Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There is no one strategy that always works when writing up an offer. It's market specific as well as property specific. You may be in a slow market where buyers are generally buying houses at 90% of list price. However, there may be a seller who puts their house on the market at a very low price and it may be advisable to pay closer to list price if you have the possibility of getting involved in a dual offer situation. You would know what you should do only after having studied the market.
Your buyer broker should be educating you with respect to what's common in your market. He should be providing you with various reports that you can take home and look at. He should also be providing you with comparable sales for any property that you might be writing an offer on. That way you will know what is typical for your market, overall, as well as knowing how any one particular property is priced for that market. That's why you signed a buyer's broker agreement in order to be represented properly.
If you feel that your agent isn't helping you in that respect then you should look into trying to get that agreement voided. The fact that you came to this forum to get your questions answered tells me that your agent is doing a lousy job.
I can't speak specifically for your area; however, here in Idaho Realtors are required to present all written offers. I have had several occasions where I submitted offers that I didn't expect to get accepted were accepted. I have had sellers tell me they won't accept less then "X" and then an offer comes in less and sometimes they don't even counter offer.
I suggest talking to the agent's broker and explain the agents lack of actual representation on your behalf to see what they offer to do on your behalf.
A huge part of a Realtor's job is negotiating for their clients and yet very few of my clients have ever bothered to ask me before they hire me about my strategies. I wish more consumer's would!
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
