The other day I went and looked at a house that had been on the market for over 90 days and the day I am looking at the property, the listing agent tells us that there is another very strong cash offer on the table and this agent is notorious for pulling these kind of stunts. So I told my agent to give this message to the listing agent:
"My buyer has decided to get out of the way of the other offer and congratulates the seller for getting a fantastic offer and wishes him best for a fast closing"
We get a call couple of hours later that the other offer didn't work out and the property was still available if we were interested.
I agree with @Account Closed that make your offer based on your numbers and not because of some false competition.
Hingham, MA · Member since 2014 · 73 posts · 29 votes
11y
Its not always the best price that gets the property, terms and conditions will play a big role as well...as a listing broker myself I can say that I may sometimes 'exaggerate" the situation to help move things along and get people to put pen to paper...on the buy side I have structured offers in a way that the terms and conditions have trumped price in multiple offer situations...it also depends on the brokers involved and relationships that I have with them, ie. knowing that they other broker can get it done vs. a newbie with no experience that needs hand holding...just my opinion !
Real Estate Agent · San Diego, CA · Member since 2016 · 1 post · 0 votes
10y
Agent here-
Any sellers agent has no legality forcing them to tell you the offers, or the highest offer, but they do nothing but an unservice to their client by not telling you. Think about it- they should want to be extremely open about how much, when, and what the contingencies were on any offer received because they WORK ON COMMISSION! The transparency is definitely an issue with some agents and I've never understood why, because they not only stand to make more money but stand to come out as honest.
If an agent isn't giving you direct and exact numbers, they're lying to you in some way. It shouldn't be a game. Don't accept that from an inferior agent