I am running into a problem in trying to buy a house in Huntington Beach that was listed for 477K. There were two offers for 477k and we offered 482k. The agent made a counter offer to all 3 buyers for 487k. Interestingly, the house was not listed in the MLS. All 3 buyers agreed to the counter, and this morning she put the house on the MLS. I am pretty pissed now.
Question: Is there any legal issues she is breaking? If we agree, as buyers, to all the conditions is this not a binding contract?
Thanks for the help in advance
Unfortunately, the seller has the right to accept any of the three offers of which they choose. One offer may have certain contingencies they prefer or not such as length of escrow or money down etc...ethically the buyer should have countered your offer first in line but in this market you will find agents accepting/countering multiple offers until they hit the sweetest one.
You mean the SELLER made counters (through the agent) to all three buyers, right?
DISCLAIMER: I have no real estate training.
I think in the case you describe, the sellers get to choose the buyer. Typically it's the one that they think is the strongest buyer, i.e., largest down, best credit, highest income, whatever. If you read the contract, it should be in there somewhere.
(I don't know what's up with putting it on MLS after the fact.)
Hope this helps -- again, I'm just some guy, not a real estate professional.
Good luck.
...not putting the listing on the MLS means the agent keeps it as a "pocket listing", where they hope to find a buyer on their own knowing that it will sell quick in hopes that they will bring the buyer themselves making the $ale and the purchase $$$, 5-6% comish to one agent instead of giving 2.5% to another agent who brings a buyer in.
I am not sure but I think it depends on asking price. If all your offers were below asking price thay have the right to counter. If you offered asking price, it would seem the house is yours.
But do you want it? It seems that 482k only buys a little shack these days.
Sounds like the agent and seller saw the three offers at a higher price and may be trying to start a bidding war. They figure they got these offers without it being on MLS and they are getting greedy and thinking, "Hey if we put it on MLS we can probably do even better." I would think that even just a matter of principle and integrity the agent and seller would honor the three offers or at least go back to you three with a counter.
It is ultimately up to the seller who they want to sell to though.
Thanks for the help so far.
It is a shack in Huntington, but a very good priced shack. If it hit the MLS it will go for about 510K easy. She has until tomorrow to let us 'buyer' know about the status of the counters.
I hate sneaky ass people like this.
If you presented an offer of full purchase price without any contingencies for financing, inspections, etc, you may be able to sue for the seller for specific performance. Chances are your contract included some contingencies therefore the seller can reject that offer. You would need help from a lawyer and not a real estate agent if you decide to pursue that avenue.
As for the agent not having the house listed in MLS, you could check with their broker and see if the broker has a policy of requiring all listings to be in MLS, in which case you could file a complaint to the broker against the agent. It won't get you the house though. In Georgia where I'm licensed MLS requires all brokers who are members to place all their listings in MLS otherwise they get fined.
I'm a realtor in So Cal.
The seller has done nothing wrong. In my MLS you HAVE to put a property in the mls. The listing agent must have had an extension on putting it in the MLS. It is up to the seller when a property goes into the MLS.Like everybody else said. The seller can choose whichever offer they want.
572Daytona:
If you presented an offer of full purchase price without any contingencies for financing, inspections, etc, you may be able to sue for the seller for specific performance. That's what I said. Just not as eloquently.
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