008 - When the listing agent isn't presenting your offer

Is the listing agent not presenting your offer to the seller? A buyer's agent in New York posted this exact situation on Reddit — an over-asking offer, a week of stalling, and a growing suspicion of dual agency double dipping. In this episode I read the full post and bring it to top agents in my Inner Circle for their unfiltered answers: how to verify an offer was actually presented to the seller, when to demand a declination letter or written confirmation, how to escalate manager-to-manager, and the "nuclear option" — using ACRIS to contact the seller directly.

If you're a buyer's agent wondering what to do when your offer gets no response, this is your playbook.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Trust your gut — is your offer being presented?
0:31 The Reddit post: "Listing agent isn't presenting my client's offer"
1:18 The red flags: stalling, "one other offer," and the lender tip-off
2:13 Agent answer #1: written confirmation… or go around them (ACRIS)
2:56 Agent answer #2: manager-to-manager — and when withholding offers is even legal
3:24 My takeaway: why top agents trust their gut
3:56 The playbook: paper trail first, nuclear option last
4:52 How would YOU handle it?

Have you been in this situation? Tell me how you handled it in the comments.

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#realestate #nycrealestate #buyersagent #dualagency #loandaddypodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's important to trust your gut. If you don't feel like the listing agent is presenting your offer, you're probably right. You've been in many situations previously where you didn't feel that. Why are you feeling it now? There's something there. Welcome to the Lone Daddy Podcast, episode eight. My name is Scott Nadler. Have you ever had that inkling if you're a buyer's agent where you're submitting an offer and you're unsure if the listing agent is presenting your offer to their seller? Has anyone ever come across a situation like that? Because I came across a post recently on Reddit where an agent was dealing with this exact issue. And I'm gonna read this post here. After I read it, I spoke to some of the top agents in my inner circle to get their opinion about how they would handle a situation like this. And I'm gonna share that with you. But let's start here with this post. The title is Listing Agent I Think Isn't Presenting My Client's Offer. And he goes on to say, I'm a buyer's agent in New York and I'm looking for some advice on a situation that doesn't feel right. My client submitted an offer on a property with very strong terms, including a purchase price slightly above asking. The listing agent has been stalling us for about a week and keeps saying there's only one other offer. However, I have concerns that our offer may not have been presented to the seller. The reason I'm concerned is that the listing agent also told our lender that we should start looking at other houses for our buyers, which seemed unusual given that he claims the seller is still considering offers. I'm worried he may be trying to represent the other buyer as a dual agent and collect both sides of the commission. I obviously don't have proof that our offer wasn't presented, but the communication and delays have raised some red flags. For agents familiar with New York real estate, what would you do in this situation? Is there any way to verify that an offer was actually presented to the seller? Would it be appropriate to contact the broker directly or request written confirmation that the offer was submitted? I love this post. I think it's a it's a probably more of a common problem that isn't talked about enough that a lot of agents deal with. Which is why I contacted, again, agents in my inner circle to see how they would handle this, and I want to share that with you here.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

I would think I'm asking for a confirmation, an email confirmation that the seller's received the email. Like I I would ask for some kind of confirmation that the seller's received the offer. Or I would actually look up the seller on address and then try to contact the seller directly and say, I just want to confirm that you receive my offer.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

So you would go around the listing agent.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

If I knew her that there was like something super shady going on, then yes. There's no way to prove it.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

I think the agent is concerned that the listing agent is trying to become a dual rep and working with other direct buyers only and then not presenting. Of course. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Yeah. There's a lot of really dishonest people there.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

If it both were real brokerages, he should have his manager contact that agent's manager and let the managers kind of like deal with it. It is unethical to, you know, not show unless the only time it's allowed is if the seller has said, look, don't bring me any offers that are below three million.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Like I have sellers that I've worked with who are like, don't even bother. Yeah. You can tell them no on my behalf. But that's your best option because the managers are more likely to be honest about it than the other side.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

All right, so I love these answers. Again, these are experienced agents who have worked with a lot of buyers and a lot of sellers. My takeaway from both of their answers separately, and they were both very different, is they're trusting their gut, right? Again, they've dealt with a lot of people. They have a good instinct. I think people in sales and in real estate specifically, it's important to trust your gut. If you don't feel like the listing agent is presenting your offer, you're probably right. You've been in many situations previously where you didn't feel that. Why are you feeling it now? There's something there. The first answer was let's get something in writing. Let's get some confirmation that our offer was presented. You know, do we get a declination letter? Do we get an offer that something showing that our offer was accepted or a counteroffer? Something. That's probably the first step. But then if you listen to that second call that we had, maybe that's more of the nuclear option. Where unfortunately, it is what it is. Unfortunately, there are shady actors in our industry. There are people who do not operate in an ethical manner. And we've talked about this many times before. They're more transactional than they are relationship driven. And if you feel like you're in a situation like that, maybe you do go around them and you go to Acaris and you contact that seller directly to make sure that they received your offer. Again, that might be more of the nuclear option, but you're trying to work on the best interests of your buyer. If that's what you have to do, that's what you have to do. So let me know what you think, how you would handle a situation like this. Because I'm sure many of you have been in situations like this before, and many of you have probably handled it differently than the two agents that we just spoke with. So I want to hear from you. Let me know in the comments. And if you're not already part of the inner circle, what are you doing? Join! DM me inner circle, and I will get you added for a lot more inner circle Lone Daddy content that a lot of agents are using to close more buyers and sellers and increase their GCI immediately. With that, I will see you on the next episode of the Lone Daddy Podcast. Thanks.