Offer was declined by redfin agent

[Ashish Chadda]

Hi, I put an online offer but it same declined by redfin agent. Eventually that house was sold for 10k less.

can I take any legal action against redfin 

[Sergey A. Petrov]

Was Redfin the Seller? Sellers can do whatever they want with the offers they received. An agent, a Redfin agent or otherwise, brings the offer to the seller who then makes a decision. Plus, you likely don’t know the full details of that transaction- the purchase price may be lower but something else may have been much better than your offer 

[Jonathan R McLaughlin]

@Sergey A. Petrov including being a random online offer on redfin...

[Ashish Chadda]

Quote from @Sergey A. Petrov:

Was Redfin the Seller? Sellers can do whatever they want with the offers they received. An agent, a Redfin agent or otherwise, brings the offer to the seller who then makes a decision. Plus, you likely don’t know the full details of that transaction- the purchase price may be lower but something else may have been much better than your offer 

 Thanks for your input. No, redfin was representing me as my buyer agent. I understand if seller declines the offer but in this case the buyer agent i.e. redfin refused to put forward my offer to seller 

[Ashish Chadda]

Quote from @Jonathan R McLaughlin:

@Sergey A. Petrov including being a random online offer on redfin...

 It wasn't a random offer ..I was working with redfin agent for almost 6 months 

[Sergey A. Petrov]

Quote from @Ashish Chadda:

Quote from @Sergey A. Petrov:

Was Redfin the Seller? Sellers can do whatever they want with the offers they received. An agent, a Redfin agent or otherwise, brings the offer to the seller who then makes a decision. Plus, you likely don’t know the full details of that transaction- the purchase price may be lower but something else may have been much better than your offer 

 Thanks for your input. No, redfin was representing me as my buyer agent. I understand if seller declines the offer but in this case the buyer agent i.e. redfin refused to put forward my offer to seller 

Is Redfin your exclusive agent or are you working with other agents? I suspect they asked you why you are making an offer and how you found the place. You might have said this other agent showed it to me or told me about it but they don’t offer the rebate that you do so I want to submit an offer with Redfin 

[Ashish Chadda]

Well, my understanding is that redfin assign an exclusive agent to their app user. So, I used their service to go tour various homes. And I have seen many other during open houses as well. This one was an open house ..I liked it and submitted my offer in the redfin app. But their agent reviewed my offer and said he can't put offer to seller and suggested me to increase the offer amount. So basically my offer never reached to seller. And eventually the home was sold for 10k less 

[Jonathan R McLaughlin]

ouch. sorry to hear that. I'm not anti innovation at all but using generic online stuff definitely puts you at a disadvantage in most markets. Redfin, Rocket Mortgage I know there are a bunch of others. When its really competitive as in Boston, online approvals or other type of widget brokerages are a real disadvantage. I know of brokers who routinely screen out online pre-approvals for sought after properties. Might change in a down market but I doubt it. Real estate is really 'sticky' and brokers protect their turf well, and its not just self interest. They want to deal with agents known to close etc.

[Sergey A. Petrov]

Quote from @Ashish Chadda:

Well, my understanding is that redfin assign an exclusive agent to their app user. So, I used their service to go tour various homes. And I have seen many other during open houses as well. This one was an open house ..I liked it and submitted my offer in the redfin app. But their agent reviewed my offer and said he can't put offer to seller and suggested me to increase the offer amount. So basically my offer never reached to seller. And eventually the home was sold for 10k less 

If that is the entire story and there is nothing else to it, the agent violated all sorts of laws and you should most definitely file a complaint with the real estate commission, the attorney generals office and whatever other consumer protection agencies exist in your area. These may not put any dollars in your pocket but will certainly help weed out bad agents. Hiring an attorney and pursuing litigation is another option but will be expensive. Have you called Redfin’s management team? 

[Ashish Chadda]

Quote from @Sergey A. Petrov:

Quote from @Ashish Chadda:

Well, my understanding is that redfin assign an exclusive agent to their app user. So, I used their service to go tour various homes. And I have seen many other during open houses as well. This one was an open house ..I liked it and submitted my offer in the redfin app. But their agent reviewed my offer and said he can't put offer to seller and suggested me to increase the offer amount. So basically my offer never reached to seller. And eventually the home was sold for 10k less 

If that is the entire story and there is nothing else to it, the agent violated all sorts of laws and you should most definitely file a complaint with the real estate commission, the attorney generals office and whatever other consumer protection agencies exist in your area. These may not put any dollars in your pocket but will certainly help weed out bad agents. Hiring an attorney and pursuing litigation is another option but will be expensive. Have you called Redfin’s management team? 

[Ashish Chadda]

Thanks, yes I reached out to redfin and they blocked me :) 

[Sergey A. Petrov]

Quote from @Ashish Chadda:

Thanks, yes I reached out to redfin and they blocked me :) 

They didn’t block you. Your buyer profile on the app may have been deactivated for whatever reason. Use a telephone, email, USPS, FedEx, UPS, a personal courier, drive to the office and tell the receptionist you need to speak with a manager to file a complaint against one of their agents, check their website for dispute resolution procedures, use many other available channels of communication. They didn’t block you.

[Erik Estrada]

Just hire a real agent and you will save the headache. This is a people's business at the end of the day. Not many top tier negotiators are going to want to work with Redfin..... 

[Mya Toohey]

@Ashish Chadda in any case, if the seller has instructed their agent to decline any offer being of a certain contingency, like, FHA and it doesn't qualify, the agent has the right to speak for the seller if given explicit instructions to do so. Agent act on behalf of their sellers, and if the terms didn't match what they wanted up front, no need to waste the sellers time. The agent on other hand does not have that choice to make on their own. I once had a seller that wouldn't accept any contingency for inspections being longer than 3 days. If the buyers couldn't do it, regardless of how good the offer was, it was a hard NO. So, I had to turn down offers as soon as I git them with a note, 3 days or less or no deal.

[Josue Velney]

Thank you for sharing this situation. 9 times out of 10 prefer to work with a local agent or company for this very reason. If you plan to buy more real estate it might be wise to get your real estate license. This way you could negotiate on your behalf and be closer to the deal. 

[Wayne Brooks]

@Ashish Chadda  You are just assuming the agent rejected the offer on their own. Also, many sellers will instruct the agent to reject offers under a certain amount, offers with preapprovals from certain lenders (rocket mortgage), etc. The owner likely told the agent to reject the offer.  When I worked as an agent, I’d email the offer, the seller would tell me verbally what to do if they weren’t going to accept as written….reject or counter.  This was done by me either by email or text to the other agent.  Rarely does a seller actually sign a hard copy of the offer with a rejection, as they have no obligation to do so.

[Joehn B.]

was your offer cash or using a loan? maybe the other buyer had a cash offer. A seller, may very well refuse (for example) a 300k offer with a 30 day FHA loan and accept a 290k cash 10 day close.

I understand the agent refused to present your offer.   maybe you were low balling, and she/he knew it would get rejected so you would be wasting her time (she/he telling you to offer more points to this). 

What was the list price, what did you offer, and what terms? cash/loan?