Our agents had an open house for our home (they have listed for us) yesterday and I received a phone call from the husband telling me someone was there very interested in buying the home, but he (the buyer) wanted to know what our bottom dollar was we would take. I had to call my husband at work (General Motors) to ask him. I called the realtor back and told him, he then asked if we could go lower (we had come down $3000+ off asking price) and he said would we come down more. I explained that after their commision we needed a set amount (told him the amount) clear. He asked if we would go between the set amount and the "bottom dollar" ammount. I said most likely not. At no time did he yet, did he tell us what the possible buyer was even offering. He said the interested buyer would not go the amount I had told him. I finally had to ask if they had even said how much they would go (all this was verbal, at NO point did the realtor put anything on paper nor have the possible buyer write an offer on a contract), the realtor told me what they would pay. It was $5,000 less than what the husband and wife had given us as the lowest appraisel amount of our house (approx. one month ago). I told him I very much doubeted we would go that low. He hung up. I called his wife at the office and was going to ask her why it was being done verbally (we were uncomfortabe with the way it was being handled) and she was rude and told me we should have jumped on the offered price as there is no way we will get any more out of our house than that, and was probably lucky to have been offered that. I then reminded her that THEY were the ones that gave us the appraisel of how it. She denied the amount, and I told her that both my husband and I were right in the room when the amount range was told to us. She then said that it must have been her husband that gave us the amount and she had nothing to do with it. (They are both realtors that work as a realtor couple) And now she is telling us it is worth $20,000 less than what they said the day they wanted us to sign a contract for them to be our agents. She then asked why we needed the specfic amount I had told her husband we needed as clear after their commision (is that a proper question for her to even have asked me?) I felt bullied and I called my husband at work again and told him she said we would be lucky to get even close to that amount and should have jumped on the offer. My husband said to tell the realtor husband if the people were still "very interested" and "extreamly interested" that if they would put in on paper as a contract so no more verbal stuff would be going on, we would accept the buyers offer. I called the realtor husband and got his voice mail for his cell phone, left a message and waited and waited and waited. I called his wife at the office and she called him, and he told both of us (via three way connection) that he told the buyer that and the buyer was going to look at another home and would meet with his mortgage people today and make a decision. WHY when the possible buyer asked how much we would be willing to come down on the asking price, did the realtor call us and do it all verbally? Shouldn't he have said, "If you want to know, let's write an offer?"? Or some such thing, but to just be giving the buyer (now remember these are OUR agents selling OUR home, at an open house and the buyer was not an agent nor did he have an agent with him, just a general public person) price information about our home and expecting us to give out the price information of what we would do, and not even tell US what the buyer's price was, NONE of this feels right nor even sounds right to us. We feel: used, lied to (the nasty way the wife denied the appraised value they gave us on our home the day they wanted us to sign a contract with them for them to be the listing agents, and suspicious. How do we know the "interested buyer" was not just a shill sent in by someone to find out how much our home could be forced into being bought for? Shouldn't the husband and wife never have done any of it verbally and immediatly as soon as asked what our lowest price would be, have suggested the "very interested" buyer make an offer on paper. Isn't that the correct way and ethical way. I just can not belive that if MY husband and myself walked into an open house or a home for sale and asked the realtor how much could we buy it for or how much would the seller be willing to take for it that the VERY first thing the realtor would do put it on paper!!!

In my hardly ever humble opinion your agent(s) have blatantly violated their fiduciary duties to you and your husband to represent you in the sale of your home.

The proper and only response either of them should have given to the 'suspect' (there was never enough evidence to convict him of being a real buyer) was: "Put your offer in writing and we will submit it to our clients for their consideration." Period, end of story.

I would immediately be on the phone to their broker, relay the concerns you outlined above, and make it crystal clear if they or their firm could not, or were not willing to do the job they were hired to do then you would like a release from your listing to seek proper and more professional representation elsewhere.

The rear of my Association's listing agreement spell out the terms and condition under which we're hired to sell a home, it has lots of phrases like:

"Agent will promote and be an advocate for my interests in contacts with prospective buyers and/or their agents and in any transactions involving the property."

"Agent shall quote and advertise only the above specified price (the price you listed at) and terms unless otherwise authorized in writing by me."

You might want to get your copy out and read all of it.

I find it pretty interesting to also hear the wife blame the husband for the price they gave you. I wonder if you asked him the same question he would blame her. :rolleyes:

One more comment. You said: "we needed a set amount". What you 'need' to do something elsewhere, i.e. buy another house or pay off debts, has nothing to do with the current value of your house.

If you and/or your agents have some confusion or disagrement about the value, you may want to consider hiring a fee appraiser and get a professional appraisal done. One benefit to you is that it will give you some ammunition to validate your asking price to potential buyers.

If you get an apraiser find them yourself, don't ask your agents for a recommendation. Any lender, bank, or the yellow pages should be able to supply you a list.

I have done a lot of GM business in the past (actually met my husband via a gmac relo ... long story...) and I am wondering how on earth this can be happening to you. If this is a GM referred agent or relocation situation, everything should be in writing--all CMAs (appraisals), reports, marketing, etc.. GM has very strict guidelines for their agents. This couple should be reported immediately to both their broker and your GM counselor.

