Seller's response to offer on house (Hurst, Keller: for sale, mortgage, job transfer)

[sarafinakate]

I submitted an offer yesterday on a home in Keller. The seller did not counter but instead sent a letter of "Invitation to submit again." The home just went on the market yesterday so I'm thinking they are trying to buy time to feel things out. Why not just counter? Is this type of response common in this area? I'm moving from CA and have only seen this where there are multiple offers and they ask you to submit your best. TIA

[JustDeb]

I have no idea, but I do wish you luck! Be sure to update on the house.

[loves2read]

I agree they are trying to get you to resubmit because they think your offer is too low--
you don't have to do that--
they don't want to come back with counter offer because then YOU have the ball in your court--
if another offer comes in and they have countered to you--they can't deal with the other offer until YOURS is satisfied one way or the other within the time frame
at least that is what I think about how it works in Texas
did your offer have an expiration time--like 24 or 48 hours to respond?

Did you realtor tell you how many showings the house has had--
they often use the same booking service as other realtors and can find out how busy a house has been

it is newly listed--one other house listed 5/11 in that neighborhood--and smaller house is listed as well but not comparble to one you offered on...

[jbiggs]

Originally Posted by sarafinakate

I submitted an offer yesterday on a home in Keller. The seller did not counter but instead sent a letter of "Invitation to submit again." The home just went on the market yesterday so I'm thinking they are trying to buy time to feel things out. Why not just counter? Is this type of response common in this area? I'm moving from CA and have only seen this where there are multiple offers and they ask you to submit your best. TIA

Put your agent to work and submit a new offer that is 10% below what you previously offered. Make sure you do put a required reply by date on this offer. The seller is playing games so give them something to think about as their house sits on the market for the next 12 months while they wait to get more money that it is probably worth!

[sarafinakate]

Yes, they are playing games! I did resubmit same price offer with favorable seller terms, also put deadline. The seller's realtor didn't even bother to call and to give confirmation of receipt or status. After leaving a message and a couple calls, she was able to speak with her. Seller's agent was rude and said my agent was being demanding and that the seller's were stunned by my same price (which is 95% of asking). So no counter again. Seller's agent needs a course in business and professionalism! I'm moving on...
Thanks for your response.

[TxBrn&Raised]

I could have written this myself! We went through the same situation a couple years ago. We walked away from the house because we got tired of their games. It sat on the market for 8 more months (it was on the market 3mons when we put in an offer), ended up vacant (they had to move out of state for a job transfer), with 3 price reductions....it ended up selling only 2K more than what we offered 8mons prior! We would have gone up 2K, if they would have bothered bidding with us. Good luck with your house hunt!!

[High_Plains_Retired]

If I had just placed my house", I too would be reviewing offers very carefully. Low-ball offers, if that was what your offer was, would not deserve much attention early in the game. That's just not the way business works.

[sarafinakate]

I listed my own home on the market 3 weeks ago. Within the first week I received two offers, one of them was a low-ball. My husband didn't even want me to bother with the low-ball offer but I countered anyway. Surprisingly, they countered back the next week with an acceptable offer. We are now in escrow and I'm glad I bothered with them!

[JustDeb]

Congrats on selling your house, and good luck in finding your next one.

[loves2read]

That's just not the way business works
Business does not always work efficiently or rationally---
the issue is PRICE and PRICED to MARKET--
the sellers DON'T want to reduce their price because they think they deserve more--
hogwash--no one DESERVES anything when you put soemthing up for sale in open market

While they can wait until the cows come home to take an offer--that may not be the smart choice financially or personally...frustration builds as time runs along--they can't FORCE people to come for showings or make offers--
one thing I discovered when looking for a house is that the MOST showing come in the first two weeks a house is listed--if the owners' don't get an offer they can live with and negotiate an acceptable contract then the house is likely to sit on the market for months and they will be almost forced to reduce their price as a marketing tool--to temp people who are either shopping in lower price ranges or who looked at the house initially and walked away
people who are ready to buy in that area will check that house out--and if they think it is overpriced/not desireable they will move on
only as NEW buyers enter that market niche will they start to have other shoppers come view--
can be very frustrating and scary
IF comps in the area show the house is overpriced--the an appraiser using those same comps is likely to come in with reduced mortgage value--where would the buyer be then if they made a higher-priced contract--
s/he would have to either make up the difference out of their own cash or renegotiate with the sellers who might not want to come down

the sellers in this case might be tied into an expensive mortgage--they might already be worried they are underwater on what they owe vs market price--so they don't want to have to cough up money at closing out of their pockets--maybe they don't have it to cough

there are many reasons why the sellers are acting so high-handed so most of this is just speculation
what does YOUR realtor say about the situation

we got the info that our sellers were going through divorce when we got some info about their house--
that was one reason they refused to budge on price--they could not agree on anything--
they also were using a realtor from FM and house was in Hurst--woman had no insight into the neighborhood specifically or the area in general so she could not give them informed advice


Realtors who don't know their market are the bane of buyers/sellers--and there are lot of them out there--
the higher the selling price the more the % for the realtor--sometimes that drives their conversations about offers with clients--
sometimes the sellers need higher price to cover the RE fees and what is owned to their mortgage co--

When we were buying our current house my suggestion when the sellers' would not move on price very much was to figure out what % was RE fees and offer to pay that separately at closing because I wanted to keep the price of the house as low as possible for tax valuation purposes--
when you think about it--all RE sales and inflated 6% because of RE fees/commissions--
We were paying cash and could just as easily have written three checks for closing as one--two to the realtors and one to the owners
but my husband and our agent thought that was not a good idea--