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CONFESSION #0339 — LOWBALL OFFER
Friday, February 13, 2026
I just submitted a lowball offer so embarrassing I considered faxing it so I wouldn't have to hear the listing agent's voice when she saw it. My buyers wanted to offer $285,000 on a $389,000 listing that's only been on the market for four days. Their reasoning? "The Zestimate says $310,000 and we need to leave room for negotiation." I explained that Zillow isn't an appraiser, that the house has three offers already, and that we'd be laughed out of the room. They insisted. Said their uncle made a fortune buying low. So I called the listing agent, apologized in advance, and read the offer. The silence lasted so long I thought the call dropped. Then she just said, "I'll present it, but I want you to know I'm going to need a glass of wine first." The sellers countered at full price just to make a point. My buyers were genuinely shocked they didn't come down at least $50,000. Now they want to wait for the house to "sit longer" so they'll have leverage. It went under contract yesterday. Above asking.
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF ZILLOW-BASED FINANCIAL DELUSION AND UNCLE-REFERENCED MARKET MANIPULATION
This Court has seen many things in its distinguished career, but rarely has it witnessed such a flagrant assault on the basic principles of real estate mathematics. The defendant enabled their clients to submit an offer so catastrophically lowball that it required the listing agent to seek ALCOHOLIC FORTIFICATION before presenting it. Judge Escrow must ask: what exactly did the uncle buy low? Beanie Babies? Enron stock? The dignity of listing agents everywhere? The Court finds it particularly galling that these buyers genuinely believed a $104,000 discount would materialize from thin air because a WEBSITE NAMED AFTER A CARTOON SOUND EFFECT told them so. The defendant knew this offer was deceased on arrival, knew it would require a posthumous apology, and sent it anyway like a carrier pigeon into a hurricane. This Court sentences the defendant to explain the difference between Zestimate and estimate to their clients using only interpretive dance, and furthermore orders them to send a condolence card to the listing agent's wine budget.
Zestimate Crimes Against Dignity
Have a confession? Judge Reginald Escrow III's docket is always open.
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