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Location: The Land Mass Between NOLA and Mobile, AL
1,796 posts, read 1,662,111 times
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See everything in writing. If you can't download it, you cannot read it later. I'm just posting this in the spirit of best practices. Always get a copy in writing.
If the house itself was a stretch on your budget, then the cost of owning and maintaining it probably would be too. I would consider myself lucky and not look back.
I'm guessing they only wanted your offer so they could tell the other buyer's agent they had a second offer, in an attempt to get them to raise their offer.
And the off the cuff dismissive attitude of 'it's business'. Not true.
Most business know that their word is in some cases a contracted agreement...so paperwork is just one of the ways to seal a deal.
I'm sorry OP that you were mislead.
I disagree. The OP wasn't even considering making an offer. If she is angry it should be at her own agent. A seller has a right to take the best offer, until there is an agreement in writing, that is only smart.
I'm guessing they only wanted your offer so they could tell the other buyer's agent they had a second offer, in an attempt to get them to raise their offer.
I agree, this situation happened to us. They used our offer to achieve more from their first one.
OP this has happened to me more than once. The first red flag was when you were "encouraged" to put in an offer you didn't intend to. The agent was trying to create demand for the property so that he/she could go back to the other buyer and scare them a bit, maybe get them to drop some contingencies or move up their timeline. This basically showed the seller's hand to the other buyer and told them which things were more important (quick close, more cash, whatever it was.)
Personally, I think this is kind of a crappy move, but it happens frequently and it benefits the seller. Its like saying you will go to the prom with that nice but nerdy chess club captain because you really want the star quarterback to ask you but he is acting noncommittal. Chess club doesn't think he has a chance (and really he doesn't) but he is "encouraged" to ask and for a time, it looks like he might be your date. But it doesn't end up that way.
Its very rare that I allow myself to be in a multiple offer situation as this is so common and frankly seldom worth my time. If I hear that there is another offer on the table, I either don't put mine in or withdraw. In some markets that isn't possible, but I really dislike being played this way as a buyer.
Talk about letting emotions get the better part of making a business/investment decision. Wow. Your username totally says it all.
Get a grip girlfriend!
At the end of the day, it shouldn't matter whether or not their is another offer on the table. If you like the property, and think it has potential, then place your offer according to your due diligence, and NOT according to what the other parties are thinking and doing.
Why walk away from an investment because you don't like the icky feelings that comes when your price isn't accepted?
As buyers, we simply don't need to be emotionally scarred every time our offer is rejected over another's.
It cuts both ways. In most cases, it is the buyer who reneges on the deal simply because they have so many escape clauses baked into the agreement. Here, the OP faced a discomfort for half a day. For a seller, the discomfort is much more traumatic - they come to know after days and weeks that the buyer could not get the financing through or did not like the home inspection.
And by that time, their other buyers who were showing interest have also moved on.
So where the "honor of the word" in that case??
Are we sure which half of the day the OP was in such mental duress?
Was it the half of the day when they thought their offer was accepted?
That doesn't seem likely, as most buyers are pleased when they have their offer accepted.
That only leaves the other half of the day after they found out they wouldn't be getting the house.
But was this torment really only for the half day that followed? Could it be that the wounds are still gaping and fresh from the still rather recent distraught of having their verbal offer rejected?
Just a thought, but perhaps a civil suit is the only viable solution which can alleviate the OP's pain from their battle wounds.
sorry, that was the generic "my" and the generic "you". I wasn't questioning your integrity, it was merely a statement of why we do need things in writing. We all know what our own integrity is. We never really know the other's until they have a chance to show it.
Integrity also means it's NOT okay to reconstruct and misfabricate past events in order to make it seem as if someone did something foul which they did not. Even if said person who was defamed hasn't yet disclosed their personal identity to the public.
Obviously yours and Mike J's definition of the word says something quite different, as you have both had the chance to show it, and thank you for making that clear in another post.
OK, let's try this again. I'll do it slow so everyone can understand it if they want to do so.
There is a house for sale. List price is $200k. Seller's target is $190k.
They have one offer - $175k. Good qualified buyer who really wants the house.
Then there is you. You have been talking around at $150k with your agent.
The seller's agent baits you into making that offer. $150k. ("Who knows, Susie, they might just take it . . . ")
Voila - They can now tell the $175k offeror that they are in multiple offers and he needs to raise his offer. They don't tell him that your offer is a non starter, crappy offer.
The 175k offeror comes up to the $190k seller's target - scheme worked - no one unhappy but you.
That is exactly how this works and in my opinion real estate agents not only do this often, it is one of their main strategies.
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