The Worst Purchase Offer Ever in 40 Years Says Realtor

This Sacramento Realtor did not expect to see an offer top Worst Purchase Offer Ever.

To hold the dubious honor of worst purchase offer ever received by this Sacramento Realtor, it’s got to be pretty bad. After all, you figure I probably receive around 300 to 500 offers, I’m guessing, every year. In just 10 years, that would mean reviewing 3,000 to 5,000 purchase offers, on average. Over 40 years, it’s a crazy number of purchase offers. I’ve received doozies in my day but this is the worst purchase offer ever in 40+ years.

When the buyer’s agent is, um, overly emotional as well, it adds to the unwanted drama. Just the other night, an agent asked if my sellers would do XYZ for her buyers. She didn’t want to bother to put the offer into writing unless the sellers agreed verbally to accept. Huh? Anybody who is that lazy doesn’t deserve a response. I wanted to say, look dude, put it in writing because verbal means jack shit. But I sensed she was not receptive to the real world. After the sellers rejected, she launched into a tirade. I have no time for craziness, certainly not from an agent we aren’t even in escrow with.

There was no money in listening to dribble.

Wah, the agent whined, why won’t you do what I want? In that agent’s world, the sellers should do exactly what she wants. Not gonna happen. I was crystal clear. Agent was whine, whine, whine; then the insults began. What was next? Crying?  I suggested we were done discussing, that our time for talking was over. But no. She continued texting with such hateful vitriol that I demanded she put a sock in it. For crying out loud, geez, Louise.

The sellers were interested in reading her text messages. So I forwarded them. Agents should be careful what they write in text messages or any kind of communication.

What were the odds I’d encounter another emotional outburst so soon? Pretty darn good, it turned out.

Because the worst purchase offer ever arrived in my email shortly thereafter. Our counter offer corrected 11 mistakes in that California Residential Purchase Agreement. The sales price was below market value, what we call a lowball. The buyer’s agent asked the sellers to pay $1,000 for a home warranty. Holy Moses! Don’t believe there is such a product. The agent also asked the sellers to pay ALL of the closing costs. Seriously?

The agent checked so many boxes that do not apply, including asking the seller to replace all of the water fixtures in the house, which I suspect the agent didn’t even realize was the result. When I logged into MLS to find the agent, I could uncover no sales and no evidence the agent is a member, no record. Not surprising.

Adding insult to injury in this worst purchase offer ever, the agent typed some other seller’s name into the offer, making us wonder if the buyers were writing multiple offers. Not all naive agents can keep deception straight. The first sign we might be in trouble was when the agent handed my team member two business cards: one for real estate and another for selling a local food item. The second sign was the manner of introduction of the agent and the offer.

The agent sent an email announcing the house was peculiar and odd, and that it suited only certain tastes. Fortunately, the agent exclaimed, the buyers liked it! That’s a self-defeating way to say hello. Berating the home. There was also nothing odd about the house. What a great idea, in that agent’s mind — slam the house, insult the seller and listing agent, and write about the worst offer anybody has ever seen. What a recipe for success!

Usually, things like this happen when an agent is new or from the Bay Area or both. They write offers differently in San Francisco. However, I could not believe my eyes. I asked if the agent was from out-of-area, because most agents in Sacramento know local custom and how to write a purchase offer that gets accepted. Let’s just say the agent did not appreciate that question.

Yet when I asked if the buyers would pay list price, the agent, without hesitation, said sure, write it up. That’s hardly legal fiduciary to a client. Those poor people.

I try to help new agents and any agent who could use a little direction, for that matter. I was a new agent once. Haven’t forgotten what that is like. Not every agent appreciates a sincere offer. Egos and insecurity. Even after the agent exploded outta nowhere, flinging a series of late-night email drama in my direction, I still wanted to do what we could to salvage the transaction for my seller. But that was not about to materialize. Far as I could tell, the agent is not a Realtor. Probably part of the problem. Unsupervised. No Code of Ethics.

So for now, this will just go down in history as the worst purchase offer ever. Nothing beats this contract. I hope this is not indicative of the way Sacramento real estate is moving and it’s just a fluke. Plus, I hope to never see another but I know deep down there will come another day.