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Made offer to listing agent Friday with deadline as of today.(called him directly since we were in the area and wanted to see the house right away)
This morning, he inform me he got in argument with seller's over the weekend ("sellers wanted that he makes flyers this weekend to showcase the house so he had to stay up until midnight") so he cancelled their listing and dropped them!
Quote:
Originally Posted by gabrielh
Update: we gave a counter offer to this listing agent. He say he will email seller with it and represent us even if he us not under contract with seller's anymore.
Hope it doesn't jeopardize our chances.
This doesn't make any sense. You had an opportunity to work directly with the Seller and you chose not to?
Then you engage the very agent who is on bad terms with the Seller to help you?
(And, remind me, what did you call this agent--wasn't it "incompetent"?)
But, you also say that you gave a "counter offer"...so I take it that the Seller replied to your original offer?
Last edited by jackmichigan; 02-19-2013 at 06:42 AM..
I'll take this one step further, NEVER as a buyer deal directly with the listing agent. While you might get lucky, buying a house is way too big a transaction to be putting your best interests in the hands of the person that your adversary hired first. The listing agent is legally prohibited from advocating on your behalf. Repeat: The listing agent IS NOT and CAN'T BE your advocate.
"Yeah, but maybe I'll get it for less if she reduces commission because she's getting both sides." There is just as strong a possibility that you'll overpay and have your bare bottom hanging in the breeze because of non-protective contract terms.
Before all you good, fair, honest listing agents scald me for this, I'm not talking about how you personally handle both sides. I'm talking about what is best for a buyer in the majority of situations.
It's a good point until you reach "hot" market where every single house is getting multiple offers... and you have a chance only if you go with listing agent...
I think in the future, rather than going through the listing agent, try and find a good buyer agent.
The 9 months for Fannie Mae is about right. Fannie Mae changed their policy in 2012 and it is causing short sale nightmares with valuations. Agents can no longer use short sales and foreclosures as part of the valuation process so it is causing high valuations in some areas where the only comps are short sales and foreclosures. My buyer is in this nightmare right now.
At least with a buyer agent you could have been continuing to look at other homes while hanging out with the short sale. I know for me, as a buyer agent, I can see which agents closed what so I'll know if I'm dealing with a newbie short sale agent or not. It impacts whether or not my clients write an offer on the house.
I have to say though, that I question your people picking judgement. You just hired someone that couldn't handle a minor conflict with a seller to negotiate on your behalf. Why would you do that?
He is the listing agent and I went directly to him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike1306
You know why i call BS on this, you lived in your first home for 5 years and knew nothing about the homestead exemption?
In all your other posts about the short sale you talk about everything the agent had been doing with the problems with BPO's and changes with the negotiators for the bank since April but now the agent doesn't know what they are doing?
In the other example, the listing agent had a buyer, you, who supposedly made an offer on his listing but he just dropped the listing over making some flyers? Even in a lower priced area, probably looking at at least $100,000 for the home, no buyers agent so we'll figure a little bit of a discount on the commission, 4%, for good measure and 50/50 split with the broker. So the agent dropped $2,000 minimum over making some flyers? Being it is your dream home I am going to figure at least double the price at $200,000 so the agent just threw $4,000 out the window over making some flyers?
OK
And what happened here? How did the agent screw that one up?
That's why he still wants to represent us so he submitted our counter to seller.But now I'm afraid they are pi@@ed at him so it's going to jeopardize our deal.
Argument supposedly was that seller's wanted him to make flyers last minutes for this weekend and he had to stay late and he didnt put correct pictures and they got angry or something like that.So he dropped their listing (and it checks out. Listing is gone from MLS)
And yes I knew nothing about homestead exemption, I can give you a copy of my county taxes from 2007-2012 (moved in the US in 2006 so all these things were new to me)
Quote:
Originally Posted by EngGirl
It's a good point until you reach "hot" market where every single house is getting multiple offers... and you have a chance only if you go with listing agent...
Exactly.
I have an attorney that will go over the contracts to represent us.
In fact I'm going to see him this afternoon about the short sale and show him all the contracts etc we had to sign so far.
We were out of contract from July 2012 to January 2013. The agent never asked to sign an extension which I found odd but what do I know.
Then suddenly in January she asked for one when the new negotiator was assigned at the bank on the file.
THEN she ask us to sign a new contract that I had to correct myself. (She put my name wrong, didnt put my wife's name, put wrong amounts at the wrong line,forgot a bunch of stuff about closing costs etc...)
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmichigan
This doesn't make any sense. You had an opportunity to work directly with the Seller and you chose not to?
Then you engage the very agent who is on bad terms with the Seller to help you?
(And, remind me, what did you call this agent--wasn't it "incompetent"?)
But, you also say that you gave a "counter offer"...so I take it that the Seller replied to your original offer?
Yes seller countered to him. Don't know if it was before or after their argument over the weekend.
And yes I knew nothing about homestead exemption, I can give you a copy of my county taxes from 2007-2012 (moved in the US in 2006 so all these things were new to me).
My family had the same thing happened to them even though they moved way before you did. When they purchased a new house nobody told them about homestead exemption. I guess realtors consider this as common knowledge or not a part of their job (to tell clients from other countries about the existence of homestead exemption)
In both Texas and California, soon after we purchased a house the Tax Assessors office sent us a form about the homestead exemption and asked us to fill out and return it. I'm surprised you didn't get such a form from your local Tax Assessor.
