Caught realtor in a lie - do I just have to accept this as the standard?

[m32s]

My partner and I are first home buyers.

We put in an offer on a home on the higher end of the listed range. It was turned down as the agent told us he wouldn’t accept anything under $X (which was above the advertised asking price).

That same $x value kept popping up for the following week “Someone said they’ll pay $x” or “I know someone’s budget is $x”. So when he came back to us later saying someone had put in an offer, and the only counter he could accept was $x - the same value from earlier, we saw right through it.

We said if he provided us proof we’d happily counter, and he said he couldn’t. He had no obligation to I know, but we said “a simple screenshot of the email with all names redacted will be enough”. The follow up text from him was “it’s been sold”.

The sold listing has since been published and as we guessed, it’s a couple thousand under what he told us the offer was for.

Just sucks we missed out on a nice property due to this, and the vendor missed out on more money cause we absolutely would have countered.

Is this just what I have to expect. Should I just be countering regardless, if in a position to do so. Just sucks that when I’ve shared this with people their answer is “that’s realtors for you”.

EDIT:
Had some great advice and agree, we played games and got bit. And we additionally have no proof they lied as the other offer could have changed.

My question was less about losing the place (we already know what went wrong), and just interested in knowing what we can expect from realtors when they share offers. The common consensus is that we can’t trust those “other offers” and should just offer what we feel it to be worth. Thanks to all for the advice

 

[leahfeamw]

@m32s Don't over complicate it. Property offers are funny money, don't even think about other offers. Just make an offer that you are comfortable paying. You will never know if other offers truly exist or not.

 

[m32s]

@leahfeamw I think that's the way forward for sure. Thanks

 

[justanavragechristain]

@leahfeamw To add to this, conditions can change everything too. We bought a place in 2012 and we weren't the highest offer but we won it anyway, because we were unconditional in 14 days and the other party had a 14 day sunset clause conditional on sale of his property. The estate agent told us there was another offer, we stood our ground, and he didn't tell us any info about the other offer, but (small world) a friend of mine happened to meet the other buyer a few weeks later who told him he'd offered (15k more than we did) but had a sunset clause and the vendor couldn't wait (legal proceedings against the property, wasn't making her payments).

 

[lazvre]

@m32s We once put an offer on a house that didn't seem to have huge interest. Put the offer in Friday evening, was lower than they wanted for sure, let them run another open and then Saturday they said they are 'presenting the offers' to the owner Sunday night and if we wanted to make any changes to ensure we got the place do it before then. Sunday night comes around and a text saying the owner is deciding by 5pm tomorrow and I can still up my offer. Monday morning another text that was similar. It really pissed me off.

4pm Monday i pulled my offer and said after having these days to think about it we've decided against it. She then called me and said they were going to accept outs and there isn't any 'other offers now'.

We wanted the house, but it was bleeding obvious there was no other offer and the entire interaction pissed me off. That house never sold, ended up going back on the rental market. Agent literally undid her client a sale.

I think some agents reckon they are much better than they are and dont realise the shenanigans actually cost them cos houses sell themselves.

 

[rxqueen]

@lazvre Friends have made offers that they tell the agent will be withdrawn if any further opens occur.

Several times (before the current craziness) they had agents come back to them after another week of opens and would be all shocked pikachu when said friends would tell them the offer was now 50k less.

Of course, they never bought any of these in the end- I guess the agents could not face telling their clients that their back-up offer was that much lower now.

 

[barry]

@m32s Was your offer cash with no conditions?

 

[m32s]

@barry Original offer was cash with conditions, but we let him negotiate us out of those. We stayed insistent for a while on the subject to inspection but ultimately got to a stalemate

 

[bnnewsome013]

@m32s If you were willing to pay $X, you should have offered it. You didn't, so the owner went with the best offer they had on the table.

I'd never trust a REA if they said there was another offer, because it could be bs to get you to raise. But at the same time, if you intentionally go under what you think the place is worth, you can't be surprised when someone else swoops in to take it at a fair price.

 

[m32s]

@bnnewsome013 I think our problem was a lack of trust in the real estate from the get-go. Learning opportunity for us first home buyers. Being outbid is not surprising, my original point was the lying about the offer in the first place. But have had some good advice in this thread to just ignore and as you said, just offer what it's worth to us.

 

[bnnewsome013]

@m32s Yep, they'll say anything to close the deal. I had one guy say "look mate, the owner will never sell unless you jump up 25k", and then three days later it was "I reckon if you go just 3k I can close the deal."

It's unfortunate, but it's just the way it goes. I just try to ignore other buyers and figure out what the place is worth and go from there.

 

[mr12345]

@m32s You never trust a REA. The only way to buy a PPOR is to just offer what you think it's worth to you.

IPs are different, can wait around for a bargain for that and walk away without emotional attachments.

 

[helpme17]

@m32s Make the offer you want. The REA is obligated to give this to the owner.

Dont trust the REA telling you about other offers, or at least take with a big grain of salt

 

[johnaudrey]

@m32s Buying and selling property is stressful and the negotiation is a big part of that. I think your best option is always to put a best and final to the seller in writing. The real estate agent is obliged to pass that to the vendor. That wat, if you won then you know you were happy with the price and if you miss out you'll be happy you didn't pay above what it was worth to you.

 

[resjudicata]

@m32s Dob him in for underquoting on the disclosure statement, if you're in one of the states where that's illegal now.

 

[lejla]

@m32s Realtors are the scum of the earth. This is normal behaviour from them. Keep this in mind when you deal with them

 

[dumbfounded]

@lejla They are scum until they are getting the best price or trying to for your own house. Then they are our scum.

FYI I don't think they are scum at all. It's a job, its clear what their intent is. I'm not sure why people think they are there to help the buyer in any way at all. They are negotiating the best deal for the seller and so they should. It's exactly what you would expect if you were selling your place.

 

[resjudicata]

@dumbfounded Bingo, it's literally their job, and as shitty as their tactics are, we all know them.

 

[normand]

@dumbfounded Because people are dumb af and dont think for 2 seconds and put themselves in other peoples shoes.

 

[soft_angel]

@lejla I assume everything they say is a lie unless I can prove otherwise