I feel I have gotten significantly screwed over and not sure what actions to take
So I have been a Commercial real estate agent for about 9 months now. I was originally bird dogging SFR portfolios in the SE for a few institutions but wanted to get my feet wet in CRE space to start learning the industry to start buying shopping centers for my own personal portfolio. One of the first connections I made was a lady with a retail strip center where went under a 6 month listing agreement at an agreed up one purchase price (exp 2/8/22)

I began marketing the deal and after 3 months I brought a willing and able buyer at asking to the table with a written offer. She then proceeds to tell me her silent partner did not want to take the offer and did not want to sell and we should consider canceling the contract. This was in Oct 21’. On Nov 2nd I meet with seller and we decide we can cancel the listing and start again in the new year once seller and partner are on the same page. The property sells on Nov 17th at 6% below our listing amount. I was just made aware of this today. 

Before I get told how wrong I did everything I really was flying blind here. I reached out to multiple CRE brokers to be on their team etc but never could find a mentor or broker who wanted to help. I decided to hang my license with a broker who was older and not as involved in return for lower commission split. I know all this sounds really dumb in hind sight but at the time I was just happy to be in the industry. 

My question is does any of this sound illegal on sellers part and can I pursue them at all?
[{"id": "hu2jmru", "text": "Was it the buyer your brought to the table?", "replies": [{"id": "hu2k1c4", "text": "It was not", "replies": [{"id": "hu2og4x", "text": "I think is your answer, if it was your buyer that's a different story, imo", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu2kn61", "text": "As much as it sucks, it\u2019s probably not worth the time and money to go after the seller.", "replies": [{"id": "hu2kwsd", "text": "Is any of it illegal. It just seems they knew there was an interested party and mislead me to cancel the contract", "replies": [{"id": "hu2nt4z", "text": "Criminal would be up to a prosecutor to pursue and I think carries a high bar. You (or your broker) might be able to pursue a civil fraud action (see earlier comments) which should be discussed with an attorney. It does see strange that a strip center would go under contract and close in 15 days but this doesn't automatically make it fraudulent.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "hu2pyng", "text": "You\u2019re going to encounter a lot of illegal, and most of it\u2019s not worth pursuing regardless of what you missed out on. You\u2019re a noob and you\u2019ve just had a noob experience. Your snout will improve over time", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu2lrd8", "text": "As a random stranger on reddit I see three issues:\n\n1. Do you want to continue with CRE brokerage as a long-term career? 9 months is far too early to determine success, but I'd feel good about getting the listing.\n2. Are you with the right shop? Possibly not, especially if the broker wasn't remotely helpful around the outcome with this listing or helped get it signed in the first place.\n3. Unfortunately with even a great set of facts could wind up with a  pyrrhic victory. What does your broker say about this?  Despite the fee arrangement they do have some responsibility. You might have to take this one as a great early learning exercise and awesome war story.", "replies": [{"id": "hu2mqr4", "text": "It\u2019s not that I want to quit or anything it was mostly has this person broken a law that I can peruse or am I to chop it up as a newbie mistake and eat it. It would never drive me to quit.\nI have been debating where I should go with in terms of brokers. I just went with him as I needed to stick my license somewhere and no official CRE broker would talk to me. I have 3 more listings since then that are going great and feel this is what I am supposed to do so I just need to figure the mentor/broker part out as I am still using Google to be my guide lol", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu2nl59", "text": "Does you listing agreement have any language protecting you after expiration or cancellation? You are likely screwed. Your listing should have a clause like that and in the event a seller wants to cancel your agreement prematurely, have them sign something that if the property gets sold within 6 mos. or more if you can, you get paid.\n\nEdit: and I hate to say it, but it's not uncommon and may likely happen again. I was with a big firm who never had our back even when our contracts were blatantly violated. Chalk it up as lesson learned and the cost of doing business with shitty people.", "replies": [{"id": "hu2oa86", "text": "That\u2019s fair and probably all I needed to hear. Thanks for the straight forward advice.", "replies": [{"id": "hu2p9e9", "text": "BTW, do you know who bought it? My first suspicion given the story is one partner bought the other one out and you provided the price discovery.... or something along those lines. Weird that the selling price was simply minus the commission.", "replies": [{"id": "hu378px", "text": "This was my first thought but I wanted to reach out to the seller not in an aggressive but just to find out what happened if I did something wrong. It was exactly 6% less of the list price tho which made me think they worked me out as they found a buyer off market", "replies": [{"id": "hu3vtc5", "text": "Id look into all the parties llcs and who signed the recorded docs before I made that call.", "replies": [{"id": "hu4uyno", "text": "In case you don't know how to do that - look up your state's secretary of state website. Then find the business registration area. There should be a search function allowing you to search on the business name.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu2pt1v", "text": "You just got a lesson in Shitty Client Behavior 101.  When you terminated the listing, you likely gave up a claim to a commission.  A good termination agreement should have had a broker protection period where a commission would would still be due for another 6 months.  \n\nProbably not worth pursuing the sellers.  I would be tempted to call them out on their unethical behavior, but even that's probably a bad idea.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu30bkp", "text": "Hey man, congrats. You learned a painful lesson, always get paid. You will be screwed six ways until Sunday until it sticks. \n\nNever give something without getting something, how did canceling the contract benefit you in any way? You got played and used for someone\u2019s leverage. \n\nAll brokers have stories of getting screwed and all brokers started as young kids who got abused by their senior brokers one way or another. You get better or you do something else. \n\nHalf this business is, \u201cI don\u2019t like that guy\u201d and if everyone was nice there would be 75% fewer brokers.", "replies": [{"id": "hu34xhb", "text": "This is true 100%. This is a dog-eat-dog business and it is crap. I would not suggest anyone new starting in real estate as a broker. You are better off working for a company like Costar honestly. This business maybe seem like wow he wear suits for work and makes a lot of money, but at the end of the day, you are expendable to your clients (except for certain few good ones) and you are not special in anyway shape or form.