The homestead exemption is a tax issue. The property appraisers office is where you get all the information about it. Its is the homeOWNERS responsibility to correctly file for it, and this takes place AFTER you move it to the home as your primary residence. Its a property tax issue, and the resulting lower tax bill generally happens the year AFTER you move in. Long after your RE agent has moved on. The property appraisers office send ME a notice AFTER I bought the house. If yours did not send you an informative mailing and how to qualify for it, if you are eligible, I personally would take it up with them.
I don't know how the exemption could be missed in a conversation about potential property taxes on the pending purchase of the home, did you ask the agent about property taxes? I actually did my own research on the taxes before purchasing, all the past bills are available online and from that and other info you can get an idea of how much you'll have to pay the first year, and potentially how much less it will be the year after that, when you file for the exemption. This in general is a homeowner responsibility. As is contacting the appraisers office to remove the exemption should you move out but not sell, as in making the property a rental. Your agent wouldn't be helping you with that either.
Anyway, researching property tax issues was for me my responsibility for doing my own due diligence before buying a house, along with checking into what the county and other agencies were considering down the road. When reading up on that I discovered that the place I was looking to buy was potentially going to be rezoned as multi-use from just residential. This made the property more attractive to me as a potential investment to resell to a commercial developer when I'm done with it. Or knock the house down myself and change it to a home with residence above and office space below. It increased my options. In no way did I think that my agent should tell me about these things, in fact, I preferred he didn't know about it and potentially interest others in the property I was looking to purchase.
I figured if others didn't want to look into good reasons to snatch that property up then it was their loss and my gain.
He is the listing agent and I went directly to him.
Yes, you could have moved to another agent, that wasn't the listing agent, when he told you that he terminated the listing. I don't see how you can possibly have a good experience with a contract involving hundreds of thousands of dollars with a person that flips out over pictures and flyers.
I'm just saying you have choices, and chose not to move on. You have to take responsibility for that.
Yeah that's what I'm trying to do. I finally found seller's number so we left them a message and will see how it goes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverfall
Yes, you could have moved to another agent, that wasn't the listing agent, when he told you that he terminated the listing. I don't see how you can possibly have a good experience with a contract involving hundreds of thousands of dollars with a person that flips out over pictures and flyers.
I'm just saying you have choices, and chose not to move on. You have to take responsibility for that.
I mostly agree with that NOW but when you are first time home buyer, you have no ideas about these things.
When you buy a new car, a good car dealer not only complete the transaction with you,but he then sit with you and show you everything owning this car entail, how things works, explains about warranty, maintenance etc... and that's only for a couple thousands dollar item so how much more should it be when buying a several hundred thousands dollar house??
Quote:
Originally Posted by wireyourworld
The homestead exemption is a tax issue. The property appraisers office is where you get all the information about it. Its is the homeOWNERS responsibility to correctly file for it, and this takes place AFTER you move it to the home as your primary residence. Its a property tax issue, and the resulting lower tax bill generally happens the year AFTER you move in. Long after your RE agent has moved on. The property appraisers office send ME a notice AFTER I bought the house. If yours did not send you an informative mailing and how to qualify for it, if you are eligible, I personally would take it up with them.
I don't know how the exemption could be missed in a conversation about potential property taxes on the pending purchase of the home, did you ask the agent about property taxes? I actually did my own research on the taxes before purchasing, all the past bills are available online and from that and other info you can get an idea of how much you'll have to pay the first year, and potentially how much less it will be the year after that, when you file for the exemption. This in general is a homeowner responsibility. As is contacting the appraisers office to remove the exemption should you move out but not sell, as in making the property a rental. Your agent wouldn't be helping you with that either.
Anyway, researching property tax issues was for me my responsibility for doing my own due diligence before buying a house, along with checking into what the county and other agencies were considering down the road. When reading up on that I discovered that the place I was looking to buy was potentially going to be rezoned as multi-use from just residential. This made the property more attractive to me as a potential investment to resell to a commercial developer when I'm done with it. Or knock the house down myself and change it to a home with residence above and office space below. It increased my options. In no way did I think that my agent should tell me about these things, in fact, I preferred he didn't know about it and potentially interest others in the property I was looking to purchase.
I figured if others didn't want to look into good reasons to snatch that property up then it was their loss and my gain.
I read an industry statistic that individual agents tend to agree with. 80% of agents last less than 2 years in the business.
Your odds of dealing with an inexperienced or incompetent agent are extremely high. Add to that, a significant # of experienced and successful agents didn't get there by being model consumer advocates.
Overall it leaves a bad impression on a large portion of consumers, many of which only use the services of an agent once or twice in their lives.
Yeah that's what I'm trying to do. I finally found seller's number so we left them a message and will see how it goes.
I mostly agree with that NOW but when you are first time home buyer, you have no ideas about these things.
When you buy a new car, a good car dealer not only complete the transaction with you,but he then sit with you and show you everything owning this car entail, how things works, explains about warranty, maintenance etc... and that's only for a couple thousands dollar item so how much more should it be when buying a several hundred thousands dollar house??
That was my first home purchase, still is my one and only. I didn't expect my agent to do anything but help me through the actual transaction, and answer questions I asked. Being my first home purchase I did my part to make sure I knew everything I could possibly know before buying. I did not want to get screwed. And I wasn't. I still have the house, and its a rental now. With the homestead exemption correctly removed, though I had to jump through hoops to figure out how to get that done right.
You are correct as a first time home buyer I didn't know anything. Therefore I took it upon myself to learn everything before I bought. Before even qualifying for a loan or home shopping as a matter of fact. I was personally responsible for what I did with my money.
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(moved in the US in 2006 so all these things were new to me)
