Is it legal/ethical to make seller aware of your offer if you suspect bad faith from the seller’s agent? (negotiation, commission)
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Well in conclusion, I’ve decided I’m not going to say anything. I did find out that it was basically two ReMAX agents selling to eachother (one on the seller and one on the buyer side), so I wonder how that worked out for them (pretty good I bet).
Next question is this: to ensure this doesn’t happen again, can I just insist that I hand deliver a copy of the offer to the seller next time? Is that weird? I just want to cut out all uncertainty with the seller’s agent playing games.
As it an occasional seller, yes it's weird. I've selected my agent after my due diligence and anticipate accepting a satisfactory offer based on price and ease of dealing. Insisting on hand delivery would put me on guard that the buyer is troublesome.
As it an occasional seller, yes it's weird. I've selected my agent after my due diligence and anticipate accepting a satisfactory offer based on price and ease of dealing. Insisting on hand delivery would put me on guard that the buyer is troublesome.
“Troublesome” because they don’t blindly trust a process that has no transparency or oversight and middlemen that may be acting in their own interest?
Interesting. Here we need to provide proof the offer was presented if requested by the buyer agent. It is in our administrative rules. As such, even with 20 offers, we process all of them and have them back to the buyers. It might take a few days, but it gets done.
Our Fiduciary Duty just says it's our responsibility to present (or email) all offers unless the Seller does not want them all. I will always at minimum email the offer to the Seller for their review with a few notes.
But we have nothing that has to be given back to the Buyers agent that says it was presented or emailed to the agent. Usually I do respond with a Sorry we with a better offer email.
Many consumers engage agents partly so they don't meet the "other side." I don't know about other states, but in NC, we can ask to present our buyers' offers directly to the seller. Neither the seller nor the agent have to agree, though.
Most Sellers I've worked with would say yeah, no thanks. Send it to my agent and they can send it to me. That's why I've hired him.
Last thing most Sellers want is to talk with a Buyer who they have no relationship.
Perhaps the other offer's terms were truly better than yours and you will look crazy. I definitely wouldn't suggest saying anything about it and would leave it in past as I'm sure you will find a better house any ways as everything happens for a reason. Also, it's not all just about the price. I accepted a lower offer in the past just because it was an all cash offer with a 2 week close. In addition, for example a conventional mortgage beats FHA. A higher downpayment/deposit beats a lower one. A buyer that is able to waive the apprasial or inspections beats someone who can't. A more convenient closing date for sellers is more suitable than a buyer less flexible. In this market, if you're a buyer and have a home sale contingency your offer probably won't even be considered.
I’m at peace with it. What in my post makes you think I’m not? It was months ago and wasn’t really my “dream house” anyway. The only thing I would not be at peace with is a shady realtor misleading clients without any ramifications. What if I end up on the other side of a deal with that same realtor again in the future?
I haven't read ALL the posts in this thread (yet), but based on what I've read, I wouldn't see any harm in contacting the seller and asking them if your offer was presented and done so in an unbiased manner. You could explain that the reason for your calling them was that you learned that the house sold for considerably less than what you offered and therefore you wondered if your offer was really presented.
Don't make your comments accusatory in tone. Don't disparage the seller's realtor and don't disparage or accuse the seller of anything. The seller owes you NO explanation as to why they accepted the offer that they did, and you shouldn't attempt to pry an explanation from them. Your call should simply be informatory in nature and let the seller take it from there. If the seller is content with what they got for the house, then you need to drop the matter entirely.
OTOH, if the seller is pi$$ed off that they got talked into taking a much lower offer or not even being advised of your offer at all, then it's up to the seller to pursue the matter further if they wish to do so. You have no dog in this fight. The best you can hope for is that the seller will be adequately pi$$ed that they will initiate action against their realtor.
I haven't read ALL the posts in this thread (yet), but based on what I've read, I wouldn't see any harm in contacting the seller and asking them if your offer was presented and done so in an unbiased manner. You could explain that the reason for your calling them was that you learned that the house sold for considerably less than what you offered and therefore you wondered if your offer was really presented.
Don't make your comments accusatory in tone. Don't disparage the seller's realtor and don't disparage or accuse the seller of anything. The seller owes you NO explanation as to why they accepted the offer that they did, and you shouldn't attempt to pry an explanation from them. Your call should simply be informatory in nature and let the seller take it from there. If the seller is content with what they got for the house, then you need to drop the matter entirely.
OTOH, if the seller is pi$$ed off that they got talked into taking a much lower offer or not even being advised of your offer at all, then it's up to the seller to pursue the matter further if they wish to do so. You have no dog in this fight. The best you can hope for is that the seller will be adequately pi$$ed that they will initiate action against their realtor.
I agree. I repped the OP yesterday to say if I was the seller, I'd appreciate them reaching out to me even if it's too late. It would allow me to chew out the agent and leave a review on zillow for others to be careful of the agent.
Something stinks here, especially if I could have made more on my house.
I was a seller who accepted a lower offer. I would not want contact from the person who made the higher offer.
In my case, we had several offers that met or exceeded our hoped-for price. Out of those offers, we picked the one that fronted the most due diligence+earnest money, which as it happened was not the highest offer. We wanted a buyer who was unlikely to back out for frivolous reasons - and the buyer we picked was fronting so much money that we were reassured on this.
Incidentally, the offer we picked came from a buyer represented by a good realtor company. While this was not decisive, it was an additional small reassurance in addition to the amount the buyer fronted. I felt that with two good companies working together (my realtor company and the buyer's company) the process would be smooth and the sale would not fall through.
I was a seller who accepted a lower offer. I would not want contact from the person who made the higher offer.
In my case, we had several offers that met or exceeded our hoped-for price. Out of those offers, we picked the one that fronted the most due diligence+earnest money, which as it happened was not the highest offer. We wanted a buyer who was unlikely to back out for frivolous reasons - and the buyer we picked was fronting so much money that we were reassured on this.
Incidentally, the offer we picked came from a buyer represented by a good realtor company. While this was not decisive, it was an additional small reassurance in addition to the amount the buyer fronted. I felt that with two good companies working together (my realtor company and the buyer's company) the process would be smooth and the sale would not fall through.
I hear what you're saying. However, you are ASSUMING that ALL offers were presented to you. What if you weren't told about an offer that was say $50,000 higher than the highest offer you received and it was from a person with good credit worthiness and had no contingencies? Would you want to know about that? I sure would want to know about that if I were the seller.
Once again, it's not about grilling the seller as to why they accepted the offer that they did. It's simply ASKING the seller if this particular offer was presented. If it wasn't, then the seller just may have a bone to pick with his/her realtor. And the realtor should definitely be reported for not presenting all offers.
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