Actually the agent/Realtor(?) may have a duty to disclose all information but with the limited information amy provided it is really not possible to know.
If amy's agent is a Buyers Agent for her and knows of other offers and the terms then they DO have a duty to disclose.
The assumption here I believe is that the agent is a Sellers Agent and therefore has no duty to disclose but this assumption might be incorrect also. It is up to the Seller in my area whether terms of the contract are disclosed and there is even a section in the listing contract that the Seller can sign and agree to disclose or not agree. If the Seller agree's to disclose then the agent must follow the lawful instructions even if the agent is a Sellers Agent or even a Dual Agent.

The question to amy is....what is your agency relationship with the agent and I'll take a wild guess and say you are not sure.

EDITED: Numerous posts by others were deleted in this discussion so keep this in mind when reading this thread....none of my posts were deleted

OK......what is an "estate agent"? I must have been sleeping that day in class.

Learned something new today.....definition of an "estate agent"...amy...are you in the UK or Ireland?

Estate Agent

i'm assuming you are saying that the agent that is representing the sellers is not saying if your offer is highest. Where I live they usually don't say anything except "highest and best" offers are due by a certain time. This way they help their sellers get the best price for their house, as everyone is supposed to put in the most they'd be willing to pay.

Take a couple hypothetical examples: If you are willing to pay more, if the agent said you were the highest then you may be inclined to not offer top buying price which hurts the seller they are representing. Anothe hypothetical example: Even if they did say that you were the top offer, if one of the other offers increases theirs so you aren't the top offer, the you'd be mad because you might say "but i would have offered more".

By not saying anything they leave it to the buyers to decide how much they are willing to pay. You may loose the house by only being $100 under the other offer (or even being higher but with worse terms). Or you may win the house, and never know if the next highest offer that you beat was $100 less than yours, or maybe you just paid $20k more than the next offer. It's on you as the buyer to decide what is the highest amount you are willing to pay, and be ok with that price if you win it, or be ok with loosing the house if somone else bids more.

We got our house this way- and to this day we still don't know if the other offer was a little bit lower or a lot lower than ours. Maybe we way overpaid. Maybe we just barely beat out the other offer. . Some things you'll just never know....

The buyers agent won't know how the offer compares to others received if the seller's agent doesn't reveal that information. So, is the seller's agent required to reveal this information while all offers are being received and reviewed?

SaltyDawg....So you offer advice to someone without really having enough information to make a proper assessment of the situation and I nicely try to point her in the right direction without throwing you under the bus and you come back with a rather silly comment of she said "estate agent." like I was missing something which I am not. This is a first time home buyer you are giving your opinion to and no sense in fanning the flames with comments that you can't ascertain as being true.

If you are going to make statements like you did above then take it like a man (or women) when you are out of your realm of expertise and stand corrected.

I mistakenly took estate agent to be akin to seller agent or buyer agent and suggest the sale was that of Probate involving sale of the estate. I do see some infrequent usage of "estate agent" when I search probate home sale - however the more common usage is, in fact, real estate agent...

My answer is absolutely correct if this is an estate sale... and some others have seemingly reached that conclusion. We'll have to see.

I'll delete my posts.

Estate agent is the term for a realtor in the UK. So we probably need to know where the OP is based. If it's the UK then buyers agents are very uncommon and an estate agents only duty is to the seller (or at least that is what I've been led to believe).

So, my terrible advice, now deleted, was also correct to your understanding?

In the hypothetical, were the estate agent a buyer's agent, how would the buyer's agent have knoeledge of all of the offers.

lol

Here in NC, sellers nor their agents can disclose any of the terms of another buyer's contract unless they get permission from the buyers... good luck with that. They can only ask for highest and best from all parties.

