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CONFESSION #0270 — LOWBALL OFFER
Saturday, December 6, 2025
I had a buyer submit an offer last month that was so insultingly low I genuinely thought they'd accidentally left off a digit. We're talking a house listed at $525,000 and they came in at $340,000. Not a typo. Three hundred and forty thousand dollars. On a fully renovated home in a desirable neighborhood with multiple showings that weekend.
When I called to discuss strategy, they said with complete confidence, "Well, you never know unless you try, right?" I wanted to explain that yes, actually, we DO know. We know exactly what's going to happen. The listing agent is going to read this offer, screenshot it, send it to their group chat, and everyone is going to roast us at their next office meeting.
I presented it anyway because that's my job. The seller's agent responded with a single word: "No." Not a counter. Not a rejection letter. Just "no."
My buyers were genuinely shocked it wasn't accepted. They asked if we should "give them a few days to reconsider." I'm now questioning every life choice that led me to this career.
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF CRIMINAL OPTIMISM IN THE FIRST DEGREE WITH AGGRAVATED DELUSION
This Court has witnessed many affronts to reason, but presenting an offer that constitutes a 35% discount on a FULLY RENOVATED HOME as if it were a legitimate negotiating position is an act of such profound audacity that Judge Escrow must pause to collect himself. The buyer's assertion that "you never know unless you try" is technically correct in the same way that one never knows if a raccoon will spontaneously recite Shakespeare, yet we do not BUILD OUR STRATEGIES around such possibilities. The listing agent's single-word response of "no" represents, in this Court's estimation, remarkable restraint—a lesser professional would have responded with a GIF of someone being escorted from the premises by security. That the buyers then asked if the seller needed "a few days to reconsider" suggests they believe rejection is simply a phase one works through, like grief or a juice cleanse. The defendant-agent is hereby absolved of wrongdoing but is sentenced to carry the psychic weight of this transaction for no fewer than eighteen months. This Court needs air.
Lowball Lobotomy
Have a confession? Judge Reginald Escrow III's docket is always open.
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