[l2ridehd]

As stated by manaboutown almost all real estate agents work for the seller unless a signed agreement for them to act as a buyers agent is in place. This includes villages and MLS agents. You have to treat them as an arms length agent. Technically they can't lie to you, but they can sure avoid the truth by not offering up pertinent information.

Because they work for the seller it is incumbent on you to ask all questions, due complete inspections, get everything in writing and NEVER disclose your true intentions with an offer. And no matter what they say, everything is negotiable.

If for example you offer 300K for a 325K home, but tell the agent that if they refuse you will go as high as 315K, that agent is bound by law to disclose that information to the seller. So the counter would probably be 320K.

I usually go way in the other direction by telling the agent that the 300K is my best and final and that I have another home that I am considering with another agent that I will make an offer on if this seller doesn't accept. I want that agent and seller to firmly believe that they will lose me as a buyer if my offer is not accepted. Does not mean that I may move some, but they have to believe I wont. In fact I want that agent to believe he will lose a commission if he can't convince the seller to accept my offer.

That strategy has got me some deep discounts over the years and I only lost one purchase because of using it. It does work better in a slow market than a very hot market, but it does work.