Am I working with the wrong realtor?

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KeepItSimple78
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Location: Louisiana

Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by KeepItSimple78 »

A single-family home in the area caught my eye a while back. The MLS portal that my agent (buyer's agent) setup did not show the house. I inquired about it and she said it was "under contract" and "not available". My understanding was that in these situations, the deal is by no means a done-deal and that we could attempt to jump into the foray with an above asking price offer. Noteworthy as well, the listing agent for the house in question works for the same realtor group as the buyer's agent I'm working with.

Am I expecting my agent to be too cutthroat? Or is this a legitimate concern?

Thanks in advance for the insight, Bogleheads.
Avid reader of personal finance/investing literature; however, no formal training in this area. My comments are always well-intended, and most often well-informed.
Scrapr
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by Scrapr »

KeepItSimple78 wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 8:17 pm A single-family home in the area caught my eye a while back. The MLS portal that my agent (buyer's agent) setup did not show the house. I inquired about it and she said it was "under contract" and "not available". My understanding was that in these situations, the deal is by no means a done-deal and that we could attempt to jump into the foray with an above asking price offer. Noteworthy as well, the listing agent for the house in question works for the same realtor group as the buyer's agent I'm working with.

Am I expecting my agent to be too cutthroat? Or is this a legitimate concern?

Thanks in advance for the insight, Bogleheads.
nothing wrong with a back up offer. Something goes sideways and you are in the drivers seat. How long has your agent been in the business? How many transactions? You may need to drive the process and let the agent take your direction
kjvmartin
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by kjvmartin »

KeepItSimple78 wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 8:17 pm A single-family home in the area caught my eye a while back. The MLS portal that my agent (buyer's agent) setup did not show the house. I inquired about it and she said it was "under contract" and "not available". My understanding was that in these situations, the deal is by no means a done-deal and that we could attempt to jump into the foray with an above asking price offer. Noteworthy as well, the listing agent for the house in question works for the same realtor group as the buyer's agent I'm working with.

Am I expecting my agent to be too cutthroat? Or is this a legitimate concern?

Thanks in advance for the insight, Bogleheads.
You wan't someone to breach a legal contract and entertain your offer? What is the point of the contract? My understanding is you can't even see a house that's under contract already. During a listing, the seller agrees to show the house. Once it's under contract, there are no more showings. How can you know you want to offer a better price without seeing the house?
delamer
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by delamer »

My understanding is that the contract is valid between the seller and the first buyer unless that buyer does not meet some contingency. So you cannot just make a higher offer and knockout the first buyer. (And besides, price is not always the foremost consideration in a contract.)

In your situation, I’d ask your agent to lest the seller’s agent know you are interested if the current contract falls through.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
Topic Author
KeepItSimple78
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Location: Louisiana

Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by KeepItSimple78 »

The agent I'm working with has been a full-time realtor for 15+ years.

Thanks delamer. What you suggest is probably my best course of action.
Avid reader of personal finance/investing literature; however, no formal training in this area. My comments are always well-intended, and most often well-informed.
exit_r
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by exit_r »

I am curious what makes the agent "your" agent. Have you signed an agreement with them? I am a part time agent and find myself amazed at the personality conflicts I too often see.

From my perspective it is a complete waste of my time to entertain submitting an offer on a home that is no longer accepting offers. Yes, you can certainly submit one but why? The energy that goes into a dead end offer could be used toward finding you another great deal.
Topic Author
KeepItSimple78
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by KeepItSimple78 »

exit_r wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 9:04 pm I am curious what makes the agent "your" agent. Have you signed an agreement with them? I am a part time agent and find myself amazed at the personality conflicts I too often see.

From my perspective it is a complete waste of my time to entertain submitting an offer on a home that is no longer accepting offers. Yes, you can certainly submit one but why? The energy that goes into a dead end offer could be used toward finding you another great deal.
I should have clarified. I am working with a buyer's agent (she works exclusively with buyers and specializes in my local area of interest), but have not signed any kind of exclusivity agreement.

