We spoke about *first things first* last week and by now we must have had our business Registered with all necessary stationary in place.

So, during the last 7 days you came across a client who now recognise you as a professional realtor and told you he would like your company assist him in selling his house at Banana Island. What should you do now ?

This leads us to our topic of the day, *Protecting Your Interest As A Realtor*. How do you protect your interest as a realtor if you begin working on that client's brief and you eventually get a buyer that pays for his house at Banana Island which was sold for N300 million and they seller decides to pay you N300,000 for a work well done and you are angry with him that he was supposed to have paid you about 5% of the sales value to the tune of N15 million naira, rather you get N300k coz the man looks at you like an hungry agent that should jump for joy in receiving the peanut of N300k.

Now this is where packaging your self matters. The way you package yourself tells a lot about the value that would be accorded to you by people you meet and interact with.

Most importantly is the way you dress. How you dress is not to be taken for a joke. I remembered that, I went for a meeting somewhere at Ikeja that I had to be excluded from the meeting just because of my dress sense then. We should learn to dress corporately most times we are going to see a client in his office along with your shinning shoes and a good looking wristwatch to compliment your looks. One agent I respect a lot for his packaging and dress sense is MASH unfortunately he is not on this platform. He has a good dress sense that you would think he is always making millions of naira every week.

Next is that you need a legal document that should protect your interest. Assuming that you have entered into a written agreement with your Banana Island client before you started work on his property. That would have been the document you could have taken to your lawyer to help you fight to recope your balance of over N14 million in such a transaction. This is to protect your interest.

I will drop two samples of such letters here for us today. It is usually know as Mandate Letter or Letter of Authority to sell on behalf of the owner.

This first sample has to do with the one prepared by your client on his own letter head instructing you to sell for him below:

MANDATE CONFIRMATION AND INSTRUCTION

 

The Manager

ABC Real Estate Ltd.
Ojo Alaba,
Lagos

 

Dear Sir,

 

Re:____________________________(Property address)

 

This letter serves as my/our instruction to you to sell my/our property at the above address and I/we confirm that you have been appointed to sell the property at an asking price of N__________________

 

This mandate confirms your appointment as:

 

*one of our agents

 

*sole agents for a period of_____________________________ (*please delete the inapplicable)

 

This mandate remains in force until cancelled by me/us in writing, or until the property is sold, whichever is the earliest.  As seller, I/we undertake to advise you of any change in the terms of this mandate, and to notify you of any price changes, options given or if the property is sold privately or by another agent.

 

Your commission will be deducted from the above mentioned sale price should you arrange a satisfactory sale . In this regard, I/We agree to pay commission at the rate of 5% of the sale price.

 

In the event that I/we refuse an offer at the asking price during the currency of the mandate, I acknowledge that ABC Real Estate Ltd. has the right to recover advertising costs and administration fees. In the event that a buyer is introduced during the mandate, who subsequently purchases the property within three months of the termination of this mandate, I acknowledge that ABC Real Estate Ltd. will be entitled to commission.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

 

 

Signed............................................            Dated....................................


While, the second template is for both you and your client to sign jointly, which should be prepared by your Lawyer. It is always good that you have your own personal lawyer for your business purposes in real estate transactions
though. See sample below:

Real Estate Agency Agreement

This real estate agreement between the parties [Agent.FirstName] [Agent.LastName] (Agent) and [Seller.FirstName] [Seller.LastName] (Seller)


WHEREAS the Seller is the legal owner and has all rights to sell the property located at [Property.Address],
WHEREAS the Agent has experience in marketing, advertising, and selling real estate property and has expressed an interest to provide these services for the Seller,
The Parties have entered into this real estate agency agreement on their own free will and agree to the following:

Grant of Rights


The Seller hereby grants the Agent exclusive rights to sell the property located at [Property.Address].
The Seller will provide the Agent with all relevant information necessary for the property to be sold.
Services


Any and all offers and negotiations in regards to this property shall be conducted by the Agent.
In the instance the Seller should receive notification or any form of offer he will provide the Agent with them.
The Agent will do everything possible to entertain and vet offers made. It is the Agent’s sole purpose to sell this property and as so will be permitted to employ additional Brokers to assist in the selling and advertising process.
Any offers considered valid should be reported to the Seller within 2 days and will be at the Sellers discretion to accept or decline.
Services Performance

The Agent shall remain an independent contractor and as such will be responsible for managing hours worked in order to fulfill the obligations of this real estate agreement.

