Complaint Review: Re/Max Results

At the end of April I signed an agreement for Joe Ulrich to represent me as a realtor for six months while my significant other, Jamie Gillum, and I looked at the possibility of purchasing a home. After looking at a few houses, putting in an offer but not really seeing much promise I spoke to him about the possibility of building a home and wondered if he'd be interested in representing me in that transaction. He said he's never done it before but he could refer me to another agent that might be more skilled in that area. I then asked him if he'd be willing to terminate the contract if I was to work with a builder exclusively. He told Jamie and I that he would be fine "signing off" or terminating the contract if I'd rather go that route. After that conversation took place Jamie and I spoke specifically about how it was kind of Joe to agree to sign off on my contract if we decided to go that route.

A few weeks down the road I contact a builder myself, through no help of Joe. The builder and I engage in talks to possibly go that route, which I was completely open with Joe the entire time and he showed no interest in taking part in the conversation. After it looks like the builder and I are coming to a possible agreement the builder contacts Joe to request my release and Joe as well as his "broker" (not sure of his name) both refuse. They inform both the builder and myself that Joe never agreed to release me and that I am under contract for 6 months. We are informed that Joe will get his 2.7% included in the loan or he will go after me directly to produce the 2.7% after closing even though he had absolutely no involvement or assistance in the process. The builder and I were negotiating a deal assuming there wouldn't be a buyer's agent included and there wasn't room in the budget for this, neither included in the loan or for me to produce out of pocket after closing.

Long story short it looks like my construction loan will have to be moved back from a possible June start to the end of October or November (after my contract with Joe expires). Since then, there has been much back and forth between us and one could imagine I no longer have any faith or trust in Joe, his broker, or anyone else in his office. I understand this argument is word of mouth but my girlfriend Jamie and myself will be happy to give a statement or testify that he did in fact lie to us. I am writing this letter to hopefully shed some light on unethical business practices in this specific office and I am simply requesting that Joe release me from the contract, as he said he would, so I can move forward with the builder.