One thing that buyers have to always remember is that they can do whatever they want to do. I call the listing agent to find out if they have any offers on a home my buyer is interested in, and then convey that information to the buyer.

It is UP TO THE BUYER to tell me what they want to offer.

You have to recall that market condition drives alot of the behavior as well. In conditions like we have right now agents may indeed have several offers. Now alot of those offers may indeed suck. Alot of those offers may be present when I make the call, BUT may be gone two days after I make that call.

Similarly listing agents indeed risk scaring off buyers as well when they say they have several offers. Many buyers I know simply walk when a listing they are interested in comes back with many offers.

When people ask me, do I think the listing agent is full of sh-t or not, I do give them my opinion. In many cases, I run into agents I have worked with before and I have a good feel for the transaction, in other cases I do not. So it is kind of a crap shoot. The market conditions, in my opinion, help me determine if the listing agent is jerking us around or not. Also as previously pointed out, a better offer is not a higher offer all the time. We had a condo in Kearny Mesa recently that came in at 135k cash and a 12 day escrow and we had offers at 145k. We took the lower offer. We recently had another condo in RB where we had 9 offers in the first few days. The highest and best was on the verge of being accepted, but then exhibited behavior that made us pass on it and we took the next best offer.

None of this is to defend anyone. You should do what works for you as a buyer. Set your limits, set your strategy but moreover, know your market. If you are shopping for a home at the present, be prepared to deal with a pretty active market. Quality listings are getting alot of offers.

Just remember, nobody is forcing you to buy. Sit it out if you don’t like the climate.