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Are Contract Presentations A Lost Art?

Back in the day, when I was going to rookie school at the Shannon & Luchs Academy of Real Estate, they spent a lot of time on the rituals that ensue once we'd written a contract. We were taught to call the listing agent, who would almost always arrange a meeting with her and the sellers so the selling agent could "present".

So this meant that you went to either the listing agent's office or the seller's house with offer in hand. And you would go over it with the agent and her sellers, introducing them to both the sellers and the offer they were making. Then, the listing agent would meet privately with the sellers and they would decide what to do - accept, counter or rip it up.

So yesterday, I wrote an offer on a condo that was listed by another graduate of the Shannon & Luchs Academy, and she asked if I would like to present.

Present?

Today, most agents give you the fax number or email address where they want you to send it. Then they look at it, fax or email it to the sellers, and they'll often deal with it over the phone and with email, or they might possibly go for a face-to-face with their client.

Fax and email are certainly time savers. But last night, I think that my being there made the difference between getting the contract ratified and getting a counter offer back.

My offer was, at least I thought, really good and worthy of the sellers' signature. But they wanted to counter. If they had, I don't know what my buyer would have done. But there was certainly a chance she'd walk, and my colleague let me make the case directly to them that it was a risk that might not really be worth the small counter-offer they were making.

In the end, the sellers signed the offer and sold their unit.

I am so old fashioned that I, too, almost always invite a buyer's agent to present his or her offer on one of my listings. Often, they are clueless about what I'm talking about. So here's the thing.

It's your chance to sell your offer to the sellers. Do the schmooze dance about how wonderful your buyers are and why they like that particular house or condo. Explain the strong points of the offer, whether it's the price, a huge earnest money check, the absense of nasty contingencies, or whatever you think will make it work for the sellers. If there are negatives, how do the plusses offset them?

Some listing agents want to just get the contract in hand and deal with it themselves. Other times, the sellers may be in some far off corner of the world where a face-to-face meeting is not possible. And you really have to let the lister set the ground rules for how your buyer's offer is handled. Still, it never hurts to ask if you can present your offer to the sellers.

And I'll be that Lenn Harley may be my only blog buddie who remembers Shannon & Luchs!

If you plan to buy or sell a home in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, contact Pat Kennedy at 202-549-5167 or housepat@mac.com.

Posted by Patricia Kennedy on 08/11/2009 04:02 PM

Comments (59)

Contract Presentations in the Sales Strategies / Tactics Channel

contract presentations, washignton dc real estate, pat kennedy

Originally posted at: Pat Kennedy - Your Washington, DC Real Estate Connection: Are Contract Presentations A Lost Art?

Post is included in group: Club Chaos
Post is included in group: Realtors®

59 Comments on Are Contract Presentations A Lost Art?

AUG

We have mostly absentee owners so it is email and phone for 80% of our listings. But for those that live here, Nestor and I or one of us always goes to their home or have them come to the office to present the offer, but they never want the other side to be there. We also feel in our gut when we need to be more hands on or not.

Pat - I was asked this question just the other day by a "retired" Realtor friend. She reminisced about how she "sold" her buyers to the sellers. I can see how it could work well under certain circumstances. It seems that was the case with this transaction. Sorry, I don't remember Shannon & Luchs.

Pat

I think a return to personalized face to face will come. Maybe not now in the wake of short sales and fireclosures but when Real Estate normalizes. I like that you are taking opportuntiies to do face to face encounters because- while it may be more time and fuel efficient to fax offers it is not personal at all...and buying a home, condo or townhouse is the most personal object anyone will ever own.

Good Job Girl

Pat, I had a buyers agent that just had to "present" the offer to my sellers. It was a royal waste of time. It was actually on Easter Sunday. My sellers against my advice were all for it so I drove over there so she could "present". The offer was completely ridiculous. It was 30% below asking price!!! She presented, we said good bye, and that was the end of that. I've never done before or since.

Last time I did a closing, buying, it was screwed up that they even had the credit report for the wrong Steve Smith, seriously. They asked me to explain this and that judgement.....I was pi--ed off.

Pat - well it seems pretty rare around here. I have presented some offers but have yet to have someone present to me on my listings. So often you just get an email, not even a call to let you know it's coming or to discuss casually.

