We put in an offer... where's the response!!???

Seems to be mini epidemic in my profession.

I am hearing of agents submitting offers to other real estate "professionals" [note here I put quotations around the word professionals because I feel that agents that conduct themselves in the manner of which I am describing are anything BUT professional]and they are not getting a response.

What???!!!!!

The seller wants to sell the house doesn't he? Why is there no response?

There can be many answers to this question... some of them reasons... some of them excuses... some of them true... and some of them lies.

Let's take a look at just some of the answers:

1. "My clients haven't gotten back to ME yet."
2. "My cell phone battery died."
3. "My client is out of town and difficult to get a hold of."
4. "We are not going to respond because there are more showings to take place."
5. "We are going to wait until after the Open House this weekend."
6. "We are not going to dignify that offer with any counter."
7. "I'm told we have another offer coming in."
8. "Your offer is too low."
9. "I called you back... didn't you get my message/email?"
10. "I have someone else interested."

That's just ten... a sampling of what we might hear. Meanwhile, you as buyer, sit and wait, and... let's be honest here... start to wonder about YOUR agent.

Understand these facts:

ALL offers that are submitted to a listing agent in writing MUST be presented. Please understand a verbal or oral offer is not binding.

In most areas the purchase contract includes a "Time Period of The Offer" clause. This means the sellers have a specified period of time to respond. If they do not respond within that time frame, the purchasers have the right to move on. IF the seller responds after the time frame, the purchasers have the option of accepting or even ignoring that delayed counter or acceptance even. So how much time should you give a seller to respond? Under normal circumstances a day is adequate. If they do need more time the agent may respond that, "We might need to have a little more time than the contract allows for, can we move that Time Period Of The Offer a little?"

By the way, there is usually a form available that can be given to the listing agency requesting that they have their client sign which verifies that they were, indeed, made aware of the offer.

It's too bad that this kind of topic has to be talked about, but unfortunately there are agents that are not taking their fiduciary obligation seriously.