Real Estate Agent Put Property under Contract without Giving Us Opportunity to Submit Offer

geoffs87 on 06/04/2021 - 14:39
Last edited 06/04/2021 - 16:17 by 1 other user

Hi All,

Trying to buy a house in Sydney at the moment, already hard given the amount of competition out there, throw in dodgy RE agents and underquoting, but this one is a first that I've experienced! Wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar?

Property was listed off market, agent emailed me on Thursday as I'd show interest in another property. Open homes on Thursday and Saturday, we attended the Saturday afternoon open.

Agent asked me if we were interested as they'd already received offers, I said we were, just need to review the contract and do some due diligence this afternoon. I messaged the agent that afternoon asking if there was a chance if we could see the property again before making an offer, which she said probably not, and would instead share a floorplan which I was OK with.

On Sunday, the agent shared the floorplan, which I thanked her for, and said she would be contacting all parties on Tuesday for next steps. I said we were in a position to make an unconditional offer and wanted to do just that.

Today (Tuesday) I hadn't heard from the agent, I'm interested in this property so I message her to say we'd like to make an offer, what is the ballpark the other offers have come in, which she advises the property is under contract, that the owner made a decision on Saturday night.

I'm assuming the agent hasn't done anything illegal (in NSW), but she certainly hasn't acted in the best interests of her client by not seeking additional offers from interested parties! It smells fishy, I feel like the agent's convinced the vendor to sell to someone they know for a probably below market price!

Should I just let this go, raise a complaint with the agency? The agent herself is ignoring my calls haha!

Already finding it hard enough with Sydney houses being sold for literally stupid amounts over what they would have sold for 8 weeks ago, to mostly people (probably investors) over 50 with deeper pockets than us. I'm no amateur with property, this would be the 5th property I have bought and sold - but this is the hardest market I've seen in the last 11 years of ownership!

TLDR: Agent sold property without asking for offers from interested parties!

EDIT: Seems like my rant was misguided, was upset I missed out as was too slow! Thanks for the grounding comments :)

Home & Garden

Comments

  • kaleidoscope on 07/04/2021 - 23:44
    +1

    It sucks but I dont think they did anything wrong. She may have felt you were mucking them around or too slow where they might have had others that made offers and quickly proceeded.
    i personally would not be too worried as from what you say you did, is doing due diligence to make the right purchase decision.

  • fourofjacks on 08/04/2021 - 02:43
    +1

    How do you know the first offer want double the asking price, conditional on signing before next home open?

    There was a telethon home here a while ago, someone put in an offer far higher than what the agent thought they could hope for on condition signed straight away no home opens.

    You are assuming buyers cannot pull out of offers. They might have put ridiculous offers on multiple houses and told the agents whoever signs gets the sale

  • mrvaluepack on 08/04/2021 - 06:39
    +3

    You snooze you lose. Too slow Op.

  • kool on 08/04/2021 - 08:24
    +2

    Exactly, this is how crazy Sydney market is. At land and home package, people in queue, no second chance. Even we lost a lot we paid token deposit for. Developer or builder changed mind.

    OP, next time, do your research in advance and go to open with an offer in hand. Once you offer, agent might come back for negotiation. Good luck…

  • mohan76 on 08/04/2021 - 08:51

    offer have expiry time (usually 2 - 3 days ). RA have to close the deal before offer expire.

  • MindGrenadius on 08/04/2021 - 08:52
    +4

    I work in a real estate office (not an agent) - you would be amazed at how much, especially in this market, agents get stuffed around with offers. People are "so interested" and then suddenly they're off the radar.

    It's wholly possible that the vendor and/or agent just didn't want to stuff around the first buyer and potentially lose a solid buyer. In this market, they could have held off to wait for you for 3-5 days, lost the first buyer to something else because they'd held off and if you had been flaky (which happens). The vendor could have been totally happy with their offer (which they did get in first, and probably did their own DD as well) and didn't want the headache of dealing with multiple buyers.

    Can totally understand the perspective but this market is creating unusual situations for all parties

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 22:21

      Yeah I get that, understand the whole days thing - but I said I wanted to make an offer that weekend, but was told to wait until the office opens on tuesday… oh well!

  • DarkOz on 08/04/2021 - 09:07
    +4

    There is every chance your offer would be lower. Also there is every chance that you might not even submit your offer.

