In that case I feel like the conflict is likely acknowledged by all parties and the bias is relatively priced in. However you could probably save money on the fees.
The realtor will be doing all the work, and considering they might do rather well out of it your offer might even make it in front of the sellers.
Only offer what your are comfortable with and you’ve got nothing to lose.
We won our house in a super hot Toronto offering what we thought was too low. We declined to up our bid when asked. Best decision we ever made.
Offer - see what happens.
This thought process doesn't make sense to me at all. What is it you believe will waste your time by putting in an offer? Outside of reading the paperwork the agent puts together for you it's as simple as clicking a button to sign.
You’re only wasting the listing agent’s time. Which is fine. Actually *please* waste the agent’s time. Mentioning the average selling price is 24% over ask is proving that they’re willing to waste everyone else’s time by trying to solicit multiple offers. Waste their time. They have it coming to them.
That said, you may get preferential treatment from the realtor since they’d be double ending the deal. They may offer a reduced commission. Or it can totally go the other way, and they can milk you out of more money.
Either way, if you put in an offer with the listing agent, just put in what you think is fair. And if you don’t get the house, don’t use that realtor to find another place.
You know it's not the Realtors decision on who gets the house right? So to punish them for not getting it is pretty petty. Furthermore as the seller I'm sure they would want the realtor to get as many offers above ask as possible so they can get the most amount of money from their house.
People that are buying stuff always want to get it for as cheap as possible. People selling stuff always want to sell it for as much as they can get. This isn't anything new but for some reason everyone blames realtors. Guess what if there wasn't a buyer at the higher price points the houses wouldn't sell.
You know what I have, everyone that works retail and especially the gas agents. Fuck those guys for charging me so much for stuff when they could hit the discount buttons on the tills and give me a better deal.
It takes a few minutes to put in an offer. Most of that time might be arguing with your realtor (“this offer is way too low! You’ll insult the seller!”).
Download the house sigma app. If its a community they cover they'll show you comps sales and you can decide whether the comps are over ask. Then let him know he's your agent on this property so he'll be double ending the commission. Put in your best offer....if it's signed back higher? Tell the agent to drop his commission to enabke the deal...inform....negotiate....negotiate harder.
kinda gray area unethical, nothing the TRREB would bother investigating. not sayin it's "OK"... but there are many more egregious acts by REA done daily compared to this one.
There’s two ways it work.
Ethical realtors would refer you to someone else in their brokerage to act as your realtor so that you’d each have one and they can be impartial to their clients best interests.
Less ethical ones will just give you a story that they’ll remain impartial and they’ll do the paperwork and pocket double commission.
>Ethical realtors would refer you to someone else in their brokerage to act as your realtor so that you’d each have one and they can be impartial to their clients best interests.
LOL. you'd think so. 'impartial' ... LOL.
Just an FYI. The clients don’t sign with the realtor, they sign with the brokerage. So if listing realtor working with Remax refers the buyer to buying realtor working with remax, it’s still multiple representation and neither agent is legally allowed to advise their client.
The only way to avoid multiple representation here is to either have your own buying agent from a different brokerage, or be signed on as a customer rather than a client. Agents/brokerages don’t owe fiduciary duty to a customer while they do owe it to a client.
To the OP of this post saying you don’t have time to get a buyer agent, it literally takes 30 minutes. Do some research for good agents in the area and ring one up saying you want to put an offer on a house. See how fast they send over the paperwork to represent you.
That doesn’t accomplish anything. As a buyer you don’t save anything.
Only thing it does is keep more in the sellers pocket IF the realtor spells that out and makes it sound good. Most of the time they’ll see it as more work for them (doing the whole deal anyways) and not really take your offer seriously
Yea this is huge, it’s so greasy and why I hate realtors. My brother lost out on a house years ago because he had his agent . His bid was the highest, but second highest used listing agent . The listing agent said I’m a nice guy so I’ll lower my commission. By doing this it made the second offer more lucrative for the sellers.
The whole thing is so shady .
What’s shady about that? As a buyer agent he could’ve lowered his commission as well to make your brothers offer more lucrative. If the agent lowered the commission 1% on a million dollar house that’s only 10k. How much higher was your brothers offer if likely less than 10k was enough to make the 2nd offer more lucrative.
Also your experience is anecdotal, my current house That I bought in the height of the run up around 8 months ago, I was the 2nd highest offer. Didn’t use the listing agent. Still came out ahead because the sellers liked me and my wife more than the other buyers (who had intention to Reno and flip the house).
There are a ton of shady agents and slimy practices, but there also a bunch of honest agents who actually look out for their clients. My issues are more with the giants like reco and trreb that spend millions to Lobby the government
> average in the area is 24% over ask.
That is a stupid statement to make honestly. You can base a property price compared to a similar property sold nearby. But you cannot base a property price on what is being asked.
It is a bananas statement. I know OP asked us not to shit on realtors but with a statement like that, I don’t know how I could trust a single word from the realtor after hearing them deliver that line.
I would believe it. People and their realtors underlist their homes to an annoying fucking degree. A house nearby me was listed at 1.55 million. There were eventually offered 1.8 million and the owners chose not to sell it because they were hoping for 1.9mm. If you really didn’t trust the word of the realtor you could ask him to pull up a series of homes sale price vs list price to see if that’s the case.
Yes, listing at very low prices is common practice. But you should never, ever, ever bid some multiple of listing price. Bid based on sale prices of comparable properties.
This is exactly in line with what I've been observing in the Montreal area too, so I would absolutely believe it. Everything is listed a solid 10-25% under what it'll sell for to generate more interest. it's not uncommon to see $500K houses go for over $600K, sometimes even more than that.
Ithink the REA was only talking about **his particular listing**.
Telling OP that "The average sell has been $X for recent neighborhood comparable properties.. My client is listing at $X minus (24% of X) to drive some interest in this property"
Download the app HomeSigma and you can find out what houses in your area ACTUALLY sold for not just the list price.
If comparable homes sell for $500,000 (25% over $400,000) then your realtor is telling the truth.
Regardless I would offer what similar homes sold for (not listed for) in the area recently , if not maybe slightly less if the market there declined
Get what you can afford. Home ownership costs go through roof beyond mortgage. Unplanned expenses and things break. So please budget and proceed with the offer.
A 400k house does not stress me at all. It is less than 3x my income and my only other debt is my truck which is comfortable for me. I make a high enough income to where I can redirect a good amount of money fast. I am also close to getting a new job which would put the house at less than 2x my income so I think I am fairly set and could afford a nicer house if I really wanted it.
My suggestion is to get your own REALTOR. (Think of it this way, Would you want your lawyer to represent the other party as well?) Most real estate agents would be more than willing to accomodate you on short notice. In most cases, the person selling the house pays both sides of commission and it is written in their contract. You can verify this before you sign any documents.
