What to do about home offer not responded to?

Question

Here is my problem:

I put an offer in on a home last week Wednesday (August.29,2007), Finally on Friday, August.31,2007 the listing agent faxed a letter to my agaent stating that the home had another offer submitted that day. The letter did not state that the other persons offer was higher or lower than mine. All it stated was that I should at my discretion resubmit my highest possible offer, which I then bumped up my offer by $8,500 more. (Now my current offer is 5% less than the listing price).

I decided to do a little investication. I pretended to be someone else and called the listing agents office, and asked "Are there any pending offers and is the home still available?", they told me that there was no pending offers and the hoem was still available.

Am I being tricked into offering more money so that the listing agent can get more commission?

(My agent is my fathers friend, very trusting)
(THIS IS A BANK OWNED HOME!)

Should I heard a response form the bank yet?

Answer 1

First, before you do anything else, WITHDRAW all offers on this house. Do that before you tunnel down to the underlying facts. Something is fishy here (as you suspect) and the first thing you need to do is start with a clean slate. An offer stays open until you withdraw it, unless you have put in a time limit, so you need to formally withdraw all pending offers.

Then, if you are still interested in the house, find out what is going on. Did you actually see the fax that your agent got? Or is there a chance he was mistaken about which property was involved? Or, is there something shady being pulled by the listing agent? I can't know yet, but you need to find out who really said what. It could be, of course, that there was another offer, and the listing agent's statement about no offers was an error. Or there could have been an offer that was later withdrawn, or that fell through because of problems with the mortgage or the inspection. (Bank owned houses often have inspection problems.)

Finally, when you really understand what is going on, consider reinstating an offer, probably at your original price. Give them 24 or at most 48 hours to accept it. Then, if you don't hear back, move on. You don't need to buy trouble.

Good luck!!

Answer 2

The home is stil available. It isn't under contract.

The bank asked you for your highest and best offer, which is common with foreclosures. It cuts to the chase instead of wasting a bunch of time going back and forth.

The seller's agent doesn't have to tell you why your offer wasn't accepted. Your orginal offer just wasn't good enough -- and do be honest, 95% of asking price on an already reduced property is a pretty bad offer.

Do the math and you'll see that the "extra" commission you envision isn't very much money. Plus, list agents on foreclosed properties generally get less money because of the volume of business they get from the bank.

Answer 3

I don't think a Realtor would be willing to lose their entire livelihood on a few hundred dollars commission on ONE sale, especially a bank-owned-property.

The listing agent's office MAY NOT be aware that there are other offers on the property if the listing agent has them sitting on his/her desk and they are currently being negotiated with the bank....unless there is a contract in place, it will NOT be on the MLS as "contract pending" until the contract has been accepted.

So, whatever you were trying to do by "investigating" stems from you not knowing how the process works...the other agents in the office are not responsible for each other's listings and how they are negotiated. Many Realtors cut their OWN deals with the banks for properties up for foreclosure sales.

Expect up to TWO WEEKS for your offer to be reviewed by the bank. Did you not notice that this past weekend was Labor Day? Banks weren't open this weekend.

The BANK'S agent IS NOT YOUR agent. They are under no obligation to protect you, they are representing the seller.

Answer 4

When I bought a house a couple years ago, we would put in an offer and give them a time period to get back to us. After we were screwed on our first house we offered on, we only gave the owners 24 hours to respond to our offer. If they didn't respond or declined, oh well. The only way I would have upped my offer would have been if the home owner made a counter offer. It sounds as though you were waiting 48 hours only to get a letter from the selling agent that the home owner received another offer. In that case, you have two choices, assuming they are telling you the truth, you can up your offer or give up on that house.

If you trust your agent, I would have them look into whether or not someone else actually put in an offer on the house, or if they are trying to get more money from you.

Good luck

Answer 5

It sounds like something fishy is going on. In all offer paperwork that I have ever seen there is a void date associated and it has to be accepted, declined, or an offer to negotiate. I think a call to the board of realtors might be in order here. If there has been another offer they don't have to let you know the details but they do have to let you know if the offer is accepted or rejected.pp

Answer 6

Where I live anyways, you should only be dealing with your agent, not the listing agent. Sounds like the listing agent is crosiing some ethical lines. Contact your agent. Thats what he/she will be paid for in the end.

Answer 7

They are holding out for more money. The owner has a set price in his head and has the power to turn down any offer. Plus there is still a lot of racial and class discrimination going on as well.

Answer 8

You do not have a signed contract so they can do anything they please until you do.

I would call the bank direct and tell them you have reason to believe the offer was not submitted and see what they say.

Answer 9

call them and tell them to be honest