How do you know if a broker submited your offer?

Submit your offer to the seller's broker in writing. They are required to submit it by law, and unless the broker is really slimy and/or stupid, they will submit it. Even if you lowball. The broker really has no incentive *not* to present your offer to the seller.

A buyer's broker won't talk to the seller directly, they will speak to the seller's broker. If you feel comfortable with both your ability to assess the apartment's true value and your bidding strategy, you don't need a buyer's broker. Sometimes they are nice to have anyway, though, to help navigate the process, help prepare any board packages etc.

submit via e-mail, and asked to be cc'ed when your broker forwards your offer to the listing broker.

Slightly off topic, but regarding buster's point about a buyer's broker helping navigate the process and w/ any board packages, the seller broker will be MORE than happy to help you with that, if you don't have a broker yourself, considering he/she would be making twice the commission. In fact, there is no better way to help ensure your offer gets accepted than to make sure the person who has the seller's ear gets double the commission. Imagine you were going to either make $40,000 on a sale or $80,000, depending on which buyer's offer gets accepted.

also ask your broker to make sure they add a 'please confirm receipt and that it was conveyed to your seller' tag in the submitted email with offer doc and financial statement.

Getting a confirm back that it was received and conveyed is always good to know.

Seriously, why bother? If the broker is dishonest and or didn't think it would be accepted, why bother continuing with it? Why be so invested in the place?

If you have no "buyer's broker", and are dealing directly with the seller's agent, I can see scenarios where they do not want to inform the seller of your offer. If it is a very low offer and the seller is already depressed and unhappy w/ the agent, or the agent feels(unfairly) that you don't have the financials, or the coop board may defer - they would hold back hoping not to waste time. I am sure this happens all the time despite "the law" and there may be very little you can do. You could have an attorney at this point, but that could be prohibitive.

Brokers worry about this, too, although rarely. Sometimes a buyer's broker wonders whether the seller's broker is presenting the offer to the seller, or not. For example, if the offer is far below the asking price, some seller's brokers aren't too motivated to try to calm down a furious seller.

That's understandable, but the law says "immediately." The seller's broker does not have a choice.

If you have reason to suspect the seller's broker is not presenting your offer to the seller/owner fast enough, or at all, call the office where the seller's broker is based and ask to speak to the manager. That will solve the problem.

Karla Harby VP
Rutenberg Realty NYC
kharby@crrnyc.com