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I Want To Present All Buyer Offers To The Seller In Person

What happens after the real estate faxes his/her clients offer to the listing agent? We assume that the listing agent presents the offer in a timely fashion, right?

Two days ago, I presented a great offer to a listing agent. It was typed out professionally, included a detailed preapproval letter from a name mortgage company, and even submitted a personal letter from my buyer to the sellers in the offer. I faxed and emailed the offer to the agent. 2 days later, and I have not heard back from the agent! What goes?

After watching many HGTV shows, where in the North, especially in Canada, buyer’s agents present the offer directly to the seller with the listing agent present. Why don’t we do this here in South Florida or other areas? Who better than the buyer’s agent that can present the offer to the seller, even bring comparables justifying the purchase offer? On these HGTV shows, I even see the buyers in the cars outside of the homes of the seller anxiously awaiting an answer and counteroffer. Everything is done at the same time. Sellers and buyers are within stone-throwing distance from each other. Let the games begin and end quickly!

Either way, the buyer and seller knows if their is a deal or not. I sit here and wait for the listing agent to give me the common courtesy of a return phone call as my buyer calls me, texts me, and emails me. I feel for my buyer, and am trying to do everything I can in my power to get him this property.

As a result, I am having all future buyers request that I present their offers directly to the sellers with their listing agents present. No more drama, games, or what if’s. It is time to take control, especially when your client is 100% qualified and submits an offer that the sellers should take and take now before their home goes down in value even more!

If you are looking to buy or sell in South Florida, and looking for the best real estat team, please visit: http://www.FloridaHomeTools.com. I promise that this won’t EVER happen to you!

Michael Citron

RE/MAX ParkCreek

Direct: 954-609-0591

"Buy & Sell With Confidence"

Posted by Michael Citron on 05/21/2009 12:50 PM

Comments (8)

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8 Comments on I Want To Present All Buyer Offers To The Seller In Person

MAY

Michael - Hi from Canada! I have on a number of occassions, brought my Buyers to the Seller's home and had them sit in the car waiting for a response of some sort. It shows how earnest they are and gets the job done far quicker. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I've had Sellers say they don't like the pressure and are not prepared to make an instant decision. (as if they haven't already discussed what they're prepared to sell for and when!)

I don't present the offer to the Sellers tho, only to their agent. All of our offers come with an 'Irrevocable Date" which is when a response is required by, usually 24 hours.

Good luck with your new approach - I look forward to reading the outcome.

Hi Michael,

When I worked at Howard Hanna in Sewickley PA, company policy was that buyer's agents had to personally present the offer to the seller and their agent. It was great P.R. for the company and it often got things tied up in a hurry.

My least favorite thing about the policy was having to present a crap offer to a seller face-to-face.....talk about wishing I brought along protective headgear?

I think personally presenting offer to seller on behalf of buyer is a great thing.....and I have to confess it's not a policy I regularly follow any more because it's just quicker and easier to email the offer to seller's agent and have them present it.....which works really well when you're not dealing with a weaselly and/or incompetent agent.

Sorry to hear your buyers are out on a limb waiting for an answer. That's beyond rude!! Those are the type of agents that give our entire industry such a cheesy reputation.

Have you contacted agent's broker? I would!

Sorry to hear your offer was not taken seriously and presently in a timely fashion. I prefer to present all offers in person myself but have learned that won't always be the case. I received a great offer on Monday on a home I listed on Thursday. My sellers left town so they would not be inconvenienced by showings (they have 2 small children) and are in the city where they are moving. Email is fabulous! I sent it on to them, walked them through the offer by phone and they emailed it signed back to me. We are under contract and they are house shopping! So glad we didn't have to wait until their return.

One way to know your offer was presented.

Michael, did you put wording in the contract that seller needs to respond by a cetain day/time? I always add this to avoid situations like this and to keep the lister from shopping my offer for several days. I have presented offers in person but I'll have to admit, faxing and emailing is quicker and sometimes easier for all parties. Knowing the listing agent certainly can help speed things along and I feel for you and your buyer in this case. Hope it works out.

Thanks all for your comments. After 3 days, the agent calls me back and tells me that her clients no longer wish to sell. This agent was a top-producing Realtor in the local area, so I was surprised. I put a time of acceptance of 24 hours when I presented the offer to the listing agent via fax and email. This was not a foreclosure or short sale, so again was very surprised.

Again, I think we should all at least physically present our client's offers in-person unless we know the listing agent well enough to trust that he/she will present the offer in a timely fashion and be professional!

Hi Michael, I wouldn't wait too long before contacting the agent's broker. BTW, many of our sellers are out of state so a face to face presentation isn't possible.

Your experience seems really odd. I'm surprised the other agent didn't make any attempt to explaing the delay, etc. I've read articles from a few agents who do this, but I've never heard of it in my area. I'll admit that it seems like a good thing to do though.

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