February 22nd, 2016 at 6:25 pm
Answer: No (except see fair housing issue below). Placing a property in the MLS is not an offer from the seller to sell the property. Instead, it is an offer from the listing broker to pay compensation to a cooperating broker for procuring a buyer who enters into a purchase contract in accordance with the MLS rules. One possible but oftentimes hard-to-prove exception is if the sellers rejected your buyer based on race, color, creed, sex, or other discriminatory reason in violation of the fair housing laws.
Follow-Up Question: So the listing agent can just get away with spinning our wheels in this manner?
Answer: No, not necessarily! You are now one of the very few agents who know that, for an MLS listing, the listing agent must immediately inform the MLS and all cooperating brokers when the seller has refused an offer satisfying the terms and conditions stated in the listing (see Rule 10.5 of the C.A.R. Model MLS Rules). So one possible strategy is for you to look up the equivalent of C.A.R.’s Model Rule 10.5 in your own local MLS rules, and show it to the listing agent. Also encourage the listing agent to have the sellers reconsider your buyer’s offer, otherwise you will expect the listing agent to immediately inform all cooperating brokers that the sellers rejected your buyer’s offer. If the listing agent refuses or otherwise fails to comply with your request, you may be able to file a complaint at your? local MLS for the listing agent’s MLS violation.
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