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I was a buyer and made an offer. Was told there were 3 other offers on same house. I knew it was a hot market and the home was priced well. I believed the agent. I knew there were other properties nearby that had bidding wars around that time.
It was true..the agent was no making this up. Several months later I personally met 2 of the others that made offers and they told me about their offers.
When I was selling, I had 2 interested buyers. When one of them made an offer, I contacted the other that was "on the fence" to see if they were interested, because another offer was on the table(true).
I think in hot markets, it is realistic that there are other offers or other seriously interested parties.
The OP and those with negative experiences from contacting listing agents with homes that are inappropriately priced are making an UNBELEIVABLY simple mistake -- the reason these homes are languishing is quite likely becuase the interaction between the seller and the listing agent is the MAJOR problem and trying to deal with either of them is NOT going to be productive. In a huge number of these situations there is some kind of family type relationship. Imagine this scenario: elderly aunt "hires" nice nephew / niece to "help me sell" my old home "for a good price" so I can retire to some place appropriate. Is that neice really the one to give objective wake up call that price is out of whack? Maybe it is not so dramatic -- just a brother-in-law that has been asked to help sister and husband get their place sold. Do you really think he risk alienating his family? The cousins will all get into a fight and the next Thanksgiving dinner will be a donnybrook...
If you contact the listing agent directly you get sucked right into a vortex of doom. It is all emotion and desperation. If you at least have a buyer's agent that you know will keep LOGIC and business sense alive then MAYBE there is glimmer of hope that a detached third party will get to shoulder the bad news that the windfall the seller was hoping for ain't ever gonna materialize. Instead the brother-in-law being the "bad guy" and forever having to gnaw on burned turkey wings he has a shot of laying the blame on "that son of gun from Acme Real Estate" so that he still has a shot of sitting at the grown ups table come turkey day....
Well, the house I was talking about I found myself and asked my realtor "to show me" (open the lock on the door)... We walked. I wasn't really impressed. I mean 2 houses 200 ft away were listed 40K below... I would consider that house for lower price, so we looked and left.
It was 3-4 months ago.
I don't use that realtor any longer, and due to low inventory, I would be willing to get that house, but of course for lower price. I called listing agent and was told the same thing my realtor was told months before....
I guess they have cash offer on the table (but how long cash buyer is willing to wait???) for the price I am willing to pay with loan - maybe a little higher than cash offer.
The house I am talking about was purchased by investor who didn't spend anything into upgrades, and asking for $100K profit...
I still think realtors are trying to play games in that low inventory market. That's all.
Get ready for realtors attact You just had a bad luck with realtors, because they were not from this forum and it looks like only realtors on this forum are good - the rest of them are not good
I agree with you. I called listing agent of the house I am interested in. It priced about $40K over recently sold houses within the same neighborhood (the same floor plan) and on the market for 5 months now. It was purchased 8 months ago for the price lower than asking price by $100K on the auction and "renovated"... According to zillow pictures posted before it was purchased, all renovation include new cheap fridge and paint outside... Anyways, I saw that house go into contract and within 2 weeks it came back with the same asking price.
So, I called to see what's going on. My guess house was appraised for less and buyer walked away. It wasn't a cash buyer.
So, I told them I am very interested and received - we have another offer on the table, all cash... 2 weeks later house is still on the market...
I'm not sure what your problem is with the agents here. For the most part, the agents that post here seem very client oriented, knowledgeable, and skilled. There are plenty of other good agents out there in the world but there are far more bad and mediocre agents out there. It's easy to have bad luck choosing an agent. The odds are not in your favor.
I don't have a problem with agents here. It just too funny that everyone (agents) here is a smart and good working ones and I met only bad guys (and girls)... Realtors on this forum know everything, but in my real world - not even close to everything.
I asked many time for a help. I don't want to get referral for a "good agent", I want to know how to choose! What to expect? What to ask him/her? I've been using family friends, co-worker recommended agents, randomly picked ones online - all the same, non of them being as good as this forum realtors...
That's why I wrote to OP to be ready for comments like "you had bad realtor" or "something wrong with you" and guess what? this is exactly what we heard from forum realtors
I've gor few possitive ratings for my first post. I bet it's npt from forum agents
Reas and Realtors often have "pocket buyers". These are potential buyers who have formed a business relationship (formal or informal) with the REA or Realtor. Their agreement is that when a certain property, or any property gets and offer or "interest" that potential buyer gets notified right away.
So you expressed interest and voila, that pocket buyer got a phone call and now there is that cash buyer in the wings. It happens and often.
I am not getting it... what is the benefit? Why realtors had to wait for someone with interest first? why they didn't contact their pocket buyer and let property sit on the market for a while? what's the point?
I think in hot markets, it is realistic that there are other offers or other seriously interested parties.
I think it's true, but not for the house that being on the market for some time... as soon as we showed interest, other offer came, and house is still on the market after us walking away...
I am not getting it... what is the benefit? Why realtors had to wait for someone with interest first? why they didn't contact their pocket buyer and let property sit on the market for a while? what's the point?
Good point. If agents have people sitting on the sidelines waiting for a call, then those people are not really buyers. They're just being used to drive up the bidding. Of course, that's if such people exist at all. We've seen this tactic used multiple times and we tend to walk away. In our area, there are too many homes on the market and life is too short to deal with this baloney.
BTW, we are using comps for the last three months. Plus, we're talking about condos here, so it's far easier to make comparisons than it is for single-family homes. And we are not in a hot market. Lukewarm would be more like it.
Do you ever wonder why all of these things seem to happen only to you?
Not only to them. happened to us, too. RE agents don't have a good reputation as a general rule, at least that has been my experience and is my opinion. The real estate broker business model is really outdated.
There is only one reason in our market why some houses are sitting and sitting and sitting around with fake cash offers.... because these houses are oversold! Everything priced reasonably are going into contract within 24-48 hours with the bidding wars... In that case I belive in pocket buyers who really want to get houses as soon as houses listed.
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You just had a bad luck with realtors, because they were not from this forum and it looks like only realtors on this forum are good - the rest of them are not good 
