Does our Realtor suck or are my expectations off?

[Jeff7181]

I'm new to the whole house hunting thing and I'm getting the feeling that our Realtor isn't doing a good job.

Basically, found a house that we really liked. Made an offer above list price. 24 hours went by with no response, asked my Realtor for an update, she basically said there's been no response from the seller's agent. 48 hours went by and she tells us they went with another offer. No opportunity to adjust our offer, no counter offer, not even any clue if there were other offers.

I don't think my offer was insulting - I offered above list price, afterall. If I was a seller, I'd want to give serious buyers the opportunity to bid against each other. Are my expectations off? Isn't that how the industry works? What if I was willing to increase my offer above the one they accepted?

Basically... I'm thinking my Realtor dropped the ball. Didn't stay in contact with the seller's agent and didn't appropriately express our interest in the house. Is my assessment correct?

 

[KeithTalent]

If they already had an accepted offer, then that offer gets priority. Your offer would be a fall back if the first one fell through for financing reasons or whatever. Could be that is what happened.

KT

 

[cbrsurfr]

Did you have any contingencies? House to sell? Financing? Inspection? Conventional loan or FHA? The other offer could have been all cash and they'd rather have a sure thing. Timing is everything as well. I missed out on a house because I had my realtor ask the other realtor some questions and in the mean time someone just put together an offer quicker.

On another house a couple came through while I was touring it and wrote an offer for 60K under asking in the driveway while I was still going through it. Offer was accepted.

You can't get your heart set on a house until all the paperwork is signed and you get the keys.

For the house I ended up buying, I made sure I had the pre-approval letter in hand and the offer ready to be signed. I had my realtor call the listing agent immediately and tell him an offer was coming in as soon as she could get to a fax.

 

[jersiq]

Sometimes sellers do strange things and it has nothing to do with the realtors at all. Seller may have been completely happy with the other offer and accepted it. The only thing a sellers realtor can do is advise, not force a situation.

 

[arkcom]

The only thing a sellers realtor can do is advise, not force a situation.

And the buyers Realtor can't do a thing (with regard to what the seller does).

 

[BoomerD]

Why would they play the "counter offer" game with you if they had a competing bid that was more in line with what they wanted?

The real estate scam is about the only buy/sell game in which an item can be listed for sale at $XXX...but they can refuse to sell it for $XXX...and will often hold out for more money, better terms from the buyer, etc.

If Best Buy or Costco tried that shit selling consumer goods, they'd be sued into bankruptcy.

 

[torpid]

In your offer how long did you give them to respond before the offer was void? Our realtor made sure to put that in our offer letters and made sure we knew about it. Aside from that, most of what you describe could have been the seller's realtor not being adequately communicative.

 

[RaistlinZ]

The other offer must have been very attractive, so attractive that doing a bidding war wasn't worth the seller's time. Not much your agent could do about that.

 

[Fern]

-snip-

I don't think my offer was insulting - I offered above list price, afterall. If I was a seller, I'd want to give serious buyers the opportunity to bid against each other. Are my expectations off? Isn't that how the industry works? What if I was willing to increase my offer above the one they accepted?

Basically... I'm thinking my Realtor dropped the ball. Didn't stay in contact with the seller's agent and didn't appropriately express our interest in the house. Is my assessment correct?

First, you need to familiarize yourself with the rules in your state.

Some states (FL, IIRC) has a law that says the seller must consider each offer independently. I.e., when the first offer comes in they must decide to accept or reject before moving on to see and consider offer #2.

In my state, as I understand it, the seller can just collect them all, take the highest of the bunch no matter what order it came in at or attempt to start a bidding war.

Secondly, sometimes the price is not the only factor. Some potential buyers' can better assure the seller that their purchase loan app will be approved. Others cannot.

So, at this point, IMO, there's too little to indicate that this is your realtor's fault.

Fern

 

[Meghan54]

Have to agree with the general consensus here. It matters little what either agent does, it's all up to the actual seller as to what is accepted or rejected.

For instance, when we bought our house, we were not the highest bidder on it. Another offer was made a few days before we made our offer. Ours was accepted and we think it was primarily because we were paying cash vs. having to dick around with financing.

 

[maddogchen]

My guess is that you got plain outbid, by a LOT! That they didn't even bother going back to the other bidders to start a bidding war. It just plain bowled them over and they jumped on it.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Guessing here. You are doing and FHA loan?

If so, I also wouldn't except your offer if any other offer came in.

BUT: When you make an offer, there is usually a 24 hour response time requirement. They should have given you an answer within 24 hours.

 

[richardycc]

yes, she dropped the ball. Is she new? how can you not get a response, did she just fax in the offer and wait for a response? everyone has a cellphone now, especially Realtors, did it occur to her to try to call the listing agent to find out what's up? I used to be a Realtor, so I know what I am talking about.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

there are lots of reasons why you wouldnt get a counter, but it sounds like your agent should have communicated better.

i am sure your agent is as disappointed you didnt get it as you are

 

[Jeff7181]

I'll try to answer most questions that were asked...

The other offer was not accepted first - my realtor confirmed that at the time of submitting the offer.
The only contingency was a home inspection.
I asked for 3% toward closing costs.
The preapproval is for a 3% down conventional.
No expiration was given for the offer.

Supposedly the agent will let us know if the offer they accepted falls through for some reason. My realtor said she believes we were close and it was probably the 3% from the seller towards closing that swayed them. But without the seller's agent providing any more info, I have no real idea. I suppose next time I won't ask for the 3%.

 

[dartworth]

Everything that has to do with buying and selling a house in the US is a scam.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I'll try to answer most questions that were asked...

The other offer was not accepted first - my realtor confirmed that at the time of submitting the offer.
The only contingency was a home inspection.
I asked for 3% toward closing costs.
The preapproval is for a 3% down conventional.
No expiration was given for the offer.

Supposedly the agent will let us know if the offer they accepted falls through for some reason. My realtor said she believes we were close and it was probably the 3% from the seller towards closing that swayed them. But without the seller's agent providing any more info, I have no real idea. I suppose next time I won't ask for the 3%.

Hard to know for sure. The seller doesn't really even have to respond back to you, if they want to just be jerks. Your realtor can ask and ask, but if the seller doesn't respond they just don't respond.

I'm guessing you are better off. If the other offer was *that* good you likely would have ended up way out of your budget range if you got into a bidding war.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I'll try to answer most questions that were asked...

The other offer was not accepted first - my realtor confirmed that at the time of submitting the offer.
The only contingency was a home inspection.
I asked for 3% toward closing costs.
The preapproval is for a 3% down conventional.
No expiration was given for the offer.

Supposedly the agent will let us know if the offer they accepted falls through for some reason. My realtor said she believes we were close and it was probably the 3% from the seller towards closing that swayed them. But without the seller's agent providing any more info, I have no real idea. I suppose next time I won't ask for the 3%.

Where can you get that today? I only know of FHA loans that can let people buy with 3% down.

 

[Jeff7181]

Where can you get that today? I only know of FHA loans that can let people buy with 3% down.

It's common these days. At least where I live.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

It's common these days. At least where I live.

California?

USA?

 

[BoomerD]

California?

USA?

Dude...

Location: SE Michigan

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Dude...

HA!