When you sell a house, who does that huge commission go to?

[sidinz]

You're young couple may not come up with an offer at all.

So you can't look at one offer and then ring up another party and say "Will you pay more than the $x I'm being offered here?" It's just not fair to the person who put the offer in.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. You're not a fan of Dutch auctions.
BUT:
I know that previously, people have expressed interest in putting in a low offer, but were put off by the REA. (Yeah, I know, they're not supposed to do that.) So in this case, when she not only got the offer on paper but also expressed the belief that I would want to countersign, it raised the possibility that they might be prepared to go a bit higher. I.e. were prepared to negotiate and were closer to my asking price than previous offers.
But knowing that things are heading to a multiple offer often encourages people to put in their best price. So I thought that letting her buyer know what the situation was was giving them an opportunity to up their offer. I know that if it were me, I would want to know if there was another buyer in the wings, in order to put my best foot forward instead of only putting in my starting offer and getting pipped by another buyer I wasn't aware of.

But that didn't happen as I never even saw their offer. I would love to know just what was said to them about that.

[Winston001]

...
But knowing that things are heading to a multiple offer often encourages people to put in their best price.

I know that if it were me, I would want to know if there was another buyer in the wings, in order to put my best foot forward instead of only putting in my starting offer and getting pipped by another buyer I wasn't aware of.

Wrong.

Multiple offers scare people off. Plus it always sounds slightly suspicious.

The only time I carried on in such a situation was at an auction and it turned out the vendors wanted $40,000 more than the highest price (my bid).

[DaveW]

sidinz, You should make more use of your lawyer, and in this case they could had advised you to receive the offer from your agent and sit on it for 24 hours. Don't feel you have to counter-sign anything straight away. In the meantime you could talk to your private buyer to see if they are serious.

By the way, where does the tv go in that living room?

SB, some agents may "have buyers" who have not actively started looking for their next property yet. Most buyers don't start looking until they know how much their own house will sell for. These types of agents remain one step ahead.

[sidinz]

sidinz, You should make more use of your lawyer, and in this case they could had advised you to receive the offer from your agent and sit on it for 24 hours. Don't feel you have to counter-sign anything straight away. In the meantime you could talk to your private buyer to see if they are serious.

I guess my problem was forgetting that RE doesn't work in a logical (my logic) way.

To me, there was no difference in the REA verbally relaying what she had on paper and my sitting on for 24 hours while I contacted my private buyer, and seeing the paper offer and doing the same. Well, the difference being that the former would have saved both of us running around, squeezing a meeting in. I felt bad making the agent run all the way up to the North Shore at a specific time to see me, when I knew that I had no intention of countersigning on the spot. Instead, my efforts to save her the trip have come back to bite me in the proverbial.

[Wayne]

Multiple offers scare people off. Plus it always sounds slightly suspicious.

Generally I call BS on 'another offer' and carry on regardless (when buying).

[sidinz]

sidinz, You should make more use of your lawyer, and in this case they could had advised you to receive the offer from your agent and sit on it for 24 hours. Don't feel you have to counter-sign anything straight away. In the meantime you could talk to your private buyer to see if they are serious.

She told me that this has been against the rules since 2008. Right before she quit. Actually, she gave me an ultimatum, me or her. As I wasn't about to rely on her alone selling the place, she went.
The young couple did come through with an offer.

[Davo36]

She quit selling your place or real estate all together?

[sidinz]

No, she's still in real estate, unfortunately for anyone else who signs with her.