Dolcefino Investigates Realtor Tactics

HOUSTON, Nov. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Wanting to buy your dream home?  A trial underway in Houston should serve as a real warning before you sign on the dotted line!

Urban Living is a well known real estate company in Houston, Texas but long time investigative journalist Wayne Dolcefino has been examining why they are filing a growing number of legal claims and lawsuits against former customers.  In court documents, company founder Vinod Ramani confirms dozens of disputes, far more than any other Texas realtor checked.

Dolcefino is now President of a Houston based investigative communications firm.

The heart of the disputes is a document familiar to anyone who has bought or sold a home. It is known as the Buyers Representation Agreement (BRA), the document you sign agreeing to pay your realtor a commission on your house deal.  Whatever the outcome of the case, Dolcefino says it is a warning to consumers to clearly negotiate the agreement and read the fine print before you sign.

Here is the background of the current case from testimony in a Houston courtroom.

Chris Drummond says he thought he was simply agreeing to give Urban Living a commission if he bought one of the few houses they showed him when he signed on the bottom line.  He didn't buy a house then, but months later Drummond bought a house from another realtor. Urban Living acknowledges they had not shown him that house, nor negotiated the deal, but still sued because Drummond had signed a six-month exclusive agreement with them. The Texas Association of Realtors says it is rare for realtors to sue former customers who end up buying a house from someone else, especially as often as this company.

As part of our Investigative Communications work, Dolcefino Communications sent an operative undercover shopping.  Our operative was told he would have to sign the BRA agreement even before they would show him a house.  The terms were already filled out in advance:  a  one-year contract for any home bought in the entire Houston area.

 "If we had signed the contract in January, looked at just one house downtown, and then decided months later we really wanted to move to West Houston instead, we would still be obligated to use Urban Living as a realtor even if we hadn't talked to them in months. " said company president, Wayne Dolcefino.

The provision in the contract was intended to make sure realtors didn't get cheated by another realtor poaching their commission for work they had already done. But should a realtor be able to sue for a house deal they didn't do any work on?

Several Houston realtors are now questioning the practice to Dolcefino Communications, but the Houston Association of Realtors has so far issued no public warnings to consumers.

The trial is underway in the 281^st Court in Houston. Drummond is being represented by Corpus Christi Attorney Andrew Greenwell.

SOURCE Dolcefino Communications, LLC