Mysterious Fees
Blindside Home Sellers

Question: When we arrived at the closing of the selling of our house, our agent took us into a private room and told us we had to pay an additional $200 because our buyers had an out-of-town bank. Of course, it was in our closing statement, not the buyer's. My husband told our agent to take it out of her commission. She said no. What could we have done in this situation?

Polly: Sad to say, from what you write, it does sound as if you were taken on at least three counts:

First, unless you had agreed to pay some of the buyer's financing costs, the $200 amount you mention should have been on the buyer's closing statement, not yours. It sounds like this was an error. Perhaps the buyers had already signed off and the agent was afraid to bring the issue up with them after the fact. In any event, you should have insisted the escrow officer correct it.

Second, if this was meant to be on your closing statement, then someone had to direct that it be put there, apparently without your knowledge --perhaps the buyer's agent or the lender. You should have asked who, and then insisted that person either explain it to your satisfaction, or remove it.

Finally, if this was an error on the part of your agent, you should have stuck to your guns insisting that the agent pay to correct the problem she created. From your letter it sounds as if you were terrified of losing the deal. But just think how anxious the agent must have been about losing the commission! Or the buyers about losing your home! Often, we don't realize the tremendous leverage we have.

Yes, it is possible, though unlikely, that if you had refused to sign unless the offending amount was removed, you could have lost the deal.

But, just as you weren't about to blow the deal over $200, it's very unlikely the buyers or the agents were, either. It was just a matter of who blinked first.

Mr. Irwin has more than 25 years' experience as a Los Angeles-area real-estate broker. He is the author of more than two dozen books about real estate and is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable writers in the real-estate field. Mr. Irwin's most recent book is "Buy Your First Home," (Dearborn, 2000).

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Polly, Humphreys, Mo

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