Wonder if I could present my REO offers to the bank?

Jeff

In this area no one wants the "other" side there. Now, I have had sellers write letters about why their house stands out and I have had personal letters from buyers submitted with offers - but no face to face.

I have had it done only once on one of my listings. I think that if all parties are in the same area, there is nothing wrong with this. After all, we as Realtors® have the right to "present" our buyer's offer to the seller's with their agent present - I think agents have either forgotten this or just don't know it.

Most of my business has been with absentee sellers. Kind of difficult to do a face-to-face, but a conference call with the buyer's agent, seller's agent and seller certainly should not be a problem.

Congratulations on the contract!

Hi Pat

Great post, I agree presenting a contract is a lost art, and a big opportunity for the real estate professionals.

Good luck and success.

Lou Ludwig

I'm an old timer but never heard of Shannon and Luchs. I do remember going with the listing agent at times when the offer was presented. Mostly, though, I remember the selling agent wanting to go with me and my thinking he didn't trust me to do a good job.

Patricia,

I heard about it, but never dealt with it. We used it as a threat when we were dealing with an agent, who was very unreasonable and acted as if he was the Seller, and was refusing even to present it to the seller.

So we demanded that we do it ourselves.

Pat..You best not try that in Pa..the listing agent will bite off you head.. maybe pull out your finger nails one by one..when buyers agency stated they tried to put this into practice never got off the ground..heads were rolling ..lol

Patricia,

It's a lot harder to say no to an e-mail or telephone than it is to a live body...!!! Thanks, Fran

now tricia............i have been in d.c. since before home rule. i certainly remember shannon and luchs and all the rest of those firms that were in town. the only one i miss is the little tavern...well maybe griffith stadium, the wonder bread bakery on 7th street, heller's bakery, oh my...the list goes on for an old native washingtonian............

I remember those days but you are right today it is just fax it to me and I'll call you with the answer.

AUG

I did not have the class. But I remember the practice.

It was a far superior system -- but it was a creature of sub-agency to a degree.

A selling agent was once expected to look at the listing and note the seller's loan balance, then prepare a seller's net sheet to take to the presentation and hand to the seller.

Now, in many places the selling side does not even know such things...unless the selling agent is very dilligent and the public records readily available.

The problem I have the fax and sit approach is: I never know whether the listing agent will actually show the seller the CMA I have done on behalf of the buyers.

Featured @ Club Chaos

Ahhh. To be back in the good old days when Realtors were few and maybe even knew each other, personally. Those glory days when Realtors actually took their profession seriously (full-time, lots of education, involvement in the Realtor community and the neighborhood). That wonderful bygone era when clients actually trusted and respected real estate professionals for their experience and expertise.

Say, weren't those good ol' Shannon and Luchs days pre-technology with the possible exception of the cell phone the size and weight of a brick. E-mail? What's the "E" stand for? Fax? Don't you mean "facts"?

It's always more romantic in retrospect.

Pat,

I am sure that around our area this is a very lost art. Most agents have not even heard of this or if they have do not let on as though they know anything about it.

You are very correct. WIth the fax it has become very impersonal.

Recently when presenting an offer the Selling agent arbitrarily made changes to their expectations without any rebutal or input from me.

His style of "signback" was off putting to myself and obviously my Buyer. We bought the same model house for less money in teh same pocket. Their's continued for sale for another 4 weeks.

Style and delivery is very important.

With the Seller's at the table, I ask them directly; a)You may accept this offer as presented b) you can reject this offer and send this "fellow" home or c) you can make a counter offer.

I am always amazed at the results of letting the sellers articulate what they want.

They are our customers.

Great to be reminded.

If you have people coming to Toronto Let me know ;)

David Pylyp

Http://BuyinginToronto.ca

I agree that making the case when presenting an offer can make a difference. In most cases today, I make that case to the listing agent and rely on him/her to pass it on. For example, in one current deal my clients wanted to purchase a beautiful home that was new on the market. My CMA suggested that the home was extremely overpriced, BASED ON CURRENT COMPS. This listing agent is very experienced, but fairly new to our area and a friend of the seller's family.