Payment


The Seller has agreed to pay the Agent a flat commission of [Commission.Percentage] percent of the final sale price.
The Seller is permitted to finalize any current property offers taking place prior to this agreement date.
If the Seller should sell the property as a result of such offers the Agent will not be entitled to a commission payment.
Furthermore, if this real estate agency agreement shall terminate for any reason, any offers agreed on by the Seller as a result of the Agent’s services shall result in the Agent being paid said commission percentages.
In the event the Seller should decide not to sell the property prior to this real estate agency agreement’s terms ending, and the Seller is offered a Bona fide price from a buyer which they decline, the Agent shall be owed the commission for said sale as though the offer was accepted.

Reimbursement

The Agent shall be responsible for all personal and travel expenses incurred during the execution of this real estate agency agreement, including any additional broker fees incurred.

Relationship

The Agent shall for the term of this real estate agency agreement be considered an independent contractor. This real estate agency agreement does not serve as employment of the Agent by the Seller.
Therefore, the Agent shall be responsible for any federal and local taxes due on any commissions paid from this agreement.

Employees


Any individuals under the Agent’s employment involved in the sale of the property shall be bound by the terms and conditions of this real estate agency agreement.

Indemnification

The Agent agrees to hold the Seller harmless of any legal costs or judgments that may incur from the negligence of the Agent or any employees related directly to the Agent.
The Seller agrees that the Agent shall be held harmless of any court or legal proceedings that may incur from their direct negligence.
Assignment

No portions of this agreement may be transferred or otherwise delegated without prior written consent between the Parties.

Confidentiality

The Agent agrees to keep all information deemed confidential and not necessary for the sale of the property private.
Any needed disclosures of confidential information shall be provided to the Seller for approval prior to such disclosures taking place.
Any information disclosed without the above consideration shall serve as a material breach of contract and will result in termination of this real estate agency agreement in its entirety.

Return of Property

Upon the conclusion or termination of this real estate agency agreement, the Agent will return all of the following property as well as any additional property obtained from the Seller for the property.
Keys
Signs
Layouts
Finance Documents
Notices

Any and all notification in regards to this real estate agency agreement may be delivered in person, by email, or via certified letter to the addresses below.
Seller: [Seller.Address]
Agent: [Agent.Address]

Entire Agreement

This real estate agency agreement along with any attached documents shall constitute the entire agreement between the Parties.
This agreement shall overrule any previous agreements either verbal or written between the parties prior to entering into this Real estate agency agreement.

Amendment

This real estate agreement may be amended with prior written consent between the Parties.
In the instance of such amendment the amended articles shall not interfere with remaining provisions contained within this agreement.

Severability

In the instance of any provisions of this agreement being found unenforceable or illegal the parties will work together to agree on a similar enforceable term.
If any provisions are involved in the above actions all remaining provisions will remain in full effect and shall not be altered or removed.

Exculpation


The Agent shall during the term of this agreement keep the Seller’s best interest at the highest priority.
The Agent shall not partake in any actions for personal gain or that are deemed harmful to the Seller.

Applicable Law

This real estate agency agreement shall remain under the jurisdiction of [Seller.State].
Any and all legal proceeds occurring from this real estate agency agreement shall be conducted under the above jurisdiction.

Signatures

The signatures below serve as acknowledgement and agreement by the corresponding parties.Wheat