    Why would the vendor/RA wait for your offer and risk the existing highest offer getting retracted?

  • A Driver on 08/04/2021 - 09:23
    +1

    So even with knowing on Saturday that the property already had offers (obviously from parties from the first viewing on Thursday), you express interest in making an offer yet never actually bother to make said offer… if you were serious about wanting to make an offer then you would have done just that ASAP after the viewing.

    Yet you waited until Tuesday as the agent had said they were going to contact all parties but as you still hadn’t actually make an offer you were not ever going to be one of the parties the agent would contact.

    Ultimately you were not considered an interested party as you never substantiated your interest by making an offer.

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 22:20

      Nah I had said several times to the agent between Saturday afternoon and Monday I wanted to make an offer, she said she’ll contact me on Tuesday when the office re-opens. Didn’t hear from her, so I followed up and was told on Saturday night.

  • Seaeagles on 08/04/2021 - 09:38
    +2

    Many years agoI sold a house a few years ago and had an offer I accepted from a buyer who already had pre approval from the bank, the agent rang the next day and said someone else is going to make an higher offer tomorrow.
    I said nope I'm happy with the offer I accepted, lets get them signed up today which he did.

    The sale went through without any issues, the agent told me the other buyer made an offer slightly lower on a different house but it fell through because they couldn't borrow what they wanted.
    If I waited and accepted the higher amount I would of wasted 2-3 weeks while the house was off the market.

    I'm actually in the process of house hunting now, I have looked at a few but haven't found what I want.
    The realestate agents know what my criteria and budget is and that I have the funds approved so when the right property comes up any offer is genuine.
    The right property comes up an offer will be made on the spot, no waiting days to decide or seeing banks to try and organise funds.

    • [Deactivated] on 08/04/2021 - 10:12

      Good old saying, one in hand is worth more than two in the bush. You did the right thing.

    • Smulder on 08/04/2021 - 22:32
      +2

      It's a crazy world when taking a few days to cosider a million dollar purchase is considered a bad idea.

      • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 22:36

        My thoughts exactly! As annoying as it was to miss out on something we liked - prefer to miss out than blindly buy something without correct due diligence!

  • modiika on 08/04/2021 - 09:38
    +3

    I more than a lot of these posters do feel where you are coming from.

    Even in a crazy market, the property had been on the market 3 days? I personally think in most rational circumstances, you would at least wait to see what offers come in after the weekend particularly if multiple parties have said they want to submit an offer.

    Keeping in mind how many tirekickers there are at open houses, like so many people just waste REA time with no real intention to follow through just day dreams and a pray.

    That being said given the events you described, likely the Agent knew they had a solid offer with the vendors already that morning. Given this, I cant see how it was in the Vendors best interest to indicate that you should wait till Tuesday. I think they should have told you that you need your complete offer in by midday Saturday (or what ever reasonable time) or it might be sold by Monday.

    Now hopefully, the Vendor did relay we have 2-3 other interested parties who will likely put in offers shortly, but this offer expires today and is X% above our expectations. And the Vendor made a choice, with reasonably full knowledge that their was known unknown likely offers out there.

    However, I personally reading your story would be most nervous if I was the Vendor that i had received full information. REA can be pushy, they could have downplayed any interest from third parties such as your self, and put the pressure on accept that one offer. It is significantly to the REA benefit to sell quickly. However, just because that's possible doesn't mean it happened. More than likely the Vendors had a strong desire to sell quickly as well, such as they had purchased another property and they also needed to settle quickly as they probably also had too offer ridiculous terms to win the other property they bought.

    Personally, I think you made the right decision, you shouldnt purchase with no due diligence. So in the end this wasnt the right property for you and maybe it was the Vendors loss. Just keep looking, it's not worth getting to attached to any one property. More will come on the market, this current craze will ease a bit in a month or two.

  • legendary-noob on 08/04/2021 - 09:43
    +2

    LOL OzB, have some sympathy please.

    OP - think you've just missed out.
    There was nothing wrong with what the RE agent did.
    The buyer probably offered something much higher (FOMO) and the seller was quick to seize that (FOMO as well)
    Just be mindful thats how things snowball - looks like you're joining the crowd too going forward

  • JuryWheel on 08/04/2021 - 09:46

    If i was the vendor and saw this post, id be pretty peeved. If there are potential buyers out there, its only right that the agent find the absolute best offer!
    Unfortunately, in markets like this, it is dead simple for agents to get an offer above what they had suggested to the owner was the likely sale price and push for them to accept and be done with it.

