what to do when you don't hear back from agent after putting an offer?

Question

I recently put an offer for a house that needed some work through an agent.  They were asking $93K but I offered $80.  Current owners want to move out to build another bigger house.  How can I know if he actually submitted the offer to the sellers.  He is not responding.  Is there a way I can submit offer directly to seller or to their agent?

Kathryn C. · Answer

It is good professional practice to always acknowledge offers received within 24 hours and at a minimum they should tell you if the offer was rejected however many times the agents are waiting on the sellers to respond and the sellers are waiting to see if they receive any other offers.  As far as I know all states require a written offer to be presented. We always send our offers with the first sentence stating "Please confirm receipt of our clients offer".. If they don't acknowledge it within 24 hours, the majority do, we send a follow up stating we sent it previously but never heard back.  If they don't respond to that we send it by fax to their office and call the broker, not the agent, and ask if the agent is out of town as we submitted an offer but cannot get a response.  Not the best way to build a relationship with the agent but will most certainly get you a response.

Casey Cuppy · Answer

I agree. It sounds like you don't have a very good agent. Even if they reject the offer he should let you know. Some people out there blow my mind with their lack or respect and business etiquette.

Christina Pribilla · Answer

Hi Raj,

I agree with all the above. You should have received a copy of the offer you signed ( it is a legal binding contract). Contact the Broker in Charge and tell him you cannot get a reply from your agent. He/ she gets paid for being your advocate and handling your matters in a professional way.

When choosing an agent, check if they a re a member of the local Board of Realtors and member of the NAR ( National Association of Realtors) because they have a code of ethics they have to follow.

Communication is the number one complaint about Realtors in the nation. You want to find someone who responds in a timely manner especially in situations of submitted offer or received offers! You can lose a lot of money due to an agent not responding.

Louis Leone · Answer

Raj,

I would definitely contact the broker.  Usually if you don't hear from the selling agent, they may be either entertaining another offer or worse, using your offer to get another offer they're negotiating higher.  I'm not sure of the law in Texas, but usually all written offers must be presented and you should get a response within 24 hours.

Good luck.

Raj Vajir · Answer

I've actually had this happen twice with two different agents.  First one was the seller's agent and the second one was found based on another property they had listed that i had been considering.  I thought maybe my offer was too low and they felt embarrassed to present the offer to the sellers.  Thank you everyone for providing feedback.  I just felt like the rule of putting 70%-80% below asking was hard to put in front of agents.  I'll have to follow up again and keep my hunt going.

Michael Borger · Answer

Your agent should get back to you within one day. He likely has other clients, so you can't always expect an immediate response, but not responding at all is inexcusable. If you truly can't get a hold of him, then I'd go above him and contact his broker. Or you could contact the listing agent and see if the offer was received.

Sam Erickson · Answer

Raj,

Did you find an agent yourself or did you talk to the agent that was listing the property for sale?  In WI as I'm sure it is the same everywhere, by law the agent has to submit the offer to the sellers.

I think your biggest concern is if the agent did submit the offer how long you/the agent gave the sellers to respond.  Most offers have a clause that gives the sellers a set time frame to either accept, reject, or counter.  After said time frame if no response is given the offer is void.  Do you know the time frame that was given?

If you do and it is past that time frame maybe you want to find a different agent.  I would tell them what happened and they might be able to assist in finding out what happened with your first offer.

what to do when you don't hear back from agent after putting an offer?

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