My original concern was only that I was potentially missing out on viewing a home that could have been a prime target for me to submit an offer on. I am a first-time home buyer and not completely familiar with the transaction process. All of the insight thus far is appreciated.
Avid reader of personal finance/investing literature; however, no formal training in this area. My comments are always well-intended, and most often well-informed.
crit
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by crit »

This is one of the situations that reveals the folly of thinking an agent represents you.

It is your interest, and in your interest, to submit an offer. That should drive events, full stop.

It is not in the agent's interest, as it has a lower likelihood of paying off; the agent's time is best spent elsewhere.

The fact that it doesn't get done tells you whose interests come first.
J295
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by J295 »

Around here, it makes no sense whatsoever to submit an offer on a home that is already under contract.
BillyK
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by BillyK »

Once there is a pending contract, it is usually between the seller and listing Realtor whether they will take backup contracts. If it is a solid buyer, it would in all likelihood be a waste of your time to submit a backup offer since it is unlikely the agreement will fall apart. If it is a shaky agreement with a less than stellar buyer, the seller would be more apt to take backup contracts since the deal could very well fall apart.

A backup contract on a pending listing is distinctly different than a seller with a hot property receiving and reviewing multiple offers at once. In the latter case the seller hasn’t accepted the offer by signing a purchase agreement, so it is still an active listing open to offers.
Scrapr
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by Scrapr »

J295 wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 9:39 pm Around here, it makes no sense whatsoever to submit an offer on a home that is already under contract.
How about a sale fail? Owner doesn't want to go back out and do showings and all that. They say hey. We have this other (1, 2 or 3 ) offers in case something happens. The seller cxan decide if they don't like the back up offer(s) and can go back on market

Sales do not go through for one reason or another all the time
enclee
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by enclee »

Well, you didn’t sign an agency agreement so there is no obligation for the realtor do anything on your behalf. Your agent should have explained the how agency works and differences between client and customer. Currently, you operating under and implied agency and the realtor didn’t disclose that until you sign an agreement that they work for the best interest of the seller.
muddgirl
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by muddgirl »

When I was a first-time homebuyer, I found this guide to be very helpful and thorough.

Real estate is extremely local. What is usual in one city could be strange and off-putting in another, so it is difficult to get good advice online. I know that when I sold my house and I accepted the buyers offer, I agreed not to list or show the house any more, and if I received an offer from someone who had not actually been to a showing, I would not have looked at it.

There also would have been no point in holding on to offers during the contingency period, because (a) they have an expiration period*, and (b) in all likelihood the market will be so different in 30 days that either i don't want to sell at the old offer price, or they won't want to buy it anymore. Better to ask your realtor to express interest to their realtor and keep an eye on the listing in case it does come back on the market.
ralph124cf
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by ralph124cf »

The last time I bought a house, my agent passed a house on the street that looked perfect. When I asked about it, I was told that there was an offer on it, and that the agent could not ethically present another offer until the owner decided on the first offer. (Listing agent and buying agent also worked for the same realtor group.)

I fired that agent.

Ralph
renue74
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by renue74 »

On Realtor.com, most of the homes in my town are pending sale within 1 week. Many will say "Under Contract - Show Property"

I'm assuming that means that sure...it's under contract, but the seller and seller agent are keeping backup offers.

I don't think that a contract is broken because an offer comes in later.

It literally takes 5 minutes to draw up an offer to purchase now. My agent does it all digitally and I can review it, sign it and return it to him within 10 minutes.
Tal-
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by Tal- »

Your agent didn't do anything wrong.

Proactively pursing a house under contract is not a good idea for anyone involved. It's not good for the seller because it can be viewed as negotiating after they have already come to terms on a contract (many sellers ask for no more showings once under contract). It's not good for the buyer because it's wasted action. Most houses that enter a contract close; and those that don't close almost always get re-listed rather than just taking the next-best offer.

To clarify, if a house is under contract for $100K, and you come in offering a much higher price/better offer ($150K), the buyer CAN NOT ACCEPT YOUR OFFER as they are already under contract.