    • GG57 on 08/04/2021 - 10:20

      People can wallow in self-pity, or they can accept the decisions (or non-decisions) they made.
      In this case, there is nothing to suggest that the vendor did not accept the absolute best offer. The only thing we know for certain is that OP did not make an offer.

  • [Deactivated] on 08/04/2021 - 10:08

    Agent asked me if we were interested as they'd already received offers, I said we were, just need to review the contract and do some due diligence this afternoon. I messaged the agent that afternoon asking if there was a chance if we could see the property again before making an offer, which she said probably not, and would instead share a floorplan which I was OK with.

    As you said, Agent did warn you. I understand that sometimes its just to make you show that there is demand and you might miss out, sometimes it is true. It was true this time and you missed out. You may have given out vibes that you are doubtful, unsure and second guessing.

  • Mikay89 on 08/04/2021 - 10:36

    This is happening every weekend in Perth (especially as agents here typically sell via offer & acceptance rather than auction), I'm sure the same is happening in the other major capital cities. If you want to buy in this market, doing your research early is absolutely essential - and by early that is BEFORE the home open, not after. Once a property is listed on the market, remember there's dozens of people looking at this now, not just you. If you want to beat them, the only way is by (a) being organised & researching everything about that property yourself and acting fast by requesting the offer paperwork before the home inspections & then submitting your offer asap, or by (b) submitting an offer so high you'll be setting a record for that suburb and with limited or no conditions - but also submitting this offer by no later than Sunday.

    It sucks that this is the how the market is at the moment leaving little time for buyers to do their due diligence as you might have years ago, but it is what it is at the moment.
    And no its not always the REA's fault either - many of them are being bombarded with hundreds of queries for each home that's listed they simply don't have the time they normally would to answer all of the potential buyers questions that come through when other buyers are sending genuinely good offers instead (many without even seeing the home!).

    If you're really keen to proceed in this market, keep at it and be organised - you'll find your home soon enough. It took my partner and I 4 months to buy last month, the number of times we saw homes listed on Thurs/Fri sold before the opens on Saturday or after only 1 open by Sunday was just ridiculous, and that's before seeing the ridiculous prices too!

    • godofpizza on 08/04/2021 - 10:54
      +1

      recently been going to house inspection to see lines of 50+ people at Thursday opening for homes is crazy. OP had plenty of time to make an offer. Considering the REA wasn't going to have another open (after the 1st Saturday) was a clear the place already had good offers. Don't see why the OP didn't put their offer in after seeing the propoerty. Worst thing that could have happened it was rejected.

  • spedohero on 08/04/2021 - 10:52

    bought and sold 5 houses in 11 years. You are probably the reason why property price is raising.

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 22:17

      Probably…

  • twotwotwo on 08/04/2021 - 10:59
    +2

    Lol. If I am selling a house, I'm not going to wait for some guy that might give me an offer in 2 days.

    • godofpizza on 08/04/2021 - 11:00
      +3

      but they wanted to see the floor plans. :)

  • Dotaguy on 08/04/2021 - 12:05
    +2

    Tbh do you even know if you would have put in a higher offer (at the time at least) than the other person? I don't think agents typically are allowed to disclose what offers they get do they, in which case you'd only know that someone else has put in an offer. You wouldn't know how long that offer is valid for, how much, relevant terms such as settlement etc, and what conditions are most important to a vendor. Maybe a vendor is willing to accept 20k less for a settlement in 1 month as opposed to 3 because there's a house that they want to buy on the market now and they need the money asap to buy that.

  • redslert on 08/04/2021 - 12:22
    +5

    You say you are experienced but you don't seem to know how to actually communicate with the agent.
    You never gave them your price until it was too late.
    You didn't give any verbal offers to make it genuine.

    Agent did nothing wrong.

  • dazeller on 08/04/2021 - 12:41
    +3

    So, you called the REA and asked "what is the ballpark the other offers have come in".