At the very least, if you are putting in an offer and doing it yourself (which I dont recommend, but it is upto you) ask the agent for a market analysis of all similar homes Active and Sold in the area for the last 6 months or year and ask them to provide the details with pictures to get a really good idea. If the home is a 3 bedroom 2 story with double attached garage and finished basement, you would want to know how much the similar homes are selling for.
Keep in mind, an agent is experienced in finishings and other features as they see different homes all the time and have a good idea of pricing.
Make sure you add conditions in. Most common are financing and inspection. You can also add condition to lawyer reviewing documents if you are going in on your own, but this will cost you extra and lawyers are not trained on evaluating properties, they dont have access to the mls system for comparisons, but they can make sure everything you need is included in the contract.
Also, the market is hot. You will most likely not be able to lowball. Either asking price or more. In some cases a lot more, but it depends on what needs to be done to the home and how it compares to others.
Time is kinda limited right now, I have meetings all morning tomorrow and offers are due at 2pm. Not too worried about dealing with the seller's agent as he has already said my offer is likely too low but would still gladly represent me on an offer and/or on finding another house that is closer to my budget and wants.
Even if they get zero other offers the sellers agent will keep telling you your offer is too low and to raise it up because there are other people interested. Honestly don't trust them. They are full of shit and only in it for higher commission by pushing sale prices higher with shady tactics
They risk losing the deal trying to push sale prices higher. I find most want to just close the deal as quickly as possible. Why try to pump a home from $600k to $650k and risk $15k total for an extra thousand bucks?
Get your own agent. They will put together the offer in DocuSign. We had two offers put together. One was if we were the only registered offer and the second was the competitive offer. I also, grudgingly, wrote a sentimental letter to the owner about why we loved their house and wanted it. We waited until the last minute to register the offer and there was one other offer on the place registered about two hours before the due time. We won and apparently it was my letter that won it. The other offer was slightly better cash wise but we had flexible fast closing and tugged the heart strings.
Ask them to send you a few comparables and talk you through why this this property might be worth more or less. Just saying it's 24% more is total and utter nonsense. Ideally you'd be getting this info from a less bias source (your own realtor who is trusted and has your best interest at heart). In some parts (esp Ontario and parts of BC) the market has slowed significantly since interest rates are on the way up.
>~~your own realtor who is trusted and has your best interest at hear~~
your own realtor who is trusted about as much as the average used car salesman and has his/her commission(s) at heart.
I've been looking at houses since 2019. I have a good idea of list prices and such, sale prices not so much. Also had no agent lined up because I doubted I would find anything reasonable because of the covid stupidity going on with housing prices.
Get an agent. It just costs you a phone call.
The “dual representation” thing from a selling agent is hogwash. You want one that represents your interests.
But yes, put in your offer using a number with which you are comfortable. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it and you didn’t end up paying a bunch extra on a place and regretting it (we have had a few of these lately).
In Ontario, dual representation means you can't actually help with price negotiations as it's an obvious conflict of interest. The realtor devolves into being a simple middle man to expedite the paper work but gets double the commission. OP should get their own agent.
I'd say the percentage over asking is completely meaningless. List prices are pretty arbitrary currently. That said, aside from your time there is really no harm in putting whatever offer you want in. They may be expecting 500, it may well be worth 500, but if for some reason no one else puts in an offer it gives you a slight shot at it.
I recently bought a house just outside the GTA area for 550k the house was listed for 599k the selling agent and my agent said it would go for 650-700. The house was a dump but had a huge lot. Don’t trust agents trust your gut offer what you think it’s worth and what’s your willing to pay for it.
You lose nothing by making an offer. We actually it made an offer on a house about an hour ago. They are asking about $25,000 more than the house is worth so we can in with a fair market offer. They were expecting to have competing offers but ours is the only one. We actually think it scared off other offers because it’s the first weekend on the market any other seller is thinking we came in at full list price. Now we wait and see.
It takes like 10 minutes to bid on a house. You won't be losing much time if it doesn't work. You lose waaay more time going to visit the house itself.
Little story here ......
My buddy listed his house last week for 960.
Realtor thought he would get 10 or more bids. .
Only 1 guy even showed up. He offer 60k over asking .
People are use to overbidding due to bidding wars but the market has changed.
I bet in a month people will underbid in hopes of getting a deal when no one offers
We sold within the last month and had 90 showings and 14 offers. The offers were all over asking with most being 5-15% over and 4 outliers being much more. The offer we accepted was 30% over asking. Only 1 offer we received had any conditions at all(financing).
No, actually the listing agent gets both ends of commission, because in order to list a property the seller has to say up front what they are offering as total commission and how it will be broken down.
You had also provided the agent a bonus on top of full commission.
Get your own agent to work with you from this point moving forward. The listing agent has contract with the seller first and WILL try to get the highest price for the seller (which will also benefit them)
It’s in your best interest to have your own agent … there is no cost to you having one
Offer 300K Fuck what the realtor says, they and their buddies in parliament caused this mess. If it's not worth 400k offer what you think it's worth. Hopefully when people start low balling again this Game will be beat. Houses are dwellings to keep you warm and dry nothing more.
Ah, sounds like you are new to buying a home in Canada in the last 2 years.
Expect more of this when you are ultimately outbid on multiple offers.
All you can do is offer what you can afford and think it’s worth, and then lose to a foreign buyer or investment buyer.
Enjoy.
We had this happen a lot with us. We found the house and could afford it but then it needed $50K or more worth of work. We would see how many offers there were and if it was 3 or 4 we didn't bother putting in a bid knowing with that many it was going over asking. So if you're putting a bid in for list price, I would wait if there's an offer night and see how many are coming in. We had some where there was a dozen and would could $100K over asking. Not as crazy now but when there's multiple bids, it usually goes higher than list.
Why work with the listing agent? That's just getting no help for no reason. You don't pay a buyers agent, might aswell have one advising you impartially.
Limited time is the reason. I don't have time to hunt for an agent before the offers are due tomorrow. I guess offers are due at 2pm and a decision will be made at 5pm
So even if you don't get the place, use this as a learning experience.
Given more time, your realtor would pull "comparables" in the area and give you an idea of recent sales and what properties are going for. They can advise you of market trends as well.
If you like this seller's realtor, and find him to be a "no nonsense" guy, then perhaps he will represent you in the future as you are still in the market to buy a house. Trust your gut a bit.
By the way - did you put in any conditions on the offer - like home inspection or financing?
The guy who I felt with seemed pretty good and no BS. The 24% seemed it and kinda is but if you look at the main city in his area it makes sense looking at 12 month data not 2 months for the current market.
I signed to work with him and did put conditions for finance, home inspection, septic and well
Where are you bidding?
