Jim Striegel, Keller Williams transaction fee, never discussed, charged at closing Flower Mound Texas

On September 15, 2004 I closed on a house I was selling, for which Jim Striegel was the realtor. Our agreed upon commission was 5%, which I continuously discussed with Mr. Striegel, as every couple of weeks he would suggest that if I lowered the price, the house would sell. Knowing that I did not have much equity, I constantly discussed his commission vs. my gain on the house to determine if the price could be lowered.

On closing day, while signing the settlement, I noticed a 595.00USD "transaction fee" payable to Keller Williams. I asked Capital Title of Texas about this fee and was told that it was a fee that Mr. Striegel had added to the settlement. I immediately walked to Mr. Striegel's office and asked to speak with him. When I questioned him about this fee, he told me that it was "in the papers you signed"...which of course, I didn't even have a copy of. I told him that we never discussed this, as my previous realtor was only charging me only 4% commission and he was charging me 5%, so that we had numerous times discussed how much he would make off this deal. He very rudely said "you either pay it or don't sell the house..."

Mr. Striegel very well knew that my husband had already moved out of the country 6mos before, that I was basically a single mother with a 3yr old desperately waiting to sell this house, but that I also continuously spoke with him about how much he would make on the deal. Unfortunately, as many others in this situation I did not have many options when I had already sold all my belongings with the pending closing and was to move out of the country within days of the closing.

I have lived out of the country and just returned and realizing that indeed this is an illegal practice that it seems many realtors are taking advantage of sellers/buyers.

Court decision targets mystery closing fees-LA Times
These charges, which can range from $150 to $500 per transaction, are tacked on top of regular real estate commissions and sometimes come as last-minute surprises on settlement sheets.

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Whatamess
Grapevine, Texas
U.S.A.