When written offers are made to realtors in Florida, are there any requirements that they provide a written response from the seller indicating that the offer was rejected or a counter offer made? What assurances are there that they actually presented your offer to the seller or just sat on it?
Real Estate Professional · West Palm Beach, FL · Member since 2012 · 23k+ posts · 13k+ votes
5y
No, a seller is not required to respond at all and they usually don’t to offers they consider lowball or having no chance of closing. There’s no real way to verify in most cases.
Real Estate Professional · West Palm Beach, FL · Member since 2012 · 23k+ posts · 13k+ votes
5y
No, a seller is not required to respond at all and they usually don’t to offers they consider lowball or having no chance of closing. There’s no real way to verify in most cases.
Thanks all for the input. I realize that the agent works for the seller (unless a buyers agent) however I was under the impression that an agent/Realtor in Florida was required to "present any and all offers to the seller" regardless. However, it appears that some offers are not being presented to the seller and some are not being put in writing by the agent unless specifically asked to. They should be acting a conduit and not a firewall between buyer and seller regardless of the commission incentive. And yes, ultimately it is the sellers prerogative to accept, reject or counter, but if not in writing (verbal and text messages don't count) what assurance is there that it was even presented? And I am not referring to low balling an offer...
Ormond Beach, FL · Member since 2020 · 46 posts · 16 votes
5y
@Scott Thompson there isn’t any assurances. I know for a fact that a few agents won’t even bother telling their clients (sellers) of an offer if it’s that low. Most will submit any offer though, not sure if it helps.
Licensed Realtor & Investor · Miami, FL · Member since 2015 · 164 posts · 124 votes
5y
Ethically an agent has a responsibility to present all written offers to their client. Realistically however, there are agents who no doubt sit on offers for one reason or another. Keep in mind however that a seller can instruct their agent to only present offers to them that are at or over a certain price. But like others have already mentioned, the seller has the option to 1) accept, 2) reject and counter, 3) reject completely, or 4) not respond at all.
Assuming you are using the FAR BAR AS/IS contract, you can ask your buyers agent (if you are using one) or the listing agent to ask the seller to check a box on line 589 or 591 which asks the seller to reject or counter offer. That way you know the seller was presented with the offer.