HAMPTONS REAL ESTATE, SOUTHAMPTON, NY

Yesterday was one of the most interesting days of my real estate career....I was told that my buyers counter offer to a seller was not going to go back to her! I had written it in an email and was told he would not tell the owner!

HOW WOULD YOU HANDLE AN AGENT WHO REFUSES TO DELIVER YOUR BUYERS OFFER TO THE SELLER?

I was put in a position that I have been in on other occasions, but in this case I was dealing with one of the most successful listing agents in the Hamptons. He was being totally unprofessional by what he said and did! HE WAS REFUSING TO BRING MY BUYER'S OFFER TO THE SELLER!!!

I had already submitted a written offer to this agent on an asking price that was about 40% more than my buyers offer. My buyer had been turned down with the statement: "No counter to such a low offer!" Within just a few hours my buyer was ready to get serious and he came back with another bid (against his own first bid!)--much closer to the asking price....This time I was told: "She does not want to hear anything unless it has $__ in front of it."...saying that unless it was almost at the full ask, there would be no conversation!

"What?" I said in astonishment. "You have to give her his bid!" I demanded.....

"She has told me she does not want to hear anything under $__."

"I don't care what she said to you--you have a legal obligation to deliver his offer to the owner! This is his SECOND bid with no response???"

"We could have a conference call and you can hear her say it yourself!" he said with an edge to his voice...

"I am not going to get involved with your presentation to the seller--by license law you are required to submit ALL offers to the seller"!

He argued with me that his sellers  instructions were to be followed and I told him my buyer has rights to have his offer submitted. I was not very happy with how it all unfolded as he kept telling me he would not submit it and I kept insisting---I finally hung up, very upset that it was handled so poorly.

A few seconds later the phone rang and I ignored it---what kind of a childish activity was this?...I thought to myself. He has to deliver the bid; no two ways about it!.

Finally, I gave in and listened to his message and heard him say: "You were talking so much you didn't hear what I said; I told you she was at $__---that's her counter offer!" He turned the tables on me by not saying that in the first place! The seller had come down $50K...

Now my buyer had a chance! Before this agent gave me the sellers counter offer--I was left with nothing to work with; is that his technique? I think it is--I had one other situation with this same agent and a similar situation arose. In that deal, my buyer just moved on....and this agent sold the house to his own customer!

The idea that he was telling me, after 2 bids from my customer that he is "not going to tell the owner", was very clear to me and I was responding to it. After giving the situation more thought I called my buyer and suggested to him that if he wants the house he would need to come up--He did and I let the agent know , per my buyers instructions, that this was as high as he wanted to go.

My buyer had come back closer to the asking price and we got the ball rolling. We are now only a few thousand apart and we will get the deal done, I am sure.

Now, my question to all of you is just how would YOU handle this situation? Was I wrong to MAKE him come back with SOMETHING?

How Would YOU handle an agent who refuses to deliver your buyer's offer to the seller???