I think I was "had" by the listing agent....

N

Nooby_IHB

New member
.....and I was naive enough not to recognize this for over a day.



But, please, restore my faith in humanity and tell me I'm wrong. Here's the story:



My wife and I bid on a short sale (actually 2 of them next door to each other and both listed by the same agent). One of them, we were told, had a high offer that was all cash (and $50k more than our offer). Oh well, if they want to over pay, they're welcome to do so.



For the second house, the listing agent came back to our agent and said that there was a high offer, and would we want to beat it. We told our agent our highest amount was $X. When she offered (orally) $X to the listing agent, he said "no, that's too high". He talked her down $6k. We thought, "sweet, we'll pay less!" Our written offer was that lesser amount.



Then yesterday we learn that the winning offer was $1k more than ours (and a very "round" number).



My thought is that the listing agent or someone under his broker represented the buyers. Hence, more commission for he or the broker (or both). And, chances are, the winning amount was the max $$$ that their clients were willing to pay.



I know ours was just an oral offer, so probably no legal responsibility to pass in onward to the bank. But I'd love to find out if this guy represented both parties so maybe the bank could learn of this and not give him any more properties. Is there any way to learn this info?



And, as an aside, we offered about 10% more than I feel the house is worth. Yes, I know this is stupid. Frankly, I'd rather lose out to house depreciation rather than my savings losing to inflation.
 
Did your appraisal come in at the price you offered?



Hard to say if you would have gotten the home had you not overbid.



Yes, you were lubed up and bent over IMHO while the Agent strummed away on his banjo. Squealing about it now may not get the results you want. Put up a Yelp review that isn't so favorable. Nothing like an intarweb shame dish out to take the sting away and hopefully prevent this from happening to someone else.



My .02c



Soylent Green Is People.
 
Thank your lucky stars that they didn't hit your bid.



Next time you buy a house politely tell the selling agent that you only want to buy a house that has no other offers. That way you can absolutely confirm that it is the right time to buy (assuming you've done your due diligence on price).



Record Unemployment = Lower House Prices. Period, end of story.
 
Ya, we overbid. Our max offer was $36k over the list. Wasn't too concerned about appraisal as we were putting a couple hundred down.



You're right about Yelp....maybe karma will bite him somehow.
 
Why not just go into a multiple-offer situation with an offer that contains a contingency instead of a firm number? Here's my strategy - Offer says: "$1,000 over highest bid amount, not to exceed $X." Then it's irrelevant what the other offers are for and if they exceed your highest amount, it doesn't matter if it's more than you were comfortable with. This way you also avoid over-paying as your offer slightly nudges out the others but not by <em>too much</em>. This is what I plan to do (if Deuce will let me but I don't see why not.) In this case, if the other terms of your offer were agreeable to the seller / bank, it could have won acceptance and at a lower price than your original intended bid.
 
[quote author="Nooby" date=1256265694]We told our agent our highest amount was $X. When she offered (orally) $X to the listing agent, he said "no, that's too high". He talked her down $6k</blockquote>I would think that <strong>your</strong> agent would really be pissed. What does she think?
 
I have no idea if the agent was being upfront or not, but thanks for sharing your experience. I constantly learn here from reading about other folks' experiences.
 
[quote author="SoCal78" date=1256269403]Why not just go into a multiple-offer situation with an offer that contains a contingency instead of a firm number? Here's my strategy - Offer says: "$1,000 over highest bid amount, not to exceed $X." Then it's irrelevant what the other offers are for and if they exceed your highest amount, it doesn't matter if it's more than you were comfortable with. This way you also avoid over-paying as your offer slightly nudges out the others but not by <em>too much</em>. This is what I plan to do (if Deuce will let me but I don't see why not.) In this case, if the other terms of your offer were agreeable to the seller / bank, it could have won acceptance and at a lower price than your original intended bid.</blockquote>
Your counter might work, but is the listing agent obligated to show you what the next highest offer was? What's to stop them from jacking up the sales price all the way up to your limit and claim that the highest offer was a few thousand below your max? I would trust most agents as far as I can throw them.
 
[quote author="Nooby" date=1256267447]Ya, we overbid. Our max offer was $36k over the list. Wasn't too concerned about appraisal as we were putting a couple hundred down.



You're right about Yelp....maybe karma will bite him somehow.</blockquote>
You can always post up their name on here. Also, did the short sale close or is it just in escrow?
 
Who is the listing agent required to serve in cases of a short sale? Is the agent obligated to provide the highest offer to the bank? to the seller? Do they have to show all offers to anyone?
 
[quote author="bubblebuyer" date=1256275052]Who is the listing agent required to serve in cases of a short sale? Is the agent obligated to provide the highest offer to the bank? to the seller? Do they have to show all offers to anyone?</blockquote>
The listing agent is obligated to show all of the offers to the seller/s only (not the bank if it isn't an REO). I assume that listing can pick and choose which offer/s they send to the bank (that's been my experience being on the buyers side and not having had experience being a listing agent on a short sale property).
 
