OP. Thanks for the info.
The 'agent' is the owner of a 2-person company and she won't respond to my phone calls.

Posted by: oblinax at October 24, 2007 12:55 PM in response to accepted offer

So i'm right?! This IS as evil as it feels. Has this happened to anyone else...and how do you prevent it in the future?

Posted by: oblinax at October 24, 2007 1:14 PM in response to accepted offer

"The only way to protect yourself is to try and move into contract as soon as possible, I'm afraid".
I guess that's my problem with it--i was never given a chance to move into contract. Only a week was spent between 1st open house, our accepted offer, inspection, our asking for contracts.

I believe the broker should have never called our offer 'accepted'. Broker should have said: 'you made a decent offer, but we will continue to accept bids. You are in the running. We will decide later" THEN we wouldn't have wasted money on an inspection.

Posted by: oblinax at October 24, 2007 1:57 PM in response to accepted offer

I don't think the seller could do much anyways. The house looks barely lived-in and perhaps not even inhabited anymore. I think it's an elderly owner.

Posted by: oblinax at October 24, 2007 6:05 PM in response to accepted offer

And...'the real estate game' as far as i've experienced it is all about pitting bidders against each other.
Again i say--take all the bids you want, make people outbid each other, fine. Just don't tell someone to come in and inspect the place til the bidding war is actually over.

Posted by: oblinax at October 24, 2007 6:09 PM in response to accepted offer

It was a visual inspection. Felt like the 2nd level of a home inspection, yet this time was more focused on structure. He prepared no safety plan, documents. It was just a list of problems and necessary repairs, no info on how to accomplish them.
The engineer had no recommendations on companies to fix the issue.

Does this all seem weird?

Posted by: oblinax at February 11, 2008 1:17 PM in response to Fixing foundation slope

Here's a super quick rundown from the web:
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemical compounds that have high enough vapor pressures under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere.

Paints and finishes release low level toxic emissions into the air for years after application. The source of these toxins is a variety of VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds) which, until recently, were essential to the performance of the paint.

New environmental regulations, and consumer demand, have led to the development of low-VOC and zero-VOC paints and finishes. Most paint manufacturers now produce one or more non-VOC variety of paint.

Posted by: oblinax at March 31, 2008 5:27 PM in response to Low/No VOC paint

I saw the previous day's posting on Movers Not Shakers. I had the exact same problem with the head guy--grumbling about the tip 'this is not enough. we get 20%, like a restaurant'.
I always thought the amount of a tip was based on good service? Frankly their slowness, angry behavior ('there are too many boxes here!'...uh, it's a MOVE) and refusal to move larger items up the stairs i feel deemed them the tip we gave them.

After a day of frustration with these people it felt frighteningly aggressive to have them not LEAVE and wait in the truck until more money was brought out to them.

It was the worst move i've ever experienced.

Posted by: oblinax at August 29, 2008 2:04 PM in response to Ballpark cost for move & tipping movers?

What about front porches? Not screened in porches...but the kinds in WT, south slope, Ditmas Park that are pushed back off the main street, without a fence surrounding them and still in public view?
It's private property, but it is in plain view

Posted by: oblinax at August 29, 2008 2:17 PM in response to Is Your Stoop Private Property?

I wouldn't want to work this a broker like this. Sorry to hear of your trouble. Please give us the name to save others from the hassles and the expense.

Posted by: guest at October 24, 2007 2:36 PM in response to accepted offer

yes please out the company at least - trust they wont do it again....

Posted by: guest at October 24, 2007 4:29 PM in response to accepted offer

No way the OP is going to out the Broker, not while they still have hope for getting the place or recovering their cash outlay.

Posted by: guest at October 24, 2007 5:15 PM in response to accepted offer

I would strongly advise against 2:15's advice. Do not contact the seller directly, that would be in poor form.

Posted by: guest at October 24, 2007 5:45 PM in response to accepted offer

As much as it's a shitty thing to do, it's totally legal and as you can see, happens all the time. Why out the broker? They are doing their job: getting the best and highest offer for their seller. They could've handled it better, by taking your calls to start, or letting you put in a higher offer, but that's the real estate game. You don't have the house until you close. A signed contract is binding, but deals fall apart even then.

That being said, everything happens for a reason. You'll find something better. You'll see.

Posted by: rh at October 24, 2007 6:04 PM in response to accepted offer

I don't think the seller could do much anyways. The house looks barely lived-in and perhaps not even inhabited anymore. I think it's an elderly owner.

Posted by: oblinax at October 24, 2007 6:05 PM in response to accepted offer

And...'the real estate game' as far as i've experienced it is all about pitting bidders against each other.
Again i say--take all the bids you want, make people outbid each other, fine. Just don't tell someone to come in and inspect the place til the bidding war is actually over.

Posted by: oblinax at October 24, 2007 6:09 PM in response to accepted offer

I disagree with rh. If broker tells buyer the offer is accepted, broker's ethics and the value of his/her word are on the line. As discussed many times here, many believe it is ok to keep showing the property as a back up following an accepted offer because, for a variety of reasons, deals do not always go to contract, and I have been shown properties on that basis. Brokers advised me at the showing that there was an accepted offer.

If the buyer is steadily moving towards contract, which OP appears to have done, then there is no ethical ground for rescinding the acceptance. If seller thinks can do better, he shouldn't accept the offer, and broker should be clear in advance with his/her client that that's what an accepted offer means. Buyer has now spent money (inspection) based upon the understanding that the offer was accepted. What OP describes here is not good faith on teh seller's or broker's part.

Posted by: slopefarm at October 25, 2007 4:19 PM in response to accepted offer

Actually, I think I ended up agreeing more than disagreeing with rh in my last post, as I read rh again, but just a bit more emphasis on the ethics. Sorry, rh.

Posted by: slopefarm at October 25, 2007 4:30 PM in response to accepted offer

Ethics are nice, but if there is nothing to back them up, they are often ignored. And while it is usually clear when a buyer is moving quickly to get an inspection and get into contract, sometimes the buyer thinks they are moving and the seller thinks they are not, or convinces self they are not when higher offer comes in. Sometimes buyers' attorney is screwing their client by clearly not moving at the normal speed to contract, and the buyer is unaware of this. Or buyer's attorney is trying, but board member of coop isn't returning that attorney's calls, because seller has accepted a higher offer and just hasn't told the first buyer until the second buyer signs a contract.

The only thing that would change this is if real estate sales were conducted as they are in most other places, where the offer is in the form of a contract binding on both buyer and seller, with contingencies to get out of it, and financial consequences for otherwise failing to proceed.

My sense is that we don't do this in NY because neither the buyers or sellers want to - they both gain the ability to change their minds for any reason from having the accepted offer be just a non-binding verbal agreement for the 2-3 weeks it usually takes to get into contract. Though it arguably serves the seller more.

And then, it probably serves the brokers the most. I've often noted how much easier their jobs are here - they don't have to draw up, present, and get contracts signed the way they do in other places - they just pass information around verbally (and now via email) on offers.

Posted by: guest at October 25, 2007 4:39 PM in response to accepted offer