I would like to know what legal ways are available to break a buyers
agency agreement to purchase commercial real estate.  I haved already
been suggested the following: 1) to send the agent on a wild goose
chase forcing her to spend alot of time working for no results 2) To
get her to sign a mutual release (which she won't because of how hig
her commissions are) 3) To talk to her broker and explain why we want
released and then have the broker release us.  Reason I ask is because
we are locked into an agreement for a year and in a large geographical
area.  I don't want to use the same agent to buy property in different
cities because they only know their market well, and the level of
service would be compromised.  Are their any other ways?

---

Request for Question Clarification by rosicrucianpope-ga on 21 Jun 2004 22:27 PDT

Have you checked the contract for all legitimate outs?  Chances are it
won't have any, in which case I would search it word for word looking
for any ways that the realtor or seller might have violated the terms
of the agreement.  If you find any violations, even small ones, you
may be able to use them as leverage to convince them to let you out of
your obligation.  Another long shot is if you signed the agreement as
an LLC or a corporation without a personal guarantee, you may be able
to declare bankruptcy without affecting your personal credit.

---

Clarification of Question by realestatemogul-ga on 22 Jun 2004 05:52 PDT

Your correct in assuming the contract has no legitimate outs.  I
suppose I could set her up in situations that would increase the
chances of her violating a clause.  The story behind this is that we
have found a group of offshore investors who would like to purchase
apartment buildings in the 20M plus range.  We gave them our realtor
to facilitate the deal.  In the beginning we were all (including the
realtor) unsure as to the credibility of our investors so we figured
we would just see how things turned out on the first deal.  They
turned out well and the agent made 500K+ in commissions.  Since our
investors want to move around the province (Ontario) buying similar
properties we wanted to negotiate a commission split between us and a
new agent in the next city.  Basically presenting the new agent with
proof of the first deal actually closing and laying out a "split your
commission and get 300K+ or dont and we'll find someone who will"
deal.  The catch is that without our knowledge, or the knowledge of
our investors, the realtor changed 2 standard clauses in the buyers
agency agreement.  She changed the time from 90 days to 1 year and the
area from the city of Hamilton to all of Southern Ontario.  Why would
we use a Hamilton agent for the Windsor market which she knows nothing
about? How can she provide the same sort of in depth market knowlegde
as a local agent? also we feel that she has made her cut and the
commissions on the next deal should go to someone local who is better
deserving.  These are some of the ways we are going to try and turn
our investors against her and make them want to escape the contract as
well as furthering our own interests.  I know that our investors
should have read every clause in the contract but she had all of
believing that it was just a standard form and neglected to mention
the changes she had made.