The "Vacationing Seller"

I seem to be putting in contracts all the time lately for my Buyers. They are getting out bid since my Buyers are on limited budgets and cannot exceed a certain price point for the home they are making an offer on. The worst scenario panned out to be true for on of my first-time-home-owner Buyers. The wife of the couple, tends to get very emotionally attached to things that are important to her. This couple fell in love with a two bedroom condo in exactly their desired area and it was within their budget. I showed it to them and they made an offer within 24 hours. She was doing everything that psyched up home buyers do. She was picturing their furniture in the space, new paint colors for the walls etc.

The next day after putting in the offer the Seller came back and negotiated and both parties ended up coming to a verbal, mutually agreed upon amount. I resubmitted the paperwork with the new terms and sat back and waited.

Well, we heard,,,,,,,,,nothing for 24hrs.

I had inquired about when we were going to hear back, to the Listing Agent. He stated that he was still trying to get in touch with her, she was in New Hampshire and didn't have cell service.

When I told my Buyer what the Agent had told me, she was crushed. She intuitively knew that something wasn't right. I convinced her to not get upset and to wait since maybe she was in fact, on vacation. She decided to that she was try to be patient and wait until we heard from the agent.....which we did the next day.

The Agent told me that the Seller went with another offer. ANOTHER OFFER? Are you kidding me? Your Seller negotiated with my BUyer and she was playing us the entire time? NOT COOL.

I, in turn, had to break the news to my super excited and emotionally attached Buyer....not a good conversation to have. She was very upset and didn't understand why weren't able to come back with an even higher offer? I had to explain to her that the Agent hadn't even communicated to me that there were other offers on the table and we couldn't have known that the Seller was two-timing us.

So the next time an Agent tells you that you have to wait for an answer since the Seller is on vacation, don't buy it!