Browse Forums Real Estate 1 Jan 03, 2011 10:58 am We were looking to build a house but while on the hunt for our land, we came across a house that ticked all the boxes for us - was only six months old - and would save us the hassle and time of building. Anyway there was an advertised open house inspection. From what we understand, the house went to auction a month or so ago but didn't meet the reserve. It was then advertised for $570,000. Still not sold - it gets reduced to "offers between $540,000 - $560,000". While there and waiting for the agent to arrive (there were about 7 other couples including us wanting to view the house), we saw people getting phone calls and then driving off. We then got a phone call to say that the scheduled open house was cancelled and to come back at 2:30pm. So we arrive back at 2:30pm and no other prospective buyers are there. The agent takes us around and says we can think about an offer and he will phone us back shortly. So we leave the property and hubby receives a phone call from the agent asking for an offer. The listed price is between $540,000 and $560,000 so he wants to know our offer. Hubby says first offer on the table is $540,000. Agent says he will draw the contracts and to meet at his RE office. So we drive to the RE office and while there, the agent says that in the meantime from when we viewed the property another agent has taken another prospective buyer there and they have also made an offer but he can't disclose their offer to us so what is our next offer. We think and put in $547,000. He says the other buyer's offer is higher than that and we have one last chance to make a proper offer otherwise we will loose the house and the other person who made the offer will have it. So we offer $555,000. The agent says he is not going to write that one down so we need to do a bit better than that. At this stage, we walk out of the RE office. We felt there was no other contract on the table and the agent was biting at us to reach the $560,000 mark which is presumably what the seller wants. Is all this that transpired ethical? We need to know for next time? We really got the feeling that "something didn't quite add up". Oh and the agent made a point of saying that the Seller used to be a real estate agent who worked at that office but is no longer doing real estate. Thanks for reading. Hope you can provide some help! Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 3Jan 03, 2011 2:06 pm d@n Sounds very *******. I would have got the agent to tell me what the other offer was or else I would walk. You have to play their BS game. I agree... especially as the seller is an (ex) agent. Write your offer down and hand it in, also write into it a sunset clause... this offer expires at midnight 3rd January 2011. Make your offer your lower one... if it's all been ******, you may as well start at the bottom. Ed "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 4Jan 03, 2011 4:42 pm Reminds me of a tactic that one agent and/or vendor came up with - verbal offers were OK to submit, but we could not know if it was acccepted unless we come to the agency pronto, sign the contract and pay deposit and then, in the next day or two, the vendor would look at the offers and decide who can have the place (can't remember if the deposit was refundable). We said no to those rules and insisted we do not sign or pay anything until we hear the negotiations outcome. Strangely, they agreed My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 5Jan 03, 2011 6:19 pm My faxed letter of offer to the agent...I only made a single offer and did not enter into discussions about "other" nebulous offers. Dear [Agent] Firstly please pass on our appreciation to the vendor for allowing us to view the property last Saturday, as such we are now in a position to make an offer. {I was nice to the vendor because they offered an outside hours viewing...couldn't give a toss re agent} Please convey our offer of $XXX,XXX to the vendor for [property address]. With regards to terms we are happy to oblige the vendor for settlement terms of minimum xx days. The offer is subject to agreement on the following conditions in the contract: - Subject to finance, noting that we have approval in principle, from the Bank of Barbara - Subject to a satisfactory independent building inspection, which I will arrange on acceptance of offer. Satisfactory in this case means that the independent building inspector's estimate to rectify works to the Building Code of Australia Standard does not exceed $5000. - Subject to the review by my Solicitor, and my acceptance of, the Section 32 prior to signing of the contract. This offer is valid for 24 hours from the date and time shown on the fax header. Should you have any queries please call. The only discussion I wanted with the agent once this was sent was "Yes" or "No". mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 8Jan 03, 2011 7:33 pm Casa2 There are always other houses. Correct. I'd walk away and not look back-this will take the wind out of their sails. If the seller tries to contact you after you walk away-refuse again. Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 9Jan 03, 2011 8:44 pm E1109 Casa2 There are always other houses. Correct. I'd walk away and not look back-this will take the wind out of their sails. If the seller tries to contact you after you walk away-refuse again. And then offer $530,000. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 10Jan 04, 2011 7:36 am are we all forgetting that it's entirely possible that the seller did indeed have an offer for $555,000? it's very easy to think you were had, but you don't really have anything to go on other than the feeling that you paid more than you wanted to. Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 11Jan 04, 2011 8:41 am rob_phill are we all forgetting that it's entirely possible that the seller did indeed have an offer for $555,000? it's very easy to think you were had, but you don't really have anything to go on other than the feeling that you paid more than you wanted to. Entirely possible... but the conversation suggests that he was beating the price up, by not stating the other offer, and just the general banter. My experience of agents is that they will say anything in negotiation to raise the selling price - that's their job to lever the best offer. They work first for themselves and the seller. Bearing that in mind, a buyer must test the information he/she is given by saying things like, that's my limit, - I have another property in mind so I need a quick response, - I am not paying a deposit until I know my offer is acceptable. That's the game play... Ed "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 12Jan 04, 2011 1:10 pm I've said it before in these forums, here in WA, the rules are, you are NOT supposed to reveal how much the other offers are that are on the table. It is confidential. That's just the way it is. If there are several offers, you go to the potential buyers, tell them to put in their best offer, then you take them all to the Seller and they can choose ONE offer to work with. You can not negotiate with more than one buyer. As far as the rep telling you that the seller is an ex agent who used to work at that agency, that would come under dislcosure of interest. It's covering the ex agent, the current agent, and the agency "just in case". Not all reps/agents are d0dgy. Most of them play by the rules, but unfortunately, the rules sometimes make an agent seem sus (ie. being bound by confidentiality clauses set by Supervisory Boards). Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 14Jan 06, 2011 9:05 am Sounds suss to me. Logic would suggest that if you put in an offer of $555,000 and if there was another bidder who initially went higher than your initial offer then its safe to assume the agent would then go to go back to the first offer which was higher than yours and tell the same story to them to get them to increase their offer Sometimes you need to be prepared to call their bluff and potentially loose the property if your not comfortable with the offer you put in Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 15Jan 06, 2011 9:09 am I'm fairly certain that here in Vic agents are not allowed to disclose the amount of the other offer. Also remember that the agent works for the VENDOR not for the buyer, and the agents job is to get the highest price for the property that the buyer is prepared to pay. If the other offer was $548k, and the agent discloses this to you, then you will probably only offer slightly above this amount. However, you offered $555k (which I presume was your walk away price?), therefore the agent has done the best job for his client, the vendor. I'm sorry you didn't get the house and that you feel you were 'had', but on the face of your story it just seems like the agent was doing his job. Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 16Jan 06, 2011 11:03 am From my dealings with plenty of vic agents it depends on the method of sale as to wether the agent will reveal the value of other offers. "Set sale" style sales are tenders and are basically your best offer and others offers are not revealled. Private sales are really anything goes, the agent wants the sale first and foremost, so once you are close to the reserve the difference in the agent's commission/vendor price is only slight they will do what ever they have to do to get the sale. Revealling other offers through to the vendors reserve, its truth and half truths to all parties until a middle ground (sale) is reached. The best advice I can give is offer what you think the property is worth (with careful research of course) and then walk away if you are not successful. There is no point playing games, you don't know if there really is other offers or not. All you can do is start offers a bit lower than your limit for the said property and then work your way up. Always in writing, with all clauses in place. Use a contract note if you want. Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 17Jan 06, 2011 12:00 pm A number of years ago we found ourselves in a similar situation. We put an offer on a house with one RE agent and another couple put in an offer on the same day (with a different rep) Our offer was well below the advertised asking price. The real estate agent contacted us to let us know that because our offer was slightly higher than the other couple - the vendor wanted to work with us but wanted more. We offered slightly more (still not close to the asking price but what WE thought the property was worth) The offer contract was adjusted accordingly. The vendor tried to come back with a counter-offer wanting the full advertised asking price. When we said that we weren't prepared to go any higher they went back to the other couple who ended up buying the house (It is my understanding that they ended up paying the full asking price) We later found out that we knew the vendors (and joked about if we had known before we could have organised a private sale) It ended up being a blessing in disguise because shortly after the house we bought came on the market and suited us much better! Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 18Apr 16, 2011 1:36 pm with any property you have to go in with your head....be prepared to give your offer and walk away...thts when they start chasing you !!! it can be frustrating when you have been searching for months but these agents try to get away with anything they can... Make your own Organic Vegetable Patch, Learn How to Build a Pergola http://www.homestyledesign.com.au Re: Made an offer on a property - were we played by the RE. 19Apr 16, 2011 6:12 pm Actually, jess, "these agents" working for the Seller, and are being paid by the Seller to get the best price and conditions they can for the sale of their property. The code of conduct (in WA, at least) states that the Agent will act in the best interests of the Principal (Seller/Landlord). If, as a buyer, you want an agent to negotiate a better deal for you, then you need to approach an independant agent (ie another agent who has not got the listing that you're looking at) and pay them to act as a buyer's agent for you. Then that rep gets paid by you rather than a conjunctional fee from the Selling rep/agency. Wouldn't it be good if all the agent bashers could walk a month in an agents shoes. I bet 95% of the bashers would be jumping back to their old jobs, quick smart. It's not as glamourous and 'rich' as you might think. Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 We hired Darbecca to do every stage inspection, and I strongly recommend them to anyone that asks me. They were amazing. Thorough reports with photos at every stage,… 6 7102 i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 15980 Brass or 2) Stainless steel made - which Kitchen tap is good for drinking.Brass kitchen taps in Australia contain lead… 0 6714 |