The red flag that I see is the increase in the sales price by $6,000 and $6,000 in closing costs. The potential for an appraisal not supporting the increase in cost is much higher. Ask your agent about this. I think I would try to negotiate a little on the terms.

The realtor has brought you an offer. So, they are doing their job. It's not uncommon for a realtor to hold a property off the market for a few days after signing the listing contract in order to develop the marketing effort. This would consist of placing the listing on the MLS along with the all important listing pictures. That takes a little time. And, you want those pictures on line when the listing goes live. Meanwhile your agent should be beating the bushes to find clients by word of mouth or through their realtor contacts. It looks like they found one.

You need to find out if your agent is also representing the buyer. It's not a secret and must be disclosed.

The listing price is an acceptable sales price. Otherwise, why would you have listed it for this amount? After assuring myself that the concessions are not excessive, I would very seriously consider the offer. If it falls through, it will not have been listed on the MLS and the days on market won't become a drag on the sales effort. Then, you can go through the regular process with no penalty.

Bottom line, I'd take it seriously. But, most things in life don't come this easily.

Thank you homechef - the appraisal concerns me as well as our agent priced it where she did with the appraisal in mind. The offer also included a deposit of far less than 1% of the selling price. I think this should be negotiated as well, right?

Deposit's don't mean anything. If the deal collapses, your realtor is going to return it. You will want them to because to delay waiting on a resolution means keeping the house off the market. Should the sale collapse, you want to move forward asap to the next potential buyer.

I just put a deposit on a home for $10,000. It was way more than I normally allocate. Usually, I only put down $2,500. I don't care about the sales price of the property. It's not a factor.

For legality purposes to create a valid contract, all I need is one dollar. The only reason I did was there were two other contingent contracts on the home already. I needed to create the impression of a superior offer without paying more for the property.

Plus, the seller is elderly and seemed to set great store on the value of the size of the deposit. This was an incorrect understanding on her part. What she didn't quite understand was the contract was written in such a way that we could walk off with no penalty. She still had two other buyers waiting.

The point is a deposit doesn't really mean much. Don't get hung up on it. I'm closing on the property next week. She will get her money. Everyone is happy except the two buyers who lost out.

Yes, the EMD is negotiable. Find out what the customary deposit is in your area from your Realtor. Here a less than 1% deposit is very light and not usually accepted even for VA deals but this varies widely depending on your geographic area. On a VA purchase even when the buyer is financing 100%, he still needs to have funds for closing costs. Every once in a great while all the closing costs will be paid by the seller (if agreed to and if the appraisal supports it) then the buyer will get the unused portion of his EMD back at closing.

Thanks again homechef! In my limited research, I gained a better understanding of the deposit situation. We have only purchased one home and that was 25 years ago! We built the home we are selling about 5 years ago.

So, now the things that concern me are the contingencies for financing, appraisal and home sale. Is this a situation where a kick out clause might be useful? The buyer does not have their current home on the market yet. We are in Florida and our agent is really acting as a transactional broker which is why I am doing my own research on this.

ETA: And my gut is telling me there may be better offers with fewer issues out there if the home was listed in MLS. I could be wrong...

Thanks Denita - typically it is at least 1% in our area and what we paid 25 years ago when we bought our other home.

Where in Florida are you (general description not address)? Contingent on the sale of their property is very rare and usually only if the property the buyers owns is already under contract. I'm a Realtor in SE Florida and accepting an offer contingent on the sale of buyer's property when it is not on the market is highly risky. Contingencies for financing, and appraisal is normal.

We are in north central Florida (UF) area. Yes, the home sale contingency is the one that concerns me the most since the home is not listed yet. The contract stipulates that they have 45 days to get it under contract. The agent is telling us that she already has a buyer for their home but I am not putting much stock in that absent a contract - and who knows, that may have a contingency as well!

Would you politely decline the offer and tell them to resubmit when their home is under contract or counter with something like a kick-out clause?

I don't know enough to say to decline it or not. If she does have a buyer for their home, then she should be able to get their home under contract with that buyer prior to presenting you the offer from the buyer for your home. This way you would have an idea of their actual ability to close and when they can close. You would also need to see their pre-approval.

I don't know that market in the UF area or how strong/weak it is right now.

I do know that if you allow 45 days for "your buyer" to get a contract it is tantamount to losing two of the best selling months of the year (balance of May and June).

School starts in August here (mid August). Most people want to have their home squared away before school starts.

Double check to see if your home is actually on the MLS.

You can do that by having her send you the MLS link. Or you can go to zillow and put in your address. There is an automatic upload from the MLS to Zillow. If it isn't showing up there then either there is an upload problem (possible but not likely) or its not in the MLS.

If the offer weren't contingent on the sale of the buyers house, then I would say you were in good shape, but it is contingent on the sale of their home which is not on the market yet. That puts you in a very precarious position, even with the kick out clause.