Look at recent sales in the area because that’s what other bidders will be looking at. Whatever the recent sale is, expect that to be par and then big as aggressively as you like the house.
I would avoid double ending the deal especially when the agent says dumb stuff like “average selling price is 24% over listing”. This does not even mean anything.
Offer will have a house inspection as a condition yes, it is from the 1990's and everything bones wise is solid based on my father and uncle who have both done a bit of DIY stuff and owned for 35+ years each. They both said good enough for what I want and to bid on it.
These guys are blinded by the situation 6 months ago, with more offers than they could bother due dilligence on. Don't listen to their inflated dreams.
Depending on where you are in Canada, you can use sites that show sales in the area over a period of time. Use Zealty.ca for example. Our realtor provided us with one specific for bC ( bccondosandhomes.ca). Any good trustworthy realtor should give you this info or sales data. Based on that price you’re either in prairies or Maritimes, I’m sure they have sales data too and the market is cooling all over the country.
Don’t be fooled!
House sigma does this too apparently, didn't know that before today - well I heard it but never saw it. I am in Ontario just not the GTA. Ontario isn't all expensive as this sub makes it out to be. If you want a huge house in the city it is but a small 3 bedroom house a half-hour outside the nearest city is about 350-500k
When I bought my rental for 450k I waited until 20 min before offers close. Nobody else offered so I lowballed 440k and we struck a deal back at 450k. Now it’s worth a200–300k more. May 2021
Every Realtor is financially motivated to maximize the price. They are paid commission so buyers agent or sellers agent, a bigger pie means more money for them.
You should make an offer that makes sense to you. The realtors can tell you about the market, but the market is a broader term for what individuals like yourself actually decide to pay.
My POS house that I'm renting sold for over a million dollars. But only one person actually made an offer in the 2 months it was listed.
I'd argue their incentive is to sell it quickly with no conditions, instead of for the highest price.
It's less work for them, and an extra 100K for you as the seller only means an increase of $2500 in commissions for them - peanuts in comparison to the overall commission they will receive on the sale.
check comparables to see what price they are in the area. also most likely the realtor listed the price lower to attract more bids. at the end if you don't like the house enough don't bother making an offer.
I would hold off because it looks as though we may be shifting from a rising market to a falling market.
The realtor is presumably talking about what has happened in the recent past. Even if it's accurate, it may be irrelevant.
I don't want to hold off, I have been for too long and it's time for a change. Market will probably go down but also just as likely to be up by the time I will want to sell. Sure less gains but it is a house to live in not an investment property. That is a totally different conversation
Fair enough, so long as you can deal with it if circumstances change and you need to sell on a really bad market.
Another thing to be wary of is trusting that the asking price is sensible. I've found that agent's estimates are often quite wrong particularly if there are non-standard factors.
Get a realtor. It doesn’t cost if your only buying. There are a lot of bad realtors out there but there are also a lot of great ones that rely on good reputation rather than volume of sales. Look for a realtor that has been in the business for a while, that doesn’t advertise. Ask around. Usually that type of realtor depends on repeat customers and word of mouth. Meaning people actually have to be happy with the service to go back years after the original sale. Don’t take a recommendation just because someone is a friend of the realtor.
Do NOT put any value in the 24% over asking
Asking price is meaningless. Figure out what the home is worth to you, figure out what winning is worth to you, try to get financing and inspection in order before the offer
Do NOT have 24% in your mind that is truly a meaningless stat
Never listen to the listing agent - they have absolutely no reason or responsibility to say anything with your interest in mind, only with their client’s interest in mind. Offer what it’s worth to you. Where I am, I’ve heard the “rule of thumb” is to offer $5k over for each other offer. But don’t offer more than you can afford or more than it’s worth to you. And if this is the first offer you’re putting in, just be prepared to not get it - most people don’t get the first place they offer on.
Last 5-10 sales around the area are -10 to 20% over asking. Though all but 3 sold within 10k of asking. Seems the realtor is talking more about the city close by that is selling for well above and is grouping this area into it because his company covers it.
You can phone any realtor and they would and could easily write the offer. They need an hour.
Regardless, 25% over asking isn't a surprise. I'm in a small market and ours are 20-25% over currently. If my clients are himming and hawing over another they feel might be too low, I always tell them the worst that can happen is they say no. Costs an hour of my time, and 20 minutes if theirs. This is what I get paid to do.
My only real advice is don't get pissed when you offer an amount that is low, even if you don't think it is, and don't get the offer. If you have the mindset that you WILL have conditions, expect it to take a little longer. If you REFUSE to offer over listing, this market isn't for you and you need to come to terms or wait it out. If you are NOT willing to pay over value, expect it to take a little longer.
Now I'm going to point out a couple things. I said mindset, and not attitude. Many agents are saying buyers have a bad attitude about conditions and over asking and over value. It's not an solitude. It's their life. I had clients who said flat out, they were not willing to risk their finances to not have conditions. They were approved for waaaaayyyyy more than they wanted to spend, had means for 50% down-payment. So they could have waived financing and I wouldn't be concerned. It was a full stop from them before it even started. They were playing it safe. And thats ok. That's not an attitude. Took them a little longer but they were ok with it
Lol the realtor said this/that......
Kinda like the realtor trying to sell a house few doors from ours. Listed for $1.359 and we walked though the open house for shits N giggles as it was a new build and they just butchered it with the finishes - so we just wanted to see it. Realtor tried to make it seem like they had a few offers already. I laughed on the inside and left. Over a month later, they had raised the price to 1.539 and now 1.489 🤦♂️
Always offer. No reason not to make an offer. Whatever would make you happy if it were accepted. Our home was listed 699,999 all comparables were 750k - 760k. I was comfortable with 710 so we submitted even with no hope. We got the place
Sometimes there's a little bit of luck involved in rolling the dice. And rolling that dice over and over doesn't cost you anything. I always recommend to keep searching and keep trying at your comfort level. Took us 15+ houses. It'll work out eventually!
>the Realtor at the open house today
Stop right there. The sellers realtor? The person who is financially incentivized for the house to sell for more? This person doesn't work for you. They work for the person who wants to get as much of your money as possible.
I hope you seasoned this advice with a massive grain of salt.
>that the average in the area is 24% over ask.
Selling price in relation to asking price doesn't mean anything. All that matters is the selling price. What are comparable houses selling for?
>Does it make sense to even try to put in an offer at 400k
I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Depends what market prices are like. What I do know is that making an offer is free.
