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I saw a listing for a condo and looked at it the second day on market. They said they were reviewing offers upon receipt rather than on a specific day. I put in a full price cash offer that day and my agent was told by the seller's agent that the seller really wanted 40K MORE than what he was asking and would I offer more. I said no and submitted my offer only to be told that the seller wouldn't look at it and instead was going to wait until Monday (this was Thursday) and have some open houses in hopes of getting other (better offers). My offer expired later that day.
Monday came and my agent was told there were 2 other offers coming in and that my offer was favored but needed to be "a little more." So..I submitted my offer again, slightly higher but including a highest offer 15K over asking with a 1K escalator clause. I assumed the three offers would be reviewed and seller would choose which he preferred and that would be that. However later on my agent called saying one of the other offers was 20K higher than mine with an escalator that brought it up another 10K and did I want to offer more.
I dropped out at that point as it really felt like they were game playing. I assume they had already gone to other buyers telling them of my offer in order to get them to offer so much over asking and then came back to me to try and get more than what others had offered. I assumed if I offered more they would just go back to the others and try to get a higher offer...ad nauseam.
It really felt like they had manipulated all of us by playing us against each other to get us to raise our offers and I wondered how likely that was and if it's ethical to behave that way (especially not choosing between the offers they had and instead trying to get more by telling buyers others had bid more).
That's what I was trying to do but I could be wrong.
Well, no one is happy in multiple offer situations.
The listing agent cannot force a deadline on their client.
Even the successful bidders are seldom really happy, as they feel they bought under duress.
It's the art of the deal. The negotiation, like a dance.
Make you're offer and don't seem anxious. The secret is to care, but not TOO much. They will use your desire and excitement against you. Don't let them.
Look them dead in the face and say. "You might advise them to take a look at my offer, because if I re-submit it, next time it will be lower". Then smile a devilish smile. Unless they have the hottest property on the market, you can bet this will get their attention. There will always be another house.
Nothing I see there is unethical. It's just the way the market is in some places right now. FWIW, you'll probably be happy you didn't get this. You'll end up with another home you like more. Things usually work out like they should. Best of luck in your search.
I don't see how it's unethical. It would be a bit shady if the seller had already agreed on the offer, then backed out and started this process, but it seems like it's still in the negotiation process. People do this all the time to dealers when negotiating to buy cars, having one dealer bid against the other. Like previous people have said, only pay what you're comfortable with and move on when you can't. There's also the possibility of the other offer falling through and they coming back to you. My next door neighbors were third on the list of offers. They started looking again, but got a call when the first offer didn't go through and the second on the list declined at the second chance.
Nothing unethical about it. The seller's agent was doing his or her job representing the seller and getting the most money and best offer for the seller.
I guess what seemed unethical (or maybe I misunderstood) is that I assumed we were all giving our best offers for final consideration and didn't expect the LA to use those offers to manipulate us into raising them after they were submitted.
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