Thanks Denita - she has not put the listing in the MLS yet. Photos were taken last week as well. The market here is pretty good - things are moving very quickly for the most part.

...should be able to get their home under contract with that buyer prior to presenting you the offer from the buyer for your home. This way you would have an idea of their actual ability to close and when they can close. You would also need to see their pre-approval.

I would definitely feel more comfortable under those conditions. I appreciate your input!

She needs to get it in the MLS.

Our MLS has a 48 hour deadline to enter the listing from the time the listing agreement is signed unless there is a different date in the signed listing agreement.

Since she has the photos, what is holding up putting the listing in the MLS?

The idea is to get you a qualified buyer that is ready to buy now without a long drawn out contingency.

Denita - I totally agree and she has not articulated why she has not gotten in the MLS yet. I would be fine with that if she brought has a fully qualified buyer with no contingencies. Thank you so much - very helpful!

Your agent is also representing the buyer, right?

No, but another agent in her office is.

It sounds very fishy. I would decline and I would also insist she get it on the market now.

Thanks cpartist - that is exactly what I think we should do. Once the buyer has their home under contract they can resubmit an offer. Our home should have been on the market days ago.

I appreciate everyone's input - this situation made me uncomfortable and you have helped me more fully understand why.

Trust your gut. She can't or won't say why it isn't in the MLS is a red flag to me. Part of her job is to get the most eyeballs on your listing and to present any offers for your consideration. There is potential for better offers with no home sale contingency. I've always felt the home sale contingency can be a house of cards with too many factors out of your control with the potential to lose a great amount of time.

Accepting a contingent offer w/o the other home even being for sale is a huge risk, especially in a sellers market. For instance, what happens when they list it, and it is overpriced? You just lost prime selling time. Thank them for the offer, and ask them to come back the day the home is sold, or at least until the inspection negotiations are over with.

And your agent does owe you an explanation as to why the listing is not in the MLS

I'm thinking the reason it's not on MLS yet is because there was some sort of private arrangement between the other agent in the office, the OP's agent and the couple who want to buy the OP's house on contingency and they were hoping you'd go for it without them having to do any work.

Thank you - we declined the offer and suggested they submit an offer when their house is under contract. (Although, as ncrealesateguy recommends, it might be wiser to wait until after inspection negotiations.) We also insisted she list it immediately. I agree with cpartist that she and the other agent were hoping for a quick and easy inside sale without so much as showing or listing the house. Which might have been fine with an all cash offer and quick close. This was not a good start, however. Hopefully, things will start moving along as we expected once it is on the market and I'll be able to give a happy update!

Please come back and let us know how it all transpires.

Yes please let us know how it works out. Best of luck on a quick sale!

She didn't list the house on the local MLS? Then she didn't do her job, which was to advertise it to the widest possible market to get you the best possible offer. Your listing agreement should indicate that this was a minimal responsibility. I disagree that it's acceptable to hold it off the market for ANY reason, without your express consent. The agent should have been able to hit the ground running. Never have I sold a house via an agent where it wasn't listed in under 24 hours, nor would I accept that.

The offer is not a great one for you, with the contingent sale. I would certainly prefer a clean sale, and had you been exposed to the market, you may have received such an offer. The increased cost included for the Buyer to obtain the money to purchase means that the buyer may not be financially qualified, AND it also means that the house may not appraise for that value. What provision protects you in that instance? With such a tiny earnest payment in addition to the above, I would be very concerned about the ability of this buyer to perform, and would require proof of funds, and a mortgage commitment very quickly (like 3 business days or I'm out) if I would even consider this. Some have some boilerplate language that may not protect you, the seller. The VA methods has more hoops for the seller.

I honestly would not even wish to proceed with an agent who can't manage to even get it listed in a week (or several days, it sounds like it has been).

She claimed she was listing it last night and it would take up to 24 hours to show on any website. If it is not active tomorrow, we are going to have a meeting and a difficult conversation.

Thanks to all for sharing your experience and wisdom. I will update...

Good luck, Ruby!

There is some truth to it taking 24 hours to show on the MLS. Sometimes it's faster, sometimes it's slower. That part is out of her control. Once it goes live, be sure to check the listing for errors and omissions. They happen and it can hurt you. If you see a picture that you don't like or you think it sends the wrong impression, contact her immediately to have it fixed or removed. I always insist on seeing what the agent's see, too. Sometimes showing instructions can be incorrectly entered. It's always best to double check.

Update & thoughts: It is after noon and the listing is still not up. However, we did receive a text from our agent saying she would like to show the house tomorrow. My gut instinct is to tell her we need a meeting before she shows the house to anyone and we move forward with her. My DH is willing to let her show the house and see what happens. (He is more patient than I am to say the least.)

Thoughts?

