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"Rich, how much will the seller take for the house? Well, taking the rest of the contract into consideration, the seller will more than likely accept the listing price." Frankly, what the heck else did you expect me to say?

Even though some agents ask that question, thats really not what they're after. There is usually a pause after I tell them the seller will accept the listing price. What they frequently say next is, "my client wants to make an offer, but I don't want to waste your time." I don't know about you, but for me, its never a waste of my time to review a written offer with my sellers. Thats my job.

At least be honest. It really is about wasting your time, having to write an embarrasingly low offer, isn't it? If you're working with a client who thinks they can grab some listing by offering 50 cents on a dollar, you probably are wasting your time. As a buyer's agent, you really need to ask yourself whether your client is a serious buyer.

Experienced agents know whether their buyer clients are serious, or just tire kickers. You would be surprised how many people fall asleep in front of the tv and wake up in the middle of the night to an infomercial. "Real estate riches for 50 cents on the dollar, or less." This is where many of them hook up with an unsuspecting agent to do their dirty, time wasting work.

If your buyer client is wasting your time, I'm sorry. If you have an offer, even a low one, send it over. I never consider it a waste of time to do my job.

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Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114

410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Annapolis MD Real Estate Specialist
Bowie MD Real Estate Specialist
Crofton MD Real Estate Specialist

©2009 - RichSellsHomes, All Rights Reserved
©iStock Photo - Licensed for Use

Submitting offers on bank owned properties gets a lot of bad press, and deservedly so. Clueless banks, horrible addenda, and of course the biggest and most often heard complaint, lack of responsiveness. Their decisions seem to move at glacial speed.

Offers lay for weeks before buyers finally get tired and just walk away, leaving all the work done by the agents on the table. Only to start over somewhere else.

I'm certainly not here in support of the banks, but I have to tell you I was pleasantly surprised recently.

Last Friday night, around 9 PM, I submitted three different offers to three different listing agents, representing three different banks, on three different foreclosure properties. My client wants to pick them all up by the end of the year. Of course, I prepped my investor/buyer to stick it out for the long haul because I didn't expect responses any time soon.

What a shock to receive counter-offers on all three properties yesterday. One decent counter-offer and two still in what I call the "clueless zone." We're still talking though, and based on their initial performance, the banks seem to be pretty responsive.

Can they actually finally be getting their act together?

Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114
410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Annapolis MD Real Estate Specialist
Bowie MD Real Estate Specialist
Crofton MD Real Estate Specialist

©2008 - RichSellsHomes, All Rights Reserved
©iStockPhoto - Licensed for Use