Using my offer as leverage??

[Richard White]

Hello, all, I've been reading BP for a bit, but this is my first post. My girlfriend and I are investing in short-term rentals. We have been burned by two different transactions where the seller used our offer to drive up the price of someone they were already planning to sell to. This week we made an offer on a 6-plex in our vacation area which is 100% long-term rented currently. The numbers worked even for continuing the long-term renters, but our plan was to convert 1-2 1BR units to Airbnbs when leases expired. The seller's agent wasn't responsive throughout the process, and we even set up a visit through the mgmt company since she wouldn't really do anything. We made our offer, but learned they went with a neighbor's offer, and that neighbor's agent had submitted the low price of their recent sale as a comp. The same thing happened last year on another smaller property. I feel really upset by the time and energy we wasted with both properties, but I wanted to ask how common this is for sellers and agents to do? It seems to me you'd want highest price for your property, but neither even tried negotiating with me. A very frustrating part of the business I guess!!