Its not the agent on an REO who selects the price it is some out of town asset manager. Believe me, the agent wants to sell it so he/she can get paid. Babysitting vacant REO properties for months and taking care of them is no fun and expensive (the REO agent has to pay for most maintenance items and hope for reimbursement sooner than later). REO’s are also magnets for low ball offers so they could have a pile of lousy offers too. Of course, there are some agents who play games but its not usually the REO guys who just want them sold and care alot less about the price.
Bottom line is that its not as simple as you want it all to be. As a listing agent I get constant calls from agents who say they are submitting offers and I never hear from them again. I get offers from buyers who love the house and will wait as long as the short sale approval takes but when I call a week later they bought something else. Laying the blame on the listing agent as a game player is the easy explanation but often not the correct one.
If SD R pops by, I’m pretty sure he could confirm he goes through the same thing. Its the Wild West out here on both sides of the transaction.