"An Offer is In, Not Accepted": Enough..!

Posted by urbandigs

Fri Feb 9th, 2007 08:51 AM

A: I'm venting! I'm telling you right now that I'm venting in this post and I can care less how my fellow brokers view me after reading this. I'm a straight shooter in dealing with clients and fellow brokers and expect the same in return. Either an offer is accepted and a contract is out or its not! End of story!

angry.gif

I just can't take it anymore. Im sorry. Over the last 4-5 weeks I must have heard at least 4 times from the listing broker when I called to schedule an appointment that, "...just letting you know I have an offer in, that has not been accepted, so please tell your client".

WHY WHY WHY! Is it because you are lazy and only want to show the apartment to direct clients or brokers with clients who are extremely serious? What purpose does this serve? Tell me! I'm right here and I want to know! Does your seller know you are doing this and turning off potential buyers who don't want to get involved in any bidding war; especially against themself!

It's very simple. Either you have an offer that is serious and in the range of acceptability by your client, or you don't. Saying you have an offer in w/out it being an acceptable offer either financially or price wise, makes NO sense! What good does it serve? Oh, my goodness, an offer is in. I better tell my client that they better act fast because someone else put in an offer that was not accepted. Sometimes I wonder if the broker's that practice this scare tactic even understand its self-defeating nature?

Do you see how ridiculous this sounds, yet it happens so often here in NYC? Case in point, I'm going to share with you my experiences but leave out the brokers involved:

WRONG WAY:

300 W 53rd Street - Elliman broker had this listing for a while. On one occasion I called to schedule an appointment for my client, and the broker told me an offer was in; not accepted. But that we better get in fast and bid as close to ask as possible to get the property. This was 6 weeks ago. So, I took my client in. Three open houses later, the apartment is STILL on the market for $549,000. So, we go back to an open house about 3 weeks after our first weekday visit. This time, the broker was there with a colleague who took me aside before I left with my client. She said, "...just so you know, we have an offer over $500,000 so if your client wants it, tell him to bid fast and over $500,000".

Why tell me this? I know your lying! If you had a bid over $500,000 than accept it! Its a condo with no board approval process and your getting $1,000/sft for the property. Honestly, if I was the seller I would take it and run! But did they? Apparently not. The listing is no longer with the Elliman broker and was removed from the system. If there was an offer over $500,000 that got accepted, I would have seen it in the central systems and the webad would definitely still be up pending a signed contract.

RIGHT WAY:

155 E 76th - Now this guy did it right! It was a new listing and I wanted to get my client in as soon as possible to view it. After setting up an appointment with the broker, he never said anything about an offer being in! However, the next day he calls me to say that they just go an accepted offer and a contract is being sent out within 1 day. He also asked me if I would like to keep the appointment or cancel. I cancelled and asked him to keep me in the loop if a contract doesn't get signed.

This broker never said anything about an offer being in when I setup the appointment because nothing was accepted yet. Which is the right way to go about it. When the offer was accepted and deal sheet put into place to proceed, then he called me and told me about it. Very respectful and tells you something about how some brokers work for their clients and towards fellow brokers.

In this day and age, with real estate cooling and buyers being very savvy it just doesn't make any sense to play games. Brokers should be professional and ethical about how they treat clients and fellow brokers. I guess what I'm saying is that there should be more 'strictly business' agents out there who focus on getting the job done right and fairly with their clients best interests in mind.

WHEN BROKERS SHOULD NOT DISCLOSE UNACCEPTED OFFER

  • If the buyer was not financially qualified to pass the board in the first place

  • If the bid was below the 'acceptable range' of the seller


    • WHEN BROKERS SHOULD DISCLOSE UNACCEPTED OFFER

  • If multiple bids are in and best & final is declared


    • Everything else is garbage! Saying "...I have an offer in & its NOT accepted" simply means NOTHING HAS CHANGED and the PROPERTY IS STILL AVAILABLE. Get it!

    UrbanDigs Says To Brokers: Unless you have an OFFER ACCEPTED & CONTRACTS OUT or about to be sent out, don't even mention anything to other brokers unless they or the client specifically ask you if any bids are in. Then it is OK to say, "yes we have had a bid submitted but it was not accepted". But using the phrase, "I have an offer in that wasn't accepted" as a scare tactic is outdated and misleading. Who cares that an offer is in. The buyer who submitted that offer might be playing games or unable to qualify to pass the board. In both cases, the offer as far as I'm concerned is non-existent. In fact, if I was the seller broker hired to market the property I wouldn't even pass on an offer from a buyer who wasn't able to pass a co-op boards preset financial guidelines for purchasing; after all, part of my job is to pre-qualify potential buyers. Until a contract is signed, the apartment is still available and should be marketed fully. End of story. I think its time for a change.

    Add a comment

    13 comments

    CAPTCHA Image