[Updated - resolved] Home purchase has turned into a bidding war...any realtors here?

[The Sauce]

I am in a really crappy situation here and need some advice badly. I am starting a new job in July and went out last week looking for a home in the new area. My wife and I found a beautiful home with a lot of property and made an offer on it (asking 275K, offered 260K) finally settled on 270K. All of our paperwork got finalized yesterday to go under contract and this morning the realtor calls and says that a competing offer came in before the homeowner would sign. She says that each of us will get the chance to make one final offer and whoever is higher gets the contract.

I have no idea what to do or even believe here. Several people I spoke with doubt that there was even another offer and think that this is a ploy by the realtor to squeeze more money out of us since we showed such interest and moved on it quickly. Others have suggested that if we increase our offer it will encourage the homeowner to pull the house off and reintroduce it at a higher asking price, and/or make the homeowner more reluctant to negotiate on repairs after the inspection.

oes anyone have any insight into this situation?

 

[Diabolus]

You have a few options really... one of which is to talk and tell the realtor to shove it. To stick it to him, find another realtor.

Additionally... you might want to try playing a different angle; call another realtor and tell him you drove by this house, and are interested in it, and that you'd appreciate any information that's available on it. This way you can gather if there are other bids, and maybe what they are. You might be taking advantage of a realtor, but in the end... it's a lot of f@#%ing money, and it's yours. You have to protect it properly.

Lastly, you can just cave and offer the 275k (if you think it's worth it). Money is cheap right now due to low interest rates and additionally... if you pay that price you can have stipulations like having repairs done by the homeowner to recoup some of that 5k you dropped.

Those are just my ideas... let me know what ya think.

 

[Hammer]

their financing might fall through. tell them if they play this game, your offer will go down.

 

[Jzero]

Do you have a buyers' agent working for you?

 

[Aharami]

they might be trying to hose u. never spend that much money if u arent 100% satisfied...and this seems to be eating away at ur satisfation
i say call their bluff

 

[BDawg]

Don't let anybody manhandle you. Never negotiate somthing you aren't willing to walk away from. Whether or not the other offer is true, the seller is trying to get more money from you. If it's more than you're willing to pay for the house, WALK AWAY.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: BDawg
Don't let anybody manhandle you. Never negotiate somthing you aren't willing to walk away from. Whether or not the other offer is true, the seller is trying to get more money from you. If it's more than you're willing to pay for the house, WALK AWAY.

on a similar note.

put in one final offer for the same amount as what you had originally discussed. at least this way, it gives the homeowner a way to back off his demands.

 

[The Sauce]

Originally posted by: Jzero
Do you have a buyers' agent working for you?

No.

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: Snatchface

Originally posted by: Jzero
Do you have a buyers' agent working for you?

No.

Bad snatchface.

 

[hominid skull]

Call there bluff and tell them to let them have it. The person i bought my house off of tried to pull this exact same scam after 4 weeks of the price/move in date being arranged, i told her to stuff it - she wanted £5,000 more on a £130,000 house because the house prices in general were rising.

I told her good luck in finding a new buyer, knowing full well she already had the date set to move out - she agreed to the original price after a couple of days.

I can't stand people that pull that rubbish. :disgust:

 

[The Sauce]

I have a tendency to trust the seller here...it's the Realtor that I am suspicious about. The seller is an 85 year-old widow who has lived there her whole life and is moving to a retirement community. I don't think that she is either a shrewd negotiator or a game-player. Secondly, it is a very small community and I am starting at the local hospital as a physician. I don't think they would risk completely BS'ing me and then risk having me as their physician in an emergency.

Well I guess I just have to decide what's it's worth to me and stick with it...no more changes.

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: BDawg

Originally posted by: Snatchface

Originally posted by: Jzero
Do you have a buyers' agent working for you?

No.

Bad snatchface.

Having a buyer's agent isn't always a good thing. I've never used one and never will.

 

[Leejai]

stick to the original offer....not worth bidding on.....

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: Snatchface
I have a tendency to trust the seller here...it's the Realtor that I am suspicious about. The seller is an 85 year-old widow who has lived there her whole life and is moving to a retirement community. I don't think that she is either a shrewd negotiator or a game-player. Secondly, it is a very small community and I am starting at the local hospital as a physician. I don't think they would risk completely BS'ing me and then risk having me as their physician in an emergency.

Well I guess I just have to decide what's it's worth to me and stick with it...no more changes.

An old woman, eh? No doubt this is the seller agent pulling some junk. If it were me, I'd knock on that old lady's door and have a talk with her - explain the case, tell her how much you love the house, etc. This is usually risky, but an old woman is just the type of person to respond favorably to it.