If there is a specific house that you really had your heart set on, it may be worth a conversation. But as a general rule of thumb, you should not be viewing houses that are pending. I agree with your agent on this one :)
Debt is to personal finance as a knife is to cooking.
barnaclebob
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by barnaclebob »

KeepItSimple78 wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 9:12 pm My original concern was only that I was potentially missing out on viewing a home that could have been a prime target for me to submit an offer on. I am a first-time home buyer and not completely familiar with the transaction process. All of the insight thus far is appreciated.
Unless the house just went under contract you might not be able to get a viewing especially if the sellers still live there. I don't think your realtor has done anything wrong, going after houses that are under contract is not really a good strategy.
NotWhoYouThink
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by NotWhoYouThink »

You were asking your agent to do work with a low probability of paying off, and she didn't think it was worth her time. Back-up contracts are written all the time, but most of the time the buyers in the original contract do not back out so the back-up never gets signed by the sellers. The sellers are more likely to use it as a negotiation tool to force the original buyers to stay on track and not ask for a lot of extra repairs and concessions after inspection.

There is nothing unethical about writing a back-up offer, it's all part of negotiation. But your agent is telling you she doesn't feel it's worth her precious time. Up to you to decide if that is someone you want to continue working with.
Alf 101
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by Alf 101 »

I think this likely varies place to place, but in my experience, your realtor may have been doing nothing wrong. We recently moved into a new house. We made an offer, pending inspection. Based on the results of the inspection, as buyers, we had a period of time to either renegotiate or withdraw. Then there were a few weeks until closing, where we signed and received the keys. From the time of our initial offer, the home was listed as "under contract".

Now it all depends what your realtor knows. If it was before inspection, or something major was revealed in the inspection that the sellers refuse to fix, the house could go up for sale. If I recall correctly though, we scheduled the inspection less than a week after they accepted our initial offer, and had 1 week following the inspection report. So for the grand majority of time it was listed under contract, it was effectively sold, waiting for the final ceremony. In this market, at least, there are no longer any showings after the initial offer is accepted. I'm not quite sure why you'd want to put an offer on a house you haven't walked through, particularly with an above-asking offer.

As a buyer, expect to do a lot of the work on the front end. We studied the home sale networks, and created a schedule to drive through neighborhoods, hit open houses, etc. When we had selected several strong options, our realtor quickly scheduled viewings, and helped weigh in on features. Once we made an offer, this is where the real value was shown -- negotiations, scheduling inspections, managing paperwork, and the like. Realtors would send us emails with houses to look at, meeting the criteria we had provided, but we were motivated and mainly performed our own research.

One thing also a good realtor should do if recommend you against buying a house they don't think they could sell. This might be due to location (e.g., next to train tracks or a fireworks factory), or some feature of the house (e.g., shifting foundation, 1 bathroom, etc.).

When selling a house, this may be more where I think it's important to have the right realtor. Their job is to market and sell your house. It has to be priced appropriately, sale information networked among other agents, and shown and promoted. If your house isn't selling, the agent isn't communicating with your regularly, and your home seems low among the agent's priorities, then it would be time to look elsewhere.
boglegirl
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by boglegirl »

I'm not sure if anybody has pointed out that a showing is probably not even under the buyer's agent's control. If the seller has a contract, unless they are accepting backup offers, they are not showing the house at all. The buyer's agent can't force them to show it to you.
exit_r
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by exit_r »

boglegirl wrote: Tue May 15, 2018 5:34 pm I'm not sure if anybody has pointed out that a showing is probably not even under the buyer's agent's control. If the seller has a contract, unless they are accepting backup offers, they are not showing the house at all. The buyer's agent can't force them to show it to you.
+1
exit_r
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by exit_r »

NotWhoYouThink wrote: Tue May 15, 2018 9:01 am There is nothing unethical about writing a back-up offer, it's all part of negotiation. But your agent is telling you she doesn't feel it's worth her precious time. Up to you to decide if that is someone you want to continue working with.
Not all agents are equal, not all clients are equal. Helping guide a client is a skill, this agent should have certainly explained the reasoning behind her decision. Sellers are in control of their property and might not be accepting backup offers. It is unfair to hate up on an agent for helping her client navigate the process.
Balefire
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Re: Am I working with the wrong realtor?

Post by Balefire »

Redfin.
Used them.
Happy with them.
If you know the area, save yourself some money and use redfin
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