Does a Realtor Have to Present Buyers Offer to the Seller?

Attorney Thomas B. Burton answers the following question in his latest Real Estate Q&A Series Video: "Does a Realtor Have to Present Buyers Offer to the Seller?"

Want to know what type of estate planning documents are best for your situation? Download a free copy of my easy estate planning guide. Obtain Your Free Will vs. Trust Estate Planning Guide here.

➮ Subscribe to Burton Law LLC’s channel to get notified when we post new videos. Subscribe here

Welcome back!

I'm Attorney Thomas Burton and today we continue our popular Question and Answer Series with the following question:

"Does a realtor have to present a buyer's offer? Can I ask for proof that our offers were presented to the seller? We have put offers in on multiple properties. We started to offer on the last home on a Thursday. On Monday, the realtor asked that we remove a home sale contingency and wrote a new offer that was signed on Monday. Then on Wednesday, they informed me that I had to sign the document again as my significant other signature was on a separate form. The sellers were to respond on Wednesday and now we can't get any answers. We have not received a rejected offer, we really haven't received any information from the realtor. I do not think our first offer was ever presented and I'm questioning if the second one was. What can we do about this? We offered full asking price with financing and appraisal contingencies only. We are tired of the realtor games!"

So first, I'm sorry to hear about the situation with the realtor. If the realtor is your realtor, they should be representing you as agents, so that's where I would start, is this a realtor you hired to represent you as a buyer or are they representing the seller?

Second, if the realtor is using the standard offer to purchase form which is WB11 promulgated by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, then there is a line at the bottom that the realtor should complete, that shows the time and date they presented the offer to the seller. So look at line 578 on page 10 of the form because there's a line they fill out and then the seller is supposed to either sign to accept or initial to reject, there's lines at the bottom of that form. So I would ask to see a copy of that offer to purchase form from your realtor or from the realtor that shows the date and time it was presented to the seller because that should be filled in and that would answer your question and like I said, the the seller would either then sign and date to accept or initial on line 580, to reject or counter your offer.

So that's where I would start. Look at the contract, the standard WB11 and if you have further questions, I suggest you sit down with a qualified real estate litigation attorney, who can examine the contracts in question and give you advice as to your situation because remember, the only person, the only people in the state of Wisconsin who can give legal advice regarding the contracts, are licensed attorneys.

Realtors are allowed to use these forms promulgated by DSPS but they can't give you legal advice regarding the terms of those forms and I would again remind you, go back to who is that realtor representing the seller's interest or your interest, are they your realtor because it, I'm sorry to hear about the situation but it seems odd to me they're leaving you in the dark, if they are representing you and in that case you might want to consider finding a different realtor to work with but again, in terms of getting an answer about whether your offer was presented, I would look at the form and ask to see the time and date it was presented to the seller. Then in terms of a rejected offer, it depends on what you wrote in the contract, how many days does the seller have to respond. If you're still in that period where they can respond, then that may be why you haven't received a rejection yet but definitely, when you're writing a contract, if I'm working with a client, I like to ask, remind them of those deadlines because time is of the essence. If you write in there, they have three days to respond, they have three days, if you write seven days, they have seven days, if you write a month they have a month it's all negotiable in the contract according to the way you drafted it.

Again, I'm sorry to hear about your situation but I would try to get a copy of that WB11 offer to purchase, to see the date and time it was presented to the seller.

So excellent question and thank you for asking and to our viewers, I answer real questions like this every month on the channel as a service to the public. So if this video has been helpful to you, please consider giving it a LIKE, so that other people encountering a similar situation in the future, can see and benefit from this information as well.

Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.

©2022 Burton Law LLC. All Rights Reserved. Transcript and captions provided for ease of access for the hearing impaired. For questions about this topic, or to suggest a topic for a future blog post, please contact the office.