Texas Realtor Commission Dispute -"Ready, Willing and Able" Buyer

[Lenna Groudan]

We have had a house listed with a realtor.  We started at $254 looking for an owner financed deal but ended up getting the house under contract at $227 with traditional financing.    The buyer has not been able to secure financing.   We extended the sales contract once but when the buyer asked us to extend a 2nd time, we chose to not agree to extend and also to not extend the listing agreement with our realtor.   We will pursue a new buyer either directly or with a different Realtor.

The original realtor is now coming back and saying we owe them the full 6% commission because they acquired a "ready, willing and able" buyer.    We disagree and feel if the buyer was "able" they would have closed on time.   We understand the lender may be the issue but there is no guarantee that if we keep extending the buyer will close.   We also have lost confidence in the realtor, even before they tried to claim their commission.   

Is there a black and white ruling on whether this buyer meets the hurdle of a "Ready, Willing and Able" buyer given they have missed both closing dates?   Do we owe the original realtor a commission even if:

- The buyer missed two contractual closing dates?

- We, the seller, would not extend the contract further?

[Wayne Brooks]

Absolutely not.  The buyer was not "able" under the contract terms.  You have absolutely no obligation to extend any contracts.  Unbelievable an agent is even trying this.  Is this coming directly from the agent (who has no legal standing as your listing agreement is with the Brokerage, not the agent), or is this coming from the Broker too? This agent is not going to last long.