Are selling agents part of the problem?

[NotCranky]

Raptorduck,
Thanks for the honest scoop on your situation. Good for you for giving your agent the dignity that you have. Buying RE is always a process. What you have shared of your’s so far, and my experience tends to make me think that if you don’t give it a break for a while, you will be in business soon.
I for one hope you continue to keep us posted.

Best wishes,

[Ricechex]

On the phoney offers….a friend of mine wanted to buy a house for $699K. She was concerned about the sale of her house, and if she could pull it off in today’s market. She made a full price offer, and had the inspection done. She was told that right after her offer, someone came in and made a full price cash offer. The agent told her how lucky she was to have put in her offer first. Red flag here. The inspection revealed some deficiencies, she was afraid her present house would not sell for the desired amount, so she decided to hold out, and withdrew her offer.

Well, wouldn’t ya know it….here comes the agent, tells her that the sellers will knock $40K off the price to fix the problems. She asked what happenned to the full price cash offer? Wow, making a full cash offer for a $699K house would suggest to me that someone REALLY wants it, especially since it was less than a week from the inspection to withdrawal of the offer. Seems pretty obvious that the agent was lying.

I really cannot stand the manipulations and scams. Who can you trust these days to be honest?

[Ricechex]

On the phoney offers….a friend of mine wanted to buy a house for $699K. She was concerned about the sale of her house, and if she could pull it off in today’s market. She made a full price offer, and had the inspection done. She was told that right after her offer, someone came in and made a full price cash offer. The agent told her how lucky she was to have put in her offer first. Red flag here. The inspection revealed some deficiencies, she was afraid her present house would not sell for the desired amount, so she decided to hold out, and withdrew her offer.

Well, wouldn’t ya know it….here comes the agent, tells her that the sellers will knock $40K off the price to fix the problems. She asked what happenned to the full price cash offer? Wow, making a full cash offer for a $699K house would suggest to me that someone REALLY wants it, especially since it was less than a week from the inspection to withdrawal of the offer. Seems pretty obvious that the agent was lying.

I really cannot stand the manipulations and scams. Who can you trust these days to be honest?

[nostradamus]

Trust yourself. Why do people rely so heavily on agents? It’s not rocket science. It’s YOUR money.

[nostradamus]

Trust yourself. Why do people rely so heavily on agents? It’s not rocket science. It’s YOUR money.

[NotCranky]

I agree with nostradamus. In business you have to set your own parameters and verify that they are met to your standards or better. If you get feedback from third parties, which is inevitable, then you have to decide on the veracity of it and how it reflects against your parameters. As much as many people love to hate RE agents, many more put them up on a pedestal(Yes some are better than others at getting up there).

[NotCranky]

I agree with nostradamus. In business you have to set your own parameters and verify that they are met to your standards or better. If you get feedback from third parties, which is inevitable, then you have to decide on the veracity of it and how it reflects against your parameters. As much as many people love to hate RE agents, many more put them up on a pedestal(Yes some are better than others at getting up there).

[stansd]

This is probably a rookie question, but is there no way to call the bluff of a so called offer that doesn’t exist? Is there anyway to get them to put that fact in writing, or something of the sort to verify it?

I’ve heard so many stories about this happening-it’s a classic case of assymetric information, and usually when that’s the case, there is enough of an incentive for someone who isn’t bluffing to come up with the goods to demonstrate they are being truthful.

Stan

[stansd]

This is probably a rookie question, but is there no way to call the bluff of a so called offer that doesn’t exist? Is there anyway to get them to put that fact in writing, or something of the sort to verify it?

I’ve heard so many stories about this happening-it’s a classic case of assymetric information, and usually when that’s the case, there is enough of an incentive for someone who isn’t bluffing to come up with the goods to demonstrate they are being truthful.

Stan

[VoZangre]

Ricechex comment…

bein an uber-green noob… it makes me wonder of there are not ways to bypass an agent if one thinks they are fishy… but then again… i would think they’d be in cahoots with an owner. ( They discuss- “We’ll see if we cant get him/her to offer more.”)

Or would they? I mean … would someone REALLY brashly lie w/o the sellers knowledge? Cos in that scenario, if the seller KNEW, why would they then come back and offer 40k for repairs?

[VoZangre]

Ricechex comment…

bein an uber-green noob… it makes me wonder of there are not ways to bypass an agent if one thinks they are fishy… but then again… i would think they’d be in cahoots with an owner. ( They discuss- “We’ll see if we cant get him/her to offer more.”)

Or would they? I mean … would someone REALLY brashly lie w/o the sellers knowledge? Cos in that scenario, if the seller KNEW, why would they then come back and offer 40k for repairs?

[NotCranky]

Stan, as far as I know it doesn’t happen. It wouldn’t be proper to reveal the names of the offeror and for negotiations sake you don’t want to put out the word as to price if the offer is low.Unfortunately , some agents hide behind the reasonable expectation of privacy. The buyer’s agent should be able to give reasonable feedback as to how much sense the supposed offer makes with respect to the property and market conditions.

I think I can tell when the agent is full of beans. Like the OP, I am not usually prone to sticking around to find out but it can be a bit of a dilema. In 2003-2004 you were not going to get some of the best properties unless you played the game without knowing whether it was legit or not.(whether it was a good idea or not being another question)

For cutting to the chase, I am a big fan of the “letter of intent”. It is a one page non-binding offer to purchase at stated terms and conditions. I have at times sent as many as five of them out on properties without actually having looked at them….more if I have looked at the properties.

