I have had a couple of offers where my homeowners went through the roof with a low ball offer.  The home was less than the average homes in the neighborhood and was in comparable condition with the other homes in the community.  In this case we wrote rejected on the contract.  The Buyers Agent called me "after" she received my rejected offer and said she was so embarrased to present the offer to me she couldn't even give me a courtesy call prior to the offer being delivered to me.  She informed me her clients just wanted to see if the seller was desperate.  They came back with a respectable offer.

Another occasion my homeowner counteroffered higher than the listing price, his reasoning was he felt the buyers were going to be a pain in his backside and he would need additional profit to cover his anxiety.

Living my bliss.

Joe

I don't know how well-seasoned I am, but I've rejected offers before, mostly for price. 20% less than asking price after 2 days on the market... yeah, I'm gonna say no. Or counter at full price, whichever the buyers' agent prefers. I had one tell me to reject an offer recently, because he - the buyers' agent - thought it might make his clients sit up and take notice better than a close-to-full price counter would. The offer itself wasn't great - 225K on a 250k house after three weeks - but what killed it was the home-sale contingency. It was his clients' first offer on any house, and he claimed to have tried to tell them they weren't going to get the house with the offer they were making - their own house wasn't even ready to go on the market yet - and he thought the outright rejection might make them realize they had things to take care of. Don't know what happened to them; we got another offer the next day, and took that instead. Like you, I've received my own share of rejections to the offers I've written, too. Don't take it personally; they're not rejecting you.

I never reject an offer. If it is too low then I tell my sellers it is a place to start.  Both sides want a good deal so our job is to encourage counter offers until we reach a happy medium. I have only once had an offer rejected. Actually, it was not responded to at all. After 2 days I called the agent and she said she doesn't tell her sellers to counter. Found out why later, she didn't wish to coop on that particular property. I had to go around her to her broker to submit the offer. No problems there.

I have rejected offers as well.  If they are ridiculously low it's a good way to send the message to the purchasers that we are not interested in dealing with them until they get serious.  Even after they come back with a reasonable one, the first offer often leaves such a bad feeling, the deal will fail.  Low, low offers are not smart as vendors often take it personally no matter what their agents tell them.  

I have had offers rejected.  If it's a multiple offer situation and the listing agents offer wins the game, then the listing agent often gets them to reject the offer just to prove they actually presented it.

Call me old fashioned...I present every offer to the seller, they decide.

Am I am reading this right? Are agents are rejecting offers without presenting them to the sellers?

Matt Smith

I'm with you Matt.  I present the offer even if I know the reaction is going to be HECK NO, are they crazy?

I always get them to counter instead of just saying no.  I tell them if you just say no period, then it closes the door to negotiate.  If you say no, but I will counter at this, then the door is still open to negotiate.  

I know there are agents out there that won't even present the offer to their seller, they take it upon themselves and reject it themselves....and anyone that does that, you are breaking the law!  If you think the offer is ridiculous, have your sellers counter back.  Some buyers do really want the houses, but they also want to see how "good" of a deal they can really get on it.  Eventually you may come to a meeting of the minds and agree upon a price, after all.....that's the goal, right?  If you slam the door and aren't even willing to counter back, then maybe you possibly lost a buyer for your home!

I recently had an wrote an offer and the agent wanted it faxed to him.

It was a low ball offer that my client insisted on placing but was open to negotiation.  The agent told me there were four things they could do:

1) Accept

2) Reject

3) Counter

4) IGNORE - he stated that they didn't have to respond at all.

Now, I knew the first 3, but I was completely stunned... Just ignore it? As a realtor, I think they owe me the courtesy of saying "Rejected"  then to completely ignore it.  

Any thoughts????

I'm pretty sure you can't just ignore...although we have agents here that do.  

All offers should be presented - I would HOPE they all are.  But I have asked for a signed rejection before if I think the offer won't be or hasn't been presented.  

If my client wants to reject, I let them.  It's their decision.  They often realize they are closing the door.  Sometimes that's what they want to do.  In fact, sometimes they want to SLAM it..that's what a rejection often implies.  They understand the ramifications of it but still wish to do so.  Again, it's their decision.  My first advice is to counter back full price, but in some instances they don't want to.  I think I have only rejected two in the last two years.  Both properties sold to someone else in the next week.  

Theoretically (at least in AZ) you can ignore an offer. The AZ contract has a date/time that the offer has to be responded to. If it's not, then the offer is automatically withdrawn. Personally I think that's kind of rude, but many do it. I always encourage clinets to counter any offer, but I can't make them do it.

Surely those that are saying "I have rejected offers" really mean that their clients have rejected offers....

Here in Georgia you can ignore an offer. I agree it is courteous to respond, but you don't have to -- no law demands an answer.

I always, always, always encourage my seller to counter. It's numbers!

All offers must be presented in SC, the agent should not reject the offer him/her self though you might tell the selling agent you don't think there is a chance in the world that your seller will accept it. You may counsel your client to accept, reject or counter, counter would obviously be best.

A low ball offer may be testing the market and the motivation of the seller. We had a lowball offer on day 2 on the market which my seller rejected, then nobody seemed to want the house for the next 90 days but we finally found someone at 10k over the original low ball, it turned out fine though it was a harrowing experience.

Just a question, do other states have what I call a "rejection with an invitation?"

In Texas, it's more officially called TAR Form 1926 or "Seller's Invitation To Buyer to Submit New Offer." It's very handy with multiple offers or lo-balls, not offensive and states your sellers response on one piece of paper. It gives an official form so the Seller can send a message to any buyer(s) exactly what the response is.

Politely, of course. :-)))