When you're trying to sell your home the very last thing you should do is make upfront demands or offer any kind of negative insults to agents who will be showing your property.
More often than not, home sellers don't even sign off on, or approve these "seller instructions." Many times these are really "listing agent instructions to any other Realtor" showing the listing. These instructions are not viewable by to the public unless you are an MLS member with access to Agent Remarks.
This morning I noticed a listing with a set of "instructions before writing an offer." On top of the instruction page was a giant head shot of the listing agent with him sitting on the hood of his antique sports car. Keep in mind that only Realtors will see this list of demands from the listing agent, so the need or desire to flex his Texas sized ego was duly noted.
Here were a few examples of his requirements:
1. If buyer wants a home warranty they will use XYZ Company or there will be no concession from seller to buyer.
2. Buyer's agent to deliver the earnest money check and option fee check WITH the original offer.
3. Seller will not pay HOA transfer fees, will not pay for a survey.
4. Buyer to use XYZ title company (the one the listing agent is part owner of) or seller will not pay for Owners Title Policy.
5. Buyer's agent agrees to pay a pro-rated amount out of his commission of $100.00 each day the deal does not close on time.
6. Buyer will get pre-qualified with seller's preferred lender, not approved.
The list was 2 1/2 pages long. Essentially the listing agent was directing you, the buyers agent, how to write up an offer on behalf of YOUR buyer!
How negotiable does the seller look at this point? How reasonable do you think the seller will be about anything going forward?
I could offer a counter-point and valid argument for each and every demand this listing agent has, but that would take up way too much white space on this post.
I will say this, no reputable or knowledgeable agent would ever deliver an earnest money check "with an offer". In Texas, the earnest money is delivered within a reasonable time AFTER execution, usually 48 hours. The option fee check (a Texas thing) is required to be delivered (already stated in the contract) within 72 hours of execution. Demanding these checks up front is a controlling practice by the listing agent and I doubt VERY seriously any seller would agree to 2.5 pages of listing agent demands if they actually saw them.
Simply put, don't put a wall around your listing that agents have to crawl over to submit an offer.
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