In a hot market (e.g., Denver last year), the seller's agent would not return your calls for a showing if you didn't have an agent.
I suppose you could visit an open house and then submit an offer. Some houses never do open houses, or will already have offers before the open house. You would probably be competing with 2-3 other offers all over asking for a properly priced house. The odds of them choosing your offer would be lower since the seller's agent would not like it (it would be a lower offer on paper, since it has 3% less commission). They might go for it if it was all cash, but probably not with a mortgage.
In my home state at least, a sellers' agent is legally and professionally obligated to present all valid offers received to the sellers. Failure to do so can result in legal liability, fines, loss of license etc.
If your state is similar, then if you had made an offer by any means, like via the agent's voicemail and the agent didn't tell the seller about it, then you would have had cause for legal action.
I never made an offer. I was simply trying to see the house without an agent of my own. The house in question was near where I was renting and had been on the market over a week without an open house. It went to pending a week or two later. The seller's agent never got back to me at all.
It's funny you say that about legality though - some of my relatives recently put in a low-ball offer on a place in AZ. The seller's agent called them back, said it was insulting, and would not be even showing it to the owners. The house had been on the market for months. I wonder if that was legal.
If a market is hot then bidding is necessarily going to be more competitive and sellers are going to be less accommodating. It's not unusual for buyers to make an offer site unseen in a hot market. So if you have the cash and you really want the house, I suggest you check out the rules in your state and next time try making an offer by any necessary means.
That doesn't make sense. If you go to the seller's agent directly, they get the entire commission instead of splitting it with a buyer's agent. It's in their best interests financially to not have a buyer's agent come along. But that's also terrible for you because it's a conflict of interest for the agent to represent the buyer and seller.
More likely, they didn't see you as a serious buyer if you don't have an agent. There are a lot of tire kickers out there.
> More likely, they didn't see you as a serious buyer if you don't have an agent. There are a lot of tire kickers out there.
That's definitely it. I literally never got my foot in the door. My plan (which I never executed) was to use a real estate attorney and lower the offer by 3% since no buyer's agent commission would be needed. I had read about people doing this, but it didn't seem viable in a hot market unless you are flush with cash. I wasn't an all cash buyer.
I suppose you could visit an open house and then submit an offer. Some houses never do open houses, or will already have offers before the open house. You would probably be competing with 2-3 other offers all over asking for a properly priced house. The odds of them choosing your offer would be lower since the seller's agent would not like it (it would be a lower offer on paper, since it has 3% less commission). They might go for it if it was all cash, but probably not with a mortgage.