A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article titled “What does it mean when a home seller drops their price?” in which I discussed 2 possible reasons why a seller may reduce the price of a home. One reason being the need to sell their home, obviously. However, I discussed a second reason why a seller may reduce their price. They may reduce their price after they have accepted an offer in order to:
1- to put pressure on the buyers sign contracts quickly or
2-to see if they can get a higher offer.
Well…guess what? I had another agent who tried to pull the rug under us by lowering the price on the home after we had an accepted offer. In fact, the agent even went as far as to scheduled another open house after the accepted offer. Needless to say that I had negotiated the house at a much lower price than asking leaving a lot of room for another buyer to step in. The difference between asking and accepted was over $60,000. As I have mentioned in the past, in Westchester County an “Accepted Offer” (aka A/O) is nothing more than a verbal acceptance of selling price by the seller and buyer–and their corresponding agents. There’s nothing in writing, nothing is signed, nor has any monies being exchanged. Which today a verbal agreement is as good as the cell phone reception on the Hutchison River Parkway. An agreement between two parties does not mean what it used to.
In this case the seller can and in most cases will accept a higher offer (or one with better terms at least) during the A/O period. There are a few good agents out there that will advise their clients to stick with the first offer regardless. Besides, we all know Karma is a b _ _ ch!
The good thing was that on this specific deal no other offer came in before my clients signed contracts.
And then the unfortunate coincidence happened! We got burnt by another listing agent.
Sure enough, that same week I had a similar situation with a different outcome. We had an accepted offer on a condo on Thursday for about $20,ooo less than asking price. The unit had only been on the market for less than 30 days and it was already very well priced. I thought we had made a great deal for the place. Friday afternoon we performed our inspection on the place as it is customary in Westchester to perform home inspections before contract signing. Everything was fine. No issues were found.
That same evening I receive a message from the listing agent of the condo informing me that the sellers had accepted another offer for asking price on that same condo. CRAP! Now what? We were sh!t out of luck-that’s what. Since in Westchester County we don’t sign contracts until after inspections we had no recourse. My client was not willing to go to asking. They were already beyond their comfort level about the price they were at. And we could not go after the sellers for the inspection money that my client just blew. Trust me I tried. The sellers had no obligation to refund us the inspection money. Remember, there was no contract, just a verbal agreement. And you know how well that will up in court.
I could second guess myself all the way about how I could have handled it differently, but the truth is that’s the risk we run. According to the listing agent, the reason they accepted the other offer was not necessarily because it was a higher offer, it was because the offer was higher and the terms were much better.
I understand that most people think that homes aren’t selling. I get it! That’s what the media is telling them–so it must be true. There’s no such thing as multiple offers or even bidding wars these days. Of course not! I could tell you from first hand experience that well priced home do sell and will continue to sell regardless of market conditions. Every home has a buyer if it’s priced right. And more than one buyer when it’s really priced right.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
As an Inspector I can tell you that I have been through this 3 times in the past 18 months. I can also tell you that in each instance the sellers DID actually reimburse my clients for the cost of the inspections so it worked out to some degree. Funny thing is that 2 of the 3 clients asked me for a discount on the second inspections after they had been paid by the Sellers! Nobody is immune to negotiating.
This is one of the things I don’t understand about the real estate business here in Westchester. Putting the shady stuff aside, I don’t understand why we allow offers without signatures or deposits. Out of state realtors laugh when I tell them that’s how we do business here. It’s a joke.
Wow,
That’s some shady shit! I guess that saying “My word is bond” has been relegated to just rappers spitting it on a verse to finish a rhyme. And just like in the examples you listed above, it means absolutely nothing anymore! Tsk tsk.