[quote author="USCTrojanCPA" date=1256273941][quote author="SoCal78" date=1256269403]Why not just go into a multiple-offer situation with an offer that contains a contingency instead of a firm number? Here's my strategy - Offer says: "$1,000 over highest bid amount, not to exceed $X." Then it's irrelevant what the other offers are for and if they exceed your highest amount, it doesn't matter if it's more than you were comfortable with. This way you also avoid over-paying as your offer slightly nudges out the others but not by <em>too much</em>. This is what I plan to do (if Deuce will let me but I don't see why not.) In this case, if the other terms of your offer were agreeable to the seller / bank, it could have won acceptance and at a lower price than your original intended bid.</blockquote>
Your counter might work, but is the listing agent obligated to show you what the next highest offer was? What's to stop them from jacking up the sales price all the way up to your limit and claim that the highest offer was a few thousand below your max? I would trust most agents as far as I can throw them.</blockquote>


Well for that matter, how do you know that you didn't really submit the highest offer and were lied to by the listing agent as they took a favored lower offer by someone else. You don't. You are right, I'm sure there are agents who won't adhere to a code of ethics or professional standards. If you can't obtain verifiable proof of the best rejected offer (and I would check to see if a buyer could - maybe a copy w/ blacked out names? I don't know if that is possible) then your only option is to take their word at face value... but in that case, you've already overcome the major obstacle which is acceptance of the offer AND even if they lie to make you raise the offer, it still is within your range and possibly less than you would have otherwise bid, i.e. not exceeding your max, not over-paying unnecessarily. Regardless of whether the agent is truthful about the exact dollar amount or not, the goal is to nudge out the competing offers, putting yourself first in line.
 
"I would think that your agent would really be pissed. What does she think? "



She's more than peeved (that would be peeved+1). She believed and trusted the guy....that's why we 3 agreed to offer at the amount he suggested (I know, stupid stupid stupid). Then again, I was already suffering a tad bit of buyer's remorse at the price of it. All in all, I'm not thrilled to have lost the purchase, but then again I am a little relieved. Weird emotions.





"You can always post up their name on here. Also, did the short sale close or is it just in escrow? "



It's in escrow (as of yesterday, I guess). I'm reluctant to post the name because, well, I don't KNOW that I was screwed. It just seems that way to me. I'm not someone who falls prey to others...ever....so I was hoping the collective wisdom of this forum would tell me that it was an honest mistake, blah, blah blah.



My agent's out of town----will learn more when she gets back on Monday. I've learned a ton from this forum and the blog, but this isn't a situation I ever envisioned. Oh well. We'll be renting a few more months.
 
[quote author="Nooby" date=1256278560]"I would think that your agent would really be pissed. What does she think? "



She's more than peeved (that would be peeved+1). She believed and trusted the guy....that's why we 3 agreed to offer at the amount he suggested (I know, stupid stupid stupid). Then again, I was already suffering a tad bit of buyer's remorse at the price of it. All in all, I'm not thrilled to have lost the purchase, but then again I am a little relieved. Weird emotions.





"You can always post up their name on here. Also, did the short sale close or is it just in escrow? "



It's in escrow (as of yesterday, I guess). I'm reluctant to post the name because, well, I don't KNOW that I was screwed. It just seems that way to me. I'm not someone who falls prey to others...ever....so I was hoping the collective wisdom of this forum would tell me that it was an honest mistake, blah, blah blah.



My agent's out of town----will learn more when she gets back on Monday. I've learned a ton from this forum and the blog, but this isn't a situation I ever envisioned. Oh well. We'll be renting a few more months.</blockquote>
I wouldn't lose sleep over this as most short sales never go through and the ones that do can take 6+ months.
 
[quote author="CapitalismWorks" date=1256267366]Thank your lucky stars that they didn't hit your bid.



Next time you buy a house politely tell the selling agent that you only want to buy a house that has no other offers. That way you can absolutely confirm that it is the right time to buy (assuming you've done your due diligence on price).



Record Unemployment = Lower House Prices. Period, end of story.</blockquote>




Ummm, there were a lot of houses in '07 and '08 that had no other offers. How does no one else submitting an offer equate to being the right time to buy?
 
[quote author="stepping_up" date=1256296791][quote author="CapitalismWorks" date=1256267366]Thank your lucky stars that they didn't hit your bid.



Next time you buy a house politely tell the selling agent that you only want to buy a house that has no other offers. That way you can absolutely confirm that it is the right time to buy (assuming you've done your due diligence on price).



Record Unemployment = Lower House Prices. Period, end of story.</blockquote>




Ummm, there were a lot of houses in '07 and '08 that had no other offers. How does no one else submitting an offer equate to being the right time to buy?</blockquote>


That means there is only one bidder and the seller is at the buyers mercy.
 
[quote author="stepping_up" date=1256296791][quote author="CapitalismWorks" date=1256267366]Thank your lucky stars that they didn't hit your bid.



Next time you buy a house politely tell the selling agent that you only want to buy a house that has no other offers. That way you can absolutely confirm that it is the right time to buy (assuming you've done your due diligence on price).



Record Unemployment = Lower House Prices. Period, end of story.</blockquote>




Ummm, there were a lot of houses in '07 and '08 that had no other offers. How does no one else submitting an offer equate to being the right time to buy?</blockquote>


I guess you missed the part about due diligence on the price...
 
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