Hello!

Normally the sellers are asked to respond within 24 - 48 hours. If the seller happens to reside out of state, it may take longer to respond in writing. In the case of a bank owned property, a short sale or a relocation company, it will take longer. As Nick mentioned, the banks do not normally work weekends and holidays and they tend to work slow when it comes to short sales and bank owned properties.

Many different items come into play when a seller is considering an offer. It is not just about price. The settlement date may be an issue, or other terms of the aggreement may be another. This is where the negotiations occur. An agent should be able to negotiate a contract knowing what is important for their client and where both sides will be happy with the end result. Yes, the agent his looking out for their client's best interests, but they also work towards having all parties involved walking away with a good experience.

If multiple offers are on the table, the agent should inform the potential buyers that there are other offers, but not the details of the offers. Each buyer is informed by the agent whether or not their offer was accepted.

Hope this helps.

Brigita McKelvie, REALTOR, e-PRO, GRI
Keller Williams Real Estate, Bethlehem, PA
Office: 610-867-8888 Direct: 610-393-9424
E-mail: brigita@brigitamklv.com
Web: http://www.brigitamklv.com
Blogs: http://activerain.com/blogs/brigitam

The time in which the seller is asked to respond is one of the elements of crafting your agreement of sale. We usually ask sellers to respond in 24 hours, sometimes quicker if we feel we are putting forward a fair and good offer. However, if you are dealing with a bank owned property, a relocation company or a short sale things are different. None of these workm over the weekend. Banks can be very slow when they own the properties and when dealing with short sales. We have ways to speed these up knowing who to deal with at the banks.

Does the seller have to tell the prospective buyers about the other offers. That is their decision. We as agents usually inform all parties if their offer has been accepted or rejected, sometimes this might elicit another offer from a rejected party and if the agreement of sale has not been signed by all parties then this offer should be presented to the seller even if they have had a meeting of the minds on the terms of the other offer.

All sales are dictated by the terms of the agreement of sale and price is not always the only element that can be important. Sometimes a settlement date may be more important than price for example. This is why ity is important to use a realtor who can negotiate well and discover what terms might be important to the seller before making your offer.

I hope this answers your question feel free to contacrt me through our website if you have other questions or need further clarification.