 

[The Sauce]

Yeah I'd love to do that but it's 600 miles away.

 

[richardycc]

the question is did the seller sign something to accept the offer at $270k and took your deposit? I think by laws, at least in my state, if the house has a deposit on it, they can only accept backup offer and wait for your deal to fall apart.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: Snatchface
I have a tendency to trust the seller here...it's the Realtor that I am suspicious about. The seller is an 85 year-old widow who has lived there her whole life and is moving to a retirement community. I don't think that she is either a shrewd negotiator or a game-player. Secondly, it is a very small community and I am starting at the local hospital as a physician. I don't think they would risk completely BS'ing me and then risk having me as their physician in an emergency.

Well I guess I just have to decide what's it's worth to me and stick with it...no more changes.

An old woman, eh? No doubt this is the seller agent pulling some junk. If it were me, I'd knock on that old lady's door and have a talk with her - explain the case, tell her how much you love the house, etc. This is usually risky, but an old woman is just the type of person to respond favorably to it.

Either that, or call from a different phone number the realtor selling the house and ask them if it's still available, and if they've had any offers or anything. See what they say!

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: BDawg

Originally posted by: Snatchface

Originally posted by: Jzero
Do you have a buyers' agent working for you?

No.

Bad snatchface.

Having a buyer's agent isn't always a good thing. I've never used one and never will.

In cases like this, it can be helpful. Having your own agent with a contractual obligation to fight for your interests can be invaluable. Your agent might be able to find out if the selling agent is bluffing, or if they are doing something illegal.

 

[Rufio]

get anew realtor!

 

[Nitemare]

Reoffer 265 or 260K, Realtor is probably trying to screw you....Screw them back

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: Snatchface
Yeah I'd love to do that but it's 600 miles away.

Calling her on the phone is good too - anything where you can appeal to her on a human and emotional level rather than through paperwork and a cold agent. Is she divorced with children? Tell her how you want to start a family there and all that fun stuff. Pull them heart strings

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: BDawg

Originally posted by: Snatchface

Originally posted by: Jzero
Do you have a buyers' agent working for you?

No.

Bad snatchface.

Having a buyer's agent isn't always a good thing. I've never used one and never will.

Exactly. Remember that the buyer's agent makes a 2.7% commission on the sale of the home. This person has little direct interest in the house selling for a lower price, other than keeping the customer happy.

Just envision what will make you (and Mrs Snatchface) happy in the end. A few months from now, nobody will give a rat's @ss about these negotiations. But you will care in what home you are living in, and how much you are paying.

Best of luck, Snatchface... We are listing our house today and will be buying shortly, so I understand your pain.

 

[Mill]

That's BS. I'd call their bluff or walk away.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: hominid skull
Call there bluff and tell them to let them have it. The person i bought my house off of tried to pull this exact same scam after 4 weeks of the price/move in date being arranged, i told her to stuff it - she wanted £5,000 more on a £130,000 house because the house prices in general were rising.

I told her good luck in finding a new buyer, knowing full well she already had the date set to move out - she agreed to the original price after a couple of days.

I can't stand people that pull that rubbish. :disgust:

If I were in your spot there...when she called me back I would have told her I had found another house I was interested in, then made a lower offer than before.

The guys here are right. This is a huge frickin' purchase. Don't let anyone try to squeeze you on this. If they try to change the terms after the deal, call their bluff. If they call you back later asking for the original offer again, you know it was crap...then low ball them. (Hey...if they want to play that game, they better be prepared to lose on it too)

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: BDawg

Originally posted by: Snatchface

Originally posted by: Jzero
Do you have a buyers' agent working for you?

No.

Bad snatchface.

Having a buyer's agent isn't always a good thing. I've never used one and never will.

Exactly. Remember that the buyer's agent makes a 2.7% commission on the sale of the home. This person has little direct interest in the house selling for a lower price, other than keeping the customer happy.

Just envision what will make you (and Mrs Snatchface) happy in the end. A few months from now, nobody will give a rat's @ss about these negotiations. But you will care in what home you are living in, and how much you are paying.

Best of luck, Snatchface... We are listing our house today and will be buying shortly, so I understand your pain.

right now, the agent they are using is serving as both the buyer and sellers agent and is taking commission as BOTH, so snatchface having his own agent would not have cost him more, however, he may have signed a contract with this agent to serve as his buyer agent therefore getting another agent involved would cost more.


for future reference get your own buyers agent, whoever has the house listed has to allow the buyer agent to get his cut and the agent that listed the house has to settle for half.