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And you will miss out on some valuable clients. When I worked as an agent my first buyer was a young man in his late 20's looking to buy his first place. The local market was hot at the time. He was a financially conservative and a bit uncertain about buying a place. He lost a few houses that first summer we worked together because his offers were not high enough. He'd call me up every so often and want to see a house. We went. We submitted a few more low offers. He finally bought his first house a couple of years later after he learned the market and was more financially secure.
A few years after that he was ready to sell that place as he was now married. I sold it for him for a nice little profit (and happened to sell it myself at an open house--odd thing), and I helped him and his new wife purchase a larger place. Moral of the story--that "low-ball" buyer you will dismiss may bring you the gold. In my case my low-ball buyer turned into about $750,000 in sales (which is a lot in my area). He also recommended me to numerous buyers and sellers over the years. Conservatively he was probably responsible for at least one sale a year for me.
Agreed. I think as a newer agent you takes 'em as you can gets 'em. As an agent when you gain more experience you get better at picking the ones that will be worth your time and the ones to cut loose early on. One of my best buyers that became a good friend I worked with for about 3 years before he bought. Same story as yours, bought a home above average price in my market and has referred plenty of clients my way over the years. I even went to his wedding.
I've had several similar stories but he stands out.
OP, sorry to have derailed your thread. We didn't cover list side. If I'm the seller agent I treat it like every other offer. We are happy to have and consider it a starting point. We counter like we would any other offer. If it goes somewhere, great. If not, we didn't lose much time since I just do a verbal response on those lowballs. I'd take a lowball over no offer any day. I just warn my buyers it may be counter productive because some sellers get offended if they don't have a good agent to keep them in line. And sometimes the agents are the bad ones because the get offended or emotional...they forget it's not their home and not their decision. If their client is happy they should be too, the agents job is to take emotion out and make it a simple business decision. Does this offer work for you and if not what number would?
I told my agent I would not sell below my listing price and to inform buyers of that up front.
I also told him he could laugh at low offers and at people's claims that he was obligated by law to bring those offers to me.
Your speaking about the agent representing the seller. The OP is speaking about the agent representing the buyer.
Sellers can tell their agents to not bring them offers below XX dollars. However, that has no bearing on the buyer's right to make the offer. The offer is made and the agent rejects it. No problem.
the only "lowball" offers/wastes of time are when a Buyer in a hot market insists on an offer below list price when you already know you're the 3rd or more offer.
A huge part of our responsibility is not to be an order taker, rather to be an educator. After providing a sound education, if the client insists on us being an order taker, then we have choices - take that order time and again if necessary, or find someone who more appreciates the expertise and education that we provide.
Is this the same house you re-financed and had trouble with the comps?
Yes, that was 2009. Since at that time there were no comps in the town in regards to house size and lot size (acreage). Fortunately there are now and all are priced much higher per sq ft than we listed at.
I made what my agent considered a lowball offer on the home I'm living in now. He fought with me on my offer. I told him point blank that x was my offer and he had to present it. He did by law. He said he was doing it under protest. A few hours later, my offer was accepted and there was no counter offer.
This house had not been touched in 25+ years. The 1980's country wallpaper scared a lot of people. Small bathrooms and the original 1942 kitchen were not what people wanted. I wanted a small project and got it for a steal in my area.
The sellers had already moved out of the house and bought a new home. This one was on the marker for 4 months and over 40 people looked at it. I was the only one to even consider an offer.
I also received a credit back at closing because of issues found in the inspection. They paid a significant portion of the closing costs as well.
Now that I've been here 2 1/2 years, I KNOW I did not over pay for this house at all nor did I over pay for it. There are a number of issues it has partially due to age and partially due to lack of maintenance by the previous owners. Roofs don't last for 35 years!
In my current house, I wanted to make an offer, and the seller's agent sniffed and said it was too low, and she wasn't interested in submitting it. I found my own agent, and he made the offer for me. The seller countered, I accepted.
I like MikeJaquish's thinking! You just never know.
Yes, that was 2009. Since at that time there were no comps in the town in regards to house size and lot size (acreage). Fortunately there are now and all are priced much higher per sq ft than we listed at.
An offer is an invitation to begin negotiations. Every offer should get a response. Some buyers feel they have to make a first attempt at getting a steal just like some sellers feel they have to overprice initially "just in case". I've seen some very wide gaps bridged with unemotional negotiating.
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