Turner v. Baker

Citations

• 225 Pa. 359
• 74 A. 172
• 1909 Pa. LEXIS 664

Syllabus

<p>Principal and agent — Real estate broker — Commissions—Contract— Findings of fact.</p> <p>1. If an owner of real estate chooses to make a contract with a broker in which it is stipulated that the broker shall have the exclusive right to sell the property within a specified time and that he shall be entitled to receive a certain commission if a sale be made within the time designated, no matter who makes it, he is bound by its terms and cannot be relieved from a bad bargain because his agreement may have been foolish or improvident; but a mere appointment of a broker as sole agent to sell real estate at a stipulated price upon a stated commission does not entitle the broker to a commission, if the owner himself sells the real estate during the term of the broker’s employment, and the broker did not produce a purchaser during the term of the contract ready, able and willing to purchase the property.</p> <p>2. In an action by a broker to recover commissions on an alleged sale of real estate, where the case is tried by the court without a jury, a finding of fact by the court based on sufficient evidence that the broker did not produce a purchaser willing to comply with the owner’s terms, will not be reversed by the appellate court in the absence of manifest error.</p> <p>3. Where an owner of real estate agrees with a broker to pay him commissions if he sells the property for $30,000 in cash, the broker does not comply with the terms of his employment by producing a purchaser who is willing to pay $15,000 in cash and give a mortgage to secure the balance, especially when the negotiations to modify the terms of the contract did not ripen into an executed agreement between the parties.</p>