Trex,

It is possible that the listing agent can work with the first offer if it seems reasonable to the seller and the agent and they dont have to accept or counter any other offers. In your case, the listing agent already mentioned to your agent that they have accepted the other offer, so my suggestion would be to look for another property which meets your criteria. You and your agents needs to be aggressive enough to see the property as soon as possible and submit an offer. Sometimes, the nice house goes fast even in this market. So, don't be upset and look for another or ask the listing agent to accept your offer as backup offer...Good luck

Trex,
To answer you question accurately I would need to know what type of listing you were putting an offer in on. There are regular listings, short sales and bank owned listings which were you putting an offer in on? There is a difference on how they are all handled. I would love to hear back from you so I can give you the best advice.

I can say this, My husband and I are Certified Distressed Property Experts, we have 5 short sale listings all listings have offers on them. As the listing agents we will only submit the first offer that was given to us. If we receive another offer even if it is higher then the first offer it always goes into the back up status.

I caution you if you are working with an agent that is not confident in these transaction, you need an Expert in your corner and by your side, not an average real estate agent.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Jennifer Ricco CDPE,e-PRO,WCR,QSC, Retired LAPD
Keller Williams VIP Properties
661.803.2093 cell
Jennifer@JenniferRicco.com http://www.SantaClaritaValleyHomesOnline.com
Quality Consulting Through Continuous Improvement
Serving the Santa Clarita Valley, San Fernando Valley, Palmdale and Ventura County

Trex:

The right person to answer your question would be a Real Estate Attorney. However, here's my opinion.

There is no rule for accepting the first bid. You say your offer was never responded to. I am assuming your offer was made on C.A.R. (California Association of Realtor's) forms. Did you have a deadline in your offer which gives how long your offer was valid for? If you did, and the deadline passed, your offer no longer exists as it automatically gets revoked. The Seller does not have to respond to your offer even though there is a place in the CAR purcahse agreement for the Seller to convey rejection of your offer.

If your deadline had passed, did you renew the offer or extend the deadline? If not, I doubt you can go after the Seller but as I said earlier the best entity to answer this question is a Real Estate Attorney. Purchase price is not the only thing when you compare offers. It is the ability and the method of performance by a Buyer, which includes the terms of the offer, that have great significance to many sellers. Remember, the seller takes a calculated risk by accepting an offer because the flip side is that the property has to be taken of it's "available" status during escrow and the seller could miss out on other attractive offers.

Real Estate Agents that are Realtors (and not every agent is a Realtor) subscribe to a "Code of Ethics" and come under the purview of the local Association of Realtors. One requirement for a Realtor is to submit every offer or counter offer that is made objectively and as quickly as possible. In addition, and I quote "When acting as listing brokers, Realtors shall continue to submit to the seller/landlord, all offers and counter offers until closing or execution of a lease unless the seller/landlord has waived this obligation in writing."

Without knowing all the facts it would not be possible to say whether you have due cause or not. Talk to an Attorney who would give you proper legal advice.

Bob Khalsa
Broker Owner
United America Realty
Santa Clarita, CA
bobfoxbat@gmail.com
661-313-6107

There is no rule that I'm aware of based on the situation you described. There is a code of ethics however. Your offer should be properly declined. Sometimes banks will take the first offer if it's reasonable. Sometimes they will wait 5 days until as many offers as possible are collected - then counter the best ones, and sometimes they will take a few days since they are busy (the banks)...then get back to all buyers with a best and final (their version of a counter) which gives buyers the opportunity to revise their offer the best they can (price/terms,etc). A lot of times, the process of making an offer on a bank owned home, doesn't seem fair, when you're at the losing end of an offer.

The listing agent should have had the courtesy to contact your agent, and let them know at least another offer was accepted, and that yours was not going to be accepted or countered. Perhaps your offer could be put in back up position, in case the winning offer falls out of escrow. That happens quite a bit.

Good luck.