We came up with an offer that we thought would likely appraise - about 14% below the list price. I shared the comps with agent, along with a carefully worded explanation that my buyers were not "bottom feeding", but were willing to pay top dollar FOR THE CURRENT MARKET for this beautiful home.

She checked out my comps, added a very recent sale that I had overlooked, and made the case. For the first 24 hours, the sellers balked. They very nearly made a counter just $5K below their list price. I encouraged her to let them absorb the market information for a few days. My buyers agreed to keep their offer open for another 48 hours.

Guess what - our one and only offer was accepted, with just a few minor changes for timing.

In this case, having a seasoned agent on the other side who was prepared to listen made all the difference. We both earned our paycheck with this deal, but it began with my "presentation" of the offer.

Pat... it must be listing week in regards to blogs... ;o) You wrote this blog, I wrote about dual agency, and Erica Ramus just wrote a blog yesterday about sellers that might not want to disclose offers... lol

In any case, a few mentioned that they see face to face coming back... I don't think so... but over the phone, sure, why not. The main point of your blog, you talk about selling your offer to the sellers... isn't this just plain negotiating in a way? That agents should be able to do this and would want to do this? You tell me, you are the realtor. I would think that you can compare this to an ad campaign. If I was hired to do an ad for your company, I would still have to sell you behind the idea of my ad, correct? Why I came up with particular ad and why I think it would sell. This could be the same as what you are talking about, right?

A comment just from a measley loan officer. ;o)

jeff belonger

I have been moving steadily toward the old school approach of in-person presentations as well. As a listing agent, I advise my clients use it only when there are multiple offers. This builds rapport and trust with the competing buyer's agents (who often are suspicious of multiple offers). I am startled, however, about how poorly this opportunity is used by the presenting agent. Often it is a dry presentation of the facts.

As a buyer's agent, I feel the differentiation of my client is critical. Out of respect for the listing agent's time, I will not ask to present an aggressive (low) offer, but when it is a fair offer, I need to explain how I have trained my buyers, how we approach contingencies and how serious my clients are. This has been a decidedly non-monetary advantage for my clients. When I am not permitted to present, I feel writing a concise letter and explaining my clients to the listing agent really helps.

I've been in the business since 2001 and it was always fax or drop it at the listing agents office, now it's fax or e-mail. I'm wondering if the buyer's agent presenting to the seller's was ever common around here.

Although I've never known the world of presenting, it sounds great. Makes the whole transaction more personable and it seems this is where your selling skills are really necessary if you're the buyer's agent. In today's world of faxing and e-mailing, the buyer is just a number.

Pat, my sister-in-law worked for Shannon & Luchs at the Vienna office. I still have on of their cookbooks! It is a lost art and I do believe deals are lost sometimes because of it. On the other hand, there are surely some that go through because of it! I personally would love to do it but agents take an affront if you ask. They want to be in total control with their sellers.

Sharon

Before becoming a REALTOR every house I've ever sold has had both our agent and the buyer's agent present and the buyer's agent presented.

In all instances it wasn't like the agents hated each other at all; in fact they actually seemed to share a common goal - to sell the house to a buyer.

Since being a REALTOR every offer I've had I've presented and every offer I've received has been presented.

They have actually been very social affairs.

In one instance the buyers, who were waiting in the car, were brought in to meet the sellers - and they actually had known other people in common!

Oh, I've heard stories of agents competing and one agent getting upset because his or her offer wasn't the one accepted - but hey - those kinds of stories are in every industry.

In this age of technology, I think we need to bring back the personal touch.

I also wish this practice would become more commonplace. I have asked to present several times. I've been told the seller's were unavailable. In one case I wrote a letter to the seller's, with my buyer's approval. Maybe with so many Realtors leaving the business- some of the older practices will return.

I have to say I'm on the fence about face-to-face contract presentations. I have been in the biz long enough that it was the way to do it when I started in a sub-agency world. Even then, when we were supposed to be working for the seller, many times I could feel that I was being viewed as the enemy before I even opened my mouth. Sellers figured I was representing the buyers no matter what kind of agency we practiced under and that I was trying to present a less than full price offer.

Oh yes, I came prepared with CMA's and everything, and most of the time it did work out. But for those times I felt the seller wanted to physically throw me out the door, those were uncomfortable situations I would not care to repeat (and the worst offending seller did finally calm down and I got the offer accepted after negotiations).

