If an apartment listing says, "In Contract,"...

pretty apt. Tell the seller's broker you are interested in a back up.. I had three bidders on my unit on the same day at the same price. I accepted the, in order of offer and the third one was the one who went to contract! You never know...

Cute apt. There is a lot of interest too as there are 46 people who have that listing "saved."

Coop experts...what is the procedure? Can a seller submit 2/3 interested parties to the board for approval at the same time?
And if so? Advantage? Disadvantage? Might a board disapprove someone they may have approved because one of the three look much better?

truthsker10 - usually the board only looks at a package from a buyer in contract, and you really can't have more than one signed contract at a time ()duh).

The only thing a seller might do is run the prospective purchasers' financials/details past a board member (before contract) to determine if one buyer would have a better chance than another to pass the board.

Thank you much! Extremely helpful. Will ask my broker to investigate.

Yes but my question, might putting another potential buyer who is better suited to the board's taste put the kibosh on someone who is borderline, thereby turning 2/3 suitors into 1.

I realize there is no definitive answer but it is a judgement call maybe on a case by case basis.

That's a good question, truthskr10. Yes, we're probably excellent candidates to be approved for this apartment, but I'm reluctant to compete with a buyer who's likely already put in a great deal of effort to make this deal happen. Does that make me naive? Also, I don't know what we'd be prepared to offer, not having seen the apartment. I'm more bothered by the fact that our broker didn't suggest this apartment to us, when it clearly is within our desired parameters. Maybe it's time for a new broker?

wow, beautiful apt.

....but if you ding the guy in contract for the preferred person wiating in the wings -- the person in the wings gets huge leverage and you could end up with two birds in the bush and a bunch of poop on your hand!

truthskr - it "might put the kibosh" on another prosepctive buyer, but, frankly, it is up to the sellers to determine who they think is the more viable candidate, if they have more than one offer in hand. And rimnyc, you really can't compete, as you haven't seen the apartment, don't know "what we'd be prepared to offer" so you're not really a serious prospect for that apartment.

the listing says it went into contract seven weeks ago. the only thing you could do now, i would think, is have your broker call the listing broker and let them know that if it were to fall through you'd like an opportunity to see it.

AR - good suggestion

True, all. I don't want to muddy the waters--I just want to know if the sale doesn't go through so we can get a shot at it. And what about my growing frustration with my broker for not letting us know about this listing? Isn't that what a buyer's broker is supposed to do? Or am I seriously expected to conduct my own search as well?

Maybe simply ask your broker why you weren't shown the listing? There might be something about it he/she thought you wouldn't like that's not apparent from the photos.

were you looking for a true 2 bedroom? because this is a one bedroom that would need to be adapted. i would ALWAYS suggest that you spend some time once in awhile looking at listings. only you know which compromises you might be willing to make under certain circumstances.

"Yes but my question, might putting another potential buyer who is better suited to the board's taste put the kibosh on someone who is borderline, thereby turning 2/3 suitors into 1."

As I mentioned in another thread, one has to worry about "good faith" and tortious interference.

only things that can happen are....buyer doesnt get mortgage or board turns them down...other than that...a contract is a legally binding agreement and if the buyer backs out for any other reasons than those just stated....he/she will forfeit the 10% deposit......im not an expert but this is how i believe it works...

purchaser could die or lose their job (which would trigger board rejection or loss of financing, so I guess they are subsets of those).

Or befall some terrible accident.

On a more serious note: if you want it that badly, you could try to buy their contract (have them assign it to you for some consideration). Although almost 100% for sure their contract reads as not assignable, if everyone was getting something out of it........

Or there are some Russians in Brighton Beach.......

Actually, I spend a fair amount of time searching for listings. What I've found is that I'm often the one who's bringing properties to my broker's attention, since she's supposed to contact the seller's broker. I tend to define my search by open houses, so I guess I'll have to broaden my search criteria. To miss out on such a lovely apartment when our broker periodically sends us such crap is disheartening.

Miette, I took your advice and emailed my (former) broker, inquiring why we weren't shown this listing. Not only did we not receive a satisfactory response, we received no response at all. Neither did she respond with any feedback from the seller's broker, as I had requested in a separate email. Instead, she sent us a stale listing today, with no allusion to the previous apartment. I figured we had had a mutual, amicable breakup. Odd and irritating.