Realtor question

**jmw_man** · 04-24-09, 10:29 AM

So my girl and I made an offer on a foreclosure. It was listed at 127000 and we offered 135000 since there were 10 other offers. Being on the market for a measily few days we figured most offers were investment related so we aimed higher but not too much higher. Other foreclosures sold with several offers for maybe 5% higher than the listing price so that's what we aimed for. Anyhow, our broker just called me telling me that she needed my best offer.

Basically they are shopping around for the highest price. I see this as unethical and have heard that brokers are required to adhear to strict ethical practices. Has anybody else experienced this?

Anyways, she already pissed me off once when she was pressuring me to go "higher" on my original offer so i feel like she is letting her desire for a higher commision run her job than trying to work for me.

**CivilWars** · 04-24-09, 10:34 AM

From what I understand from my friend he says that until an offer is accepted that realtors can play the highest bidder game. Depending on the bank or government agency that owns it now they may require that it stay open for a certain amount of time to get the best deal. If you want a new realtor let me know, I have a buddy in Dallas that is very good, and very fair.

**DeusInnomen** · 04-24-09, 10:35 AM

I would consider this part of the offer-counteroffer process, really, even if the way it was phrased may sound shady. That's just their way of saying "is that the most you're willing to offer?" You may be the highest bidder by a long shot, but they're still going to counter and try to milk more out of you. Normally, they'd actually counter with a real number though. So, I'd probably say "No, that is my best offer."

There's two more facts that are relevant here:
1) Their commission is based on the sale price. It's a bit of a conflict of interest, in that you want to buy the house for as little as possible, but the less you pay, the less your realtor gets.
2) Realtors are a dime a dozen thousand. If yours doesn't make you phenomenally happy, talk to another one. (We're on the edge of firing our realtor selling our condo because we feel like we're waaaaaay low on his priority list and he doesn't give us the impression he's interested in actually following up on folks who don't provide feedback electronically. If we didn't want to deal with the hastle of relisting and starting over from scratch, I'd do it.)

**QuickLightning** · 04-24-09, 10:51 AM

It's tough to say.

I made an offer on a house 10% over the asking price, which set me up there among the top bidders... then when they asked for "best offers" the house wound up going for something like 40% above the asking price.

Ridiculous.

**Big_Boze** · 04-24-09, 10:58 AM

Ahhh greedy banks.

But just in case, my mother in law is a pretty kick ass realtor in the mid-cities area. She hooked me up on my house, and a few of my buddies.... So if your thinking of switching and need one, PM me for the info if your interested.

**pharacon** · 04-24-09, 12:03 PM

Ok first your doing it wrong.

This is a buyers market! DO NOT OFFER MORE THIS IS WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! Also as a foreclosure the bank doesn't give a shit if you lowball them. They only want money FAST! You should have bid something like posted price, 30 day closing, seller eats 1/2 closing cost.

But this also depends on if you are pre-approved for the loan you be taking out to buy something. Remember YOU WANT A HOUSE, YOU DO NOT NEED A HOUSE! The bank that owns this house wants their money out of it quick so 30 day close is going to be the best thing to put down.

I should know I just stole a nice house in Houston last August! The realtor claimed there where other bidders so I put in full price 30 day closing, boy was I surprised when they came back in 2 hours saying I won the "bidding" war. But I fixed my blunder by going through the house with a fine tooth comb and got concessions from the seller before closing.

If this is your first house get ready to sign a mountain of papers and READ them all. My closing took over 4 hours because I read the papers then past them to my wife to read and we asked TONS and TONS of questions.

If you do not get the house don't worry about it there are tons out there right now and mortgage rates are CRAZY low because of the government is artificially depressing the rates. Now is the best time to get a house.