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A property I was set on buying didn't materialize for me... someone had their offer accepted the day mine was submitted... the buyer had a long escrow.
Every time there was a glitch... the buyer said everyone told him there was some guy just waiting to pick it up for cash and at a higher price. He wasn't going for it.
Anyway, the buyer and I connected after the sale and we exchanged stories and it was pretty much factual what both of us were being told.
Of course brokerage wanted a sale... and having me in the wings didn't hurt...
We had a "unique" house that was on the market a long time. (If we knew then what we know now, we would have handled things differently, but that is another story). However, we did have two parties who "expressed interest" at about the same time (one of which resulted in the eventual sale). The other party's Realtor directly accused my agent of lying to him. Even though she was a long time professional in a tough business, she was really hurt and offended by this and I didn't blame her. It does happen even though it seems improbable and no one deserves to be called a liar, especially by someone who has no evidence of it.
More to the point, no intelligent and responsible agent (or seller who is paying attention) would lie about this and take the risk of driving off a buyer when there is no other offer on the table and the house has been on the market for awhile.
So people need to think about all the angles on this before drawing conclusions.
This is so true. This paranoia about agents lying about multiple offers is so pervasive that buyers will often walk away from a property they want because they don't believe the other offer is real and they aren't going to "play games". I cringe when I have to tell a buyer that the other agent said there is another offer and we are to bring our best and highest. I've seen two buyers walk away from a deal because neither believed the other existed and the property remained on the market afterwards confirming in their paranoid minds that the agents were lying. That's one reason you might see a property still active after having multiple offers.
Do some agents lie about the existence of another offer? Very likely. Does it happen as often as the public believes. Not even close. It's not necessary to play these sorts of games to sell a priced-right property. It is, however, fun to imagine these complex conspiracies by the evil RE industry intended to rip off the clueless consumer. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean we're not out to get you.
Do you ever wonder why all of these things seem to happen only to you?
Hmmm.
I had the same thing happen to me. There is a house that has been on the market for a LONG time. When I first noticed it I was not ready to move. So, now I am ready. I talked to my RE agent and she talked with the listing agent. Guess what? "The owners are negotiating with a buyer...". So, I couldn't even make an appointment to SEE the house! It's not under contract, but someone is keeping buyers from looking at the house...maybe someone who wants to 'steal' it?
If it's not under contract, there is no reason for me to be denied seeing the place, IMO.
I saw a house on an Open House. I was very interested in it. The family, not so much...the listing agent told me a family of X has come by 3 times to look at it, prior to me, who was "interested". BTW It never sold. It was taken off of the market a little over a year after.
This is what you call an agent being stupid. The only thing saying this will accomplish is that they will scare away other potential buyers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1insider
This is so true. This paranoia about agents lying about multiple offers is so pervasive that buyers will often walk away from a property they want because they don't believe the other offer is real and they aren't going to "play games". I cringe when I have to tell a buyer that the other agent said there is another offer and we are to bring our best and highest. I've seen two buyers walk away from a deal because neither believed the other existed and the property remained on the market afterwards confirming in their paranoid minds that the agents were lying. That's one reason you might see a property still active after having multiple offers.
Do some agents lie about the existence of another offer? Very likely. Does it happen as often as the public believes. Not even close. It's not necessary to play these sorts of games to sell a priced-right property. It is, however, fun to imagine these complex conspiracies by the evil RE industry intended to rip off the clueless consumer. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean we're not out to get you.
I couldn't agree more. Whenever I tell a buyer that there is another offer on the table inevitably the first thing out of their mouths is "do you think they really have another offer?" I too have had it happen a few times where my buyer doubted the existence of the other offer, did not raise their offer, and ended up losing the house to someone else.
I agree that some agents lie about it and use this as a tactic, but this situation occurs far less often than the public thinks.
This is what you call an agent being stupid. The only thing saying this will accomplish is that they will scare away other potential buyers.
I couldn't agree more. Whenever I tell a buyer that there is another offer on the table inevitably the first thing out of their mouths is "do you think they really have another offer?" I too have had it happen a few times where my buyer doubted the existence of the other offer, did not raise their offer, and ended up losing the house to someone else.
I agree that some agents lie about it and use this as a tactic, but this situation occurs far less often than the public thinks.
I can understand their asking you if you believe the story; you are the expert and if you are the buyer's agent, are representing their interest, so they value your opinion. What I don't understand is this: let's say you tell them you do believe it's true. You've presumably discussed comps. with them. Why don't buyers do the rational thing at this point and offer what they feel is a fair price for the house regardless of the other offer, and see what happens? Same thing if you believe it is false--why not put in what they think is a fair offer? They have nothing to lose. I think some buyers instead just get emotional and this works against them.
The other thing that buyers sometimes forget in these situations is that sellers of houses that have been on the market awhile may have gotten and rejected previous offers they considered too far from asking but still well above what the present "buyers" might be thinking of offering. That may not have been wise on the part of the sellers, but the point is that I think many buyers presume erroneously that no one has made offers of any size on a given house, and therefore it is worth radically less than the asking price because no one has any interest in it. That may be true in some situations, but in other situations, it isn't, and may be why competing offers may be coming in when the present "buyers" are bidding.
Not really sure what you are upset about--Other folks agents work for them, your agent had better work for you. If you are buying a house without an agent (and there is nothing wrong with that), just understand that the agent is being paid to get as much for their house for their client as possible. Of course a lot of agents stretch the truth (there will always be someone else *interested* in the house) and some lie, but that is true for any profession.