If this is not a GM relo or referred broker, just as Jim Lee indicated, these agents are clearly not working in your interest. If all has happened just as you outlined it, I'd be calling the local real estate board and filing a complaint ASAP. And if these 'agents' used any of the price information that you gave them for ANYthing other than their own knowledge, I'd revoke your contract with them today. Real estate--regardless of the origin of the business--is simlpy not done this way.

Sounds shady to me. If nothing else, get a new listing agent

WOW that gave me a headache.Just tell them you will not be talking to them anymore and want to see a signed offer sent to them with an earnest money check attatched to it,until then you will not take them seriously one bit.Sometimes agents will buy a home themselves if they know the seller has undervalued it.Now let me caution you if the last appraisal on your house was based on a refinance forget that number,refi's they can go up to 125% loan value to loan you money.when you are selling the house on an appraisal they only use up to 100% value.so say you do a refi on your house and it says worth 125k on the appraisal,then when you go to sell in 6 months you think it's worth 125k but it's fair market appraisal is only 100k this is where most people get confused different appraisals have different criteria on valueing your home.I say dump these people and find other buyers.

Very unprofessional agents. In my market, there is a small fee ($50) to cancel a listing. DO IT! Interview a few agents and pick one who is well known in your area and who has good references.

Because I am spiteful towards bad agents, I would also suggest registering a complaint with your state's licensing board (or real estate commission).

sueann

Please I beg of you to not think all realtors are like that. There are a few of us good ones out there. First I do not understand why in the world your agent would not insist that the offer be put in writing. I am not sure of where you are and the laws where you are. But if I was your agent I would have come to you and even before I gave you any dollar amount I would say to you I am going to present this to you because I am required by law to present any and all offers. However whether you agree to it or not I adamantly request that you give me the instructions to require this in writing before you even entertain the office. I present verbal offers but I really do not take verbal offers seriously. There is so much more to an offer then the purchase price. And you really need to know all the aspects of the offer to make an intelligent choice. Also what ever your bottom line is that should not be release to the buyer. The only answer that should be given to the buyer is the home is listed for XYZ and if they would like to make an offer they are more then welcome to and we will see what the seller says. Whatever your bottom line is should never come into play. Forget the CMA that was done on your property. The market value of your property is what a buyer is willing to pay verses what you are willing to sell it for. If your agent really felt that you were listed $20,000 to high they should have brought that up to you with an updated CMA well before the offer. I send out emails to my sellers at least weekly(usually more) and make a personal call every other week. My assistant also does search of my seller’s subdivisions and immediate area every day. When there is a new listing and or comparable sale I want my sellers to hear about it from me. That way when they have an offer there really not much to say about market value. In fact my sellers are the ones that bring up the recent sales that I sent them to me and they are the ones telling me they realize the list price is a little high. They are the ones asking me what can be done.

I want to thank you all so very much for your feedback, comments, support, etc. We are finally going this morning to meet with the agency's broker to discuss this. We have been trying to meet with him ever since I first wrote to you, but he has always had one reason after another that he was not able to see us about his agents we are unhappy with. Today we are just going to the office, instead of trying to make an appointment, and pay a "drop in" visit on him. I did find out he is in the office all day. We feel it is time to just stop by and quit the run around of trying to get an appointment. I will write to you again and let you all know how it turned out, since you have been so wonderful with helping us with this. Again, thank you all.

This is to let you all know that the mess has been finalized. We did talk to the broker of the office of the agent-couple and he agreed that they were in the wrong and offered to end the contract. He did ask if we would let them (the office itself) have one more week of it listed to try to sell it, as he said a person had called about it. The week was up Monday, May 30. We called and told him we did want to go ahead and drop the contract as offered. He had the original agent-couple contact us to sign the release papers. They met with us at the house yesterday morning. They were absolutly vicious and hateful. They refused to let us sign the papers until we had to sit and listen to over 15 mintues of vicious diatribe from them. Then and only then did they even produce the papers and let us sign them. Even though we told them several times, we did not want to hear the terrable things they were saying nor go through it, but the husband even said "you will let me finish saying what I want to say before you can sign any papers". But, the papers are signed and we are free of them. Thank goodness!!!!!!!!!! We had never had dealings with Coldwell Banker Gundaker before, but I really believe we will not have anything to do with them ever again. Thank YOU all so much for your help and support on this. It did help us so much. Thanks, Sue

Sueann,
You need to report these agents to Gordon Gundaker. CB Gundaker is owned by NRT, Inc. These agents behavior needs to be reported. You should write a letter addressed to Gordon A. Gundaker President of Coldwell Banker Gundaker informing him of what happened. I am sure you will get a positive response.

I'm with Paul on this one.

These bozos behavior initially was inexcusable; this latest episode is reprehensible.

Please consider doing as Paul suggests and write or call the franchise owner and tell him this story.

I have the feeling those 2 would soon be looking for a new place to hang their license or, my preference, a new career field.