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CONFESSION #0203 — LOWBALL OFFER
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
I received a lowball offer last week that was so insulting I actually laughed out loud in front of my clients. The house was listed at $485,000—priced competitively, I might add, with recent comps to back it up. The offer came in at $340,000. Three hundred and forty thousand dollars. With a request for $15,000 in seller concessions and a 60-day closing timeline because the buyers "needed time to sell their boat." Their boat. I called the buyer's agent expecting some kind of explanation, maybe a typo, maybe a decimal point situation. Nope. He said his clients "really liked the house but wanted to leave room for negotiation." Room for negotiation? That's not negotiation, that's a hostage situation. My sellers wanted to reject it without a counter, but I convinced them to write back with the list price plus a $5,000 increase "for emotional damages." The other agent actually called me unprofessional. Meanwhile I'm sitting here wondering if his buyers also offer $4 for a steak dinner and ask the restaurant to throw in free parking.
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF RETALIATORY REPRICING AND EMOTIONAL DAMAGES FRAUD IN THE FIRST DEGREE
This Court has seen many things in its distinguished tenure, but EMOTIONAL DAMAGES ON A REAL ESTATE COUNTER-OFFER is a new frontier of petty that frankly Judge Escrow must admire from a distance, like one admires a tornado. You weaponized the counteroffer process to punish people for being delusional about boat equity, and while this Court understands the impulse—deeply, viscerally, in the marrow of these judicial bones—we cannot allow agents to simply INVENT LINE ITEMS based on feelings. The buyers are clearly unwell, offering boat-contingent lowballs like this is a marina and not a housing transaction, but YOU responded to chaos with more chaos and called it professionalism. The $5,000 upcharge for "emotional damages" is not a recognized real estate term in ANY jurisdiction this Court has invented. Furthermore, calling the other agent unprofessional when you literally added a spite fee to a legal document is the kind of audacity that keeps Judge Escrow awake at night, pacing, muttering about standards. I need to go lie down in my chambers.
SCANDAL RATING: 6.8/10 Spite Fee Architect

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