    Now let's consider this. Your offer would have also been in the same ballpark, maybe marginally higher than the stated ballpark. You expect the seller to wait for weeks on end for absolutely every last interested person to offer in the same ballpark? They were obviously interested in a quick and painless sale, otherwise they might have considered options like an auction if they wanted to squeeze every last cent out of the market.

    You snooze, you loose.

  • Trioboy on 08/04/2021 - 13:03
    +3

    This is normal in a hot market.

  • ribze1 on 08/04/2021 - 15:12
    +1

    Out of interest would you have paid more than what it sold for?

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 21:43

      still hasnt gone unconditional, and the agent hasnt revealed the sale price unfortunately. was an off market listing so unlikely to find out until registered with land titles!

  • roweysvn on 08/04/2021 - 15:31
    +2

    I'm not about to shit all over your rant like some others here, as I was in similar shoes not all that long ago, so I get how it feels being lead astray by the agent. Especially given the market right now and how many open homes you have to go to to find something you like.

    My situation was a little different though, where I had my an offer on a property, I came second, fair enough. That original sale fell through so I was given the opportunity to go again, I re-submitted a new, higher offer, however the agent then sold it to someone else for less, my finance would have been been approved sooner too. I felt like I had been wronged however some of my more level headed friends pointed out that a) it's ultimately up to the seller to pick the best offer and b) there may be more to the story that I was unaware of (better deposit etc etc).

    I ended up buying a different property in less time than it took for that original house to sell, so it worked out in the end, but that experience, plus the attitude of the agent really put me off wanting to ever deal with her ever again. But at the end of the day, she's not there to make me happy, she's there for the sellers

    • mini2 on 08/04/2021 - 15:54
      +2

      Yeah nah she's there for herself. Not the buyer or the seller.

      • roweysvn on 09/04/2021 - 08:14

        Yeah you're actually spot on, hah

    • ankor on 08/04/2021 - 18:38

      I'm pretty sure my offer was accepted because the other buyers were looking to upgrade and were looking to put in an offer subject to finance. I'd also put what I thought the place was worth, which was higher than other properties sold in the area and based upon the extensive renovations that the owners had done to the house. So everyone was a winner then.

      I was lucky in that I'd developed a bit of rapport with the RE as well.

  • mini2 on 08/04/2021 - 15:56
    +1

    You need to go in hard and go in quick, next time try have a signed copy of the contract there along with the deposit, 30 days unconditional…

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 21:42

      Problem is most agents won't give you a contract until you've seen the property. Also - pulling out of an unconditional contract would net you a >$5k penalty at these prices, not chump change really…

  • Brianqpr on 08/04/2021 - 17:17

    There are certain groups of people out there who are happy to give real estate agents significant amounts of cash to ensure their offer is the one accepted. Seller misses out on a potential higher price but the REA doesn't care because they have received a tax free cash sum that would exceed any additional commission to be gained. There's no reason for an agent to ignore a potential better offer unless there's some other reason for it (financial or maybe the seller just wants a contract signed fast).

    Not an uncommon practice among certain communities. In fact some of my wife's work colleagues were surprised everyone doesn't do this.

    Not sure if an issue in your case, but it certainly goes on.

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 21:40

      crazy! would never have even thought about that!

  • Mixinitup on 08/04/2021 - 19:29
    +1

    There is very little incentive for a real estate agent to get a few extra grand for the seller.

  • berger on 08/04/2021 - 19:49
    +1

    Have you found out what the sale price was? Is it on the listing?

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 21:40

      Nah was an off market listing, so unlikely to find out sale price until it goes through land titles office in a few months

  • Herbse on 08/04/2021 - 20:36
    +3

    Welcome to the Australian property market.

    You're battling against large scale property investment businesses, mom and pop property investors, single income investors, overseas investors and a small percentage of people who are looking to move into their own house.

    I remember when houses used to be for people to live in and not cash cows and tax incentives for the lucky ones

    Good luck.

  • Scythic on 08/04/2021 - 21:18

    "Has anyone experienced this?"

    Lol. You're new to the house market, aren't you.
    You could be going to the open house and be advised that it's already been sold. Just move on dude

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 21:39

      bought and sold several properties - never experienced this, so was naturally curious to whether this was normal behaviour. Not crying in self pity, just curious is all!

  • mreddie on 08/04/2021 - 21:35

    Suck it up, you were too slow.

