Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Possibly the worst VLS home close experience? need advice....
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Old 11-11-2022, 11:06 PM
manaboutown manaboutown is offline
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You could file a complaint.

"Should you need to file a complaint against a broker, you may contact the Florida Real Estate Commission at (850) 487-1395. Additionally, you should file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office online at Florida Attorney General - Home Page or by phone toll-free at 1-866-9-NO-SCAM.
You may also file a complaint with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which acts as the State's consumer complaint clearinghouse, at www.floridaconsumerhelp.com."

In most but not all of my past home purchases I have used a Buyer's Broker. I do not know if that is possible when buying a VLS listed home.

"Even real estate brokers chosen by you to help you locate a home may represent the seller. According to most Multiple Listing Services, a broker helping the buyer locate a home is actually working as an agent of the seller's broker. Therefore, they represent the seller rather than the buyer. Before disclosing confidential information, such as your top offer, be sure the broker is not going to share that information with the seller. There are some brokers that only represent buyers. They owe their allegiance to the buyer. There may be a fee involved for this service, in addition to their commission. Make sure you understand what financial obligation you owe the broker before entering into any agreement."

From: Florida Attorney General - How to Protect Yourself: Real Estate Brokers

As I read and reread the OP's posts I asked myself what I would have done. If I really wanted the house, felt I had obtained a reasonable price, had a decent loan interest rate locked in, felt the sellers were elderly and needed extra time and so on I would have gone on to close. If I had a bad gut feeling about it or discovered I was being jacked around I would have walked. When I was in my thirties I went ahead and closed on a trailer park even though I learned during the closing that the manager was pistol whipped and robbed while I was at the title company. It turned out that was just an indication of what was to follow. Today I would tear up the papers, walk and let them sue me. That park was the worst investment of my life and set me back a couple of years before I finally was able to dump it. Boy, did I learn some hard lessons.
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Last edited by manaboutown; 11-11-2022 at 11:28 PM.