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I am not a l lawyer but - I can't see a bank comming after you. A private seller mabey, but not a bank. Besides - a bank questining your inspections could be seen as "not in good faith". If your termite inspector was license (and not your Uncle Louie) they should be willing to accept the results. They may disagree on your counter offer based on said report, but certainly having them ask for a separate inspection is a bit much.

My concern would be the potential loss of your earnest money deposit, unless you had a "fully refundable" clause in your P&S.

Is making multiple offers in this situation illegal or unethical?

DUH! if you signed a contract and commited to buying it.

Well, signing a contract doesn't commit the buyer to buying unless the contract has absolutely no contingency. Hopefully most buyers think of an exit door, just in case the foundations are toast. This said, we're still happy to buy it as long as the bank accepts our counter.

While the bank takes its dandy time, we don't want to be "out of the race" and potentially miss out on another property.
So our plan is to make another offer on another property with a one week contingency to inspect/change minds. If that 2nd offer also gets accepted, we have a back-up plan in case the bank gets greedy. If the bank gets greedy, we can buy the other house.

In a way, it's a bit the opposite scenario to sellers getting multiple offers.
Agents will be quick to mention competing offers so their client bids high, and the whole thing ends in a bidding war.
I think it works both ways. Informing the seller you're making multiple offers is not a bad thing (unless it's really illegal which I doubt). We just haven't been used to a buyer's market for some time... but buyers are getting harder to find..

you walk, you lose your deposite (wrote to the escrow co.) - maybe - but that is the only action the seller has. There is nothing worth a pigpooppile until escrow closes and the loan gets funded - THEN you are on the hook.

Neil says

Well, signing a contract doesn’t commit the buyer to buying unless the contract has absolutely no contingency. Hopefully most buyers think of an exit door, just in case the foundations are toast. This said, we’re still happy to buy it as long as the bank accepts our counter.

Alternative is to revoke the contract ASAP.

Neil says

In a way, it’s a bit the opposite scenario to sellers getting multiple offers.
Agents will be quick to mention competing offers so their client bids high, and the whole thing ends in a bidding war.

LOL! another version of fraud. So if these so called opposite scenario, where you have a single or multiple buyers making multiple offers (without intend) on multiple homes.
Certainly scews offering prices and demand higher! Not a good thing!

I think the realtors warning is bs. Where is it written you can only buy one house at a time? You could always make a rediculous lowball offer on the second place (hoping it gets rejected). The bank wants you to buy their house at their price. As long as they are stringing you along they have the upper hand.

deanrite says

Where is it written you can only buy one house at a time? You could always make a rediculous lowball offer on the second place (hoping it gets rejected).

If you made multiple written offer(s) on multiple homes, without intent to carry it out.. thats not doing business in 'good faith'. Your intent to breach a contract.

I see it this way.

It is like a girl weighing two guys. She can date both to see which is right guy for her, even if that's not the most nice way to behave and others may call her a whore. If she won't stop doing that after she picked one guy, that's when she become a dirty whore.

You can make another offer for another home that is not belong to the same owner. "Fine! I will buy from someone else" is common thing happens everywhere. But you just don't get the refund when you already ate the sandwitch, ripped the receipt off.

So, make sure you don't sign two contracts at the same time period. Otherwise, you may be forced to buy two homes, you will lose honest deposit you made, or got sued. That's the cost of playing multiple games. You just can't have insurance or second choice without paying a cost.

Thank you all for your advice. Makes more sense now.

What about disclosing on offer B that you are in contract on another property (A) and that you will withdraw your offer (B) if the counter on A is not accepted in 4 days?

I gave one day and one day only offers.

But if it was accepted and your beef is with your bank and not anything the seller is doing. Then I don't get why you are trying to bail on this one, if the offer was accepted by the other party.

bank = owner = seller

Bap33 says

bank = owner = seller

That's 3 girls 1 cup.

I'm guessing you returned for more money off after inspection, and the bank is going to get its own termite person now. Usually, after the inpsection the seller has about 48 hours to say ya or nay to your new price. If they come back and say we want our own inspector I don't know what that means to you. What kind of timeline untill they come back with their own beastie report?

