OK. I had it with realtors and NJ RE. (sale, loan)

[xmonger]

Yesterday, I made a very fair and sizeable offer on a home. (And yes, I am a bear, I know RE is going down, so be it.)

First some facts and comments:
The home has been on the market for a little over six months and according to my agent, had received no offers through yesterday.

Now the BS:
Well today my wife got the call back from our buyer's agent.

As it turns out , the property has two other offers. One offer the owners are not countering because there is a home sale contingency. So that leaves my offer and another on the table. The seller's agent told my agent that in order to be "fair" they will accept "closed/sealed bids" from the remaining two and the seller will go with the highest. WTF

In the meantime, they countered my offer.

What BS is this? If they countered me that means I have the highest bid. It's also interesting to note, that all this activity just happened to occur with my offer going in. Timing is everything, right.

I am not proceeding with this BS. I am not countering or continuing to play BS games. WTF Again

Any comments welcomed.

[Marc Paolella]

Forget all the sealed bid garbage, that sounds like a lot of nonsense. Just make your final and best offer to your agent and tell the sellers to take it or leave it.

There's always another house in this market so don't get too emotional about it.

Your agent should have verified there were no offers in advance before you made yours. It would have saved emotional stress. It sounds like the call wasn't made and your agent just presumed there were no offers based on the MLS status. Bad procedure, as now there is mistrust in the equation that should not have been there.

Good luck!

-Marc

[metaljaybird]

Sorry, we bought back in 07 after the peak (thankfully). It was frustrating, because the seller was getting seller's remorse towards the end. No offers, yet he was stalling.

We eventually bought the home. Keep it up, be thankful you are in a buyer's market. If a bad taste is left in your mouth, walk away and find another home. There are plenty to choose from right now.

[clevedark]

I had a similar frustration when buying the house I'm in now (in MA). House was on the market for over a year. We put an offer in and were told by the agent (who was also the listing agent) that there was an offer just sitting there, waiting to be contacted if another offer came in. We were like WTF, too. We wound up buying the place, but it was totally annoying. We could have easily walked away, but to us this house was unique.

[gagaliya]

submit a sealed bid that's lower than your original offer, then tell them that's your final offer, take it or leave it.

[NatasNJ]

I agree with Marc: Make a final best offer and give a short timeline on it. Walk away with anything but acceptance of the offer.

This is NOT the market to get cute in so let them learn a lesson if they want to play games. But at the same time no reason for you guys to NOT buy the house at a number you are ok with just because this guy is a tool. You obviously like the house enough to make an offer on it.

Good luck.

[Stone28]

X, are you looking to buy in Holmdel? I ask because I'm going to be looking there in about a year. What percent off the list price did you offer?

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by xmonger

Yesterday, I made a very fair and sizeable offer on a home. (And yes, I am a bear, I know RE is going down, so be it.)

First some facts and comments:
The home has been on the market for a little over six months and according to my agent, had received no offers through yesterday.

Now the BS:
Well today my wife got the call back from our buyer's agent.

As it turns out , the property has two other offers. One offer the owners are not countering because there is a home sale contingency. So that leaves my offer and another on the table. The seller's agent told my agent that in order to be "fair" they will accept "closed/sealed bids" from the remaining two and the seller will go with the highest. WTF

In the meantime, they countered my offer.

What BS is this? If they countered me that means I have the highest bid. It's also interesting to note, that all this activity just happened to occur with my offer going in. Timing is everything, right.

I am not proceeding with this BS. I am not countering or continuing to play BS games. WTF Again

Any comments welcomed.

We sold/bought last year after 10 months on the market.
The fact that it's been on 6 months means nothing to me. Depending on when it was listed (my guess Sept?) the market was dry. Some areas have nothing or minimal buyers. Between September & the end of January, I think we had 3 couples in. Before that probably the same. From what I was told there were hardly any buyers. February came, we lowered about $10k, got the start of the spring market coming through. By the time we got an offer in March we had more traffic then ever and a handful of offers.

At one time we were negotiating an offer when another couple walked through. They ended up putting an offer in as well.

Through it all, a seller has to keep their head on straight, the house has to appraise for what is offered, if not, most times the offer isn't worth crap. Sure we could play both buyers but reality was, someone would have to bring money to the table & it didn't look like either could. They both were at the same number so I picked by what type of loan as well as who seemed to like it better. In the end, they pulled out during attorney review, thankfully the other buyer still wanted it.

You don't know if there was an offer while you looked at it. if the seller is going to play games, move on. After 6 months on the market, with the spring market which should be at peak right now, they probably think more offers will come in; chances are they are wrong.

If what you offered is what you're comfortable with, say so. Don't play games in this market. If this seller doesn't appreciate the fact there is a buyer, move on, the next person may.

FWIW, you can add to your offer that the house has to appraise for that amount.

Good luck.

[wileynj]

Originally Posted by xmonger

Yesterday, I made a very fair and sizeable offer on a home. (And yes, I am a bear, I know RE is going down, so be it.)

First some facts and comments:
The home has been on the market for a little over six months and according to my agent, had received no offers through yesterday.

Now the BS:
Well today my wife got the call back from our buyer's agent.

As it turns out , the property has two other offers. One offer the owners are not countering because there is a home sale contingency. So that leaves my offer and another on the table. The seller's agent told my agent that in order to be "fair" they will accept "closed/sealed bids" from the remaining two and the seller will go with the highest. WTF

In the meantime, they countered my offer.

What BS is this? If they countered me that means I have the highest bid. It's also interesting to note, that all this activity just happened to occur with my offer going in. Timing is everything, right.

I am not proceeding with this BS. I am not countering or continuing to play BS games. WTF Again

Any comments welcomed.

I'm saying nothing

[FlyersFan]

When I sold a home about 4 years ago we had several offers of full price and the buyers were all well qualified and we went to highest sealed bid......its not uncommon with multiple offers....remember its the selling agents job to get the most for their seller.....our home sold for several thousand over asking price