patrick.net

woops! I offered 467K

I would call the listing agent and advise him he has a legal fiduciary duty to present all offers to the owner (unless otherwise inctructed to do so by the owner). Basically its illegal (but done all the time) to not submit all offers.

If you 'get proof' they are not submitting a valid offer that is on paper and legit and you mailed via certified mail the CA DRE will investigate....maybe....

http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2011/07/11/can-a-listing-agent-refuse-to-submit-an-offer/

Since both agents are in same brokerage you should look up the names of the agents. Find the name/phone # of the ACTUAL BROKER who is legally responsible for these agents behavoir and complain to him what is happening and that its illegal to not submit all valid offers.

http://www.dre.ca.gov/cons_home.html

Lookup the agent names here:

http://www2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp

BTW if you play hard ball they will find a legal way to flush your offer. cant really win IMO. And the next house you wanna buy might be with the same brokerage and they will blacklist you.

You can always go over the listing agent and submit the offer to the loan holder, telling them the agent refused to submit the offer. I'd do it just to teach the agent a lesson and hopefully get them in trouble.

Maybe if you drop a turd on the Realtard's desk, he may add that to your offer and submit it to the seller.

Thank you all! I just asked my agent if the owner asked their agent to refuse to look at offers under a specific amount. He came back and told me that we can go ahead and submit my offer.

rufita11 says

woops! I offered 467K

That's not my idea of lowballing. It looks more like a generous starting point.

Good luck OP.

Remember agents are lazy greedy liars mostly. Many are too dumb to work or even get a regular day job. part time 'comission only' work is what it is - a broker will hire literally any agent that walks in the door as long as they have a salesperson license they are 'ok'.

Skip the agent! Send your offer directly to the address in question if the owner lives there, and tell them that their agent was NOT doing his duty, and so you were obliged to use direct contact.

If no one lives there, you can still often figure out the address of the owner from county tax records.

They live there. Turns out my parents went to school with the neighbor who gave us the low down on the property and the family:). Small world.

Thanks Patrick!

Skip the agent! Send your offer directly to the address in question if the owner lives there, and tell them that their agent was NOT doing his duty, and so you were obliged to use direct contact.

If no one lives there, you can still often figure out the address of the owner from county tax records.

I sent the owner on FB. Wasn't hard to find him, his avatar is a pic of him in front of the neighbor's house :). I just alerted him that I put in an offer and when.

I had this very same question for my realt-whore: There is a duplex in Oakland I am interested in.

According to Foreclosure Radar it is scheduled to go to auction end of June.

It is a short sale and has been on the market for a couple months.

My realt-whore said that whenever there is a short sale, that the bank approves the initial asking price (which is determined by a third-party realt-whore) and that there is zero chance of the price going down. He said the bank controls the price - not the seller.

If what my realt-whore is saying is true then it may not matter what your offer is.

Can anyone on here confirm if this is true or not?

Not worth more than $300K..

$200K * 1.35% = $297K
take 1997 prices add in inflation and it gets you near bottom.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/103-Oakvue-Rd-Pleasant-Hill-CA-94523/18388696_zpid/

Price History
Date Description Price % Chg $/sqft Source
3/5/2012 Listed for sale $499,000 49.00% $264 Alain Pinel Realtors - Pleasanton
6/1/2001 Sold $335,000 52.30% $177 Public Record
7/21/1998 Sold $220,000 -- $116 Public Record

Malkovich says

that there is zero chance of the price going down. He said the bank controls the price - not the seller.

Complete BS. BUYER sets the price. :)

RentingForHalfTheCost says

Would you seriously say if there was little activity? You don't need to answer this.

What he meant was the only activity is his activity. :)

rufita11 says

Was this just professional courtesy or highly shady?

The agent said I shouldn't bother looking at houses over $480K if all I can afford is $467K.

In this case, it probably was a professional courtesy. If there is zero chance of the sellers working with you, then why waste everyone's time?

However, your agent is a moron to suggest you can't look at or offer on homes over 480K. There are plenty of stale & overpriced listings out there that are ready for realistic offers.

Let me know if you need help.

Malkovich says

My realt-whore said that whenever there is a short sale, that the bank approves the initial asking price (which is determined by a third-party realt-whore) and that there is zero chance of the price going down. He said the bank controls the price - not the seller.

This is not true at all.

99% of the time, the bank does not have anything to do with the list price or even know the home is for sale. Banks generally won't even talk with short-sellers or their agents until after they have an offer in hand.

And as far as price flexibility is concerned, the sale price simply has to be reasonable and defensible. After the bank sees your offer, they will order an appraisal. If your price is reasonably-close, they will accept it. The sellers generally don't care what the price is. They just want to work with a buyer who will pay the reasonable price and who will stay with them while they wait for a response.

If you want more details on how short sales actually work, read this: http://bayarearealestatetrends.com/how-short-sales-work/

jvolstad says

Maybe if you drop a turd on the Realtard's desk, he may add that to your offer and submit it to the seller.

thomas.wong1986 says

Not worth more than $300K..

$200K * 1.35% = $297K

take 1997 prices add in inflation and it gets you near bottom.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/103-Oakvue-Rd-Pleasant-Hill-CA-94523/18388696_zpid/

Price History

Date Description Price % Chg $/sqft Source

3/5/2012 Listed for sale $499,000 49.00% $264 Alain Pinel Realtors - Pleasanton

6/1/2001 Sold $335,000 52.30% $177 Public Record

7/21/1998 Sold $220,000 -- $116 Public Record

They doubled the living space. And my estimation from projects in the past is that it cost them circa 100K minimum for all the work that was done. So, I just added 100K to the pre-bubble price to come up with some sort of offer that I am willing to live with.

PockyClipsNow says

Good luck OP.

Remember agents are lazy greedy liars mostly. Many are too dumb to work or even get a regular day job. part time 'comission only' work is what it is - a broker will hire literally any agent that walks in the door as long as they have a salesperson license they are 'ok'.

They countered, so I countered back with my original offer. Waiting.

Its a decent house.

Thomas Wong is doesnt appear to put 3% interest rates and 729k government loan limits into his equation. If we had the same 7% mortgages and 220k loan limit from year 2001 then I would say this house is worth 300k but that isnt our modern financial setup. I suppose you could argue 'rates will sky in the future when the (fill in the blank) happens' but you could die b4 then...

The house is now pending, waiting for the bank to approve the offer. Someone else must have agreed to the seller's terms. They wanted 10K in escrow before the bank even approves the short sale. That a little too much for us to have tied up in a gamble.

PockyClipsNow says

Thomas Wong is doesnt appear to put 3% interest rates and 729k government loan limits into his equation. If we had the same 7% mortgages and 220k loan limit

It would not be the first time interest rates have fallen or loan limits increased. SFBA has plenty of room for correction. And like in 89 -94 ... it will happen.

http://www.housingbubblebust.com/OFHEO/Major/NorCal.html