If they come back to you and say "yes, fine it's a deal" within the timeframe you've consented them for the inspection I'd think you might have a problem, but my guess they're going to try and chew you another couple grand at which point you can walk and your realtor "has done all this work" for nothing and they have to start all over again. Oh! What a bother for a measly 30 grand commision!

Realtor's suck.

We had one agent who was perfectly fine writing offers on multiple houses at the same time. After moving, we had one agent who said the same thing your agent said "not negotiating in good faith" and wouldn't do it.

I'm personally in the camp of writing offers on multiple houses. There's practically no way the bank can come after you for the good faith issue. How can a bank prove you weren't negotiating in good faith? Maybe you did intend to buy two houses. Maybe you liked the one, but then found one you liked more but didn't know if you would get the second one so you kept the first offer going just in case. It would be extremely difficult to prove. If either of your current possibilities don't work out, it may be time to look for a new agent.

mthom says

We had one agent who was perfectly fine writing offers on multiple houses at the same time. After moving, we had one agent who said the same thing your agent said “not negotiating in good faith” and wouldn’t do it.

Agent #1 was willing to do it because it was more potential for him/her to get a commission out of you.

And from what I've seen, sellers do not negotiate in good faith. Why should buyers? Countering asking price... what the hell? Bidding war tactic didn't work.

mthom says

I’m personally in the camp of writing offers on multiple houses. There’s practically no way the bank can come after you for the good faith issue. How can a bank prove you weren’t negotiating in good faith? Maybe you did intend to buy two houses. Maybe you liked the one, but then found one you liked more but didn’t know if you would get the second one so you kept the first offer going just in case. It would be extremely difficult to prove. If either of your current possibilities don’t work out, it may be time to look for a new agent.

And what about the next guy who bid? He made a good faith bid forced to go higher, not knowing the lower bid was.. not intended to go through. The process is broken.

thomas.wong1986 says

And what about the next guy who bid? He made a good faith bid forced to go higher, not knowing the lower bid was.. not intended to go through. The process is broken.

But I think whoever makes multiple offers are usually lower offers. It's only the serious ones that bid high. But if both offers are accepted, then we have a problem.

How's about telling the first seller that they have one day to meet your counter or you walk? You obviously made your first offer subject to inspections - and you have one. If they send out their own inspector, will you accept if that guy says that your inspection is a crock of shit? You had an offer with contingencies and it seems that they have to meet them or you can waltz away.

What did your counter say, btw? It usually has an end-date/time.

Vain says

mthom says

We had one agent who was perfectly fine writing offers on multiple houses at the same time. After moving, we had one agent who said the same thing your agent said “not negotiating in good faith” and wouldn’t do it.

Agent #1 was willing to do it because it was more potential for him/her to get a commission out of you.
And from what I’ve seen, sellers do not negotiate in good faith. Why should buyers? Countering asking price… what the hell? Bidding war tactic didn’t work.

Agent #1 was doing what we asked - I have no problem with that.

thomas.wong1986 says

mthom says

I’m personally in the camp of writing offers on multiple houses. There’s practically no way the bank can come after you for the good faith issue. How can a bank prove you weren’t negotiating in good faith? Maybe you did intend to buy two houses. Maybe you liked the one, but then found one you liked more but didn’t know if you would get the second one so you kept the first offer going just in case. It would be extremely difficult to prove. If either of your current possibilities don’t work out, it may be time to look for a new agent.

And what about the next guy who bid? He made a good faith bid forced to go higher, not knowing the lower bid was.. not intended to go through. The process is broken.

The next guy did not have to go higher. He shouldn't have known what we offered. He should have offered what he felt it was worth. That's the reality of negotiating. Since our offers usually only have 3 days to expire, it's not like the next guy couldn't just wait a little while to see if it falls through also.

Vain says

thomas.wong1986 says

And what about the next guy who bid? He made a good faith bid forced to go higher, not knowing the lower bid was.. not intended to go through. The process is broken.

But I think whoever makes multiple offers are usually lower offers. It’s only the serious ones that bid high. But if both offers are accepted, then we have a problem.

You're correct about the offers being low ones. We were lowballing. But both offers being accepted isn't a big deal, you should have contingencies that allow easy escape. Even before those, here in CA, if you don't submit the deposit check within a few days after acceptance, the deal falls through - end of story.