I just joined Active Rain last week and cannot begin to tell you how surprised and relieved I am that there are Miami Realtors out there that are smart, that have great things to contribute and at the same time are helpful. I really look forward to reading not only great blogs, but great comments as well.
Now to the dirty stuff at hand. My husband and I found ourselves on the ugly and bad side of an offer this past week. We showed another agent's listing to a customer of ours and he decided to make a low ball offer.
It wasn't just low, but really offensively low. As much as we pulled comps and explained the price and did all we could do, it was our job to write up and present the ridiculous offer. You can imagine that the seller did not even bother countering, but the seller's agent did not even bother to call us. Our buyer, after a couple of days, decided to place another offer on the same property and get closer to reality.
Again, we did not get an answer from the agent's seller but this time the agent's assistant, after the second offer had expired, tells us that the relocation company does not even look at offers unless all disclosures are signed....HMMMMMMMMMM!!
By this time we are thinking...."Does this mean the offers were not even presented?" The agent did not even tell us that there were additional disclosures to be signed. Now I will have to contact the agent and the agent's broker and try to figure out what happened.
Many of you have put it so beautifully, this deal could end up working, and our buyer is ready to go, but there is no communication and very little cooperation from the seller's agent and the deal may never happen because of it. In addition to being in a changing market, we also have to deal with difficult agents that put road blocks everywhere we go. So frustrating!
Ines
Miami Shores FL Real Estate, http://www.yourpropertypros.com/ www.miamism.com
Schmooz, and schmooz again in every call,,,,I humble myself to no end so I can get the deal done! some people have inferiority complex! and if you think about it this is about the buyer and the seller and the bottom line your commission! look the winner is the one whose walking away getting with their goals accomplished! you can ask to present the offer in person. or make sure you ask for you offer faxed back to you with whatever the sellers feed back is! !
Well, first thing, your Buyer should recognize the "fallout" that normally comes from submitting a significantly low offer.
But that certainly doesn't excuse the Listing agents lack of proper communication and documentation. The disclosures should have been clearly "disclosed" in the MLS datasheet. Typically, good agents will state that the Sellers are using a relocation company and to contact the Listing agent for details, as a minimum.
"Every" offer is a serious offer, low or not. It's amazing how many agents fail to represent their Sellers interests by ego or neglect.
You are so right Virginia - if some agents would only realize we're in this together, it would make our jobs so much easier. There is no room for Arrogance.
ines
I am having trouble with a realtor holding up a property sale too. I am a seller of a condo on the Miami River and my agent has done very little to market my property. In the three and a half months I have been in a listing contract with him I have seen very little effort on his part and even worse I rarely hear from him. I have been trying to lower my asking price for over two months now and he still hasn't done it. To make things even more concerning is that his broker has remained silent despite my numerous messages to her about my concerns. I am not going to ramble about the many issues I've had with my realtor but it is very frustrating that with the market the way it is I cannot rely on my agent to put forth his best efforts and communciate with me on what I can do to make my property more appealing to buyers with pricing etc. It seems that my agent is prone to completely ignore things he doesn't like or doesn't consider a good deal and doesn't communicate the needed information to help sales happen. He does however seem very interested in taking as many listings as he can then sitting back and waiting for other agents to bring the sales to him... of course that would probably happen more often and make him more money if he put more effort into it but I guess he's making enough money with the little effort he's putting into it so why change. I hope none of you have to deal with these kinds of issues especially with the market already being as sow as it is. This realtor is out of the South Miami area and I am in the process of cancelling my agreement with him. I hope to find a new realtor in the Downtown/Grove/Coral Gables areas.
Scott - is unfortunate that you have had to deal with an agent that doesn't address your needs and doesn't communicate. It is more common than I like to hear and that's why it's important for sellers to really study their options. I just wrote an article on Real Estate models and was prompted by an agent that lists lots of properties but does not provide any service ( I always hope that those sellers that choose him, really know what they are getting into.)
I removed your e-mail from the comment section so you don't get inundated with Spam. Check out www.Miamism.com and let us know if we can be of service.
I signed a contract with a realtor to purchase a home and every home that I have seen so far, I found. This person has not located one property. Also, when I am interested in a home and want to place an offer, my realtor discourages me EACH TIME! Most of the properties that I have interest in are now either short sales or bank owned. For example, I am approved to 275,000 and I wanted to place an offer on a bank owned property listed at $295,000. My realtor discouraged me and said it was out of my price. My price - it was bank owned and less than two weeks later, it was snatched up for 267,500! I am in the 2nd month of a six month contract with this person and the homes are being sold as i sit here typing. I am so sad at this moment and don't know what to do...
Hi Mary - I'm so sorry to hear that - things have certainly changed in real estate in the past 2 years and as I sit here and read this blog post from September 2006 I can tell you that submitting as well as receiving low-ball offers is part of the norm now. There are many strategies on how to deal with bank-owned and short sale properties and you should sit down with your Realtor and discuss your options and plan a strategy. Sometimes the bank will accept low offers and sometimes they will not even counter - if you are willing to take a chance and lose a property you like to a low offer, then that's the strategy you should take. If you feel that the agent is not representing you correctly and not meeting your needs, it's time for you to talk to them and let them know how you feel - it could be as easy as a short conversation.
Good luck with that and I'm sure you will find the perfect home soon.
Ines
We reward "good behavior" of Buyer Agents who have Buyers who purchase our short sale listings. "Bad behavior" is .... "discouraged".