The other thing I didn't like was that we didn't always get a final agreement at the presentation table. Sometimes I had to go back to my buyers face-to-face and present the counter. Sometimes the listing agent wouldn't allow the sellers to initial or sign anything before the buyers did so it made for a lot of back and forth traveling and took up a lot more time (and gas).

I was actually relieved when the seller's market changed things because of multiple offers. I always speak to the listing agent prior to sending the contract and write up a summary of the offer and any other pertinent information.

So here I am in Barcelona about to go feed my face with some Tapas and Sangria - and I see your featured post on Active Rain. I just had to pop in and give my 2 cents!

I love the idea of presenting offers. I can't say I have done this though. It is true that emails and phones have made life very different. In fact my last 2 settlements - I never even saw the other agent face to face (and another I only ran into him by accident).

It is a lost art - one which it could be taught again. Besides Tom Lynch, who most DC agents know - I have not heard of anyone else doing this.

Bravo.

In our area we try to keep the sides APART as much as possible. I had a recent incident that magnifies WHY we do this.

My clients were the buyers...the inspector found an issue with the HVAC system. Nothing definitive though. The listing agent was eager to dispell any problems that might arise from the inspection and asked us to talk to the seller who was just pulling up in her car. She was TOO eager and TOO informative. It hurt her in the end. The AC functioned, but when prodded by the buyers, the seller admitted the system hadn't been serviced for some time. The seller brought in an HVAC person who filed a report stating just that. But my buyers insisted on a credit to cover a new compressor - or the deal was OFF. They got 80% of that cost covered. The fact is that even if she had only said those things to ME - I would have been obliged to reveal the content of the discussion to my buyers. The seller was hurt by this encounter. My buyers don't "get" that they too may have been harmed by this. Although they "won" the battle - the manner in which they decided to play hard-ball could cause harm down the road. My buyers insisted on using their loan officer from a bank that I have had very bad expeirences with in the recent past - (long delays - huge issues in underwriting.) I'm expecting problems. I'm also expecting no mercy from the seller's side should they run into a brick wall.

This highlights why we keep the sides apart.

Hi Patricia, Most of our contracts are " Mail - aways " and as such we rarely make a face to face presentation of a contract. Such is our world !

Great post Patricia! It's great to hear how other agents present their buyers offers and what works best for their particular area. Personally I present about 90% of my offers and think it definately helps humanize my buyers rather than just emailing the offer over with no background description. For example I had a young couple moving to the area that were expecting their first baby. I explained how their home fit their needs perfectly and they wanted to raise their family in the area which was completely true but do you think the sellers would of known that if I would of simply emailed or faxed the offer?? I agree with Jeff in post 24 I don't personally present low ball offers out of respect for everyones time only fair ones that I can back up with a recent CMA.

Craig Comeau - Royal LePage Kelowna, BC Canada

Many many years ago I lived in N. VA and remember the shamrock on signs of Shannon & Luchs.

Now in a time that I am a Realtor, you are bringing back the day when I at least would get to meet the listing agent by driving the offer to her home or office. It happens once in a while, but not often. Scanning and faxing has replaced the personal touch (maybe because I work with clients in 3 states). And now our office has put all documents onlline and accessible with a password, it saves file space, but even more personal contact has disappeared!

This is a very personal way to do business and I think that it may return in areas where it was the custom, when the market normalizes again. Right now with so many short sales and foreclosures a lot of sellers are embarrassed and just want out with as little face-time with the buyers as possible! However I'm a strong proponent of my buyers writing a letter to let them explain how much the property means to them and how they will be good stewards of it. I think that's a good way to go!

Thanks for this though! There are certainly some circumstances when I will ask "to present".

I am a firm believer in presenting offers directly to the Seller and the Seller's agent because: 1. If the buyer's agent knows he has to present in person, he may be less likely to write a terrible offer. 2. If the listing agent presents a low offer to the Seller, the Seller may just "shoot the messenger." 3. If the offer is low and presented directly to the Seller by the Buyer's agent, he may be more willing to negotiate if he likes and trusts the Buyer's agent. 4. If an offer is faxed numerous times it is often extremely hard to read when it gets to the Seller. 5. If offers can be faxed and e-mailed, why do the Buyer and Seller need an agent? 6. Negotiating the deal is the most enjoyable part of the real estate business! There are probably other reasons, too.