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu342n3", "text": "This happens all the time. You should get used to it. Also from what everyone else said, you can sue the seller since you did procure a buyer but at the same time, the seller could argue how would you know if the buyer was able to perform? You never opened escrow and put in a hard deposit, therefore the seller could argue the buyer might not have been able to perform therefore not owing you a commission. Also, make sure you register your buyers, if the buyer is not the same as your buyer, the seller owes you nothing.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu3815z", "text": "What state are you in OP? I would read and re-read your listing agreement, find out how you \u201ceffectively terminated\u201d that listing agreement with them, and try and understand if you gave your Seller client a full release here. I\u2019d also do a bit of homework trying to learn the identity of the buyer (search Secretary of State website to find out who authorized agent was for the purchasing entity)\u2026if it was a buyer you procured through your marketing efforts, and your original listing agreement had a \u201cprotection period\u201d, then you might have a legal claim here.\n\nI\u2019ve been in this for 10 years and unfortunately learned some hard lessons early on like this. I\u2019ve had to sue former clients for being unethical. If you DO think you might have some recourse here after reviewing your docs and you decide to pursue them legally, they\u2019ll kick and scream like hell at first but they\u2019ll probably settle with you before getting their name dragged through the local legal news. I\u2019d weigh the risk/reward before doing so (I.e.: how much would your commission have been if you sold it), but if it\u2019s enough, I\u2019d consider doing it. (Going through that process is ALSO a good learning experience and you could likely meet a good RE attorney doing so).\n\nKeep networking with the old dogs in your market\u2026their mostly tough ol\u2019 bastards but if you stay on the good ones and stay focused in the biz, they\u2019ll come around. They\u2019ll never tell it to you, but they all respect persistence.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu3gnqj", "text": "Unfortunately, this is another day at the office as a CRE broker.  I\u2019ve been screwed on investment sales, brokering debt, brokering equity, brokering leases.  Even if you have to go after someone- still takes years for the legal process to play out. You have to have significant volume of transactions in the pipeline so that when this happens (not if), it doesn\u2019t completely ruin you.  I eventually got tired of counting the money I didn\u2019t make and pivoted into another role in the industry.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu3m0ir", "text": "If it wasn\u2019t the same buyer I think you are stuck unfortunately..", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu3t58t", "text": "Was the ready and willing buyer you brought offering list price?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu3u5fv", "text": "Op you should have your brokers lawyer review the listing contract and cancellation on this.  There is no illegal, it just depends what ya all agreed to.\n\nYou sound like you arent here for a lecture and are frustrated.  Do you understand how you should handle this now?  If not ask.  There are a lot of shitty people in this business.  You will run into this again.  You also will meet lots of awesome people, have some fun, and ideally make some money.\n\nDont let the haters ruin your focus.  You learned a lesson is all", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu5g1m9", "text": "Good lord you are not built for this.", "replies": [{"id": "hu76743", "text": "I disagree!", "replies": [{"id": "hu77n7o", "text": "Better luck on your next deal\ud83d\ude02", "replies": [{"id": "hu77r0f", "text": "The next one closed 1.5 month ago!", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu5ry18", "text": "It sounds like you may have been social engineered to cancel the listing voluntarily. However I believe CRE brokers should have two essential clauses. \n\n1. A survival clause that allows you to name any buyer that you bring to the table during the contract and that extends beyond and cancellation. I've seen brokers submit a weekly list of names in an activity report. \n\n2. An escrow demand clause that allows you to submit your contract, with the named buyer along with an invoice to escrow for payment. Submit directly to escrow..at a minimum it will force them to deal with you to clear the invoice. If they don't sign off for payment at closing you should have cause for action at that point..in my non lawyerly opinion.\n\n3. Buyer side non-circumvent agreement thats enforceable! Buyers will go around you all day long!\n\nAlso some states, like CA, allow broker's liens which work like a mechanic's lien and can cloud title.\n\nLastly, was your commission 6%? If so, there may have been some bad will there..especially if you are a solo or non company affiliated broker, not offering a sharing agreement with a buyer's broker and were keeping the full commission. You may have beat up the deal with a high commission if that was the case. Not saying full commission is wrong but sometimes things like this can poison the well...but many buyers and sellers are simply a-holes too.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hu75brn", "text": "If it closed basically 2 weeks after you cancelled your listing I would imagine it was put under contract during the term of your listing agreement. Most agreements state any and all offers have to be provided to you during the term and you are entitled to your fee whether you procured them or not. If that\u2019s the case, you should have a case to go after your fee. The other side of the equation is CRE is a small world  and is it worth going after a client and risking your reputation as you are starting your career?", "replies": [{"id": "hu98108", "text": "This is a really good point and idea.  The title company will require copies of the purchase &amp; sale agreement before closing.  The PSA will have dates on it, and if it started while you still had a listing you may have a case.  I'm pretty sure the deed says who the title company was.  You can get the deed from county records, or possibly costar.  I think a lot of counties digitized their documents during Covid, so it could be a worth a phone call.  Once you get a copy of the deed (assuming that reveals who the title company was - I'm pretty sure it does.  At very least you can probably figure it out by who the notary was) - You may have luck reaching out to the title company for a copy of the PSA, but I don't know if they can/will disclose that info.  May take some tact to get it.  You may be able to extract that info on the phone by mentioning that deal and trying to figure out when escrow was opened.\n\nAn older broker told me when I first started that getting burned in this business is inevitable - just try to make sure it's in the first degree (and not the third degree).", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]