Over the
weekend, I wrote my 27th failed offer of 2014.
That, in a
word, is unbelievable. But it’s
consistent with the great Denver Real Estate Rush of 2014, where record low
inventory and a seemingly limitless pool of buyers has made Denver real estate
the hottest thing going.
But this
story isn’t about the market. It’s about
agents. And arrogance. And reputations.
In
Kindergarten, most of us were taught the “golden rule”, which goes like this: Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Somewhere
along the line, over 30 or 40 or 50 years of living, most people forget this,
and trade it in for the contemporary rendition of the “golden rule”, which goes
like this: He who has the gold makes the rules.
I like the
first rule better than the second.
On Friday
afternoon, I showed a new listing in the Berkeley area of Denver (red hot) and,
of course, my clients liked it. Okay,
loved it. So early Friday evening, we
got together and wrote an offer.
Now what
that really means is that I spent an hour Friday showing them the house and
taking video… then two more hours researching history, pulling comps, and
writing a contract. Then I called the
agent (voicemail) and left a message asking if he had offers and if any kind of
deadline had been set for “highest and best” submittals.
Then I invested two more hours with my buyers Friday night (skipping yet another meal with my family and foregoing all
other plans) driving to their house, reviewing the history of the home,
formulating the offer and signing the contract documents.
Then I drove
back to my office and wrote a cover letter, got on the phone with the lender
and obtained a pre-approval letter.
Then, finally, at 9:30 Friday night, I emailed a complete, competitive
and thorough purchase offer off to the agent (with an escalator clause that
would take us up to $10,000 over the list price).
Saturday
morning at 8:30, I called to let him know we had submitted the offer. Voicemail.
I followed
that up with a text, asking him to confirm receipt of the offer. No response.
Two hours
later, I called again and left another message.
No response.
Two hours
later, I texted again, asking him to confirm receipt and asking him to let us
know if there was a time we could expect to hear something back. He replied back an hour later, simply, “Multiple
offers”.
I picked up
the phone and called again, wanting to explain the flexibility my clients had
with closing dates, the strong qualifications of my buyers, and the criteria
around the “escalator clause” we had included in our offer. Voicemail.
By this
time, it was pretty evident to me that this agent wasn’t interested in engaging
with us. As I said to my (financed)
clients on Friday night, while we had written a very strong offer, the fact
remains that “cash is king”, and if a similar cash offer was to show up, we
were probably not going to be successful.
At 2:30, I
took one last shot at reaching the elusive Mr. Multiple Offers. Nothing.
Finally, at
5 p.m., a text message flashed across my screen. “Under Contract”.
And there it
ended. Thanks, buddy.
Now,
submitting a well-written offer $10,000 over list price doesn’t automatically
guarantee my clients are going to get the house. It doesn’t even mean we are going to be
countered.
But whether
there were three offers, eight offers or 15 offers on this house, every single
agent blew off other commitments and invested significant time in an attempt to
deliver a good faith contract to this agent and his seller. Regardless of whether you are going to work
with us or not, pick up the phone (or send us a text) and acknowledge our
efforts, dude.
Here’s what
I know, based on 19 years in the business.
What goes around comes around.
This is not
the first time such a scenario has played out this year. In fact, it’s pretty common. There are lots of rude, arrogant, real estate
brokers out there who don’t value anyone’s time but their own. I can tell you many of their names.
When you
take the time to write an offer on one of my listings, whether I have three
offers or 30, I promise I am going to call and acknowledge your offer, and
thank you for your time, and find out if there are any mitigating factors or
other pieces of information that would be helpful for my seller to know when
considering the offer your have submitted.
I am also
going to be respectful of the fact that most agents who are actually working
skip meals, miss family engagements and have splintered social lives because of
the high urgency nature of this market.
No matter what the market looks like, there is still a place for
civility, respect and basic professional courtesy.
When the
market turns one day, and it will, all you will have is your reputation. And that reputation will sustain you, or sink
you. Agents have long memories, and one
day, the shoe will be on the other foot.
