As the title says, I and my husband are negotiating the price of a condo. We have never bought a property before, so this is all very new to us. If that matters, my husband is Japanese and the one who will be getting the loan.
The original price was 19.8 million yen. A week ago (last Sunday) we asked our real estate agent to try to get a deal for 19 million. We filled out the “intention of purchase” form for 18 million at the suggestion of the agent. The paperwork was sent to the owner the next day (last Monday). Four days later, on Friday night, the agent told us the owner accepted the 19 million offer. We then set the day to sign the contract a week later due to the availability of everyone involved. This morning (2.5 days after the Friday night call), the agent called us again and said that now the owner wants 19.8 million yen as there are more people interested in the condo.
At this point, we got quite upset. We are not sure we can trust our agent, because they work on commission so before making an informed decision about what to do next, I have some questions:
1. Is it possible to know whether the owner initially accepted the 19 million offer? As we had to fill in the “intention of purchase” document, didn’t the owner need to fill a document back with the price accepted after negotiation? We want to make sure this is not a strategy of the agent to push us to buy the condo for the original price so he can get a higher commission.
2. Is it possible to know how long the condo has been on the market? In Suumo, the listed information says the apartment’s renovation was finished in August 2022, so I was assuming it has been empty/on the market since then. It sounds strange that exactly in the last 2 days another person has made an offer if the property has been empty since August.
3. Is it possible to know whether there are really other people making offers for this property?
Thank you, any information will be very much appreciated.
7 comments
Personally, I doubt the difference in the commission is enough to justify the agent doing that
If other parties are supposedly interested, are you willing to get into a bidding war? Always be prepared to walk away from property. It’s a fairly common tactic from sellers.
the commission is capped at 3%. 3% of 0.8M is 24000 yen. Not sure it’s worth it for the agent to play games.
Personally, I’ve try to emotionally detach myself from investments, but I do understand that it can be hard to, and try to keep all transactions based on “principal”s.
a) I have never (and would never) buy a property at the listed price. It’s a very personal thing for me however. A discount (regardless of how small) signals a number of things to me. That the seller is earnest, and is willing to negotiate and compromise. I have always drawn a line with not dealing with people who absolutely refuse to do so.
b) I’m not fond of games either, and I think honor is important in dealings. If someone has given their word, but later retract it, I would find it hard to trust them up to completion – I would rather walk away.
In the grand scheme of things, 0.8M isn’t a whole lot; and because of that I would find it very hard to trust this particular seller moving forward.
That said, that’s just me and my personal way of doing things. I do understand a lot goes into searching for a home, but just like fishes in the sea, there are plenty others, and as long as I’m not starving to death, I’d opt to keep on looking.
Just wanted to also add, thus far, I have always trusted my agent to work in my best interest, so when things like this happen, more often than not it’s not something within their control. I would like to think that your agent is equally frustrated at the seller as you are too. Assuming your agent has been with you for a while searching for a place that checks all your boxes, you should have a reasonable idea if he/she is trustworthy, or not (and if the answer is not, why are you still working with that agent?)
You made a fair offer. They want to stick to their original asking price since they allegedly have multiple interested parties. If you love the place you can pay asking price, tell them to take it off the market, and sign the contract. Otherwise, you let the dust settle and when they come back to you because the other buyers didn’t buy or weren’t real you offer 18million again.
Where is this? I will make an offer of 20M. Lol, kidding.
You already have received good answers. If you are prepared to walk away, walk away. If you really like the condo, then you have to increase your offer price. Why don’t you offer 19.4M? Say that is the max you can afford.
Rebid intention to buy at 18, the seller is playing with you. Play back and be ready to walk away.