dealing with rental agent who wants double commission
Hello everyone, I'm pretty new here and I would like to jump to the story.
I have a property in upper state NY that the old tenant moved out about 1 and a half month ago.
talked with an agent , who really wants me to sell it and telling me I can only rent out for $2700/ month.
happens to know a local friend from the past who is a realtor now and she was telling me that she can rent it out for $3000.
She also says " with that amount, it would be difficult for the tenant to pay 1 month of rent+1 month of deposit+1 month of agent fee
(norms in local is tenant paying agent fee) So she was suggesting me paying her the agent fee instead of the tenant.
I did my math, found that I can still benefit from it. So I signed an agreement with her saying that
"if she is able to rent it out over 2900$ I can pay her the agent fee otherwise she will need to charge the tenant"
She did Put in her work and was able to find a suitable one quickly(who willing to pay $3000/month) .
However, she says "the tenant really wants to secure the place and thus want a two-year lease. And thus she needs to charge two months of rent as an agent fee for me and the tenant to split ."
I actually communicate with the tenant(from the phone number on the application) and he said he is ok with a year lease first. However, the agent chose to not express their will and still tell me that they want a two-year lease.
(she isn't involved in the management of the house, I have my own property manager)
Maybe because I'm an introvert that I didn't bust her lies out but keep telling her"I just want a year lease first."
I talked with multiple local agents asking this question (just finding them randomly on Zillow) while some of them say
"that depends on the contract" most of them saying" never heard about it" with one saying "that might be illegal"
Did pay an attorney to look at the rental agent contract and he is pretty sure that she shouldn't charge me double.
eventually, I sent her what lawyer told me to say and she reply basically saying
" she has put in a lot of effort into helping me. She has a landlord who pays her 4 months of rent for signing a 4-year contract. I shouldn't miss on the two-year deal"
Yes, it is technically none of my business and I just feel it is not justifiable for her to take two months of rent as a fee. I talked with the tenant about it and he was really grateful and want to share the one month fee with me.
With the closing date coming tomorrow for July, I really don't know what to do at this moment beside waiting for the attorney to talk with me tomorrow morning.
I'm thinking about just signing the contract directly with the tenant for a one year lease (with us split the one-month agent fee and pays her)
I don't know if that is legal or not.
Sorry English is not my first language and I thank you all for reading it.
good luck with all of your investment.