From: trusso11783@yahoo.com (Tony)
Newsgroups: misc.legal.moderated alt.lawyers misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: HELP: Money back after purchase of home
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 22:07:52 -0400


On Thu, 15 Sep 2005 21:28:02 -0400, idlm@hotmail.com wrote:

>The Real Estate Agent sold us a house in Southern California with the
>condition that after the sale, we would get back some money to help us
>pay for furniture and some bills.  He gave us some docs to sign showing
>that we would get the money. Even the seller was aware of this.

I do not know California Law and I do not know Real Estate Law but I know NY
Insurance Laws when it
pertains to Agents and Commissions. I am a licensed insurance broker and I am
not allowed to offer
any part of my commission back to a client as an incentive for him to use me.
That is called
"rebating".  On top of that, I am not allowed to give any client any gift that
is worth more than
$5.  That would limit me to giving away a calendar or a pen or something
similar. 

Your laws may be similar. It sounds a tad shady. Many people do what's called a
seller's concession,
where they add the closing costs into the loan so you pay less out of pocket.
Check out the state's
laws on real estate agents and their commissions.

Tony