Counter Offer - how long to wait?

[suzieq]

Hi guys, this is my first posting on this forum and need some advice as I'm feeling nervous!!

Situation is: Put offer in on IP last Tuesday, they countered back on Wednesday, I countered back on Thursday.....agent never got back to me (was negative about my counter offer), so I finally plucked up the courage and rang agent yesterday to see where the offer was at....the response I got was "they couldn't read the figure so I had to tell them over the phone" and "is your offer still the same". Am I wrong to start assuming that maybe the agent has held off submitting my offer or could something else be going on. I really would like an answer today and would be prepared to go to their counter offer (but obviously don't want to if I don't have to) as it still fits into my budget....comments would be appreciated asap as I would like to get this cleared up. thanks sq

 

[willair]

What i have found over the years is only make one offer,on paper..Go in and face the r/e person and ask whats going on
i think he or she is playing the Bluffing game,its your money and let them know that fact,otherwise walk away and start looking again..
good luck
willair.

 

[suzieq]

Thanks Wil, but the problem is that the property and agent are in country WA, so phone contact seems to be the only way at this stage. sq

 

[brains]

Yes you are wrong in assuming. You shouldnt assume anything in real estate. Why dont you ask him straight up 'Did you submit my counter offer and what was the response?' and 'Where do we go from here?'

He is brokering a property transaction and making money from it, you can ask whetever you like and dont let him take advantage of you. If you dont like (or are not assertive enough) to ask him directly, get someone else to do it for you.

 

[BUNDY]

If the agent is playing games with you, you can always just contact the vendor direct and ask them if the agent has submitted you offer to them and negotiate yourself.

If you want the property, don't hold off or you may miss out.

Bundy

 

[suzieq]

Bundy, wasn't aware you could contact vendor directly - isn't this unethical? SQ.

 

[TheBacon]

Not unethical at all. They are selling, you are buying.

Good Luck

TheBacon

 

[geoffw]

In my view, the agent was playing games with you. If they genuinely could not read your writing, they should have contacted you.

If you negotiated directly with the vendor, I assume the agent has an exclusive agreement- so he gets his cut no matter what. He's probably happy to get his cut with less work. I would be.

It would though be unethical (and possibly illegal?) to go to the vendor to try to exclude the agent after there was an agreement signed with the vendor.

 

[Joe D]

Suzieq

Never believe an agent .. (sorry forum agents)…

I am in WA where offer and acceptance (O&A) forms are the norm and are binding on both seller and buyer once signed (subject to any conditional clauses).

On my last purchase, I raised a written offer of “x” with a limited time frame. The agent called back and advised that the owner had countered at “x+a” , I ummed and erred and said I wasn’t happy , but would consider it over the weekend.

When I got home from work , the signed acceptance was on my fax machine.

The acceptance was a clean copy, so it was pretty obvious that no counter offer had been made and that the agent had clearly lied (albeit in the sellers interest).

I’m not complaining, just passing comment.

Rgds

Joe D

 

[suzieq]

Thanks again everyone for your feedback, rang the agent again today and said that I wanted an answer before the weekend so we could move on (in a nice way of course...not too demanding). The agent's reply was that i should get a response today....close of business and still no reply.....ho hum wait until tomorrow. This is testing my patience and staying power.....sq