If you feel you have done your research, just take what the agent says with a grain of salt, and submit your bid--I am pretty sure they have to submit all offers to their client. If your agent will not submit the bid, time to get a new agent! ...and, don't take things too personally!
(...btw, I am not an agent, and prefer to buy houses without an agent).
Quote:
Originally Posted by longislander2
We are seeing two interesting things pop up as we look to purchase our next home:
1. We expressed interest in one property that has been overpriced and on the market for about 350 days. As soon as our agent inquired, we were informed by the sellers' agent that there is suddenly another all-cash buyer interested in the property. Surprise! Surprise! It's amazing how these competing buyers suddenly pop out of thin air on homes that have languished.
2. When we were selling our home, we were told that the comps were the Holy Grail in determining its listing price. Now that we are looking to buy and are doing some serious research on recent sales to establish an appropriate purchase price, we are being told by agents that the comps aren't really that important.
Does anyone wonder why the real estate business doesn't have a better reputation?
I agree that some agents lie about it and use this as a tactic, but this situation occurs far less often than the public thinks.
Perhaps it occurs less often than we think, but it probably happens frequently enough to make a lot of buyers suspicious. It's happened to me enough times for me to believe they all can't be coincidences.
Maybe there should be some unbiased central registry where bids are received and recorded, and where buyers can confirm that multiple bids have been placed on a home without knowing the amounts or names of the bidders. I know it would have helped me some years ago when I put in a solid bid on a house and was rejected, only to see it sell soon thereafter for $15,000 less than we had offered. We were exceptional buyers and the only reason for a rejection should have been the dollars. Agents told us later that our bid likely never reached the homeowners because the listing broker didn't want to split the commission with a competing firm. Nice.
Perhaps it occurs less often than we think, but it probably happens frequently enough to make a lot of buyers suspicious. It's happened to me enough times for me to believe they all can't be coincidences.
Maybe there should be some unbiased central registry where bids are received and recorded, and where buyers can confirm that multiple bids have been placed on a home without knowing the amounts or names of the bidders. I know it would have helped me some years ago when I put in a solid bid on a house and was rejected, only to see it sell soon thereafter for $15,000 less than we had offered. We were exceptional buyers and the only reason for a rejection should have been the dollars. Agents told us later that our bid likely never reached the homeowners because the listing broker didn't want to split the commission with a competing firm. Nice.
More often than not, I find unsuccessful bidders' minds turn to parnoia because they don't have the full story. There are plenty of explanations why a property could get multiple offers and then never sell. As you don't know the whole story, in your head you decide that it's because there actually never was another offer.
In terms of your story, what your agent said is possible but a lot of things are possible this doesn't mean they actually happen. I've seen higher offers refused because of things like closing dates or more favorable terms. Recently, I saw one offer get accepted over another because the buyer wrote into the offer that they would be willing to close soon and rent the property back to the seller. The dollar amount in the offer is not the only factor at play. For your agent, to put the thought in your head that something devious was going on without having any proof was just something they likely did because they were upset too. Failure to present an offer is another reason you could lose your license in my state. Why put your living at stake just to make a few extra bucks? Doesn't seem to make sense to me.
I can understand their asking you if you believe the story; you are the expert and if you are the buyer's agent, are representing their interest, so they value your opinion. What I don't understand is this: let's say you tell them you do believe it's true. You've presumably discussed comps. with them. Why don't buyers do the rational thing at this point and offer what they feel is a fair price for the house regardless of the other offer, and see what happens? Same thing if you believe it is false--why not put in what they think is a fair offer? They have nothing to lose. I think some buyers instead just get emotional and this works against them.
This is exactly what I tell people. I say something along the lines of "I cannot tell you if there actually is another offer or not. I suggest you offer an amount where if there actually is another offer and you lose out that you are not kicking yourself over it in the morning." Of course, at this point we've already reviewed comps and discussed current market conditions so that my buyer has made an educated decision about the value of the property.
I don't think emotion is so much the problem. We're coming out of a buyer's market and years of reading articles in the press that tell you to offer whatever low number you want. Many buyers have failed to adjust to the new reality.
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Originally Posted by ACWhite
The other thing that buyers sometimes forget in these situations is that sellers of houses that have been on the market awhile may have gotten and rejected previous offers they considered too far from asking but still well above what the present "buyers" might be thinking of offering. That may not have been wise on the part of the sellers, but the point is that I think many buyers presume erroneously that no one has made offers of any size on a given house, and therefore it is worth radically less than the asking price because no one has any interest in it. That may be true in some situations, but in other situations, it isn't, and may be why competing offers may be coming in when the present "buyers" are bidding.
I can't tell you how many times I've seen the first offer be the best offer. Often a seller will reject it because they deem it too low and then go months without seeing another offer. In the end, they sell for less than what they were intially offered. Happens all the time.
A property I was set on buying didn't materialize for me... someone had their offer accepted the day mine was submitted... the buyer had a long escrow.
Every time there was a glitch... the buyer said everyone told him there was some guy just waiting to pick it up for cash and at a higher price. He wasn't going for it.
Anyway, the buyer and I connected after the sale and we exchanged stories and it was pretty much factual what both of us were being told.
Of course brokerage wanted a sale... and having me in the wings didn't hurt...
This sounds SOOO familiar to me! We also had an experience with a protracted escrow.
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