Are seller's agents desperate yet?

It all depends on where you are looking. There are real micro-markets out there right now. We are showing houses in some areas south of Boston and litsing brokers are saying, "Although it is listed at (in the low $200K range), if your client wants to make an offer, do not feel that it has to start with a "2." However, inside the city of Boston limits (not downtown though), I have also had cash offers for close to listing rejected out of hand by brokers that have deliberately underpriced homes in the hope of creating a frenzy. As the saying goes, it is all about location. In general though, I am telling my potential buyers not to worry about not getting a place - there will be plenty and I do believe that there will be better deals to come.

I love when list agents don't return calls for showings or better yet don't bother to show up for the scheduled showings! I'm sure their clients would not be happy.

I find it shocking that some agents, especially in this market are not better organized and motivated. Mysterious....

wow. amazing incompetence on the agents part. You'd think the chance of getting a bidding war going would get him sallivating.

Sadly, I'm dismayed, but not surprised. And I wonder if the agent has a hand in the other bid. Either as agent for the buyer as well, or thinks he can get some money buy buying his own listing in some form. Slimey the last? Yes, and I'm familiar with it happening, though I obviously won't name the brokers and places involved.

Strategies suggested:
1.) If you are not getting cooperation from the broker, contact the property owner directly. If they are serious about selling, they wil either show you the proerty themselves or direct the broker to modify their behavior.
2. Make an offer for what you think it is worth, no more.
3. Use a real estate attorney to draft the offer. Yes, it may cost you a little more, but that is a way to ensure that there is someone who truly has your best interest.. Make sure that the offer has sufficient back out language if problems encountered on inspection.

I don't think Seller's agent are desperate. I put an offer $25K less than asking price for a house in Billerica over the weekend and the seller's agent rejected without even discussing with Seller.

Incredibly, I think there are some brokers out there who are swamped with buyers. A friend of mine who works with the downtown market says she is going crazy right now, she has so many buyers. I agree with the person who said there are micromarkets. Not all locations are crashing. I think a few seller's agents attitudes may reflect this fact if they happen to be in one of those markets.

That happens all too often. Many people are not working in the best interest of the home owner.
I sold my home last year in 3 days by using a Boston company called Ucanlist.com.
I also saved $13,000 in commissions.
I chose this route, because a couple of houses ago I went through the same thing.
I had agents telling me they would be doing this, that, and the other thing, and in reality they were doing nothing.

Interesting that, with an offer "well in excess of the asking price", this house did not have a flag indicating an accepted offer. Maybe that offer was not all he implied it was or the owners would have signed it, or maybe he was playing some sort of weird game because I can't think of any scenario where a buyer would offer more than asking unless there was a bidding war.

RE Ed's strategies: (1) While a buyer could contact a seller directly, an agent cannot. And even if the sellers do all the showing work, they are still obligated to pay the listing agent a commission (under a normal contract). If the buyer is not represented by a licensed agent, then the listing agent keeps the whole thing. Read the agency disclosure form to understand who that person is working for in the deal. (2) You should ALWAYS make an offer for what you think a house is worth, regardless of what is being asked (but that should be a realistic assessment not a ask-less-30% thing). (3) And, you could certainly use a RE attorney to write an offer, but remember that you will pay for that even if your offer is refused. And don't think the attorney will be able to collect the buyer's side of the commission to defray some of the costs - they'd have to be a licensed RE agent for that. Any good agent knows how to structure an offer in a buyer's best interest, and inspection contingencies are standard on normal purchases. You do need a RE attorney for the P&S, and to handle the legal things that need to happen before closing, but it's the agent who actually makes sure all the milestones are met in the process.

Pam - I'm one of those brokers who is swarmed with buyers! Things really are so bonkers for me right now, I barely have time to read these blogs anymore. My phones are ringing constantly with nervous anxious buyers all vying to snag that treasured downtown condo. Micromarkets indeed exist and in mine, one which comprises the Back Bay, South End and Beacon Hill, continues to boom. Prices are escalating at a breathtaking pace. Open houses are swarmed, bidding wars are commonplace and competition is FIERCE.

While I think the behavior of the realtor in question here is just terrible, sadly when some of us have so much interest in our listings, it becomes difficult to weed the truly motivated from the casual looky-loos. Unfortunately this frustration can sometimes manifest itself in unprofessional behavior such as that described. But in a booming market like this one, I've learned to expect it and just move on when it happens. There's certainly no such thing as a desperate seller's broker here in the roaring city center market. The desperation is squarely on the buyer's side. if only I had a few thousand more listings I think my life would be a little more calm!

S & L,
I apologize in advance if I come off rude but I have to question your last post. Maybe what you are saying is the truth...maybe it's not. Maybe there are pockets of high sales volume...maybe there are not.

I have friends who live in a very nice section of the Back Bay, and when we got together a few weeks ago the subject of real estate (as I'm sure it does around many circles these days) came up. They were thinking of putting their condo up for sale because their family has grown since they bought several years ago. The realtor told them that unless the priced their condo "very competitively" they may not want to waste their time in this market.

After doing a quick search in a realtor database I found the following total of Condos/MultiFamilies/Townhouses pending for sale:
Back Bay - 52
South End - 46
Beacon Hill - 21
Considering that Boston is a major metro area with literally thousands of apartments/condos/townhouses in each of these three areas with dozens of realtors representing these specific areas as well, I wouldn't call those numbers exactly staggering.

I think you may have miss-read his tone, it may have been “I already have this pain in the butt listing sold, however in the interest of my client you can see it on Friday." We all have biases in the work place. What is interesting is how a voice mail is used to to confirm that male agents may look down on women in a field that i'm willing to bet is dominated by women. seems to me a male listing agent may be at a disavantage due to this bias in the field. Men are much more, this is how it is. Great post on the Granite. 83 comments, wow

Buyer 1,

That seller's agent has a duty to present all offers, regardless of what the numbers and conditions in those offers may be. If you are really interested in the house (which in this market may not be the case), go back with a newly dated offer and ask that the agent present it to the seller. If the agent still refuses, go to the responsible broker for his/her office and have it presented. The agent you dealt with is not doing his/her job in this situation. Best of luck.

If it hadn't already had an offer on it I would swear it was one of our listings. We have found that if we don't disclose that the listing needs a ton of work and is possibly historical, we waste everyone's time, including the sellers. For these types of properties we want serious buyers that are interested in restoring a historical home to it's past glory. Rather than get halfway down the road, enter into a P&S and take the property off the market only to have it fall apart because the buyer finds out that they need variances, permits etc...

I can't say much about his tone because I didn't hear the message, but I know I have been guilty of a bad day here and there. Quite a few agents are snippy lately, and I bet it has more to do with the head-banging to get things done than with you personally. One of the many things I have learned in this business is to be as nice as possible to EVERYONE and don't take too much personally. Rona, try to brush it off as his problem and not a reflection of you.

Don't worry about me NN. I am pretty thick skinned. I'm not sure if he was being lazy, sexist, or just had a bad day. In any case, he was not making his best effort for his seller. The selling public should know this happens. The buying public should know that it's a sign that the market is not devoid of buyers.
Once in a while in my blog, I take the liberty to whine a bit about things that annoy me. This was one of those moments. I thought it might be relevant to the readers.