Let's get back to it!

Katie Muck, RE/MAX Palos Verdes, California

Hi Patricia, Great Post.

I've yet to have an agent ask to present an offer, and hardly ever does anyone take me up on my request/offer to present. I will usually prepare a cover letter and cma for an offer my client is making, since I know what gets lost in translation. If our positives and reasoning is spelled out then I feel the seller will at least get to see it.

John Queenan - www.JustListedCT.com

I think that presenting offers or counter-offers in person is a far better way to go. (Oh yes, I understand that there are out of area clients or banks where this is impossible.) Why is this a "lost" art? Because newer agents are not being trained today on how to present offers and too many agents think real estate is a "technology" business and not a "people" business now. Contrary to Bryant Tutus remarks up above, even a low offer presented in person has a better chance of getting a reasonable counter that might just later be accepted by the buyer than merely faxing or emailing it where it is easy to dismiss it out of hand. Remember too, that FAX machines have been around since the mid-80's, but we knew better even then that a face to face presentation would work far better. Meeting the other agent in person also made them "human" and helped take away the concept that we were "advisaries" working against each other.

So why is presenting in person actually better? Because you get to use all of your communication "tools" at your disposal to help guide and persuade the other person. Gee, isn't that what selling really is? "Selling" the other person on your ideas? Only 7% of human communications is text or content - the words we chose to use. An email or attachment then is purely text with no emotion involved at all - unless you use little smiley faces - ;-). We even like telephones much better because 38% of human communications is "tone and inflection". So while talking on the phone, the agent gets a clearer understanding of how the other person is feeling and thinking about the offer or counter by the tone in their voice. You can tell if a person sounds angry, upset, confused or even happy because you can hear it. But 55% of human communications is non-verbal body language! So why would an agent, (unless one has too), want to leave out the majority of his sales toolkit and not fully utilize it? When seeing a client or other agent in person, you can "read" in their body language as to how the presentation is going over. You can tell if they are having trouble, reacting negatively, seem confused, etc. It is written all over their face... and many times "telegraphed" to you before they speak the first word.

Nice, thought provoking Post. Try presenting in person next time and see if it doesn't produce a better result.

Win Singleton - Northern Virginia Real Estate, Inc.

As a seller - I have been presented with two offers.

1. The first time someone presented an offer to me - as a seller. I was a bit taken aback. (why did I care about putting a face on her buyers. I saw potential liablity for fair housing violations.) Nevertheless, the Realtor came to my property and proceded with the presentation. I considered the whole thing a waste of time. (mine and his)

2. The second time a Realtor did a presentation, the Realtor focused on my bottom line. He did a great job talking about the time value of money. His negotiatons probably saved his buyer about 5%. However, I am not sure that presentation would work in a typical market. I was anxious to get out of that property as it was 2007 and the market was tanking.

Pat - It's definitely a lost art.

I recently attempted to present my buyer's offer. The listing agent (a very "green" agent and a part-timer) informed he wanted to present it himself. I explained it was not his decision, it was the seller's choice as to whether I presented the offer or not. He said he was sure they would say no and I said "get it in writing" then I'll release the offer.

The problem is the home is grossly overpriced for the neighborhood and has been on the market for 11 mos. My buyer's offer was above fair market value and I had comps to prove it. Why not let me be the bad guy and inform the sellers they don't have a clue about the value of their home? I've been a Realtor for 14 yrs., know the market and the neighborhood well. I'm sure I could have turned the light bulb on for these sellers if given the opportunity. At their price, they'll be sitting there another year. Needless to say it was a "no deal" and my buyer has moved on. Don't listing agents see this lets them off the hook when presenting what they perceive to be a less than desirable offer? Let the author of the contract do the dirty work. Am I the only one that gets that?

There seems to be quite a bit of disagreement about this issue from the coments above, but I think you're doing the right thing. In all honesty, unless you personally know the listing agent, you have no idea how the offrer will be presented. You're giving your customers your best effort to get their offer accepted or reasonably countered by making their case yourself.

