We've all heard tenant stories, but how about Listing agents?

1) "This Seller has so much tied up in this house they can't accept any less than..."

Response: "The Sellers could be rich as Midas or poor as a church mouse, but since I can't verify that I'm not interested in you spinning a story to see if you can get me to pay more."

2) "They had several other buyers make higher offers than what you're presenting..."

Response: "And none of those Buyers closed the deal...."

3) "This is such a great house it's worth $X more than what they've listed at...."

Response: "So why aren't you buying it yourself?"

I try to keep my tongue in check, but these responses are knocking around in my head constantly when they try to "explain" why I should increase my offer. Usually I just shaddup and listen, then ask the agent to present my offer anyway.

What are your favorites?

When I seek to purchase, I always make my offer to the Listing Agent. However, I try to insulate myself from the agent because I get short tempered and do not tolerate kaka.

Me to agent: You are representing both sides in this transaction. Put on your Buyer's Agent hat, write up the offer, then switch hats and present the offer to the Seller. Let me know if there is an acceptance, a counter-offer or a rejection.

It's been my experience that most agents are marginally good-looking at best. Really good agents will take the bargains for themselves. Some are dishonest. These will wait until they are a good offer at a discounted price and then they just put their friends name on it and steal the deal from you. Or they will disparage you and your offer then being in their offer for a few dollars more.

Dumb auto correct.

That's good, not good-looking!

Listing agents lie a lot, they lie to the owner (who employs them), they lie to the selling agent (representing the buyer), they hide deficiencies and existing problems.

Don't let agents push you around beyond your financial limits.

Don't let emotions take over rational.

Don't get swept into a bidding war, a counter offer sequence. The minute you do, you lose control of the situation.

My favorite is: "I don't know, but let me find out and get back with you" on every house problem you notice.

For every house we was bidding right after we offer to buy, some mystery buyer was offering more and in cash.

It is look like a standard reply from any agent we was working with.

What is really annoying - false advertisement.

We have a great agent. Known him for years. We've purchased almost all of our properties through him (one FSBO, one Auction, the rest through him.) He will present any offer, no matter how low, and he is very good at letting the Selling Agent know our limits ("I know these people, this is their best & final offer. I've seen them walk away before. This is a quick and easy cash sale, As Is.")

He likes us, we like him, he takes us to view absolute tear-downs without a qualm. He's shown us more properties that we DIDN'T buy than ones we have.

I much prefer using him to a FSBO because he handles the paperwork, the contracts, sets up the survey or any inspections, etc.

He earns his 1.5% commission (which is all they get. 6% split between agencies, then 3% split between head broker and selling agent.) 1.5% of the house we buy is peanuts LOL! Last house he didn't earn $1000 and he's earned much less before too.

We are fresh from the closing.

After we agreed on a price and sign a contract our agent called and told that (pay attention to those hands) ex-daughter-in-law of the desisted owner ask him (buyer’s agent) , not the seller’s agent to give $14,000 more.

Nice try. They might want to split it quietly later.

After the same agent did not bring any key for the inspection of a multi family.

A listing agent that tries to buy the house they listed are facing several legal and ethical hurdles. A listing agent has a fiduciary responsibility to their client (the seller) which is to get the highest and best offer. Unless they plan to live in the house and plan to be competitive it is self dealing and could cost them their license and worse. I have seen where a listing agent decided to buy and has had other agents come in to give a price opinion but it is still a questionable breach of ethics.

There are currently 8 states that outlaw dual agency. In NC dual agency can only be established when there is a listing agent and their brokerage represents the buyer. In areas where the same agent can directly represent both then neither the buyer nor the seller are getting any real representation.

No seller's agent would ever allow the buyer to be present when the offer is being presented. It is not uncommon to hold all of the offers for a few days and then review all of them at one time. The best offer is not always the highest price. You have to look at the terms and concessions and weight those against the offer price. It is not uncommon to accept a lower priced offer if the other terms are beneficial such as conventional over FHA. Especially today when some buyers make very aggressive offers that well exceed the list price. It's a favorite buyer's agent tactic to tie up the property. Seller accepts an offer that won't appraise and the buyer has taken the property off the market for 3 weeks so they acquiesce and accept the appraised price which might turn out to be lower than the list price.

As for " other offers popping up" that too is illegal if they are non-existent.

Multiple offers. Today they definitely exist. In our market anything under $200,000 is receiving on average 8 offers and those homes go under contract within 1 to 2 days.