Go get out your Listing Agreement. What is the obligation of the agent in terms of getting this listing in the MLS. I'm sure it's vague, but LOOK. How many days since you signed this? No way should this exceed a couple of days, max.

Text back: Please send me the link to my listing on (MLS System) now. Need to see it. Thanks.

She has her link even if it isn't live yet. She can show you what has been entered. Correct any mistakes IMMEDIATELY. I've seen some horrendous agent ads.

The Listing Agreement says "timely". Talk about vague...

Sounds like she is trying to create a "Pocket Listing" where she only markets it to people she knows, in order to capture both sides of the commission.

Did you agree that it is OK to have her represent both parties... dual agency?

The broker is acting as a transactional broker which is apparently what Florida came up with to prevent dual agency. I believe you are correct - she is working very hard to keep this as a pocket listing. It is still not listed and is "checking to see what happened". She wants to show it tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to feel comfortable with any offer unless it gets listed and into the marketplace. I'm beyond annoyed.

Oh heck, no. Tell her it needed to be listed within 24 hours of you signing, and that if she is trying to do a pocket deal, you are not interested as this is not the widest exposure to the market. I wouldn't go for that at ALL. Is it listed now?

Heck, no. I would be having a discussion with her RIGHT NOW.

If it's not live by tomorrow morning, you need to call her broker. Perhaps they can explain the delay to your satisfaction. Make the broker squirm a little.

You might want to insist on no showings until the listing is live.

I agree... no showings until it is live and been in the MLS for at least 24 hours.

"In a timely manner" is vague, but it by no means is referring to a weeks time.

Agree with ncrealestateguy and the others. She is doing you no favors. Doesn't the listing agreement give the duties of the agent? Contact her broker this morning if you don't have that link to your listing in the MLS by now.

She's the broker...:(

How long has it been since you signed the contract? Even if it is vague on the listing time I think a case can be made that it hasn't been done in a timely manner when it is beyond what is customary in your area. My guess is a few days would be customary and if you need out of the contract I'd mention that and if not a letter from an attorney might be all you need to get out of it.

I might consider another realtor at this time if there were other good choices, although it does appear like she is trying to at least sell the home, even though it doesn't seem to be done with the owner's best interests in mind.

Like I mentioned above I would say no showings until the listing is live. This way she has incentive to get it online and you don't have to worry about others not having the chance to compete.

When we sold three years ago, the listng went live and the agent scheduled a 3-6 PM Thursday open House within a couple of days. Almost 40 people showed up to see it. Tell your agent no showings until listing is live online a couple of days, then open house as only means of showing. Yes, I know open houses don't always sell houses, but this is in contrast to a drip-drip-drip of individual showings in a hot market.

Update: Well, it took 8 days and more than a bit of pressure but the listing is now up. Sushi - good idea, we will talk about an open house. Again, thank you all so much for your help!

Wish me luck that it will be smooth sailing going forward and a quick sale . I'll keep you posted...

Stay all over this transaction. With that start, you will need to retain control.

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the rules for our MLS and it states no more than two days from the execution of the Listing Agreement unless agreed upon by sellers that there will be a delayed marketing date.

Whatever happened to the buyer that wanted to view the home?

Thanks ncrealestate. She has shown the house once on the same day the listing went live and we have yet to receive any feedback or a contract (about 3 days ago). We have a call in to her now.

Meanwhile, we have found a new house that I have fallen for hard which makes me ever more eager for this to move quickly.

Update: we closed on this house last week and I am relieved but NOTHING about this process went smoothly or easily. We were brought a buyer with a very aggressive closing requirement (two weeks, cash) and we hustled to meet that deadline. Closing scheduled for a Friday afternoon and we show up only to find no one involved in this is there. Not our agent, not the buyers, not the buyers agent, and not the closing agent. Seems the buyer did not get their paperwork or wire transfer in on time. Beyond frustrated that no one bothered to inform us. Finally closed the following week but what a cluster. Needless to say, we will not be recommending our agent to anyone needing real estate services. Thanks for all the good advice here!

It's closed. It's done. The check has been cashed and the funds are in the bank. That's the glass is half full attitude.

I get the rest was a total clown show. To show up at a closing table and no one shows or calls to tell you of a delay, it unconscionable. But, congratulations on successfully selling the home.

Thank you homechef! We closed on our new home yesterday and the process has been night and day compared to the other. But yes, I am grateful that deal went through and the timing worked out well for us in the long run.

Congratulations on both the sale of your home and the purchase of your new one!

I'm sorry you had such a poor experience with your sale. Homechef is right about looking at the positive side and letting the negative go so you can enjoy your new home.

Yes, that negative experience is in the past and we are happily moving on!

rubyclaire....Thanks for the update and I'm glad it is a done deal for you. Thanks for sharing your experience. Others can learn and benefit from it.