why do agents do this?

[gg1965]

hi all,

i put an offer on a house last night that was advertised as "offers over 180,000". (This is after my purchase of another last week).

Anyway, i put an offer of 180,100 onto it. the agent rang me back today and said "no" and said that the vendor is expecting something around 190k. I replied saying that "i won't go any higher" and the agent then said, "well they may take 185k".

I responded saying thanks but i'm not going any higher.

It really annoys me when they market houses saying "offer over such and such". i make a legitimate over over that amount and they still want to go higher. so i end up walking on the purchase.

Why can't they just say, "for sale at 190k"? Then i wouldn't waste my time and theirs..

Oh well - they may still come back to me if they cannot sell. I may have found another by then anyway.



g

 

[alexlee]

Because phrasing it that way pulls in more people (specifically in this case, people looking between 180-190). More people means a better chance someone will fall in love with it, and offer more. Or just to get more buy information so that the agent can call them and ask if they have something to sell.

 

[Dazz]

It really annoys me when they market houses saying "offer over such and such".

.....

i make a legitimate over over that amount

Not quite sure what you mean by "legitimate over over", but it's just the REA using marketing to suck the punters in. Don't go all legalistic regarding the wording.

What they say to you means squat, what they write to you means squat, and what they advertise means diddly squat as well.....

Have a squizz at the bottom of their disclaimer down in tiny little 1 font at the bottom of their brochure. It's all clearly spelt out for you.

The Vendor warrants nothing to you. The agent warrants nothing to you. The principal of the agency warrants nothing to you.

She's caveat emptor all the way my friend.

 

[NBS]

I wonder how it would go if you put a letter to the vendor saying something like I put an offer in to your agent but he refused to accept it. I know and as vendor if i found this out I would be chatting the agent.

Brian

 

[JamesGG]

Why can't they just say, "for sale at 190k"? Then i wouldn't waste my time and theirs..

Because otherwise, most people will look at that price and think that they should simply knock off 5-15%. Then, they can tell everyone how they bought for $x under market value.

The agent's listing price is there purely for marketing purposes and should never be used as a guide of what to offer. Your own research should tell you what a property is worth.