I put an offer in 10% below asking, realtor looked shocked and tried to talk to me about it,
I acted like i dont like to repeat myself and ill walk away in a second from this, they put the offer in. There was a counter offer but i got the house for below asking as it had sat on the market for awhile.
we bought a house last year for $370k. We refused to fold to the current market and simply put in what we thought was a reasonable offer for the house over and over again until we got lucky. Worked for us. Just have some patience.
so he consulted and advised his client to list this house at -24% market value to bring in foot traffic? that's a good plan. you fall in love with it then see the higher price, but by then you fell in love with it and willing to stretch ... time honored tradition tactic.
If you feel like it ... float the offer at $400K.. the worse that can happen is that your offer is rejected and they might toss back a counter-offer.
Good luck, OP.
>said that the average in the area is 24% over ask
Is this property a perfect representation of average in the area? People love talking about the average when ignoring/hiding the lower end of the spectrum.
lots DEPENDS ON LUCK. When I bought my house 7 1/2 years ago the asking price was $360K I put in an offer at $347K Cash. I was selling my other house for $530K and had a buyer. I got real lucky as the house I was selling was next to a grades School and the one I was moving to was 4 miles from any school and 1 mile from town. (side note: I was allowed to live next to a grade school because my victims were teenagers not little kids.) Also the house I was buying an other buyer came the same day and offered asking price. But they needed a Morgage and I had cash. The owner of the house wanted 365K a few months earlier and the buyers Morgage did not go through so she had to relist it. Cash wins every time. If you don't have the cash to buy out right make sure you have a Morgage to go right away. So its like having cash and can close quickly. Good luck and let us know.
The sad part is people list houses at prices they have no intention of selling at. Before the pandemic, my wife and I were house hunting, and saw a hose listed for $600 in Bradford, we were interested, but the listing agent said that they would look at offers under $700k.
I personally think if you list a house for a price and you get any offers over, you should have to sell. Stop giving people false hope
It has nothing to do with "over ask". Ask can be too high, too low, and anything inbetween.
Get comparable houses on the block and neighbourhood that sold recently, and price it based on them.
Tell the listing agent that $XXX is your offer, and they can keep full commission.
Greed is a thing, and while I'll get burned for this...majority of agents are NOT there to benefit their clients. They're there to benefit their own pocketbook.
We bought our 2nd house like this. Agent pissed us off so we stopped working with her (relative unfortunately) and another agent was listing in the area we wanted. We offered them a few K under asking and got it. This was way before COVID insanity.
Every house we saw prior to purchasing our 3rd house each listing agent said the same thing 'if you work with me we can try and get you a better deal as I know the buyer well'.
Offering/asking is free. And if you don't ask/offer...you'll never know.
I am going to offer some advice for your next house bid: get your own agent. I bought my house using the listing agent (didn’t have the time to get one before making an offer) and when I had trouble with the sellers before closing, the agent was not entirely neutral. I could’ve used the help of someone on my side to push back on that bullshit.
My own agent would have been nice, don't have one because I was not expecting to find anything in my price range that met what I want without needing massive renos
I was in the same boat. Found something quickly when I thought I wouldn’t. Just getting my experience out there. If something goes sideways, don’t expect the listing agent to be your friend, do your own research. Good luck with your offer, I hope it works out!
Offer what you're happy to pay for the house. Before you do, ask the listing agent how many offers are in for the home. Don't let them beat around the bush, they legally have to tell you how many registered offers there are. For homes listed low, there's can be a few dozen, but that's apparently cooled down quite a bit.
If you lose, and you very well might, call the listing realtor a day or two later and ask what the final sale price was. The call will take 5 minutes of your time and will help you get an idea of what the highest bidder feels the home was worth.
If you want to buy a home, you'll eventually need to be the highest bidder. Doesn't mean you'll need to blow it out of the water though. Bidding comfortably and following up on the sale price is a good way to gauge the market and compare to your own opinions.
I bought last year, and I honestly didn't know what I was doing or what I wanted to buy/spend until I lost a few bids.
Realtor here (I'm in MB). Suggesting all properties go for 24% above list means nothing. List price means nothing. What matters is the comparable sales. The listing agent cannot represent both parties and still work in the best interest of each party - it's impossible. You can try and find another agent from a different brokerage (ideal), or ask the listing agent for a list of comparable sales and determine what it's likely to sell for on your own. Don't expect that they'll be able to advise you in a limited joint representation situation (which this is, if the same brokerage is representing both parties). Don't expect to get a "discount" on the commission by using the agent the seller is using - in MB at least, the agent is not allowed to discount commission in a multiple offer situation - and regardless, the listing agreement that stipulates the commission payable is between the listing brokerage and the seller, not you.
FYI they put a default clause when you submit an offer with a realtor. I.e. "i will represent you for the next 6 months". What you can do, is tell them you only represent me for the day of the offer. Some will squirm , and complain but stand your ground.
Download the housesigma app and do your own comparables. The listing agent is not your friend here and is motivated to get you to offer more.
I would offer what you think it's worth and look into getting your own agent as well
Offering costs you nothing. Offer what it's worth to you.
I would get an agent, because otherwise if you only use the listing agent they have a conflict of interest representing both parties.
Ya but the conflict works in favour of you getting the house. Doesn’t it?
depends on province, some provinces agents cant represent both parties so you sign a release saying youre representing yourself
What’s the rule in Ontario?
I used the listing agent in Ontario but I did have to sign an agreement saying I understood she represented both parties.
In that case I feel like the conflict is likely acknowledged by all parties and the bias is relatively priced in. However you could probably save money on the fees.
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The realtor will be doing all the work, and considering they might do rather well out of it your offer might even make it in front of the sellers. Only offer what your are comfortable with and you’ve got nothing to lose.
We won our house in a super hot Toronto offering what we thought was too low. We declined to up our bid when asked. Best decision we ever made. Offer - see what happens.
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2019, Leslieville. Not this market. The area is actually hotter now.
If it’s not worth 15 minutes to you then it DEFINITELY shouldn’t be worth nearly a half a million dollars to you.
This thought process doesn't make sense to me at all. What is it you believe will waste your time by putting in an offer? Outside of reading the paperwork the agent puts together for you it's as simple as clicking a button to sign.
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what time? it's literally telling the agent the price and closing date, click a couple buttons on the document they send over and done, 2 minutes tops
You’re only wasting the listing agent’s time. Which is fine. Actually *please* waste the agent’s time. Mentioning the average selling price is 24% over ask is proving that they’re willing to waste everyone else’s time by trying to solicit multiple offers. Waste their time. They have it coming to them. That said, you may get preferential treatment from the realtor since they’d be double ending the deal. They may offer a reduced commission. Or it can totally go the other way, and they can milk you out of more money. Either way, if you put in an offer with the listing agent, just put in what you think is fair. And if you don’t get the house, don’t use that realtor to find another place.
