We found the perfect house-- now there is a problem. Any advice is welcomed!

I'll try to shorten the drama, here's what happened...

We are looking at 2families in Queens. After 20+ houses, we found the one, THE ONE! I dreamt about this house the night I saw it. It was on the market because the couple was getting divorced. We put in an offer, they countered, we went in with offer #2... thats when the drama started.

The seller's agent never really came back to us with a straight answer. 2 weeks and nothing. He called our agent and said that it has nothing to do with the offer, the seller's are just fighting and refuse to agree on certain terms. "You could offer them full price at this point and they still wouldn't go for it". He said they could get back to us next week or in 6 months, there is no way to tell. OK, I couldnt really swallow it, but OK. I accepted that this house was on the market but not really ready to sell. It's a divorce, a messy one, I get it. I cried and tried to move on.

My DH insisted he had a fishy feeling about the whole situation because things were moving long and then it just halted. Our friend decided to call the seller's broker acting as a buyer with no realtor. The seller's broker who stopped picking up our brokers calls, picked up this call. First thing the broker asked our friend "Are you a buyer or broker", once our friend said just a buyer, the guy said "it's was on the market, availbale, he could show it, put your best offer forward and we'll see".

Now we're thinking maybe this broker is a hogger and doesnt want to split the commission for another broker? Maybe he never even relayed our 2nd offer? Which from what I understand is illegal. Im so upset, confused and disappointed. Is it really because of the divorce situation or is this broker a dirt bag?

What should we do? It has everything we are looking for, I do not want to walk away without getting a straight answer. We are just worried our offer is not getting through...

Re: We found the perfect house-- now there is a problem. Any advice is welcomed!

It sounds like both.

Honestly, I would walk away. We had to walk away because the house loved was also a divorce sale. The couple had been divorced 6 years, it was a court ordered sale but they both needed to approve the offer even though she was living in the house. He wouldn't approve it so they had to go to court. The judge agreed our offer was fair so he ordered the husband to sign the offer. A week later we find out the ex-dh appealed the judges decision and we weren't going to be in actual contract until that decision. The appeal could have taken as much as 20 days and we couldn't risk it since it would bring it 2 weeks before our scheduled closing date.

If you nothing to sell and are willing to wait around then I guess you could stick it out. Maybe call the seller's agent yourself? I am not really sure you can do that.

Re: We found the perfect house-- now there is a problem. Any advice is welcomed!

I think you should talk to your agent about it and have him address it.

First, your agent should make sure the offer was presented. If I were him, I would either push to present the offer in person, or insist on a signed offer acknowledgment form (although a really unethical agent could forge the offer acknowledgment form with the seller's signature).

Another option is for your agent to elevate it. All agents work under a broker/owner (and sometimes a manager), so your agent could have his broker address it with the other agent's broker. If they can't resolve it, it can be reported/pursued with an MLS zone chairman, etc., but it's not really an immediate solution for you.

I mean, if it's still on the market, the listing office has to show it (you actually can stop showing for a temporary period of time - - 10 days -- but if it's longer than that, the house has to be withdrawn from the market). I would have your agent find out why it's still on the market, if they plan to withdraw it, and try to take another run at finding out why they haven't responded to your second offer. Divorce situations can be tough, since both parties need to agree and usually one party doesn't want to sell the house, but at the same time, it is odd that they countered back right away after your first offer, but then they just stopped.

I myself don't do much work in Queens, but other agents in my office do, and I've heard stories of the Queens agents being a bit more reluctant to cooperate with other agents/brokers on MLS (than Nassau/Suffolk agents are). But if it's on MLS, there are rules that have to be followed and channels through which to report rule violations if necessary.

Re: We found the perfect house-- now there is a problem. Any advice is welcomed!

That stinks! Have someone you know go look at the house with that agent... see if he tells them the same thing that he told your agent. They can ask the agent a lot of questions like are there any other offers on the table, etc and see what he says!

Re: We found the perfect house-- now there is a problem. Any advice is welcomed!

I think Christine's advice is great. If he is not presenting your offer, it's illegal and unethical. Definitely address it with your agent and make sure your agent does something about it.

If the sellers are being flaky, I understand walking away. However, I would not walk away from a house I love because of the listing agent- no way!

Re: We found the perfect house-- now there is a problem. Any advice is welcomed!

Thanks to those who replied. My DH decided to call the sellers broker directly. We reminded him of who we were, the offer,m etc. and asked what was the problem.

He insisted the offer was made but that the wife was no longer copperating. My DH told him that we need to move on, we saw another house and the offer is on the table until Monday evening. The agent said he would call the owners again and try to get us an aswer by Monday.

I hope it goes our way, but Im not optimistic. Thanks for the advice again.

Re: We found the perfect house-- now there is a problem. Any advice is welcomed!

Something similar happened to us when we were trying to buy our co-op. We were given the run around & told obvious lies. My DH got fed up & went to the realtor office & spoke with the manager & demanded proof that all of our offers were given to the homewners.

Re: We found the perfect house-- now there is a problem. Any advice is welcomed!

I was told until you were in contract they could keep showing the house.

Re: We found the perfect house-- now there is a problem. Any advice is welcomed!

Ugh that $ucks. Friends of ours were in a similar situation. They decided to wait it out and ended up getting the house. But it took something obscene.......like 7 or 8 months before they could close. Fortunately they had a place to stay when their home was sold.