  • MrFrugalSpend on 08/04/2021 - 21:55
    +1

    I actually experienced a far worse, possibly illegal version which is what I thought you were going to describe:

    • I went to an open house on a Saturday, first week listed (2 days after ad went up);
    • Told the agent at the open house I wanted to put in an offer;
    • Agent TALKED ME OUT OF IT!? (WHAT?!)… (he had somewhere else he clearly wanted to be) - Agent told me to go home and think about it, and that there was no need to put in an offer today as it won't sell until at least Monday because the vendor was out of town today, and call him on Monday with the offer details;
    • I went home, but was concerned about FOMO, so I rang the agent back that day (Sat arvo) only ~2 hours after the open house and told him I would buy it FOR THE ASKING PRICE!;
    • Agent said you can't it's sold. I reminded him that he told me at the Open House ~2 hours prior that owners were out of town and it could not sell until Monday accordingly,… he stumbled in his lies and muttered… then said but someone else has put an offer in and the owner has told him they would accept it.
    • So, knowing a bit about his duties and the law, I said, but a real estate property isn't sold until a contract is in writing, I would like to offer MORE than the asking price then… he just said no its too late and tried to get me off the phone -
    • I asked him outright if the contract was signed and he stumbled a bit more, and lied and said it is in the process of being signed right now… but said enough for me to know it wasn't yet signed…
    • so, I said in that case, you can tell them, in fact, you have an obligation to tell the owner they have another / higher offer - and he started talking over me and basically hung up.

    I later looked into it and I believe he had always intended to sell it to a mate (knowing it was a good price in a seller's market, he may have even manipulated that low too when providing a Comparative Market Analysis) - he pretended to seek offers from just one brief open house (where he just wanted to get out the door himself), lied to the vendor about interest to get them to accept his mate's offer. That's why he talked me out of putting in an offer at the open house and then just flat out lied ~2 hours later, not expecting me to ring back so soon given he had re-assured me it wouldn't sell until Monday. The story became shaky and exposed it as an already-done/underhand deal before it was even publicly shown… I bet the owner didn't know that and no one had opportunity to beat the offer at all. Total fiduciary duty breach…. even more so if he advised on listing price.

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 22:13

      Sheesh! That’s pretty bad - I have heard of situations like this before, hence my first thoughts were something along these lines. The agent did tell me they will call me on Tuesday when I said I wanted to make an offer on Saturday… I just thought that’s reasonable, allows me to have the contract reviewed by my solicitor!

      • MrFrugalSpend on 08/04/2021 - 22:26

        Yeah. It also happened to a colleague at work.
        - He wanted to go back and inspect a property, but couldn't get hold of the agent / left messages.
        - So to get a good look he went to look from the outside on his way to work - The old lady that owned the place saw him walking around and came out and asked if he was there about the property sale - he said yes and she let him look around.
        - She was apparently confused though, and thought he was from the real estate agency as he was in his business clothes - and started asking if he was there to go through the offer/s from "John" (the agent's name - changed for anonymity) so she could make a decision about accepting one.
        - He said no I'm a buyer - she said oh, I'm expecting the agent to bring me your offer to review sometime today;
        - He didn't want to embarass her further for assuming he was someone else twice, so he just thought he'd say thanks, and go outside and try ring the agent again to get his offer thrown into the mix for her to review later that day.
        - He left and called the agent within 15 minutes, and before he could say what had happened, the agent told him the property was SOLD despite being still in his office downtown! Total lie - sprung. At most the agent had talked to her about an offer on the phone, it wasn't a signed up deal she'd reviewed - NOT THE SAME THING - their duty hasn't ended!
        - He complained to me right away - I told him he should go straight back down there and tell the lady he'd just met, make his offer direct, and confront the agent if he arrived there too… but he chickened out as he is non-confrontational.

        Agents behaving badly

        • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 22:40

          Wow, yeah not cool! Wonder how often that sort of thing happens!

          • MrFrugalSpend on 08/04/2021 - 22:53

            @geoffs87: all the time… even if there is no malice, they could just take a lazy option or just be busy and push the first one they hear about so they can go onto the next property.

