Seller's Broker Will not Respond to my Offer
I made an offer on an coop unit on Tuesday. I did not hear anything for three days. Then I heard from the seller’s broker on Friday that the seller was accepting Best and Final by the end of that day. Though they did not counter (weird?) or even acknowledge my first offer, I came…
I made an offer on an coop unit on Tuesday. I did not hear anything for three days. Then I heard from the seller’s broker on Friday that the seller was accepting Best and Final by the end of that day. Though they did not counter (weird?) or even acknowledge my first offer, I came up by a few thousand. I had my offer in by noon on Friday. It’s Saturday night, and I still have heard nothing. My offer–which was very very close to asking–was contingent upon the seller/broker canceling Sunday’s open house. The open house was posted yesterday morning and has not been taken down. I’m thinking the seller’s broker does not want to co-broke with my broker (who came to the first open house with us and made our first offer for us) and has not even told the seller about our very solid offer. The seller’s broker is not answering his cell or office phone. We have not gotten him on the phone since Wednesday. The rest has been email that we can tell he has read but does not respond to. If I find out the broker never gave the seller our offer, do I have any recourse? Is this at all normal? Any insight will help. Thanks.
So…my offer was accepted at 11:54 am, (six minutes before my noon deadline…just saying).
While I will always wonder if I really had to go to asking, I’m relieved to be through the first big hurdle.
I’m sure I’ll be posting more as I go into the process of selling my place, going into contract(s), and renovating. It’s going to be a long winter.
Thanks so much for all of your insights. I really appreciate it.
The management company would have the info. Even if they have renters, the maintenance would/should be being paid by shareholders.
The whole things sounds super annoying. They just listed it but aren’t in communication? They just listed it but broker is on vacation? Ugh
The sellers have not lived in the unit for at least 5 years. They have renters in there now, and I have no idea who they are (it’s a big complex). I can’t find the owners’ names through any traditional routes. Perhaps contacting the board is not a bad idea. Is the fact that a seller has not responded to my offers (one of them at asking after the open house) something the board should be aware of? To be honest, I’m not sure they would think it was their concern. Maybe I’m wrong.
Also, I got an email from the seller’s broker forwarded from my broker. It says that “there has been no movement in communication with the seller” and that my offer is still “the primary.” My broker wrote him back saying that the offer is off the table as on noon today.
I really want more space and to stay in my neighborhood, but I’m not willing to be jerked around like this.
Since you live in the building, do you know the owner by any chance?
All good advice. Thank you. I’m really grateful for this forum.
Good thought above, can you get to the owner directly through the board? Someone must have their contact info.
RRR, part of the problem seems to be that you are living in a 24 hour world and the broker isn’t. Even if have a blackberry and read things on the fly, they don’t let them sink in and still think in 1990 time. To top it off, they might sense your excitement and are trying to milk you for more. Chill out, your have no financial reason to be freaking out over this. If they get back to you, tell them your last offer expired with the open house and offer 10K less – after a week they will accept it. If you don’t hear back, you can move on with your life.
P.S. I just saw you said you did confirm the seller’s broker did not want to co-broke.
So in other words this broker is insisting that you make a huge financial and legal deal with no representation for yourself. NYC is truly the wild wild west. Whatever people think of having a broker as a buyer it’s insane some of these Brooklyn brokers are allowed to refuse to co-broke. I would hope they’d know they lose more money than they earn doing that. When we were shopping for a house I was so offended at being told by one these brokers at one house we saw they wouldn’t share a commission with my broker (who was selling our place and thus helping us buy) that I outright refused to set foot in any house repped by broker who wouldn’t co-broke. Wouldn’t even LOOK at them.
I would have your broker send out an email now, saying “Given the lack of responsiveness by [Seller’s Name] to my client’s offer, my client has decided to withdraw his offer. If and when [Seller’s Name] is prepared to negotiate, my client may reconsider making an offer.”
Don’t waste time with people who are not prepared to sell.
The deadline on any offer is never taken seriously. Any seller knows the offer will probably still be there for the taking a few days past that .