Present All Offers Immediately

I am not sure why some agents do not get this.  You must submit all offers immediately!

HAWAII ADMINISTRATIVE RULES - TITLE 16 /  DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS  - CHAPTER 99  /  REAL ESTATE BROKERS AND SALESPERSONS

• 16-99-3(j)  A licensee shall transmit immediately all written offers in any real estate transaction as defined in section 16-99-3.1 to the listing broker who has a written unexpired exclusive listing contract covering the property.  Each written offer, upon receipt by the listing broker, shall be transmitted to the seller immediately. In the event that more than one formal written offer on a specific property is made before the owner has accepted an offer, any other formal written offer presented to the broker, whether by a prospective purchaser or another broker, shall be immediately transmitted to the owner for decision. If an offer or counter offer is rejected, the rejection shall be noted on the offer or counter offer, or in the event of seller's or buyer's neglect or refusal to do so, the broker for the rejecting party shall note the rejection on the offer or counter offer and a copy shall be returned immediately to the originator of the offer or counter offer.

Why do I mention this?  The subject seems to be coming up more and more.

This issue actually was a cause of me entering back in the real estate industry a few years ago.  While purchasing the home I currently live in I submitted an offer and got a verbal rejection from the seller's Realtor, nothing in writing.  A couple of weeks later we submitted a full price offer on the property to not get so much as a return phone call back to my Realtor.  After a week of no response I took matters in my own hands.  Not being a Realtor at the time, I looked up the owner in the tax records and contracted them directly.  I found out that they were totally unaware of my two offers.  In the end I did buy the home. 

The escrow was messy.  Their agent, the Principal Broker of her company was a nightmare.  My loan officer, a personal friend was not much better.

After several delays caused by the seller's agent, my wife and I finally sat at the signing table.  There was no loan officer and no Realtor present.  The escrow documents were riddled with mistakes.  Fortunately for us, I was a Realtor many years before and understood what we were signing.  I am sure the escrow officer is still telling stories about that signing.  I pulled out my red pen and marked up almost every page for corrections.  It was so bad, that we had to come back the next day and try again.  Again came out the red pen.  This time they were able to make the last few corrections while we waiting.

Just a few of the mistakes on our documents:

• Listed us as the seller's instead of the buyers
• Misspelled our names
• Wrong address and tax map key on the property
• Wrong sale price
• Missing charges
• Seller charges charged to buyer
• Missing closing credit from seller to buyer

After the sale was over, I told myself a few things:

• The professionals seemed to be making a lot of money and not earning it.
• I would never allow a client to go through what we went through.
• It just doesn't need to be this hard to buy a home.
• The industry seems to have room for good agents and good service.

After many years in sales and marketing, being older, wiser and more established in my community, I decided that I re-enter the industry and make real estate my career.  Since getting my license, I have had no second thoughts.  My goal is to raise the level of service higher than what is considered normal or full service.  I strive daily to be sure that no client I ever work with will be able to tell stories like this one.

Also see my follow-up blog post: Present All Offers Immediately - Part 2