For my first entry, I am choosing directly from the list of suggestions in Patricia’s Challenge Post.
Buyer's Agent presents an offer and does not fill in all the blanks.
Before I dive into this, I need to say that this has happened 100% of the time with all offers received on my listings. Dare I say, this is a huge peeve of mine.
Describe the scenario. In this situation, I am the listing agent. During this time the market was still a relatively hot seller market with multiple offers over the list price. This particular property was in a “highly desirable area” with buyers competing for homes.
Who is involved? Listing Broker (Kathleen Daniels), Out of State Seller (name intentionally omitted), and a parade of people masquerading as professionals in the real estate business.
What happened? The vacant home was listed on the MLS with clear instructions. We all know what instructions are – right? Most of us also know that most real estate agents do not read instructions. In many cases, in my market, with my listings, instructions are violations by many agents on all of my listings.
An offer deadline was set. Agents were calling (Dialing for Dollars) to get intel on the status.
* How many offers do you have?
* Are they over the list price?
* How much over the list price?
* Are the offers non-contingent?
* The list goes on and on.
How did you resolve the issues? Multiple offers were received. Seven (7) to be precise. Every single one of the offers had blanks that could not be left blank.
An appointment was scheduled with the out-of-state seller to go over the offers. The seller directed me to work with the highest and best offer.
I called the buyer's agent, also an independent broker, working solo, to discuss the deficiencies in the purchase agreement. I explained that the seller wants to work with her client’s offer. We are not countering on price or terms, we just need the contract completed correctly.
I explained which blanks needed to be filled in. For example, the name of the parties (her buyer client and the seller), close of escrow, loan terms, and rate, just to name a few.
The buyer's agent sent a new “clean offer” and it too was missing details.
I corrected the contract much like a schoolteacher would do. Every blank that needed to be filled in had instructions written in red. I sent it to the buyer’s agent to use as a template.
A new “clean offer” was received, and it was still missing information. Did I mention the buyer’s agent is a real estate broker?
This offer was accepted by the seller with a counteroffer just to fill in the blanks!
The counteroffer was accepted, and we closed escrow 30 days later.
If you were to guess that things did not get any better with that agent during the escrow process, you would be correct. We went through similar “exercises” with the disclosure documents.
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