Anger After Couple Pays $90-Thousand Above Asking For Home As Sole Bidders
If you've ever purchased a house or a condo, you know how financially stressful it can be, but what if you learned you overbid by $90-thousand and yours was the only offer?
That happened to the clients of a Toronto real estate agent who's calling for more transparency in the entire process, specifically, in bidding wars.
Josie Stern tells the Star, that it should be mandatory for listing agents to provide potential buyers with a roster of all brokers and agents making offers on the same property and that should be done before any offers are presented. In this specific case, she believes there were three bidders interested in the midtown property.
When her clients' bid had been accepted about 10 minutes later, Josie Stern realized that something wasn't right. She eventually convinced the listing agent and the sellers to accept a bid of $45-thousand over asking for the near $1-million home.
Stern also wants to fight against what she calls "double-end" deals by agents acting as the listing agent, but then represent a buyer who has the advantage of having an agent who knows exactly what offers are on the table.