Hi Patricia - I remember the days of presenting offers. There was a sort of ceremonial aspect to it that was exciting for all involved, but I also remember that when I was busy and trying to do ten other things, I used to get impatient with agents who basically just wanted to read the offer to me (snooze!). I can read it myself and walk my buyer through it when we are alone and I can explain the good and bad in the offer.

I think that today's many labor-saving and time-saving devices have only made us busier, as we are now expected to accomplish a lot more in a much shorter time, and that doesn't leave time for the niceties of those days. I guess that's the good news/bad news of progress!

I have only been in the business less than three years, but my first manager trained me to present offers in person. My experience has been that most listing agents don't understand what I mean when I ask to present the offer. They just want it faxed over. At a minimum, I try to get the listing agent to allow me to present it to him/her, if they are reluctant to allow me to present to the seller. I have found that presenting to the listing agent, rather than faxing an offer, has been very appreciated by the listing agent, and one offer was accepted as a direct result of me presenting to a listing agent.

In California, the buyer's agent does have the right to present the offer in person; although most listing agents don't apparently know that they do. My old manager once predicted it will become the norm that all offers will be presented -- after the first lawsuit happens from a faxed offer that doesn't get accepted.

There is some liabiltiy that comes with faxing a contract, rather than following state real estate laws about presenting offers; but I am not sure what it is. Are there any experts out there that know more about it?

I was thinking about this just the other day. It's never done here, that I've heard of. But nearly every time I discuss an offer with sellers, they ask what the buyers are like, do they have kids, how old are they, etc. I don't know why it makes a difference, but I do think that putting a personal face on an offer - even if it's the agent and not the buyers themselves - would add a more favorable dimension to offers. I have no clue how it's done, though - you should write a post about it!

Hi Pat,

I always give the buyers agent the option to present it, but 99% of the time they don't want to. I guess it is a lost art form, and I don't see it coming back with all the technology around.

-Lisa

Great post, Patricia. Reminds me of my training...done in a different market environment...but still valuable.

Our MLS rules state "The cooperating broker has the right to participate in the presentation of any offer to purchase he secures." So, if buyer's broker wants to present, buyer's broker has the right to do so, unless seller's broker has written refusal of seller for personal presentations. And why would seller refuse? Doesn't the seller want to know all that there is to know about the offer? Doesn't the seller want to sell? Does the seller want to erect barriers to achieving their goal of selling? Does the seller want their agent to take actions detrimental to the goal of selling the property?

From the buyer's prospective, personal presentation allows the selling agent to put the best face on an offer, to act as advocate for the offer and buyers, (our job, if I am not mistaken), answer questions from the agent and seller about the offer and then allow the agent and seller to make a decision about how to respond to the offer.

When it is possible, personal presentation by the buyer's agent helps advance the interests of everyone involved and separates the buyer's agent from those whose only experience is to deliver the offer impersonally by fax or email. I guarantee, if your offer and mine are very similar, and I make a personal presentation and you don't, I will get the deal and you won't.

Of course, in our current market, where a huge percentage of the listings are REO and short sales, personal presentation is seldom possible.

I, too, was raised on presenting my own offers. Now I try to accomlish some of the same result by having my clients write a letter to the seller (so long as it's a human seller). Don't knock it--it works! Personally, I am happy to skip the time it takes to do the in-person presentation. Things change...not always for the better, but not always for the worse, either.

Pat: We're relative newbies in the business, three and a half years now, and have not experienced an "in-person presentation" of an offer. If done correctly I can see that it would be a powerful tool. I would worry though that egos and emotions could get in the way and muck up the works.

Most of my sellers are out of area. However, even the 10%-20% that are in the San Diego area are way too busy to have 4-5+ Offers presented in a multiple offer situation. I am always told to "fax it". I think, although I do not 100% agree, that "Offer Presentation" may be going the way of a "secretary answering the phone" in a large company instead of an electronic voice system. Both these things are just not feasible in this day and age of technology. For sure something is lost in the "human element" but that is the price we have to pay. However, I have also had an "in person offer presentation" work against me. So who is to say what will obtain the best results?

