Warning Agents an offer is coming a bad thing?

Question

So i stumbled upon a short sale (that was supposedly bank approved) condo requiring minimal rehab (paint/sliding glass door/range) listed at 29900 which could easily rent for 650-675. The numbers seemed to work out great, I could do the work myself and still rent for over the 20% rule. Found this deal Friday evening had my agent contact the sellers agent saying we would be publishing an offer first thing Monday morning since nothing could happen on the week anyways. Sunday evening my realtor calls me saying they have upped the asking price to 35. Found that annoying but went through with my plan and offered 27000, a quick close, and playing my own closing costs Monday morning expecting to get a counter and settle somewhere around 31. Received a phone call last night from my realtor saying she received an email saying there was a verbal counter offer of 35000 (full list price) and they were looking for an answer tomorrow.

So is this a lesson to not give agents the courtesy of knowing you are submitting an offer after the weekend?

Also what are others opinions based on their experiences of the "verbal counter"? Is it common for a verbal counter of this nature with no paperwork or official correspondence of this nature? Maybe the bank/seller are just testing the waters trying to see if I will budge at all?

Thanks

Jeff

So is this a lesson to not give agents the courtesy of knowing you are submitting an offer after the weekend?

Also what are others opinions based on their experiences of the "verbal counter"? Is it common for a verbal counter of this nature with no paperwork or official correspondence of this nature? Maybe the bank/seller are just testing the waters trying to see if I will budge at all?

Thanks

Jeff

Jeff Smith · Answer

Thank you all for the sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience. Learning more and more each day,  as this was only my second offer I will have to have a talk with my agent about our timeliness and that I want to jump immediately. Thankfully I am halfway through the class for my license so soon I will not be forced to depend  on the reliability of others.

Thanks again!

Jeff

Jon Holdman · Answer

I'm with J  Scott.  You should have written your offer and sent it ASAP.  Hopefully you and your agent have the process worked out so you can do it in a matter of minutes.  If not, get that sorted out so you're ready to move quickly next time.

J Scott · Answer

If this is a short sale, this counter-offer is from the seller, not the bank.  The bank won't look at the offer until the seller accepts it.

As for verbal counters, it depends on the agent, but we do verbal counters when we buy all the time (written counters when we sell).

As for letting the agent know an offer is coming, I prefer to just write up an offer and send it.  Why not send it on a Friday night?  You said nothing can happen over a weekend, but that's not true -- most of our short sale and retail contracts are signed over the weekend.  Why wait?  Was your agent just being lazy?

Tracey Williams · Answer

Yes Jeff, 
There are always verbal counter offers, special on Fae Mae properties and their first count is mostly full price. I'll suggest you go ahead and submit your second offer and they  will counter you again. 
Good luck!