Why is every listing I inquire about already have an offer?

[TestEngr]

Originally Posted by HarryWho?

Sometimes, the seller instructs the agent not to even bother them with an offer below a certain amount. I've run into this several times. No conspiracy there.

While it is always possible to be something like that, it could also be the realtor has a holding in the area they want to push up, or any number of other things.

Problem with RE is agents, appraisers, bankers, and so on run the field kind of like a conspiracy. Basically that is what happened in the runup. The individual buyers out there buying a home for their kids got left holding the property when it all went south. The agents, bankers, appraisers all got there fees and commisions. While conspiracy may or may not be the right word, the way RE is run is still not quite right IMHO. All those middlemen with an inside and so on. It is not like buying a car or a boat, or even a stock. RE is a special market full of middlemen collecting fees, that really needs to be a regular market.

[mommster]

We talk about this a lot in our house. One thing that might help is for real estate agents not to earn a commision for the sale price of the house, but flat fees for what they do. $xxx for listing, $xxx for an open house, $xxx for a showing, etc.

[1insider]

Originally Posted by mommster

Thanks. I wouldn't have known what to do other than to talk with a lawyer. This is good info for us. Maybe she had permission to not accept an offer under a certain amount. It's a short sale so I'm not sure if that is the case, but this gives us something to go from.

It's also possible that a previous offer at or above your number was rejected by the bank so the seller's agent knew it would be a waste of time to submit yours to the bank. Was your offer verbal or written? There is a line on our listing agreements that the seller can check to instruct their agent not to accept verbal offers. One more thing; if you were dealing directly with the listing agent your interests were not being protected. It is almost always best to use an experienced buyer's agent.

On the subject of out of date info on real estate websites: the business model of all of them, Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, Homes.com, etc. is page views. Ad revenue is based on volume of page views. If they remove sold or contingent listings in a timely manner, they lose revenue. They make a little more money by being a little tardy and a lot more money by being a lot tardy. Math and greed.

[HarryWho?]

Originally Posted by TestEngr

While it is always possible to be something like that, it could also be the realtor has a holding in the area they want to push up, or any number of other things.

Problem with RE is agents, appraisers, bankers, and so on run the field kind of like a conspiracy. Basically that is what happened in the runup. The individual buyers out there buying a home for their kids got left holding the property when it all went south. The agents, bankers, appraisers all got there fees and commisions. While conspiracy may or may not be the right word, the way RE is run is still not quite right IMHO. All those middlemen with an inside and so on. It is not like buying a car or a boat, or even a stock. RE is a special market full of middlemen collecting fees, that really needs to be a regular market.

The only problem with that is it's not just real estate. So many things have extra expenses. For example, Florida auto dealers have a "dealer" fee which used to be charged in NJ as "dealer prep". That went away about 35 years ago. Still doing it here. Then there's incentives for almost useless warranties, paint protection,fabric protection, selling the "dog" on the lot, etc. Almost anything that can be sold in America is at the end of an obstacle course.

[TestEngr]

Originally Posted by HarryWho?

The only problem with that is it's not just real estate. So many things have extra expenses. For example, Florida auto dealers have a "dealer" fee which used to be charged in NJ as "dealer prep". That went away about 35 years ago. Still doing it here. Then there's incentives for almost useless warranties, paint protection,fabric protection, selling the "dog" on the lot, etc. Almost anything that can be sold in America is at the end of an obstacle course.

Guess other things like new cars can always have fees added too. However, hard to point out where there are insider activity on new cars, though who knows there might be too.

RE is run by and for insiders first, these are often the powerful or larger and more hidden figures of RE. Then the fee collectors like agents, appraisers, lenders, etc second. I do not know what else is in there but local government and tax comes to mind.

Anyway dead last will be the home buyer, no matter what. The whole system is setup to get max out of them with no guarantees at all. If RE went up homebuyer might, or might not, be ok. These days who knows, it needs to go up 20% to make up for all the junk. No matter what homebuyer comes in dead last, everyone else wins first in the current system.

It still seems to me that RE is the most corrupt, most non-transparent, most non-true system of markets I can think of. Even third world RE seems more like a true market compared to good old free market USA real estate. Nothing seemed to solve it from internet to our fine governments....