Question about verbal offers (buyer's agent, contract, Realtors, listing)

[MorrisChick]

I'm hoping the Realtors on this forum will help me with this question:

Why do buyer's agents call with verbal offers and when asked to put them in writing, the offer never seems to appear?

If the buyer is serious enough in the first place [coming to see the house at least 2 times and a few have come 3 times staying for over 20 min each time] then why wouldn't they be serious enough to put it in writing and sign it?

We have stated in writing to our agent that we will not respond to verbal offers/presentations and that they must be in writing and signed.

[2bindenver]

Real Estate people who are lazy or whose buyer ask to float an offer make verbals before reducing it to writing.

[MorrisChick]

Thanks, but I don't think a real estate agent is lazy if they have trudged over to the house 2 or 3 times with their buyer. Tha doesn't seem to be it.

As far as floating an offer, I have seen that with people who have only shown up once and want to poke the bear, so to speak, I do understand that nonsense unfortunately. T

he ones I am truly curious about are the buyers who come multiple times, stay for a decent amount of time and then just have their agent call with a verbal.

Why?

[gv28]

That is unusual, not that there are people who want to throw verbal offers, but that it coming from people who are making multiple visits, and seem to be serious. Agents know they have to write up offers.

If this has happened from more than one buyer, then my speculation is there is something about the way the listing is presented that is making them think there’s not much use in making the effort. Or something about the way your agent fields it. Hopefully he is encouraging them to write it up and that he’ll present it.

[MorrisChick]

We have plenty of steady showings, the writeup seems pretty spot on and the pics are not even distorted. We have also have had several viable offers and been under contract twice. First time, we felt the deal was souring and since we had another competing offer we ditched the first right before the end of attorney review and went with the second. Then the 2nd ended up with cold feet several days later. Steadily through the process we have had a minimum of 3-4 showings per week. So we're good overall. The agent on these odd-acting buyers even saw me on the 3rd time while waiting for the buyers to show up and commented that she liked showing this house because it was clean, uncluttered, and presented well. Their agent seemed competent when I spoke to her briefly - I gave zero away about the house, why we are selling, etc.

Seriously though, this is not the first time with these verbal offers issues after people have multiple visits, brought in the relatives, and stayed for longer than 'normal' each time. It just seems a complete waste of time on everyone's part and I was hoping an agent [other than my own] would be willing to give me some insight as to why they -the agent or the buyer's- would even bother.

Is this some sort of buying tactic the buyer's agent is employing? My agent is a smart enough cookie not to flap her mouth and give anything away. She is and has been under written 'order' to tell them to put it in writing and sign it or forget it.

Like I said, I expect the odd verbal offer from someone who is not appearing serious, but I don't get it when the behavior says 'serious' buyer but offers like a non-starter instead.

[lindy112]

I've been asked to present a verbal offer before when my buyers plan on low-balling. They want me to call the listing agent and "see if the sellers will accept $_____________."

[George Chong]

In the State of Georgia, verbal offers hold no water in court. A contract must be in writing to be enforceable - otherwise it is a "he said, she said" game and the judge would kick you out of the courtroom. Offers can be submitted even on a cocktail napkin because it is in writing.

Any agent calling me up on my listing with a verbal offer would be greeted with "thank you for the verbal, I will present your offer when I have all the terms in writing."

[MikeJaquish]

We have many agents who have language barriers and want to test the waters before they labor to write an offer.
I have had to instruct agents to fix as many as 12-15 errors on their offers. I need to do that to represent my client well.
And, often, the verbal offer is just negotiating for the sport of haggling, without intent.

"Thanks, I will let you know what the buyer has to say.
It would be better to have it in writing with all the terms spelled out."

And many weaker agents only focus on the money and cannot deal with terms like "terms" and "legal description."
But, they may well be representing clients with money, so it pays to not completely discard the inquiry.
It is just part of the job as a listing agent to help the seller through the process.
Sometimes that includes teaching the agent on the other side how to write a viable offer.

[DMenscha]

I just told a listing agent that I had a 3rd offer for her on a property, and asked her if she wanted me to write it up or ask for highest and best from all 3 of my clients.

She said she would ask the seller what was preferred. She sends me back an acceptance of my 2nd offer! 3rd offer would have been for over the asking price, but She tells me "you didn't send me the 3rd offer"

I would have, but I was waiting for the answer to my question. She claims to have informed the seller of a 3rd offer, but I doubt it.

[Carson9]

In a world with writable PDFs, DocuSign, etc, there is no excuse to not write up an offer and present.

I would never take an offer seriously unless it was on paper. All brokers in my market are the same. Majority don't even take written offers seriously unless they also have pre-approvals or POF accompanied with the offers.