Lately, more than ever, I have been getting calls from agents who are all asking the same question and, that is, “are you working any offers on 666 Money Pitt Lane”
Well, before I tell you my typical response, I would like to share some insight and see if you agree.
Per Realtor.com,
“An agent is bound by certain legal obligations. Traditionally, these common-law obligations are to: Put the client's interests above anyone else's; Keep the client's information confidential; Obey the client's lawful instructions; Report to the client anything that would be useful; and Account to the client for any money involved.”
So, here are my questions.
1. Is it in your clients interest to reveal to other agents that you are or are not working other offers?
My argument is NO, it is not in your client’s interest to reveal that you are or are not working other offers.
Simply put, when answering the question, you don’t know the motivation behind the person who asked it. We can get into a bunch of “what if” questions but, ultimately if by answering the question the agent decides not to show the home or not put in an offer then, you just hurt your own client. Ultimately my job is to get as much for my client as possible in the shortest amount of time and that means, getting as many offers in the door as possible. I could be wrong but, I suspect that the main reason Realtors ask this question is because they want to avoid being in a multiple offer situation or they want to be in better negotiating position. I guess that’s all fine and good but, it’s not my job to make that so for another agent and their buyer.
Now, let’s flip the script a little here.
Do you think my argument is valid for bank owned properties? What about Fannie Mae properties? HUD properties?
I won’t answer that question for you, I would love to get your responses.
Comments
I have also been the listing agent on deals with multiple offers. I always told all parties involved of the multiple offers and ask them for their Highest and Best. Eight out of ten times they will send a new offer. If you get some negative comments, send an email to all the buyer's agents at one time so they can see there are additional agents involved.
My brokers even had a lengthy discussion about this very topic. It was their conclusion that we have a duty to our seller clients to get the best possible price for their property and we should always strive for multiple offers competing against each other until one of them gives up.
It is a very different market where you are, INteresting to learn about what is going on in ohter places.
In fact, when we have multiple offers, I always recommend to my clients that they not divulge the multiple offer situation and negotiate the offers individually. Recently I had a seller decide to tell everyone he had multiple offers and none of the people submited highest and best. Instead, they all went to find other properties, the reasoning was, "why start a bidding war when we have other properties we can look at"
Not to mention, I think if you were to tell your clients that you wanted to let potential buyers know if they were or weren't working offers, I speculate most of those sellers wouldn't want that information divulged. Let me say this another way, I tell me sellers that I won't be divulging that information and 9 out of 10 times, the sellers are appreicative.
Now, on one hand it creates a sense of urgency if there are multiple offers on a property for sale. On the other hand it can cause a wait and see on the part of the other agent. I have seen the former more than the latter in my experience. Buyers always want what someone else is interested in . However, investors are more the exception rather than the rule. If they think that there are other offers then they know it is a waste of paper to submit an intent to purchase lest a full offer.
So, am I correct to assume then, you would answer the question and divulge if your client (you represent the seller) is working an offer?