Im looking for any advice good or bad.
I am pre approved for much more than any property that i have looked at. I made an offer on a house in october, it was accepted. I sign and deliver all papers the same day that i get them. I got through the appraisal, and water/well inspection. At that point i was two months into this property. Then they did the septic inspection. It failed, and that septic testing was done in the beging of december. So now i have heard nothing from them since then. I called my reltor once a week every week and could never get an answer. So two weeks ago, i gave up. I canceled the agreement, and put in an offer on a differant property. I liked the new property more than the last. I made a FULL price offer. So now two weeks later i can't get an answer if it is accepted or not. Meanwhile i have been waiting for two weeks to get my ernest money back from the last property. They have said they will give it back but i havent seen a check.
So it's been four months dealing with the same agent, and nothing to show for it. Needless to say, I am extreamly frustrated with everything. Im almost ready to just go back to renting for good.
Is there anything i can do to resolve these issues?
Is this agent draging his feet? Any advise would be great.
Sorry for venting a little...

It sounds like your agent was not responsive when you had an inspection problem with the first property, so I wonder why you used that same agent on the second property.

Around here it is standard to give the seller three days to respond. If they don't, consider the offer rejected. Is the second property a short sale or bank owned?

Usually the real estate contract (aka Offer to Purchase Real Estate) has a "drop dead" date, some statement that the offer expires at a particular time. Was this done in writing or just offered verbally? A written contract cannot be open-ended unless both parties agree.

I used the same agent because he was always able to show me propertys and answer questions. He was not the listing agent on eather property... Mabey thats part of the problem.
They are both bank owned.
I gave them both 3 days in writing to reply to the offers.

It's probably good for you that your agent wasn't the listing agent. That means he's working solely for your benefit, and not splitting his efforts on your behalf and the sellers.

I don't have experience with bank owned properties, but it seems to me that banks who own properties can't make any type of decision in three days.

Ok so these propertys are bank owned. So can i contact these banks personaly?

That's what your agent is for. I would give him a call and express your concerns directly to them. Remember, you agent works for you and needs to understand your particular needs. If you selected this particular agent for his availability, he probably has the time to go over your options and concerns. Remember, he only gets paid once you buy the property.

If you do need faster responses to your offers, you might want to consider owner-occupied properties

There is no way to contact the bank personally. The sale of the house is handled by an asset manager, so you would not know who to contact.

I have waited two weeks for an answer on a bank-owned property before. If it has been more than a few days, your agent can call the listing agent to find out what is going on. You really need to rely on your agent to communicate with the enemy other side. And it might not be a good idea to use the listing agent for the purchase of any property. Remember, he represents the seller first. A lot of REO (bank-owned) listing agents don't even deal with buyers.

I'm afraid that is NOT TRUE . . . . fortunately !

Just because the Agent that showed the property is not the Listing Agent DOES NOT automatically make him a Buyer's Agent. That can only happen IF the Agent and the Buyer enter into a "written" Buyer Representation Agreement.

Selling Agents can be Sub-Agents of the Listing Broker, still indirectly representing the Seller or (as is the case in Vermont) Brokers Agents (representing the Listing Agent). ONLY if they have an Agreement to represent the Buyer as a Client, do they become Buyers' Agents with all of the Fiduciary Responsibilities that you allude to.

It is critical that you NOT create the impression of being someone's Agent when you are not, as you may, inadvertently, take on many of the responsibilities WITHOUT any of the benefits under a concept known as "Implied Agency" which creates the worst of both Worlds.

In this business it's always important to know "Who" you're representing, and IT IS NOT the Buyer unless there's a "written" Buyer Representation Agreement.

As an aside, I just recently had one where the Buyer got shorted about 1000 Square Feet of GLA on his purchase and wanted to sue me, the Selling Agent. The Listing Agency had been sloppy in accepting the Seller's GLA for the property. I was simply the Cooperating Broker showing the property as a Brokers Agent to a "Customer" . . . . NOT a "Client". I had disclosed this to the Buyer early in the process, using a standard Agency Disclosure, so I just re-directed his energy and hostility toward the correct party - NOT ME !

When it came time to sue, the Buyer just sued the Listing Agency and they paid him $15,000 or $18,000 to make him happy(ier); and then they started taking their own measurements to put in the MLS and stopped relying on Sellers' data (a know-it-all insurance Agent who should have known better). I'm happy that I didn't need to get involved, and my pockets didn't get emptied out due to someone else's incompetence.

I have enough trouble obtaining accurate information for my own Listings without having to double check those of others. Had I been a Buyer's Agent, those sloppy GLA Measurements could have been MY Sloppy GLA Measurements. Enough said ?

Very true. In this particular case, I assumed that agreement was in place when making my argument.

And, now that I think of it, we all know what happens when you assume.

I thought the most salient point I was trying to make was regarding the original poster's assumption (there's that word again) that he would have been better off working directly with the listing agent.

I don't know that you can get your earnest deposit money back considering that you bailed out of the contract. You really need to look into this before you try and get another property. If I'm mistaken, I hope someone will correct me.

If you can't get your Realtor to respond to your calls and emails, you should check with his office and ask to speak to someone there about this realtor.

well i got my ernest money back today. I got it back because it was the bank that was draging there feet through the process. Not me...
Still waiting for an answer on the other property.

In some cases, they didn't get their deposited money. This is because of some agreements.

Banks are not your typical sellers.You need to factor this going in.You want the deal but do not want to wait for it.

You will have to go after non bank owned properties or change expectations of how long a deal will take.

In the contract when placing an offer have your broker/agent put (upon acceptance) in the earnest money section.

This means until they accept your contract in writing you don't put earnest money down just a copy of the check with your offer.

no legal advice

Bank owned properties move slowly, relatively speaking and it can be very frustrating. They are not motivated in the same way "real" sellers are. You will have to be patient. HOWEVER, I agree with Super, you need to speak to a superior of this agent of yours if you go even two days without a returned phone call.Because dealing with these types of properties are so daunting, the agent needs to be a little more attentive to the buyer.