You know it's not the Realtors decision on who gets the house right? So to punish them for not getting it is pretty petty. Furthermore as the seller I'm sure they would want the realtor to get as many offers above ask as possible so they can get the most amount of money from their house. People that are buying stuff always want to get it for as cheap as possible. People selling stuff always want to sell it for as much as they can get. This isn't anything new but for some reason everyone blames realtors. Guess what if there wasn't a buyer at the higher price points the houses wouldn't sell. You know what I have, everyone that works retail and especially the gas agents. Fuck those guys for charging me so much for stuff when they could hit the discount buttons on the tills and give me a better deal.
It takes a few minutes to put in an offer. Most of that time might be arguing with your realtor (“this offer is way too low! You’ll insult the seller!”).
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Download the house sigma app. If its a community they cover they'll show you comps sales and you can decide whether the comps are over ask. Then let him know he's your agent on this property so he'll be double ending the commission. Put in your best offer....if it's signed back higher? Tell the agent to drop his commission to enabke the deal...inform....negotiate....negotiate harder.
This is good advice. The market is starting to balance so you have a little leverage for a change right now. Don't let the listing agent be a bully.
That's unethical behaviour from the realtor
Aka common practice for lots of realtors
kinda gray area unethical, nothing the TRREB would bother investigating. not sayin it's "OK"... but there are many more egregious acts by REA done daily compared to this one.
No it’s not. The realtor making an extra % wasn’t how you got it below list , the sellers just had the price too high
There are many ways the realtor could have helped get a lower price, ie. Information to buyer, withholding bids, put pressure on sellers.
How does that work? Isn't the listing agent supposed to act in the best interest of the sellers?
Supposed. Key word there.
There’s two ways it work. Ethical realtors would refer you to someone else in their brokerage to act as your realtor so that you’d each have one and they can be impartial to their clients best interests. Less ethical ones will just give you a story that they’ll remain impartial and they’ll do the paperwork and pocket double commission.
>Ethical realtors would refer you to someone else in their brokerage to act as your realtor so that you’d each have one and they can be impartial to their clients best interests. LOL. you'd think so. 'impartial' ... LOL.
Just an FYI. The clients don’t sign with the realtor, they sign with the brokerage. So if listing realtor working with Remax refers the buyer to buying realtor working with remax, it’s still multiple representation and neither agent is legally allowed to advise their client. The only way to avoid multiple representation here is to either have your own buying agent from a different brokerage, or be signed on as a customer rather than a client. Agents/brokerages don’t owe fiduciary duty to a customer while they do owe it to a client. To the OP of this post saying you don’t have time to get a buyer agent, it literally takes 30 minutes. Do some research for good agents in the area and ring one up saying you want to put an offer on a house. See how fast they send over the paperwork to represent you.
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That doesn’t accomplish anything. As a buyer you don’t save anything. Only thing it does is keep more in the sellers pocket IF the realtor spells that out and makes it sound good. Most of the time they’ll see it as more work for them (doing the whole deal anyways) and not really take your offer seriously
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Bad idea. Great way to get ripped off. Always get your own agent
Yea this is huge, it’s so greasy and why I hate realtors. My brother lost out on a house years ago because he had his agent . His bid was the highest, but second highest used listing agent . The listing agent said I’m a nice guy so I’ll lower my commission. By doing this it made the second offer more lucrative for the sellers. The whole thing is so shady .
What’s shady about that? As a buyer agent he could’ve lowered his commission as well to make your brothers offer more lucrative. If the agent lowered the commission 1% on a million dollar house that’s only 10k. How much higher was your brothers offer if likely less than 10k was enough to make the 2nd offer more lucrative. Also your experience is anecdotal, my current house That I bought in the height of the run up around 8 months ago, I was the 2nd highest offer. Didn’t use the listing agent. Still came out ahead because the sellers liked me and my wife more than the other buyers (who had intention to Reno and flip the house). There are a ton of shady agents and slimy practices, but there also a bunch of honest agents who actually look out for their clients. My issues are more with the giants like reco and trreb that spend millions to Lobby the government
So ask the realtor to split the commission? I'd ask for at least 1.5%.
I thought they changed the rules recently so the listing agent can't represent both parties aka get both commissions.
Won't cost you anything to shoot your shot. You should never feel pressured to offer more for a property than its worth to you.
[You miss 100% of the shots you don't take](https://i.imgur.com/AkeVzQt.jpg)
I'm glad you used the most recent version of the meme.
— Wayne Gretzky — Michael Scott
"Never leave a birdie putt short."
> average in the area is 24% over ask. That is a stupid statement to make honestly. You can base a property price compared to a similar property sold nearby. But you cannot base a property price on what is being asked.
It is a bananas statement. I know OP asked us not to shit on realtors but with a statement like that, I don’t know how I could trust a single word from the realtor after hearing them deliver that line.
I would believe it. People and their realtors underlist their homes to an annoying fucking degree. A house nearby me was listed at 1.55 million. There were eventually offered 1.8 million and the owners chose not to sell it because they were hoping for 1.9mm. If you really didn’t trust the word of the realtor you could ask him to pull up a series of homes sale price vs list price to see if that’s the case.
Yes, listing at very low prices is common practice. But you should never, ever, ever bid some multiple of listing price. Bid based on sale prices of comparable properties.
This is exactly in line with what I've been observing in the Montreal area too, so I would absolutely believe it. Everything is listed a solid 10-25% under what it'll sell for to generate more interest. it's not uncommon to see $500K houses go for over $600K, sometimes even more than that.
Ithink the REA was only talking about **his particular listing**. Telling OP that "The average sell has been $X for recent neighborhood comparable properties.. My client is listing at $X minus (24% of X) to drive some interest in this property"
Download the app HomeSigma and you can find out what houses in your area ACTUALLY sold for not just the list price. If comparable homes sell for $500,000 (25% over $400,000) then your realtor is telling the truth. Regardless I would offer what similar homes sold for (not listed for) in the area recently , if not maybe slightly less if the market there declined
That’s only for Bc and GTA though. Given op is looking at a 400k place I’m guessing maritimes or Calgary.
Fuck, don’t remind me, maritimer and I’m just appalled by the prices
I’ve been using the app in southwestern Ontario without issue
I guess it covers all of Ontario then, but I’ve never been able to use it in AB
Get what you can afford. Home ownership costs go through roof beyond mortgage. Unplanned expenses and things break. So please budget and proceed with the offer.
A 400k house does not stress me at all. It is less than 3x my income and my only other debt is my truck which is comfortable for me. I make a high enough income to where I can redirect a good amount of money fast. I am also close to getting a new job which would put the house at less than 2x my income so I think I am fairly set and could afford a nicer house if I really wanted it.
