If i have one other agent call me and ask me what the seller will accept for the property, i am going to scream! Isn't that why we have a listed price? What are they expecting? "Well we have it listed for 200k, but really they will accept 150k, they are really desparate to sell"-? What do you want from me? Even if it were not against ethics to tell another agent the bottom line, do you think the bank would actually tell me what their bottom line was?

Don't know what they will take.Submit an offer and we can find out the answer.

Either they submit the offer or go away.Either way I have gotten rid of them in a few seconds.

I tell 'em to put in an offer and see if the bank counters it! Tell 'em that's the quickest way to figure out the bottom line!

I also tell 'em that the banks have been very tight-fisted since the 1st of May. They're not negotiating much at all. Too bad, so sad, not really my problem if your buyer wants the property but can only come up with half the sale price.

The Realtors in my office understand this, but man, have I heard some squawking out of Realtors from across town!

Simple answer here. What's the highest your buyer will pay?
Let's face it, a lot of agents aren't all that bright, about 2 watts and flickering. Use the number $5,000.00 as a bench mark. That 5K can represent an annual, a monthly, a weekly or a daily commission figure. Some stay dumb while others get rich.

I just tell them, "Looks like highest and best may work as we have multiple offers coming in".........seems to quiet them down, everytime......lol.

I agree with Super on this..."Submit an offer and we find out"...end of discussion.

I think that is where laziness comes into play. A certain percentage of agents just don't want to spend the time in putting together an offer, just for it to be rejected or eventually not come into fruition. They want the "fast track" in an effort to guarantee that their time will not be wasted.

"Too bad, so sad" as my nine year old son likes to say. Do it the right way, put together the offer and let the chips fall where they may. If the offer is decent, chances are it will be entertained with hopefully only minor negotiating involved.

yes, i end up telling them all these things, it just gets monotonous sometimes, hearing the same thing, over and over. It is hard to stay in the reo business and not get grumpy....

"Well since I helped price it - I think its a pretty good value where it sits. In my experience, I have not seen this bank take less then 95% of list and if your buyer wants closing costs, add it on top of that." Does that seem cruel? Not to me. There is an reo queen here that tells anyone that calls, "I have multiple offers coming in, I would suggest over list price." She told me that if they are dumb enough to call and ask the listing agent what the bank will take, she tells them over list. She knows the bank will take it. There are agents out there that write me offers at 50% value and get ticked if the bank doesn't take it. Is that the new rule of thumb? Geez - I get so tempted to say that they missed it - yesterday we were selling houses 5 for a dollar.

I got one of those yesterday afternoon. I told the guy I knew they would take the list price.

haha....Yea this is the reason why some REO agents don't pick up the phone. I would probably go with the " Well what's the highest your buyer will pay" ...That is the same type of question and shows the stupidity in the original askers question.

We had an agent once who asked if they were wasting their time with an $X offer in multiple offer situation.

I never reveal anything to anyone about any other offer but, the offer was so far off list and we had several over list offers that I told her that if she had something better to do it might be a more effective use of her time.

We got an offer from her later in the day for more than she inquired about. Still off list and she did not get it fortunately.

Now, I NEVER EVER tell anyone ANYTHING other than "Look at our sales for the past year and compare list and sale prices. All available on our MLS".

Our average for REO is 98+% list to sale price ratio.

However, I may have to start using the "What is the most your buyer is willing to pay". I like that a lot.

Only problem with that is that it encourages dialogue which will wind up being a time waster. . "Submit offere and we will see" stops the conversation and cuts to the chase.

Excellent point. But, tempting none the less.

I really enjoy the agent telling my how much the buyr wants the property and submits an offer of 50% of list price