something wrong here. In Connecticut, once a price is negotiated and agreed upon, the sale contract is signed by both the buyer and the seller. This is done by the real estate agents for both sides. Obviously, a deposit has been made for the contract.

The contract then goes to the respective lawyers for both sides to finalize all the property details, title search and such. The bank that will hold the mortgage receives a copy of the contract and does all the loan paperwork.

The closing date is also negotiated and is in the original contract.

Maybe Connecticut is more regulated that other parts of the country, but this $5,000.00 mistake should not have happened. Somebody dropped the ball big time and I'm not sure it was the buyers.

Enjoy the journey.

eal51 in western CT

Oh, I guess I should have explained how things are done in this area first. In this part of the New York an "offer to purchase" is used before we get to the contract stage. Everything is negotiated out between the two agents, the sellers and the buyers. Once we have a final agreement,a contract information sheet is sent to both attorneys with all the agreed upon information. The sellers attorney draws a contract supposedly based on the info from the contract information sheet. The listing agent sent over her paperwork with the correct price. The attorney called the sellers (who knows why) to ask what the selling price was and they quoted $5000 higher. (This is what the atty claimed) The buyers attorney never looked at the info sheet sent to him by me, (the buyers agent)and only went over the contract with the buyers sent by the sellers attorney. After the closing, I asked the buyers atty how this happened? He said he assumed the buyers would say something if the price was wrong and the buyers simply either missed it or just assumed he would take care of things. Unfortunately, neither of the agents knew this until we were told our invoices were incorrect at the closing. Since the buyers signed the contract, there was nothing that could be done. Personally, I think the attorney (buyers atty) should have caught this, but also, the buyers should have said something about the price not being what I told them was accepted.

So, in your area the agent never sees the contract that the buyers and sellers sign?

terriks, in all the years I've been in this business, I may have seen 3 contracts. I believe they were all from the same law firm. It is not customary in my area, but believe me, from now on, I am asking for it, in writing.

It is a sad story, but it could be much worse. These buyers must learn to read and understand before they sign. Next time it could cost them far more than $5000. And they should teach any children and proteges to read before signing.

Shouldn't the buyer's attorney (as a professional) supposed to protect the interests of his clients? Isn't this what you are paying an attorney to do? Would this now fall under the classification of an E&O?
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Years ago I had an attorney who was playing games with the IRS while he was handling an estate in which I was executor. He changed the position of his fees under receivables and expenses (to reduce his personal taxes) which caused the estate to to look like it was worth $10,000 MORE than it actually was. I pointed this accounting "101" error out to my CPA who agreed with my findings.

The attorney actually had the "cubes" to ask me to "split" the error with him to avoid having a formal accounting.

I told him if there were any problems he would eat the entire $10,000 himself and any other additional accounting fees.
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My experience: NEVER trust an attorney.... especially with large sums of money!

That seems like a bad way to do a contract, even if it is standard in the area. The person who negotiates the terms should ALWAYS proof the final version before it is signed. Always, no exceptions. The person who negotiated the deal is the one in the best position to uncover an error.

That seems like a bad way to do a contract, even if it is standard in the area. The person who negotiates the terms should ALWAYS proof the final version before it is signed. Always, no exceptions. The person who negotiated the deal is the one in the best position to uncover an error.

Sue, I agree with you 100%, it is something that realtors have been trying to get changed for years in this area. We are fighting a loosing battle, the attorneys want complete control, its like fighting the government.

Buying/selling Real estate in NY with the binder first and then contract later is a nightmare all around!