            If you pay $760K being an extra $10K for a property instead of a $750K sale, after GST and company income tax -10% -42% the agency takes their slice of commission, they probably get ~0.5% in the hand which is $3750 commission vs $3800 commission - they are likely not to care about $50 for a few hours more work going back and forth with multiple offers, when they've already secured $3750… especially if they are busy trying to sell the next property for another few grand instead.

            So they aren't always that motivated to squeeze every dollar even though it may be worth big money to the seller. To them its called 'diminishing returns'

            • berger on 09/04/2021 - 21:24

              @MrFrugalSpend: If you provided an email/message with an offer at the time(2hr after visit) you should have some ground to stand on. You would eventually find out the seller and they would then proceed a legal path against the agent for lost money if they knew about it

  • alienurbanite on 08/04/2021 - 22:00

    I've expressed my interest in many properties and I told the Real Estate agents I may make an offer.

    I would be happy to join any class action lawsuit you want to fund. Let's take these guys to town for accepting another offer before we made ours! Completely, morally, ethnically, and ethically reprehensible behaviour.

  • alienurbanite on 08/04/2021 - 22:11
    +3

    In a totally separate incident, I recently bought a house off market. The Real Estate agent asked if I was interested and told me that there are many interested parties. One noob mentioned something about reviewing the floor plans and may make an offer next Tuesday.

    I said, "No way, I want this house… I will offer this XXXX (please refer to Title Registry for details) right now."

    The REA called the the vendor who 'Lo and behold, accepted my offer!!! We hugged (with social distance techniques of course), shook hands (with gloves) then signed all the paper work. Had a good laugh over all the people who missed out.

    Advice sought: Do I need to lawyer up now in case my deal falls through because of all the other potentially interested parties starting an Ozbargain Vendetta?

    • geoffs87 on 08/04/2021 - 22:15

      Crazy that you found yourself in that situation! Thanks for sharing!

    • MrFrugalSpend on 08/04/2021 - 23:02
      +1

      Now that's just mean. No need to pretend to be the successful buyer…OP has already edited his comment to acknowledge "Seems like my rant was misguided, was upset I missed out as was too slow! Thanks for the grounding comments :)" so no, you can probably put down the phone to the 24/7 legal help line…

      but hey, it does spell it out from the other buyer's perspective (presuming nothing dodgy was going on between agent and buyer relationship).

      I think the key here is the agent said she would be contacting all parties on Tuesday for next steps. OP said "we were in a position to make an unconditional offer and wanted to do just that"…. She probably should have emphasized that contacting all parties on Tuesday for next steps didn't necessarily mean they would wait until Tuesday if OP said he wanted to make an offer. That's the misleading part. She probably should have said you may need to make an offer sooner if you want to secure it - that's what a good agent would do

  • Gelato on 09/04/2021 - 01:02

    Curious to know..what made you think the accepted offer was way below market rate?

    At a market like this, it’s not uncommon for buyers to submit an offer way above market that made vendor to want to accept it straight away.

    Disclaimer: I was trying to buy few months ago in syd and someone submitted a ridiculous price way above market.

    • geoffs87 on 09/04/2021 - 08:41

      Nothing obviously to substantiate it… more that i've heard of situations (like MrFrugalSmith mentioned above) where agents have convinced vulnerable vendors to sell properties to friends/family for below market price.

      I don't know that this is the situation here, in fact its probably not, but beside the fact that there were only 3 groups through the Saturday open, i was pretty upfront about my intentions (granted i didnt actively make an offer, but i've never had to in the past, agents usually work for it), i was surprised that the agent was saying I'll call you on Tuesday for you to make your offer, but said it was sold on Saturday. Every transaction i've been involved in the past, successful or otherwise, agents have always pushed for an offer if I said i was interested in making an offer!

      Yeah i've seen my fair share of properties being sold this last month hundreds of thousands above what i perceive as value - which is already hundreds of thousands above the guide!!

      • TheMindsetTraveller on 09/04/2021 - 10:36

        The market is hot right now. Supply is ridiculously low, demand is scarily high. People do "silly" things when they get desperate, FOMO, just want to buy something because they spent the last 12 months looking, then they get in a situation where people will go above and beyond "expectation" to be successful, and if that is a few hundred thousand above, it happens.

        Let us look at the idea of agents convincing vulnerable vendors to sell for less to someone they know ….. assuming this happened, isn't the best way forward is low key, low profile, preferably off-market, so the less that know the less chance of being caught/exposed.

