Misleading Representation of Our Offer
We’ve successfully sold one home FSBO and purchased two homes without buyer representation. When buying a home, our strategy has always been to make our offers more competitive by effectively giving the seller a ~3% advantage (net gain), since there is no buyer’s agent commission to pay.
In those cases, the listing agent typically drafts the contract for us, sometimes at no cost or for a reduced fee (around 1%), and then presents our offer accordingly. This has worked well for us in the past. The listing agent never represents us, they just draft the contract for us.
However, in this recent situation, the listing agent completely misrepresented our offer. Despite knowing our strategy, he drafted our offer and presented it to the seller as if he would be collecting the full 6% commission - 3% as the listing agent and the additional 3% that we intended to be a net benefit to the seller. He never informed us this is what he was going to do. We even had a conversation about it and he said nothing; “sure, I’ll write the contract for you.”
He was not representing us in any capacity, yet failed to disclose this clearly and omitted key details when presenting our offer. He straight up lied to us even when we made it clear. Our contract even said “unrepresented.”
As a result, our offer was not competitive at all, completely undermining the intent behind our approach. We only uncovered this after he came back asking if we wanted to improve our price and terms. When we explained that our structure already provided a financial advantage to the seller, he hesitated and then admitted he intended to take the full 6%. He also admitted he knew that’s what we thought and lied to us. This was a phone call; nothing in writing.
The entire situation felt misleading and unethical. The agent clearly understood our strategy but chose to present our offer in a way that maximized his own commission rather than accurately conveying its value to the seller.
He ultimately told us there was no benefit to submitting an unrepresented offer. Based on that, we moved forward with representation and submitted a new offer, this time with a buyer’s agent, meaning the additional 3% went to our agent instead of remaining a potential benefit to the seller. And not going to the listing agent. He was snarky on the phone when we told him that. He clearly wanted to pocket the full 6%.
In the end, the deal fell through and the seller chose another offer. However, the seller was never properly presented with the original structure or intent of our offer, nor made aware of how it could have benefited them. The listing agent lied to us and was happy to take $60k worth of commissions (the full 6%).
If you’re capable of successfully selling a home FSBO, you’re more than capable of navigating a purchase without representation. We’re sharing this experience to caution other unrepresented buyers and to put listing agents on notice: we understand how these deals are structured, and we recognize the tactics that can be used to shift value away from buyers and sellers.
Edit: it was a full price offer with 3% net gain going to the seller. However, the list agent pocketed the 3% without informing us. It was NOT in the contract/ offer we signed. And yes, we did read the contract.