How did this agent not understand the escalation addenda? IT's ONLY 2 sentences with 14 words!!!!

In working with this group of investors I help buy/sell property, I recently noticed a listing close that we had an offer on. The thing that grabbed my attention was that I thought my buyers were actually willing to pay more than it closed for....So then a couple of things entered my mind...

• Was this an in house sale? ....No
• Was it also a cash offer (as mine was)?....Yes
• Did they cancel the inspection contingency?....No
• Did they close in two weeks?....NO
• Was it for more than my buyers were willing to pay?.....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I had an offer in on the property for around $142K with an escalation to $146K...The property closed for $142,500. $3,500 LESS than what my buyers were willing to pay and we would have closed it FASTER!

I should have known something was up because when the agent called to notify me that we didn't get it I wanted to know why? Her response was "the sellers wanted to just move ahead and they didn't want to counter.".....I'm thinking OK- the other offer was higher and the sellers (and the agent) didn't want to give us an opportunity to improve our offer because the other offer was superior. However, this wasn't the case...The only thing I can guess is that the agent did a poor job explaining how the escalation addenda works...Basically, if the sellers were willing to accept an offer of $142,500 from this other set of buyers, my clients should have received the deal for $143,500 as per the escalation clause...

If for nothing else, this was an important learning experience...From now on, I will personally, sit down with the listing agent and make sure that the terms and offer are understood. Hopefully this helps add one more deal - or at least helps you from losing one more deal....