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CONFESSION #0029 — LOWBALL OFFER
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
I spent three weeks working with a buyer who kept telling me he was "very serious" and "ready to move fast." We toured fourteen properties. I rearranged my entire schedule to accommodate his very specific availability windows. He finally found a house he loved—listed at $425,000, priced competitively, already had two other offers coming in. He wanted to submit at $340,000. I explained comps. I showed him the data. I pulled up three nearly identical homes that sold within the last sixty days at or above asking. I gently mentioned that the sellers would probably not even respond. He said, and I quote, "They'll take it. Everyone negotiates." They did not take it. They didn't counter. They didn't acknowledge it existed. The listing agent texted me a single emoji: 🙄 My buyer was genuinely shocked. Asked me if I thought the sellers were "playing hardball." No, Kevin, they're not playing anything. They threw your offer directly into the trash and accepted one of the other two that same afternoon. He's now upset with me because I "didn't advocate hard enough." We are no longer working together.
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF CRIMINAL DELUSION IN THE FIRST DEGREE AND AGGRAVATED KEVIN BEHAVIOR
This Court has seen many things in its distinguished tenure, but rarely has it witnessed such a pristine specimen of mathematical fantasy. The defendant's buyer—and yes, this Court will say his name, KEVIN—submitted an offer twenty percent below asking in a competitive market and expected what, exactly? A parade? The listing agent's single emoji response represents more judicial efficiency than this Court has ever achieved, and I am DEEPLY ENVIOUS of their restraint. Kevin believed "everyone negotiates" as if real estate operates on the same principles as haggling over a used kayak at a garage sale. The defendant is hereby EXONERATED of all charges, their patience canonized, their sanity questioned only for spending three weeks accommodating someone whose "very specific availability windows" were clearly just gaps between episodes of whatever gave him these ideas. Kevin, if you're reading this, and this Court suspects you are not a reader, the sellers weren't playing hardball—they were playing "literally any other offer." I need to go lie down in a dark room and think about the listing agent who got to send that emoji.
SCANDAL RATING: 6.8/10 The Audacity of Kevin

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