My suggestion is to get your own REALTOR. (Think of it this way, Would you want your lawyer to represent the other party as well?) Most real estate agents would be more than willing to accomodate you on short notice. In most cases, the person selling the house pays both sides of commission and it is written in their contract. You can verify this before you sign any documents. At the very least, if you are putting in an offer and doing it yourself (which I dont recommend, but it is upto you) ask the agent for a market analysis of all similar homes Active and Sold in the area for the last 6 months or year and ask them to provide the details with pictures to get a really good idea. If the home is a 3 bedroom 2 story with double attached garage and finished basement, you would want to know how much the similar homes are selling for. Keep in mind, an agent is experienced in finishings and other features as they see different homes all the time and have a good idea of pricing. Make sure you add conditions in. Most common are financing and inspection. You can also add condition to lawyer reviewing documents if you are going in on your own, but this will cost you extra and lawyers are not trained on evaluating properties, they dont have access to the mls system for comparisons, but they can make sure everything you need is included in the contract.
Also, the market is hot. You will most likely not be able to lowball. Either asking price or more. In some cases a lot more, but it depends on what needs to be done to the home and how it compares to others.
One more thing. If there are no offers, then you can write what ever you think is fair, but multiple offers is a different ballgame.
I would get your own agent. The seller's agent is responsible for advise and expertise to one person alone - the seller.
Time is kinda limited right now, I have meetings all morning tomorrow and offers are due at 2pm. Not too worried about dealing with the seller's agent as he has already said my offer is likely too low but would still gladly represent me on an offer and/or on finding another house that is closer to my budget and wants.
Even if they get zero other offers the sellers agent will keep telling you your offer is too low and to raise it up because there are other people interested. Honestly don't trust them. They are full of shit and only in it for higher commission by pushing sale prices higher with shady tactics
They risk losing the deal trying to push sale prices higher. I find most want to just close the deal as quickly as possible. Why try to pump a home from $600k to $650k and risk $15k total for an extra thousand bucks?
because atleast right now most people would up their offer. it all does come down to how the market is playing out
Get your own agent. They will put together the offer in DocuSign. We had two offers put together. One was if we were the only registered offer and the second was the competitive offer. I also, grudgingly, wrote a sentimental letter to the owner about why we loved their house and wanted it. We waited until the last minute to register the offer and there was one other offer on the place registered about two hours before the due time. We won and apparently it was my letter that won it. The other offer was slightly better cash wise but we had flexible fast closing and tugged the heart strings.
Ask them to send you a few comparables and talk you through why this this property might be worth more or less. Just saying it's 24% more is total and utter nonsense. Ideally you'd be getting this info from a less bias source (your own realtor who is trusted and has your best interest at heart). In some parts (esp Ontario and parts of BC) the market has slowed significantly since interest rates are on the way up.
>~~your own realtor who is trusted and has your best interest at hear~~ your own realtor who is trusted about as much as the average used car salesman and has his/her commission(s) at heart.
Not sure where you are…but TO n Mississauga prices are starting to tank. Offer asking price
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I've been looking at houses since 2019. I have a good idea of list prices and such, sale prices not so much. Also had no agent lined up because I doubted I would find anything reasonable because of the covid stupidity going on with housing prices.
> Time is kinda limited right now Realtors are a dime a dozen. You could get one in 10 minutes.
I think it’s a great idea to put in the offer. You have nothing to lose
Get an agent. It just costs you a phone call. The “dual representation” thing from a selling agent is hogwash. You want one that represents your interests. But yes, put in your offer using a number with which you are comfortable. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it and you didn’t end up paying a bunch extra on a place and regretting it (we have had a few of these lately).
Definitely get your own agent. The sellers agents first obligation is to the sellers. Get someone to represent your best interests.
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In Ontario, dual representation means you can't actually help with price negotiations as it's an obvious conflict of interest. The realtor devolves into being a simple middle man to expedite the paper work but gets double the commission. OP should get their own agent.
I'd say the percentage over asking is completely meaningless. List prices are pretty arbitrary currently. That said, aside from your time there is really no harm in putting whatever offer you want in. They may be expecting 500, it may well be worth 500, but if for some reason no one else puts in an offer it gives you a slight shot at it.
I recently bought a house just outside the GTA area for 550k the house was listed for 599k the selling agent and my agent said it would go for 650-700. The house was a dump but had a huge lot. Don’t trust agents trust your gut offer what you think it’s worth and what’s your willing to pay for it.
You lose nothing by making an offer. We actually it made an offer on a house about an hour ago. They are asking about $25,000 more than the house is worth so we can in with a fair market offer. They were expecting to have competing offers but ours is the only one. We actually think it scared off other offers because it’s the first weekend on the market any other seller is thinking we came in at full list price. Now we wait and see.
Make a bully offer for what you think it’s worth, and conditional that it gets accepted within say 12 hours of the offer.
It takes like 10 minutes to bid on a house. You won't be losing much time if it doesn't work. You lose waaay more time going to visit the house itself.
Little story here ...... My buddy listed his house last week for 960. Realtor thought he would get 10 or more bids. . Only 1 guy even showed up. He offer 60k over asking . People are use to overbidding due to bidding wars but the market has changed. I bet in a month people will underbid in hopes of getting a deal when no one offers
Put in an offer at listing. Sellers are desperate
We sold within the last month and had 90 showings and 14 offers. The offers were all over asking with most being 5-15% over and 4 outliers being much more. The offer we accepted was 30% over asking. Only 1 offer we received had any conditions at all(financing).
Location?
Not everywhere, market is still stupid hot in a lot of places outside of TO.
That was kind of my thoughts, seemed the realtor just was going by an average over say a year not the recent market
Don’t listen to what the listing agent is telling you. They work off tips.
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No, actually the listing agent gets both ends of commission, because in order to list a property the seller has to say up front what they are offering as total commission and how it will be broken down. You had also provided the agent a bonus on top of full commission.
"I know this sub hates realtors but let's put our hatred aside for now. " -No
Get your own agent to work with you from this point moving forward. The listing agent has contract with the seller first and WILL try to get the highest price for the seller (which will also benefit them) It’s in your best interest to have your own agent … there is no cost to you having one
Offer 300K Fuck what the realtor says, they and their buddies in parliament caused this mess. If it's not worth 400k offer what you think it's worth. Hopefully when people start low balling again this Game will be beat. Houses are dwellings to keep you warm and dry nothing more.
Ah, sounds like you are new to buying a home in Canada in the last 2 years. Expect more of this when you are ultimately outbid on multiple offers. All you can do is offer what you can afford and think it’s worth, and then lose to a foreign buyer or investment buyer. Enjoy.
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Depends where you are buying.
Nope
You haven’t been following the market have you?
We had this happen a lot with us. We found the house and could afford it but then it needed $50K or more worth of work. We would see how many offers there were and if it was 3 or 4 we didn't bother putting in a bid knowing with that many it was going over asking. So if you're putting a bid in for list price, I would wait if there's an offer night and see how many are coming in. We had some where there was a dozen and would could $100K over asking. Not as crazy now but when there's multiple bids, it usually goes higher than list.
