patrick.net

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/kswb-mira-mesa-realtor-eric-elegato-wife-accused-of-massive-loan-fraud-20120221,0,4019284.story?source=patrick.net

Yes, yes yes. You can totally do that, and should!

Agents think they are lawyers, and are a shield between the buyer and seller, which they are NOT.

By all means, reach out to the seller directly. Chances are, they don't even know the offers came in.

True story: My first house I bought (age 24), I offered asking when I first saw it, with the agent inside the house and the owners. The agent was "on the phone" receiving offers. (BS)

I told him in clear and a cold voice: "It's illegal in this state to accept offers after asking has been offered."

He pretended to hang up the phone, and said "Congrats on your purchase of this 'home'. "

(What a scum bag)

Icabod says

Another thought I've had lately is- why not take the stupid 40 hour class and become a realtor just to avoid dealing with them? You could also start a business as the first honest realtor in history by exposing frauds and blogging about real buyer best practices.

At this point, this strikes me as the most likely course of action. It's a rigged game, and in the SFBA it is so impossibly rigged because of the fat commissions RE agents can pull from the hordes of people with money burning holes in their pockets, that the only way I can see to get access to un-flipped/flopped properties it to get into the inside of the cartel. I just want a nice place to live, with a large detached garage in an OK neighborhood to do woodworking projects and maybe build a bouldering/climbing wall. Once I get that, I'd probably just stop paying dues & drop out.

This is most likely illegal for a number of reasons, but it would be humorous to sit in on some realtor meetings with hidden recording devices & see if anything egregious gets said, and then leave an anonymous recording in a drop box at KRON 4 or something. So, for one it is likely illegal to record private conversations/meetings. Also, as much fun as it is to villify all RE agents, I would be willing to bet than more then 50% of them are decent folks, and that nothing too wild gets stated in office meetings. Then again, I guess I have to go find out!

And of course, if I were to do any of that, I wouldn't peep a word about it until it was all done & over with. That's a long way out though since I have a lot more important things to do before buying a house (wedding this October, ROCK CLIMBING THIS SUMMER, autoX with local chapter of car club, generally fucking around while I watch the market slowly slide down).

"It's illegal in this state to accept offers after asking has been offered."

please clarify....

A house in New York area came to the market - asking price $375k. I unfortunately waited 2 weeks before calling the listing agent and offered $350k...I would've gone upto asking price if it had been shot down. "House has gone into contract", says the agent. I bookmarked the house incase the deal fell through. 4 months later it was still under contract and the agent said it was about to close. I researched the owner - 70+ old guy, wife had just died (obituary in local newspaper). At 5 months the house was removed from mls as sold. Sold for $310k!! I researched the new owner - it was another real estate agent who was waiting to sell her own house for $600k+ before she could close on this house. With the state of the economy and tough time for retirees I really felt sorry the old man got cheated out of serious money.

LarryPatrickMaloney says

"It's illegal in this state to accept offers after asking has been offered."

Yes, please clarify! Sounds like some state has a wonderful law. Which state?

Slightly offtopic maybe but a general question. How hard is it to work (mostly) without a buyer's agent today? This is what I would like to do

1) Find and visit properties myself. I don't want or need an agent to follow me around. And it wouldn't be fair to them either since I may decide not to buy anything.

2) If I am ready to bid, then maybe hire an agent or lawyer to assist with a few of the steps in the real estate transaction. Pay an hourly rate in cash.

3) Ensure that whatever standard buyer's agent % rate goes directly to the seller (and effectively "added" to my bid if it is compared to others).

Is this possible today? I have heard that sellers have gotten more accepting of buyers without agents - is it true?

"It's illegal in this state to accept offers after asking has been offered."
Yes, please clarify! Sounds like some state has a wonderful law. Which state?

Let's put the legal hat on.

First of all, it is never "illegal" to accepts other offers anyway. There may be consideration upon either buyer/seller backing out not protected under a binding agreement. you can't force someone to close an offer, the best you can do is ask for damages and is a standard term in a legally binding offer contract.

Secondly, asking/solication is not a legally binding offer anyway. There is no "consideration", and it violates the "statutes of frauds" and basic common law. No state in America will put in laws so conflicted with the basics of offers and contracts, so you will obviously not find the exception. (There may be something about advertising cars, but that is more for the dealer to not enrage with the customers, not because legally they will lose)

Thirdly, seller does not initiate an offer, the buyer initiates it, in which case the seller can accept, reject or counter, which has to be in writing with consideration.