        • geoffs87 on 09/04/2021 - 10:56

          Kind of like this one, off market listing - emailed database at 3pm Thursday, first open was 5pm Thursday, only 3 buyers in the Saturday open, apparently already received offer and sold Saturday night.

          Sure, could do it with no opens at all, but I imagine the agent would want to look a little more as though they’re working for the buyer. In this case there was zero business hours between listing and sold!

          At the end of the day, there’ll be more properties - I’m not upset over this one, was more trying to understand if anything other than ‘bad timing’ could have resulted in this particular case!

  • this is us on 09/04/2021 - 10:37
    +1

    I wish all the private negotiations were like this instead of auctions that inflate prices because of often irrational competition.

    Something is for sale, there is an offer, seller accepts offer… Done! That's perfect!

  • yoquierotaco on 09/04/2021 - 11:12

    Also, it is not a good assumption that investor are driving prices up and buying everything. Investors usually do not pay over market value. It is the emotional owner-occupier that drives the price up.

  • justgooddeals on 09/04/2021 - 11:32
    +1

    This post can be be summed up in 4 letters. Y.S.Y.L- You Snooze You Lose😴😴
    Market is irrationally hot at the moment. It will settle down like it always does.

  • ajh on 09/04/2021 - 12:53

    This is quite common. Especially in this market. The advice given to the vendors are to hold until they get the price they want. Holding currently is about 7 days.

  • alex123711 on 09/04/2021 - 18:35

    Agents aren't interested in getting another 5-10k as they are on commission its only worth an extra couple of $100 for them for more work.

  • MrThrifty on 09/04/2021 - 19:46

    Seems you still don’t know why the successful buyer’s offer was accepted. Can only presume it had been strong offer on price plus the terms of the offer and could’ve even entailed a deadline time limit on the offer by a certain date. Who knows???

    Agents will generally not discuss every minute detail of other offers they may have received with you (you were informed offers had been received) or offers that the vendor is potentially considering accepting, especially if you have not been forthcoming with any offer.

    You making just an expression of interest to potentially make an offer, subject to another inspection may well have excluded you from an agent’s short list advising other potential genuinely qualified and interested buyers to submit their best and final offer immediately as it looks like a sale is imminent

  • fredk1000 on 09/04/2021 - 22:15

    Yep too slow.

    A house two properties away, first open house (for auction) on Saturday morning, under contract the same day.
    The vendor accepted their offer, there is no time to spare.

    Every tried getting something off gumtree that was cheap or free. You need to act right away, no time to mull on it.

  • djmm on 10/04/2021 - 01:19
    -2

    OP you sound salty as hell.

    • geoffs87 on 10/04/2021 - 06:31
      -2

      Really? I feel more peppery than anything!

  • lainey13 on 10/04/2021 - 01:58

    Sorry OP you seem to think the job of the agent is to get the max price for their seller. Their job is to actually match a buyer's price with the seller's EXPECTACTION in the shortest amount of time. The commission for an agent is not worth the extra effort and if sellers want to do some sort of silent auction amongst buyers, an actual auction will be done.

  • USER DC on 10/04/2021 - 09:47

    Similar thing happened to us, property agent put date of payment as I'm like 3 days after signing contract,

    And of course no bank approves loan within 3 days.

    And there was a lot more fishy stuff in seller's end, he didn't feel like selling it. But yeah agent put a lot of stuff

    Had a lot of troubles with that contract honestly

    The contract ended up being not valid as both parties didn't want to proceed ahead with contract.

  • cbastien on 10/04/2021 - 14:36

    Next time just tell the seller agent you ll give him 10k in cash if you get the house. You can be sure he will tell all the other parties to wait one week before making an offer. Lot of people do that, it s officially called "buyer agent"

  • berger on 23/04/2021 - 22:50
    +1

    So did you find out the sale price??

    • geoffs87 on 25/04/2021 - 09:34

      Ironically the listing has now changed from “Under Contract” to “POA”

      Haha

    • geoffs87 on 25/04/2021 - 10:35
      -1

      Actually I lie, it’s now listed on domain as price withheld, but shows up between $1.820 and $1.824, I was going to be offering 1.9ish… (not that I made that clear at any time), so the vendor certainly was screwed over there!

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