Open houses, is this true???

I went to open houses this weekend. I signed in at each one, because they are CRAZED if you don't.

Needless to say, we liked a house. we want to put an offer in. we went back 2x to see it, and think it might be the one.

I call the real estate agent listing the house today to tell her I am calling my agent to put an offer in.

She tells me I can't make the offer with my agent, that I am bound to do it with her, because I:

A: signed in making the sale hers
B: discussed the offer with her

My fear is, she is out for their best interest, not mine. I also don't plan to offer what the asking price is. I am offering less, because it needs a lot of work, and we can't afford that much. Its not much less, and I think they may take it, but I was planning on offering a little less then our top # figuring they would counter and we can bargain with them. But with her working on both sides, she is "in the know" as to what our max is, and she is going to want to get the max out of us to make the most commission right??

What the heck do I do? I have an appointment with her today to submit the offer!!

I am willing to walk away after putting in an offer. I'm concerned because we are pre-qualified for X and the house is listed for that, but I don't want to offer X. I'm not comfortable with paying that every month. our max is a little below that. Do I put in our max offer and walk if they counter? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

PS she is extremly nice, its not like I wouldn't want to work with her, but I just feel like she's not out for my best interest. my mom tends to think she isn't out for either of us, just the best commission she can make

Re: Open houses, is this true???

I don't know the legalities of it. I know that when we were house hunting and went to open houses alone, we would tell the OH agent-we are working with someone. A few times they would argue with us-like they did not believe us, asking us, well why isn't your agent here? One time they refused to show the house to my husband

I'd call your agent and explain it to her/him. Hopefully they can tell you what you have to do! Good luck!

Message edited 8/10/2009 10:45:37 AM.

Re: Open houses, is this true???

we were told by the person we were looking with to leave her card and tell them that you are working with someone. I would check with the person you are working with on what to do maybe the two agents can deal with it.

Secondly you can just put a offer in as if your representing yourself. You just tell their agent we want X price with these agreements and that is it. She comes back with either a counter offer or acceptance. Your just the one having to research the comps in the area etc.

Re: Open houses, is this true???

Yes if you signed in and didn't leave your realtors card, then you are bound to her.

This happened to us at a openhouse, we didnt know, we signed in but were actively working with a realtor.
We never made an offer on the house so nothing ever happened

Re: Open houses, is this true???

Same thing happened to us. Here is my thread with lots of insightful replies:

http://www.lifamilies.com/chat/topic.aspx?ID=180862

I had no idea! I figured out from that experience that I really didn't even need an agent. We didn't buy that house but I did all the legwork on the rest of them, with the help of DH's friend to get comps, and bought another house in the same area.

Good luck with your situation!

Re: Open houses, is this true???

Generally, I believe this is how it works. We pretty much only went to open houses, and we saw this a lot. Some people said they were already working with someone and the agent had no problem with it. Some people were agents and just flashed their business cards.

IMO, there are 2 ways to look at it. You can think it's ridiculous and refuse to deal with her without your agent, in which case she will probably refuse to work with you. Or, you can give her the offer directly and decide if you will negotiate or not. We never had a buyer's agent, we made our offers directly to the seller's agent and negotiated with her ourselves.

Remember, though, that she is working for the buyer, NOT you, no matter what she tells you. IMO, if she really wanted to sell the house, she would be willing to work something out with you regarding your agent. I don't do real estate, but in this market, I would think splitting a commission would be better than having the house sit unsold until her contract runs out.

Re: Open houses, is this true???

By the way, if you decide to make the offer yourself, this:

Re: Open houses, is this true???

we worked with several RA and non of them were showing us anything that we liked. It turned out that my FIL came across a house, we checked it out on our own and loved it. We ended up only working with the sellers RA and not with any we had used previously. (Although the last one we were working with tried to get us to use him so he could make commission on a house WE found!)

working with their RA worked out fine. Maybe we were lucky and got a good person, but we didnt feel like we were out of the loop and she seemed to be upfront. it went pretty smoothly (it was just that the 2 sisters sellingthe house couldnt agree and when we put in a low offer they didnt even want to counter, but we continued with another offer)

she was very nice and even sent us cheryl and co cookies to congratulate us on the house.

Message edited 8/10/2009 10:47:14 AM.

Re: Open houses, is this true???

That's how it works. Also if your agent is not a buyer's agent he/she will also be working for the best interest of the seller.

Re: Open houses, is this true???

Re: Open houses, is this true???

I understand being worried about showing her your pre qualification letter. However, I viewed that letter as a statement that we were serious and we can afford to buy a house.

We just bought a house and we offered a lot less than what our pre qualification stated we could afford. We did go up in price, but we still didn't pay as much as what the bank said we could.

Just stick to your guns!! Good Luck!

Re: Open houses, is this true???

Yes if you sign you are pretty much bound to the listing agent.

When I go to open houses, I tell them I don't sign because I am represented by somebody.

I usually just say that my agent was unavailable to come with me. Sometimes the listing agent asks for a business card. Sometimes they don't.

Re: Open houses, is this true???

thanks everyone for all your input and links!! its been so helpful! I will keep you posted as to the outcome!!

Re: Open houses, is this true???

great info thanks, i bookmarked this to show dh
i hope it all works out for you