Thread: Can a low offer be considered 'offensive'?

Technically she does not have the power to do that unless the seller gave the agent the ok to not accept an offer lower than a certain amount. An agent's fiduciary responsibility forces the agent to show all offers to their client (but I know this does not always happen). It is up to the seller, not the agent alone.

Now can people be offended, yes. I would guess to say in this market that happens many times. Possibly the agent is just frustrated about the situation. How long has it been listed? How many times has the listing price been lowered recently? These things happening repeatedly can be frustrating, and when an offer of $50k less than listing price comes up, that could be the event that sets off the burst of emotion. Buyers are trying to get bargins, but sellers expect or need a certain amount. That amount does not always equal the value of the property, but if they think the offer is way too low, then yes people can be offended. "They think my house is worth what? I have done this and that and blah blah" it could go on and on.

[COLOR=black]Your offer is about 8% below asking. But if you're saying the house was over priced you may not be out of line. If you go forward on this house you may see if there is a local appraiser that can do a listing appraisal. This will cost you less it

To go further, it may be helpful to understand when the owner purchased the property. This will give an indication at what point in the market they bought. If it were at the peak they may be bitter about the sliding prices.

It also may matter what the seller's motivation is. Impending foreclosure, retirement, or similar reasons may have their hopes pinned to a number. Failure to meet that number may be distressing, at best.

Flat rejecting an offer by the seller's direction is fine. You have no recourse, the seller is not obligated to sell at your lower offer. Rejection may be a useful strategy negotiating in a seller's market. It will force the buyer to come back with a better offer without the seller moving from their position at all. However, this is a buyer's market and they probably should think that through.

In this market, that kind of reaction is ludicrous. They should be jumping up and down they received a 92% offer. Certainly you can offend home owners with a low offer and I have seen it cost buyers a home they really liked, but this offer is not offensive.

There is always offended people. Deal with it and get over it. If they are not motivated to sell, it's difficult. Good luck anyway...

About half of the offers I get lately are low ball offers from investors
trying to pick up property cheap. I never get offended and just tell
their agents that their offer won't work for my sell and I appreciate
them showing my listing.

Over the 14 years I've been in business, it would be stupid to insult
other agents in your market. I've done deals with lots of agents many
times when I bought my listing and my clients bought theirs.

Don't sweat the listing agents response. Just find another house. In this
market, the buyers ARE the market.

Good luck

Didn't read all the replies...so sorry if any advice is repeated.

1) The agent may have been directed to not even present an offer under $600k (or some other dollar amount) or even negotiate/counteroffer with a buyer who has offered under X amount.

2) For the agent to become offended is ridiculous. Your offer wasn't that low... I could understand if the agent was the owner of the home - even agents become emotionally attached to their properties and get a little skewed sometimes on the true value of a home. But if the agent has no interest in the property other than representing the lister, than that is just plain silliness.

3) It is at the least unethical to say that no other offers will be entertained. It does a complete disservice to the property owner. If you truly LOVE and WANT this property and have another offer to make (higher than your previous one) then I would say that your agent (father) should contact the listing agent's broker and explain the situation and that you want to make another updated offer on the property and are being told that you are prohibited from doing so.

Keep in mind that if the seller did indeed give a directive to the agent of "don't even tell me about any offers less than $X" then you can still be out of luck with a second offer if your offer falls under that magical number.

All offers are good offers, people that incorporate too much emotion in business never get far. Keep it up, and don't be discouraged by one insecure Realtor.

I seriously doubt they are still negotiating this offer 4 months after the question was originally asked.