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When Home Sellers Refuse to Sign a Counter Offer

By
Real Estate Agent with Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker DRE #00697006

When home sellers refuse to sign a counter offer, as a listing agent, what can you do? The sellers are your clients. Listing agents must maintain a fiduciary relationship with sellers. We must represent our clients to the fullest of our ability and always keep their best interests at the forefront. As a Realtor, we need to place those interests above our own.

To some agents that means agreeing with their clients and doing precisely what their clients instruct them to do. For other agents, it is a different story. You can share your experience and / or read more in my personal blog today at this link: Seller Says I Won't Sign a Counter Offer.

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Elizabeth Weintraub is co-partner of Weintraub & Wallace Team of Top Producing Realtors, an author, home buying expert at The Balance, a Land Park resident, and a veteran real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown, Carmichael and East Sacramento, as well as tract homes in Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville and Lincoln. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put our combined 80 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold. DRE License # 00697006.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of RE/MAX Gold. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice; it could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

Comments (16)

Nina Hollander, Broker
Coldwell Banker Realty - Charlotte, NC
Your Greater Charlotte Realtor

Hi Elizabeth... I'm always telling clients not to take offers personally and not to say they are insulted by one. An offer is a door opening for negotiationsand that the only thing that is insulting is getting no offers... that's when everyone is telling you they hate your house.

Dec 16, 2018 11:36 AM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Elizabeth, when I take a listing I emphasize that it is a good business and good human factor to respond to a 30 page offer with  a one page Counter Offer, after all the sales process begins when we receive an offer 99% of my clients listen to me and even if we know that it is a no good offer.... we still do... I find it is in the presentation in the beginning of the listing. Endre

Dec 16, 2018 12:06 PM
Inna Ivchenko
Barcode Properties - Encino, CA
Realtor® • GRI • HAFA • PSC Calabasas CA

Well, they hire us to help them to their make decision. So, if they do not sign anything the buyer counter simply expires and they have nothing. 

Dec 16, 2018 01:41 PM
Dorte Engel
RE/MAX Leading Edge - Bowie, MD
ABC - Annapolis, Bowie, Crofton & rest of Maryland

Dear Elizabeth,

They are the boss of me for the time of our contract, but as Nina, Endre & Inna mentioned above, it is our job to work with them to say something that they are comfortable with. Sometimes that requires sleeping on it or talking it over with a CPA. If they are buying another home, a little less may let them keep their lower interest rate on that deal. Good to know some math to calculate the different options with them.

Dec 16, 2018 03:15 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Nina Hollander Yes, they should never refuse to respond to an offer.

Dec 16, 2018 03:18 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Endre Barath, Jr. I do not set up my sellers to expect a lowball offer in the listing presentation or I'd never get the listing, LOL. But I don't sell land. I sell homes that sellers are attached to, and they say I overwhelm with so much information they never remember anything. Are you telling me no land sellers of yours ever said they did not want to sign a (full price) counter offer?

Dec 16, 2018 03:20 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Inna Ivchenko They do hire us to help them to make a decision, and it is our job to help ensure they do not make a BAD decision. Sellers who say I do not want to sign a full price counter offer are sellers who do not have enough information.

Dec 16, 2018 03:22 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Dörte Engel I disagree. It is not our job to make a statement they can agree with. It is our job to give them enough information to prevent bad decisions.

Dec 16, 2018 03:23 PM
Dorte Engel

Maybe I did not express myself clearly. I meant that we point out options, but they make the decision. Whichever decision is best for them in their opinion.

Dec 16, 2018 03:28 PM
Inna Ivchenko
Barcode Properties - Encino, CA
Realtor® • GRI • HAFA • PSC Calabasas CA

yes, I agree, but sometimes many of us can be stubborn, or fearful? etc. for no reason. We are human and not perfect.  I usually tell them to sleep on it and get back to the question the next day. 

 

 

Dec 16, 2018 03:26 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Dörte Engel Well, I don't let my clients make bad decisions.  LOL. I know there are agents who will.

After discussing it and thoroughly explaining why they need to sign a counter, I've never had a client disagree. I expend a great deal of time to ensure they understand. I believe we are doing a disservice if we fail to get them to comprehend the predictable outcome.

Dec 16, 2018 03:31 PM
Dorte Engel

Very true. To my knowledge, nobody has ever picked an outcome that I would disagree with with regard to the contract, but when it comes to decorating, our tastes often diverge wildly. However, it is not my place to make decisions for others. 

Dec 16, 2018 05:10 PM
Inna Ivchenko
Barcode Properties - Encino, CA
Realtor® • GRI • HAFA • PSC Calabasas CA

I was listening to a story about a very nice agent who worked with a client for over a year and was about to give up. Her broker stepped in and after talking to her clients just one time had an offer in hand.

 

It reminded me myself first years in business.....

As you stated, a good experienced agent informs the clients about good and bad of every step and helps them( no pushing!) to make the decision that works the best for them at the right time for them, even if sometimes they do not see or understand  it. 

So, later you do not hear from them,'' it was such a good deal/offer/house and we missed it...''

Dec 16, 2018 03:31 PM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Elizabeth- hopefully sellers will hire an agent like you to help walk them through this and not some agent who will just shrug and tell the buyer's agent that they won't counter. You have to be in the game if you want to get it sold. 

Dec 16, 2018 06:08 PM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

One of the riskier moves home buyers make is to submit an outrageous low-ball offer.  When they do, they risk the seller reaction you illustrate in this post.  I've had experiences where my sellers have needed a little work to convince them to counter, and when they do, they often counter hard.  

Dec 17, 2018 05:55 AM
Joan Cox
House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO
Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

Elizabeth, ultimately, it is their home, their decision, we can only guide them with our expertise.

Dec 17, 2018 07:14 AM
Nick T Pappas
Assoc. Broker ABR, CRS, SFR, e-Pro, @Homes Realty Group, Broker/Providence Property Mgmnt, LLC Huntsville AL - Huntsville, AL
Madison & Huntsville Alabama Real Estate Resource

Elizabeth - I'm sure you've heard the saying; Principals can be very expensive. In the end it's what my client wants, but I'm sure to let them know if they don't respond then it goes no where...I feel they need to respond in some fashion...it's called negotiating...I can't do what they hired me to if they won't respond.

Dec 17, 2018 05:05 PM
Peter Mohylsky, Beach Expert
PMI. Destin - Miramar Beach, FL
Call me at 850-517-7098

This blog is what I like about AR.  Free and open ex change of ideas here for improvement.

Dec 21, 2018 04:26 AM