Offer to purchase question

Gozado said:
I understand you're busy. Good that your wife will do something. I hope that the person she'll be phoning is the seller, not the agent.

In the spirit of many people learning from your process:




I wonder whether there is any law or contractual clause which binds the buyer and the seller to communicate through the agent only.
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I very much doubt there is a law.. there may be some contractual clauses, but I doubt that they would be enforceable.
 
ToxicBunny said:
I very much doubt there is a law.. there may be some contractual clauses, but I doubt that they would be enforceable.
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There would only be contractual clauses if you as the seller signed an actual contract with an agent? And that would probably only ever happen in the case of a sole mandate.
 
pinball wizard said:
There would only be contractual clauses if you as the seller signed an actual contract with an agent? And that would probably only ever happen in the case of a sole mandate.
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Might exist in the OTP itself is where I'm thinking they would possibly exist for the buyer... but like I said, I doubt they would be enforceable.. even if they lived in the mandate contract (be it sole or not)
 
Quick update.

Agent phoned me directly after wife phoned him.

* Owners know since last night we made an offer.
* He has dropped the OTP with them now to read through while he takes all the new people through the property for viewings this afternoon.
* He has told all the people viewing tonight that an offer has been made. 1 guy cancelled his viewing after that.
* He will sit with owners tonight after the viewings and get back to me ASAP.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Then the buyer in this instance is more than within their rights to communicate directly with the seller.
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Thank you. And I can see no reason, at all, why they would not. Maybe I have a blind spot, but I just don't understand why any buyer or seller would wait for the agent to choose how the agent will dribble the information. Unless they don't want to be involved and are happy to just lean back an see whether they'll get the property, somehow, some day.
 
Gozado said:
Thank you. And I can see no reason, at all, why they would not. Maybe I have a blind spot, but I just don't understand why any buyer or seller would wait for the agent to choose how the agent will dribble the information. Unless they don't want to be involved and are happy to just lean back an see whether they'll get the property, somehow, some day.
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Usually it's the seller who doesn't want to deal direct with the buyer. I think it's a psychological thing. The get attached to their house, no matter what the reason for selling. They know and to a degree trust the agent, whereas the buyer is taking their baby.

Also, with that in mind, the agent should know their seller well enough to sell them on the offer. Remember, no matter what the amount is, the seller always thinks their precious baby is worth more. Very often an agent needs to close the deal on the seller.

(Full disclosure, I was an agent for a heartbeat a lifetime ago)
 
Gozado said:
Thank you. And I can see no reason, at all, why they would not. Maybe I have a blind spot, but I just don't understand why any buyer or seller would wait for the agent to choose how the agent will dribble the information. Unless they don't want to be involved and are happy to just lean back an see whether they'll get the property, somehow, some day.
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Some people just aren't that straight forward to be honest.

And in our case it is because we are not sure if we are crossing a line in doing so.
Exactly why I asked much earlier in this thread if it is even fair game to straight up discuss price with the sellers while busy viewing the property. We honestly did not know if it is the right thing to do and if it will upset the sellers/agent. Think every situation needs to be summed up on its own.

EDIT: As @pinball wizard says as well... Some sellers, even buyers, will prefer the agent handle everything.
 
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pinball wizard said:
There would only be contractual clauses if you as the seller signed an actual contract with an agent? And that would probably only ever happen in the case of a sole mandate.
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Yup, signing a sole mandate it stated that if they have an offer for my asking price, and I decline, I am liable to still pay them the commission.
For the amount you pay commission, I would rather store my stuff and stay in an Air BnB for a couple of months than decline the offer.
 
ToxicBunny said:
I very much doubt there is a law.. there may be some contractual clauses, but I doubt that they would be enforceable.
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TB - unless there is agreement by a particular party to only negotiate through the agent, then that would bind that party only. If the seller and purchaser bypass the agent after introduction, the agent would still have a claim for its agency fee due to being the effective cause of the sale.
 
Barbarian Conan said:
Yup, signing a sole mandate it stated that if they have an offer for my asking price, and I decline, I am liable to still pay them the commission.
For the amount you pay commission, I would rather store my stuff and stay in an Air BnB for a couple of months than decline the offer.
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Yes - the agent would have discharged its mandate to deliver an OTP within the asking price.
 
IzZzy said:
TB - unless there is agreement by a particular party to only negotiate through the agent, then that would bind that party only. If the seller and purchaser bypass the agent after introduction, the agent would still have a claim for its agency fee due to being the effective cause of the sale.
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Yeah I know... which is why I said there may be a contractual clause, but in reality it would be unenforceable as the contract doesn't cover all parties to the transaction.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Yeah I know... which is why I said there may be a contractual clause, but in reality it would be unenforceable as the contract doesn't cover all parties to the transaction.
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It would be enforceable against the person who is a party to such contract. It wouldn't enforce those who haven't signed.
 
pinball wizard said:
Usually it's the seller who doesn't want to deal direct with the buyer. I think it's a psychological thing. The get attached to their house, no matter what the reason for selling. They know and to a degree trust the agent, whereas the buyer is taking their baby.

Also, with that in mind, the agent should know their seller well enough to sell them on the offer. Remember, no matter what the amount is, the seller always thinks their precious baby is worth more. Very often an agent needs to close the deal on the seller.

(Full disclosure, I was an agent for a heartbeat a lifetime ago)
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We recently sold our house. I had no desire to deal with the buyer directly during price negotiations. I felt that I pay the agent a hefty commission to deal with the buyer and to sell the property and he should earn his money. The only time I met the buyer was when I gave them the keys and explained how everything in the house works. I was fortunately away the first time the agent brought them around for a viewing.
 
Blue Shirt said:
We recently sold our house. I had no desire to deal with the buyer directly during price negotiations. I felt that I pay the agent a hefty commission to deal with the buyer and to sell the property and he should earn his money. The only time I met the buyer was when I gave them the keys and explained how everything in the house works. I was fortunately away the first time the agent brought them around for a viewing.
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We also experienced this with one or two of the places we viewed. One seller was completely MIA and the agent had the keys to the gate and house to show us. Another time the seller was minding his own business in the garage while we went through. Not even a hello.

On our little oopsie from last week, which led to this thread, the wife was actually showing us and telling us everything with the agent trotting along until the end and only then started pushing for a sale.

And then for our current offer the owners were in the house and willing to answer any questions we might have that the agent couldn't. That is when we really clicked with them and we started sharing stories and stuff. And on the second viewing they invited us to sit down for a cup of coffee and homemade cookies.

So each and every situation will be different.
 
YES YES YES!!!!!

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