It’s a crazy market out there!

The Maryland Contract of Sale and all of the appropriate addenda for various inspections and jurisdictions, etc. can run to 40+ pages.  Even though most of it is boilerplate put together by lawyers, there are still a lot of blanks to fill in with terms and conditions.

Instead of going to the trouble of filling out this humongous “offer” a lot of Realtors have resorted to a Letter of Intent.  These Letters say right on them that they are not offers to purchase and not enforceable.

So why use them?

They’re an easy way to ‘test the waters” to see if the Seller is even remotely interested in entertaining what is almost always a low ball offer. It’s a way to start a negotiation prior to going to all the trouble writing this 40+ page offer and having people cross out stuff, write new stuff, fax back and forth, etc. until the documents become illegible.

The challenge is that they are almost always way, way too low.  The Seller gets insulted. They either laugh or scream.  Most Buyers’ Agents know this.  Most Listing Agents know this, too.  However, It’s our job as Realtors to represent the interest of our clients faithfully according to their [the clients'] wishes.  As I often tell my clients and other Realtors, “It’s not my house.”

So we throw these low balls back and forth to each other wishing and fantasizing that maybe one day we’ll get a phone call saying, “The Seller agrees.  Write the formal offer.”