Seller sent contract but took another offer

happens every day

What seemed strange was that the seller's agent seemed to imply that the seller had been negotiating on the side without the agent's knowledge for a while. Wouldn't it have been to the seller's advantage for me (and the seller's agent) to know about the other potential buyer? I might have made a higher offer -- maybe even high enough to mitigate the fact that there was financing involved. Or I might have made a higher offer and the all-cash buyer might have met it. Am I missing something?

No, you're not missing anything. The seller likely used you to get the cash buyer to increase his bid.

Sure, the seller could have come back to you, but what if the cash buyer had a firm deadline and you ended up passing? Bird in hand...

I think you are right that the seller just used my bid to get the all-cash buyer to up his offer.

In the meantime I wasted several weeks of my life negotiating, hiring a lawyer, preparing the board package, etc. And I spent over a thousand dollars in legal fees. Also, I really, really liked the apartment.

the world of manhattan re. Im seeing this more these days lately with our clients, similar to how it was back in April, May & early June. Its the lack of quality/well priced product thats doing it. Not much you can do as there is little you can do about outside offers coming in prior to a fully executed contract. Yes its risky, even going back to original buyer is risky as some buyers will hate that a game is being played and perhaps withdraw the offer. But thats the sellers call. However, the board package is something that should not be started until the deal is fully executed. For the next deal, wait on that until the contracts are signed.

Yeah--confused as to why you began prepping board pkg without signed deal. Also, what on earth were you paying a grand in legal fees on this early in the game? That seems high to me.

Cash offer always wins.

did you get you get a quote from your attorney in advance that they only get paid if the deals goes into signing? my attorney outlined before i even started that they will only get paid if i signed, or if i'm rejected by the condo board (which almost never happens), then there's a 25% discount.

Yes, the problem seems to be that there's just not a lot of inventory. Now that I've lost out on this apartment, I don't really see anything else out there that appeals to me.

The deal with the lawyer was that he would do the closing for a flat fee, half up front and the remainder only if the deal closed. Not sure if he will give me a break if I eventually go back to him with another property.

Fortunately I didn't do a huge amount of work on the board package--just started getting letters of recommendation.

I guess what really bothers me about all this is that I think I was being used for weeks. I get the sense that the seller never really intended to do a deal with me. I think he was acting in bad faith from the beginning.

lawyer will most likely charge you the same total if you do another deal. recommendations will be good if you do another deal. if there is a next time and you have the same feeling you expressed above, you'll know what to do.

Yes, I think you're right on all counts. Thanks.

And maybe the seller has accummulated so much bad karma that his all-cash buyer will end up with a board turn-down.

Or maybe Hurricane Sandy will just wash the whole building away.

you are definitely getting in the right sprit. here's to a complete uninsured loss for that asshole before the sale closes.

i'm sorry, but NYC real estate is not for the faint of heart. in my case we had a signed contract, were incredibly overqualified financially, received prequal and had actually received approval shortly before on a larger coop loan for a purchase that we decided not to pursue due to structural engineering issues, but our major bank (a private banking relationship) wouldn't do condo resales in a fully sold building with 75% owner-occupancy with less than 30% down WITH A CONFORMING LOAN.

So our attorney asked their attorney for a 30-day extension, and we got a loan through our other private banking relationship, where they are keeping the loan on their books. BUT after only 30 days in contract, despite our qualifications, the broker changed the status of the apartment from in contract to back on the market and held an open house, while we were in contract. I've actually never heard of such a thing, and neither had my broker or attorney. I only found out about it because I had forgotten the zip code and I needed it for something so I pulled up our listing.

>i'm sorry, but NYC real estate is not for the faint of heart.

You go, girl. Telling it like it is.

Just checked the listing again, and the apartment in question is still listed as "for sale," not "in contract." What could have happened here? I am feeling really confused. The sellers accepted my offer, sent a contract then refused to sign it, claimed they had an all-cash offer, but now seem not to? And no one has contacted me to ask if maybe I still want the apartment? On top of that, I've been emailing my broker to try to find out what's going on, and she doesn't respond to my emails. This all seems very weird.

Your buyer's broker may be asleep at the wheel, poundridger.
Or the listing is not up-to-date yet. It happens.
All- cash offers can also fall through due to the all-cash buyer having, ALL CASH!
The buyer found something else to put his/her cash into.

There is so much out there. More coming onto market every day.
Try to widen your scope and see if you can find something else.

Good luck.

#ringer, how many deals a year does your broker do?

14,345

PD:

1. how long after offer accepted did your atty return signed contract
2. anything over one week and I would thrown you under the bus too
3. TIME IS ALWAYS OF THE ESSENCE in real estate

Seller decided to go with all-cash offer because seller did not want to wait for non all-cash offer
to get financing.

It happens.

Already had financing through private banking relationship. Seller knew this.

It's a bummer.

How long did your attorney take to return a contract? And did he/she
lard it with numerous riders?

Attorney took a few days. And did add a one-page rider. Sounds like I should have pressed for faster turnaround time.