This lack of personal presentation is part of what causes the public to look at real estate agents as simply order takers. In most cases, it seems to me that it is to your clients advantage to have you present their offer to the other party. Besides this point, how can you ensure that the other agent will give your client's offer a good/fair hearing/presentation; the extent of the other agent's presentation might be: it's below asking, let's junk it (this does not really serve your client's best interest, and potentially not that of their client either).

In our area the seller gets to decide if they want an 'in person' presentation or one by fax and phone. I'm not sure the seller ever gets to choose anymore. The last time I did this, the buyers agent told the seller how the tarot cards told the buyer this was the house for them! Needless to say the seller told me, don't let that nut job women in this house again! Ahhh ... another great real estate story! Some agents just try and cram their offer down the sellers throat and do so without any sales style. Sellers already have enough problems.

Personal presentation is old school. I have nothing against it, but no one does it.

It's not generally done here in NY, but now that I'm at Keller Williams, I know many agents that present the offers in person (the buyers aren't present-but maybe they write a letter). Part of the reason they do it is to make sure the offer is actually being presented to the seller. There is a lot of suspician that offers are not being presented.

Hi Pat... I think that the presentation of an offer by the buyers' agent is one of the elements of genteelness that has vanished with the rise of technology.

Pay- I've only had another agent present after offer acceptance and before contract signing to assure my clients that the deal on the contingency of another home sale was pretty solid.

AUG

Shannon & Luchs - Now that brings back some memories. My wife Donna got her start there as Bill Ellis's personal assistant. When she left (after the purchase by Weichert) she was the administrative manager for the whole residential sales operation. My start in the mortgage business came at S & L Mortgage many a year ago.

It has been mentioned often here that technology has speed in its favor.

But in the days of personal presentation of offers the personal presence of the selling agents often actually quickened the pace of negotiation.

You often wrote the offer with a day or two for the sellers to respond. Then you got to the presentation, say in the sellers living room or kitchen. You made your pitch and prepared to leave...only to be asked by the listing agent to simply step outside or into another room while s/he talked to the sellers outside your hearing.

Then you were often called back in...to learn first hand the terms of the sellers immediate counter...or maybe to hear those magical words: we have a deal.

It may not have been as fast as today...but you knew your offer had had the seller's full attention....and so did your buyers.

If our role does not have value, it will be discarded.

Remember that middle man everyone wants to eliminate. That's us.

AUG

I now work for a builder, so its a little different, but when I was an agent (just last year) with the largest brokerage in Central Kentucky we were REQUIRED to present all buyer client's offers if possible. Of course if the listing agent wouldn't agree then we couldn't do it. I think it is doing a great service for your buyers...especially in multiple offer situations!

There seems to be some disagreement about this on here and I am confused by some of the comments. When we presented the offer to the seller, the buyers were NOT present, only the two agents and the sellers. And after presenting the offer and asking if there were any quetsions I left to let them discuss alone and get back to me.

In turn I always offered to let other agents present to my sellers if they wanted. Sometimes my sellers would get nervous about it until I explained that we will have time to discuss it in private after they leave. All of my sellers ended up loving it because many were emotionally attached to their homes and this gives them the opportunity to hear what wonderful people the buyers are. (that is if the presenting agent is doing a good job of presenting!)

AUG

Pat -- I present for my buyers when I can. I too think it makes a difference - at the least I feel like I can put a personal face onto the facts of the offer. I have at times asked them to write a short note introducing themselves to include with the offer - not all buyers are willing to do that, and I've written a cover letter too at times that describes them and why they like the house enough to make an offer. One time I included a photo of the little boy of the family. The agent later told me that the seller took our offer over another that was higher because of the family that would be living there. As with Danielle - the buyers are never present and the sellers and agent aleasy get back to me after they have talked. When I list, buyers agents are always welcome to present to the sellers.

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Patricia Kennedy

Washington, DC

More about me…

Evers & Company Realtors

Address: 4400 Jenifer Street NW, Washington, DC 20015

Office Phone: (202) 364-1700

Cell Phone: (202) 549-5167

Email Me

Pat Kennedy -- author of The Irreverent Guide to Real Estate -- gives you a look at life on the streets as a real estate broker in our nation's capital. And her blog is peppered with great advice combined with humor!

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