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When I sold a home about 4 years ago we had several offers of full price and the buyers were all well qualified and we went to highest sealed bid......its not uncommon with multiple offers....remember its the selling agents job to get the most for their seller.....our home sold for several thousand over asking price
I think his gripe was his Realtor told him there were no offers. Then he made his offer and all of a sudden other offers appear apparently out of thin air. That would drive me crazy too. Before an offer is made, the buyer's agent should be able to get a simple answer to a direct question. Are there, or are there not, any offers on the table.
An agent called me today with that question on one of my listings. The answer was I have a verbal promise of an offer, but nothing in writing. In other words, just tell it like it is. Not too much to ask, seemingly.
I think his gripe was his Realtor told him there were no offers. Then he made his offer and all of a sudden other offers appear apparently out of thin air. That would drive me crazy too. Before an offer is made, the buyer's agent should be able to get a simple answer to a direct question. Are there, or are there not, any offers on the table.
An agent called me today with that question on one of my listings. The answer was I have a verbal promise of an offer, but nothing in writing. In other words, just tell it like it is. Not too much to ask, seemingly.
-Marc
Marc (and everyone, sans Wiley) thanks for your comments.
You are correct in that I am peeved at my agent for allowing us to go down the path of distrust on this potential deal. In addition, when we asked if it is logical to assume that our offer is the stronger of the two since we were countered, he replied - oh, they countered the other guy at the same price. Really??? What if we both accept?
If this house doesn't work out for us I will be jettisoning him.
Secondly, I am pissed at the nonsense of their agent trying to play off my offer vs. another in the manner that I described. Quite frankly, at this point the other offer doesn't matter. I may or may not decide to up my initial offer, or wait. Like you said, there is always another house out there. (Especially in today's market).
i mean the realtors can't be making much in this transaction why blame them? for every 10,000 dollar price difference, their commision jumps by $600. berries compared to oranges. its the seller that is being dramatic in this game who is trying to max out on his profit.
BTW, If this is new development, most honest sellers takes the first offer. on the other hand for resales I am not sure any seller plays such a dirty game in a terrible market.
Marc (and everyone, sans Wiley) thanks for your comments.
You are correct in that I am peeved at my agent for allowing us to go down the path of distrust on this potential deal. In addition, when we asked if it is logical to assume that our offer is the stronger of the two since we were countered, he replied - oh, they countered the other guy at the same price. Really??? What if we both accept?
If this house doesn't work out for us I will be jettisoning him.
Secondly, I am pissed at the nonsense of their agent trying to play off my offer vs. another in the manner that I described. Quite frankly, at this point the other offer doesn't matter. I may or may not decide to up my initial offer, or wait. Like you said, there is always another house out there. (Especially in today's market).
Thanks again.
ok, ok... I was just playing . Just one word of advice..ok, maybe two . 1. Don't get sucked into a bidding war during a buyer's market! and 2. Unless you really love the house, then just make sure you are paying what it's worth in today's market.
Option - maybe a gamble: You could just sit back..wait and see if they are really full of BS and if the "SOLD" sign never appears, go back in a few months from now and make an offer way below what your first offer was.
im also trying to buy in this current "buyers" market, and have now lost out on 2 properties...the first because despite having acceptance on our offer, the sellers tried to be greedy on the property they were purchasing, and messed about reducing their offer on their previously accepted purchase price, and the whole chain ended up falling through, and the second, because the sellers of the property we were trying to buy couldnt accept that our best offer was below what they owed on the property (despite our offer being very close to list price).
the last thing you want when you manage to find that "perfect" home is to end up being messed about by agents or sellers playing games.
personally i would probably walk away from your current situation...the last thing you want to do is to end up paying over the odds for a property right now by overbidding due to competition...as wiley suggests, if luck is on your side, and the property doesnt sell, you can always go back to the owners in a few months and make a lower offer (incidentally, this is what we did on the first property we offered on, and ended up getting an offer of 30% BELOW list accepted...ok, the deal fell through, but for totally different reasons).
My agent (from Foxtons - says alot) never told me an offer was made on my house when I was selling. We only found out later when that same buyer contacted us directly after listing expired. Nice, right? Cant even trust agents.
Walk away..No use in fighting over home. We are looking now. Every week we find something new we like. Any issues we have we them, we just move on.
Someone is obviously lying to you, and it's clear they think they can jerk you around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xmonger
The seller's agent told my agent that in order to be "fair" they will accept "closed/sealed bids" from the remaining two and the seller will go with the highest. WTF
In the meantime, they countered my offer.
LOL ... the infamous "closed bid" process. Yeah sure, because sellers aren't interested in getting the highest price, they're interested in being fair.
Nobody who wants the highest price would organize a "closed bid". There's a reason why auction houses conduct open and transparent bidding. With very few exceptions, the myth of the "closed bid" is nothing more than a charade run by realtors.
In this market, I would recommend you offer a price you're comfortable with, and put a tight deadline (e.g. max 2 days) on the offer. Expect a counter, and put an even tighter deadline on any counter offer you make, and make it clear it's your final offer. Then walk away.
In these troubled economic times, when we've seen nearly 10% stock market swings in a single day, and we're whipsawing from deflation to hyperinflation based on the next bout of bad news and unpredictable government response, there is absolutely no reason you should leave an offer sitting out there for very long. Hence the practical importance of why you need tight deadlines, and why you need to send a clear signal that you're not in this to play games while the seller tries to see what direction the market is heading in, or whether any better offers arise.
Anyone who has had their house on the market for even 1 day (let alone 6 months) should have had plenty of time to consider the various permutations and combinations of price/contingencies that offers might contain, and they don't need a whole lot of time to make up their minds about how they want to decide. Giving them time just gives them a chance to play games like this.
In this case, I think you should offer the price you are comfortable with, not a penny more, and put a tight expiration date on your offer (keep in mind, your original offer is already rejected at this point, so it's up to you to make a "new" offer that they can accept, even if it contains identical terms as the first). To allow the seller to save some face, you might consider increasing by a token 1K or something like that, and then just make the offer with your tight deadline.
Then be prepared to walk away, and keep thinking about the discounts in the mail this coming fall/winter. My guess is, if the seller doesn't accept your offer outright, he'll come crawling back to you before long.
Don't fall in love with anything that can't love you back (i.e. a house). Plenty of fish in the sea. Enjoy the feeling of that fat stash you have in cold hard cash a little longer.
Enjoy the feeling of that fat stash you have in cold hard cash a little longer.
Too bad that stash is making 1-3% at best right now.
(assuming in a savings or safe money market)
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What if we both accept? 
. Just one word of advice..ok, maybe two 