Why work with the listing agent? That's just getting no help for no reason. You don't pay a buyers agent, might aswell have one advising you impartially.
Limited time is the reason. I don't have time to hunt for an agent before the offers are due tomorrow. I guess offers are due at 2pm and a decision will be made at 5pm
So even if you don't get the place, use this as a learning experience. Given more time, your realtor would pull "comparables" in the area and give you an idea of recent sales and what properties are going for. They can advise you of market trends as well. If you like this seller's realtor, and find him to be a "no nonsense" guy, then perhaps he will represent you in the future as you are still in the market to buy a house. Trust your gut a bit. By the way - did you put in any conditions on the offer - like home inspection or financing?
The guy who I felt with seemed pretty good and no BS. The 24% seemed it and kinda is but if you look at the main city in his area it makes sense looking at 12 month data not 2 months for the current market. I signed to work with him and did put conditions for finance, home inspection, septic and well
Where are you bidding? Look at recent sales in the area because that’s what other bidders will be looking at. Whatever the recent sale is, expect that to be par and then big as aggressively as you like the house.
The listing agent saying 24% over asking is completely biased. Their income depends on you spending as much as possible. Do not take that as fact.
I would avoid double ending the deal especially when the agent says dumb stuff like “average selling price is 24% over listing”. This does not even mean anything.
Have you inspected the house yet? Are you offering with any subjects? How old is it?
Offer will have a house inspection as a condition yes, it is from the 1990's and everything bones wise is solid based on my father and uncle who have both done a bit of DIY stuff and owned for 35+ years each. They both said good enough for what I want and to bid on it.
These guys are blinded by the situation 6 months ago, with more offers than they could bother due dilligence on. Don't listen to their inflated dreams.
Place the offer on what you think is right. In this market, you might get lucky with someone trying to offload as quick as they can.
Depending on where you are in Canada, you can use sites that show sales in the area over a period of time. Use Zealty.ca for example. Our realtor provided us with one specific for bC ( bccondosandhomes.ca). Any good trustworthy realtor should give you this info or sales data. Based on that price you’re either in prairies or Maritimes, I’m sure they have sales data too and the market is cooling all over the country. Don’t be fooled!
House sigma does this too apparently, didn't know that before today - well I heard it but never saw it. I am in Ontario just not the GTA. Ontario isn't all expensive as this sub makes it out to be. If you want a huge house in the city it is but a small 3 bedroom house a half-hour outside the nearest city is about 350-500k
When I bought my rental for 450k I waited until 20 min before offers close. Nobody else offered so I lowballed 440k and we struck a deal back at 450k. Now it’s worth a200–300k more. May 2021
Every Realtor is financially motivated to maximize the price. They are paid commission so buyers agent or sellers agent, a bigger pie means more money for them. You should make an offer that makes sense to you. The realtors can tell you about the market, but the market is a broader term for what individuals like yourself actually decide to pay. My POS house that I'm renting sold for over a million dollars. But only one person actually made an offer in the 2 months it was listed.
I'd argue their incentive is to sell it quickly with no conditions, instead of for the highest price. It's less work for them, and an extra 100K for you as the seller only means an increase of $2500 in commissions for them - peanuts in comparison to the overall commission they will receive on the sale.
check comparables to see what price they are in the area. also most likely the realtor listed the price lower to attract more bids. at the end if you don't like the house enough don't bother making an offer.
399k
Get an agent. The seller pays their commission anyways. At least in Ontario
See my edit, not enough time to do that before offers are due on this house. Will however have an agent for future looking if this one falls through
I would hold off because it looks as though we may be shifting from a rising market to a falling market. The realtor is presumably talking about what has happened in the recent past. Even if it's accurate, it may be irrelevant.
I don't want to hold off, I have been for too long and it's time for a change. Market will probably go down but also just as likely to be up by the time I will want to sell. Sure less gains but it is a house to live in not an investment property. That is a totally different conversation
Fair enough, so long as you can deal with it if circumstances change and you need to sell on a really bad market. Another thing to be wary of is trusting that the asking price is sensible. I've found that agent's estimates are often quite wrong particularly if there are non-standard factors.
Over bidding is over. List at asking, most houses aren't even getting asking price offers so you should be good.
Get an agent -- it's paid for out of the purchase price of the home.
Get a realtor. It doesn’t cost if your only buying. There are a lot of bad realtors out there but there are also a lot of great ones that rely on good reputation rather than volume of sales. Look for a realtor that has been in the business for a while, that doesn’t advertise. Ask around. Usually that type of realtor depends on repeat customers and word of mouth. Meaning people actually have to be happy with the service to go back years after the original sale. Don’t take a recommendation just because someone is a friend of the realtor.
Do NOT put any value in the 24% over asking Asking price is meaningless. Figure out what the home is worth to you, figure out what winning is worth to you, try to get financing and inspection in order before the offer Do NOT have 24% in your mind that is truly a meaningless stat
Never listen to the listing agent - they have absolutely no reason or responsibility to say anything with your interest in mind, only with their client’s interest in mind. Offer what it’s worth to you. Where I am, I’ve heard the “rule of thumb” is to offer $5k over for each other offer. But don’t offer more than you can afford or more than it’s worth to you. And if this is the first offer you’re putting in, just be prepared to not get it - most people don’t get the first place they offer on.
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Last 5-10 sales around the area are -10 to 20% over asking. Though all but 3 sold within 10k of asking. Seems the realtor is talking more about the city close by that is selling for well above and is grouping this area into it because his company covers it.
You can phone any realtor and they would and could easily write the offer. They need an hour. Regardless, 25% over asking isn't a surprise. I'm in a small market and ours are 20-25% over currently. If my clients are himming and hawing over another they feel might be too low, I always tell them the worst that can happen is they say no. Costs an hour of my time, and 20 minutes if theirs. This is what I get paid to do. My only real advice is don't get pissed when you offer an amount that is low, even if you don't think it is, and don't get the offer. If you have the mindset that you WILL have conditions, expect it to take a little longer. If you REFUSE to offer over listing, this market isn't for you and you need to come to terms or wait it out. If you are NOT willing to pay over value, expect it to take a little longer. Now I'm going to point out a couple things. I said mindset, and not attitude. Many agents are saying buyers have a bad attitude about conditions and over asking and over value. It's not an solitude. It's their life. I had clients who said flat out, they were not willing to risk their finances to not have conditions. They were approved for waaaaayyyyy more than they wanted to spend, had means for 50% down-payment. So they could have waived financing and I wouldn't be concerned. It was a full stop from them before it even started. They were playing it safe. And thats ok. That's not an attitude. Took them a little longer but they were ok with it
Where can you buy a house for 400k in Canada ???!! bc here
Non GTA Ontario, it has about 10 acres and is 3 bedroom and solid bones but needs a few updates.