[NotCranky]

Stan, as far as I know it doesn’t happen. It wouldn’t be proper to reveal the names of the offeror and for negotiations sake you don’t want to put out the word as to price if the offer is low.Unfortunately , some agents hide behind the reasonable expectation of privacy. The buyer’s agent should be able to give reasonable feedback as to how much sense the supposed offer makes with respect to the property and market conditions.

I think I can tell when the agent is full of beans. Like the OP, I am not usually prone to sticking around to find out but it can be a bit of a dilema. In 2003-2004 you were not going to get some of the best properties unless you played the game without knowing whether it was legit or not.(whether it was a good idea or not being another question)

For cutting to the chase, I am a big fan of the “letter of intent”. It is a one page non-binding offer to purchase at stated terms and conditions. I have at times sent as many as five of them out on properties without actually having looked at them….more if I have looked at the properties.

[SD Realtor]

Raptor (and others)….

I really love to play hold em. It is a great game. You sit around a table and everyone sits there and tries to take each others money. While cards in general indicates a game of chance and luck… many card games involve skill including calculating odds and expected payout to determine if your wager is worth making. Now, the best thing about hold em is that you can play for free with the exception of having to ante if you are the big or little blind. One thing that any seasoned player will tell you is that you need to take emotion out of your game in order to succeed.

The point of the that analogy is that when you are thinking of buying a home you should not let external influences cloud your judgement or strategy. You have the freedom to send in an offer AT ANY TIME AT YOUR PRICE. It costs you nothing. Raptor your strategy is not much different then many clients I have. I often wonder why they draw such a hard line if they find out others are interested in the home they like. It happens alot, we see a home and they want to make an offer. They ask me to call the listing agent and feel them out or see if they have interest. Of course 99% of the time, the listing agent says yeah we have had LOTs of activity or an offer is coming or we have an offer. Pretty much none of the time the agent says, no the home is dead and nobody has shown up….So then the buyer gets discouraged and says “well okay we really like it but I am not going to get caught up if they have offers. The house sat for 67 days and all of the sudden they get offers.. I think they are playing me! There agent is full of crap!”

My response is always the same, “So what?”

Invariably the answer is one of emotion and an almost self righteous response. “Well I don’t want to get in a bidding war. I don’t want to play that game… I don’t want to be used to get someone elses bid higher.”

Again, my question is the same, “So what?”

The bottom line is when you really peel the onion, if you are a buyer and your strategy gets deterred because the other agent says something about other offers, then you are basing your decision on emotion. Which is okay! I understand that. However don’t blame the other side for you not getting the home. It is not their fault. If you never made the offer, you never can blame the other side for not accepting it. You see what I mean? You can put blame on the other guys agent or the other guy himself or whatever, but in the end, it was your decision not to make the offer, not his or not the agents.

Look Raptor, it is 100% free of charge to make offers.. I understand you have your own principles… That is fine… but if you really liked the 5 properties then you should have made 5 offers. Don’t worry about what the other agent says… If you love the home implement the strategy you and your agent have come up with and write the offer… if they don’t accept it… move on… you’ll find another home you love.

I would bet on it.

SD Realtor

[SD Realtor]

Raptor (and others)….

I really love to play hold em. It is a great game. You sit around a table and everyone sits there and tries to take each others money. While cards in general indicates a game of chance and luck… many card games involve skill including calculating odds and expected payout to determine if your wager is worth making. Now, the best thing about hold em is that you can play for free with the exception of having to ante if you are the big or little blind. One thing that any seasoned player will tell you is that you need to take emotion out of your game in order to succeed.

The point of the that analogy is that when you are thinking of buying a home you should not let external influences cloud your judgement or strategy. You have the freedom to send in an offer AT ANY TIME AT YOUR PRICE. It costs you nothing. Raptor your strategy is not much different then many clients I have. I often wonder why they draw such a hard line if they find out others are interested in the home they like. It happens alot, we see a home and they want to make an offer. They ask me to call the listing agent and feel them out or see if they have interest. Of course 99% of the time, the listing agent says yeah we have had LOTs of activity or an offer is coming or we have an offer. Pretty much none of the time the agent says, no the home is dead and nobody has shown up….So then the buyer gets discouraged and says “well okay we really like it but I am not going to get caught up if they have offers. The house sat for 67 days and all of the sudden they get offers.. I think they are playing me! There agent is full of crap!”

My response is always the same, “So what?”

Invariably the answer is one of emotion and an almost self righteous response. “Well I don’t want to get in a bidding war. I don’t want to play that game… I don’t want to be used to get someone elses bid higher.”

Again, my question is the same, “So what?”

The bottom line is when you really peel the onion, if you are a buyer and your strategy gets deterred because the other agent says something about other offers, then you are basing your decision on emotion. Which is okay! I understand that. However don’t blame the other side for you not getting the home. It is not their fault. If you never made the offer, you never can blame the other side for not accepting it. You see what I mean? You can put blame on the other guys agent or the other guy himself or whatever, but in the end, it was your decision not to make the offer, not his or not the agents.

Look Raptor, it is 100% free of charge to make offers.. I understand you have your own principles… That is fine… but if you really liked the 5 properties then you should have made 5 offers. Don’t worry about what the other agent says… If you love the home implement the strategy you and your agent have come up with and write the offer… if they don’t accept it… move on… you’ll find another home you love.

I would bet on it.

SD Realtor

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