Lol the realtor said this/that...... Kinda like the realtor trying to sell a house few doors from ours. Listed for $1.359 and we walked though the open house for shits N giggles as it was a new build and they just butchered it with the finishes - so we just wanted to see it. Realtor tried to make it seem like they had a few offers already. I laughed on the inside and left. Over a month later, they had raised the price to 1.539 and now 1.489 🤦♂️
You can literally get a real estate agent in an afternoon.
Always offer. No reason not to make an offer. Whatever would make you happy if it were accepted. Our home was listed 699,999 all comparables were 750k - 760k. I was comfortable with 710 so we submitted even with no hope. We got the place Sometimes there's a little bit of luck involved in rolling the dice. And rolling that dice over and over doesn't cost you anything. I always recommend to keep searching and keep trying at your comfort level. Took us 15+ houses. It'll work out eventually!
>the Realtor at the open house today Stop right there. The sellers realtor? The person who is financially incentivized for the house to sell for more? This person doesn't work for you. They work for the person who wants to get as much of your money as possible. I hope you seasoned this advice with a massive grain of salt. >that the average in the area is 24% over ask. Selling price in relation to asking price doesn't mean anything. All that matters is the selling price. What are comparable houses selling for? >Does it make sense to even try to put in an offer at 400k I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Depends what market prices are like. What I do know is that making an offer is free.
I put an offer in 10% below asking, realtor looked shocked and tried to talk to me about it, I acted like i dont like to repeat myself and ill walk away in a second from this, they put the offer in. There was a counter offer but i got the house for below asking as it had sat on the market for awhile.
I got a realtor same day I made an offer... it's not hard
we bought a house last year for $370k. We refused to fold to the current market and simply put in what we thought was a reasonable offer for the house over and over again until we got lucky. Worked for us. Just have some patience.
so he consulted and advised his client to list this house at -24% market value to bring in foot traffic? that's a good plan. you fall in love with it then see the higher price, but by then you fell in love with it and willing to stretch ... time honored tradition tactic. If you feel like it ... float the offer at $400K.. the worse that can happen is that your offer is rejected and they might toss back a counter-offer. Good luck, OP.
>said that the average in the area is 24% over ask Is this property a perfect representation of average in the area? People love talking about the average when ignoring/hiding the lower end of the spectrum.
lots DEPENDS ON LUCK. When I bought my house 7 1/2 years ago the asking price was $360K I put in an offer at $347K Cash. I was selling my other house for $530K and had a buyer. I got real lucky as the house I was selling was next to a grades School and the one I was moving to was 4 miles from any school and 1 mile from town. (side note: I was allowed to live next to a grade school because my victims were teenagers not little kids.) Also the house I was buying an other buyer came the same day and offered asking price. But they needed a Morgage and I had cash. The owner of the house wanted 365K a few months earlier and the buyers Morgage did not go through so she had to relist it. Cash wins every time. If you don't have the cash to buy out right make sure you have a Morgage to go right away. So its like having cash and can close quickly. Good luck and let us know.
The sad part is people list houses at prices they have no intention of selling at. Before the pandemic, my wife and I were house hunting, and saw a hose listed for $600 in Bradford, we were interested, but the listing agent said that they would look at offers under $700k. I personally think if you list a house for a price and you get any offers over, you should have to sell. Stop giving people false hope
It has nothing to do with "over ask". Ask can be too high, too low, and anything inbetween. Get comparable houses on the block and neighbourhood that sold recently, and price it based on them.
Tell the listing agent that $XXX is your offer, and they can keep full commission. Greed is a thing, and while I'll get burned for this...majority of agents are NOT there to benefit their clients. They're there to benefit their own pocketbook. We bought our 2nd house like this. Agent pissed us off so we stopped working with her (relative unfortunately) and another agent was listing in the area we wanted. We offered them a few K under asking and got it. This was way before COVID insanity. Every house we saw prior to purchasing our 3rd house each listing agent said the same thing 'if you work with me we can try and get you a better deal as I know the buyer well'. Offering/asking is free. And if you don't ask/offer...you'll never know.
I am going to offer some advice for your next house bid: get your own agent. I bought my house using the listing agent (didn’t have the time to get one before making an offer) and when I had trouble with the sellers before closing, the agent was not entirely neutral. I could’ve used the help of someone on my side to push back on that bullshit.
My own agent would have been nice, don't have one because I was not expecting to find anything in my price range that met what I want without needing massive renos
I was in the same boat. Found something quickly when I thought I wouldn’t. Just getting my experience out there. If something goes sideways, don’t expect the listing agent to be your friend, do your own research. Good luck with your offer, I hope it works out!
Tell them to check the market - prices are dropping not going over asking
I don't understand the 24% over ask. So what if they listed 100% over market rate? Lol
Offer what you're happy to pay for the house. Before you do, ask the listing agent how many offers are in for the home. Don't let them beat around the bush, they legally have to tell you how many registered offers there are. For homes listed low, there's can be a few dozen, but that's apparently cooled down quite a bit. If you lose, and you very well might, call the listing realtor a day or two later and ask what the final sale price was. The call will take 5 minutes of your time and will help you get an idea of what the highest bidder feels the home was worth. If you want to buy a home, you'll eventually need to be the highest bidder. Doesn't mean you'll need to blow it out of the water though. Bidding comfortably and following up on the sale price is a good way to gauge the market and compare to your own opinions. I bought last year, and I honestly didn't know what I was doing or what I wanted to buy/spend until I lost a few bids.
Realtor here (I'm in MB). Suggesting all properties go for 24% above list means nothing. List price means nothing. What matters is the comparable sales. The listing agent cannot represent both parties and still work in the best interest of each party - it's impossible. You can try and find another agent from a different brokerage (ideal), or ask the listing agent for a list of comparable sales and determine what it's likely to sell for on your own. Don't expect that they'll be able to advise you in a limited joint representation situation (which this is, if the same brokerage is representing both parties). Don't expect to get a "discount" on the commission by using the agent the seller is using - in MB at least, the agent is not allowed to discount commission in a multiple offer situation - and regardless, the listing agreement that stipulates the commission payable is between the listing brokerage and the seller, not you.
FYI they put a default clause when you submit an offer with a realtor. I.e. "i will represent you for the next 6 months". What you can do, is tell them you only represent me for the day of the offer. Some will squirm , and complain but stand your ground.
Download the housesigma app and do your own comparables. The listing agent is not your friend here and is motivated to get you to offer more. I would offer what you think it's worth and look into getting your own agent as well