Summeratthelake, are you certain that sellers in your area can disclose the confidential terms of another buyer's contract to any and all other buyers w/o their permission?

nc...I didn't say anywhere that terms could be disclosed without the buyers permission...I said that terms could be disclosed with the Sellers permission and this is thoroughly disclosed in our State approved Listing Contract and it is up to the Seller to accept or reject the disclosure of other offers/terms. Our "Boiler Plate State Approved Listing Contract" has 2 boxes to check and one box checked is for NO DISCLOSURE AT ALL and the other box is for FULL DISCLOSURE INCLUDING TERMS, I am 150% sure that disclosure of terms is legal in my area.

Now the above is the legal aspect of our Listing Contracts so I will now voice my opinion on how I do business. I do not like to disclose terms of other offers and very seldom have done that without my Sellers direct orders. There are agents that "shop" contracts and I am not one of them. In multiple offer situations I usually consult my Seller to respond with "highest and best" to all parties.

The OP said there were five other offers in addition to hers and the "estate agent" would not disclose which was the highest.

Does anyone honestly believe that all six of the offers were tendered by the same buyers agent?

In order to know what the high offer was, one would have to be privy to all of the offers, and on the buyers side that would not happen unless the same agent represented them all.

Just sayin'.

SaltiDog wrote (so you can't delete later) So, my terrible advice, now deleted, was also correct to your understanding?

In the hypothetical, were the estate agent a buyer's agent, how would the buyer's agent have knoeledge of all of the offers.

lol

I have been a Buyers Agent in multiple offer situations many, many, times and I have always known of the other offers because the Listing Agent told me so. At times I have even been told some details of the other offers. This really isn't something that is hard to figure out but maybe you should get a big star in front of your name by catching me lol :)

SaltiDawg wrote...

Does anyone honestly believe that all six of the offers were tendered by the same buyers agent?

In order to know what the high offer was, one would have to be privy to all of the offers, and on the buyers side that would not happen unless the same agent represented them all.

Just sayin'.

Where did you come up with this scenario at? This was not even discussed until you brought this up but while you are on the subject......a Buyers Agent wouldn't have to be privy to all the offers to know what the high offer is...just one offer (the high one).

Are you smoking something?

Just asking. I don't know why you've taken such a shining to me... have we met?

I apologized for mistakenly taking "estate agent" to mean sellers agent. I stated i had erred and said i'd delete my posted advice.

Your personal attacks and nasty comments have virtually assured the OP will not get help here.

Go tackle the other posters in this thread that have tried to help and questioned your poor info.

Summer, in your state, if the seller checks the box in the listing agreement that gives the listing agent the approval to disclose the terms of other offers, does the seller still have to get the permission from the buyers before doing so?

If anyone is interested, clicking on the OP's name (as in trying to see her country of residence) brings This Page No Longer Exists - so either Houzz has a glitch or she has withdrawn her registration. If that's the case, no wonder...

NC....there is no verbiage in the Listing Contract that says what you are referring to. This is a state approved contract and approved by legal council as are all of our forms.

Here in tx we cannot disclose terms of other offers, or tell someone in a highest and best offer situation where their offer stands. And being the highest is not necessarily the best, or the offer that will be accepted, since their are other components to an offer that can make it more desirable for the seller...ie cash, type of financing, dn pmt, earnest money, financing contingency, sale of other property contingency, closing date, waiving option period, etc.

Summer, here are two quotes from you...

"It is up to the Seller in my area whether terms of the contract are disclosed and there is even a section in the listing contract that the Seller can sign and agree to disclose or not agree. If the Seller agree's to disclose then the agent must follow the lawful instructions even if the agent is a Sellers Agent or even a Dual Agent."

"I said that terms could be disclosed with the Sellers permission and this is thoroughly disclosed in our State approved Listing Contract and it is up to the Seller to accept or reject the disclosure of other offers/terms. Our "Boiler Plate State Approved Listing Contract" has 2 boxes to check and one box checked is for NO DISCLOSURE AT ALL and the other box is for FULL DISCLOSURE INCLUDING TERMS, I am 150% sure that disclosure of terms is legal in my area."

I am confused by your posts.

Are sellers in your state allowed to disclose the terms of multiple offer contracts to other parties if they do not have permission from each buyer to do so?

NC....I am not sure why you are confused....each paragraph you pasted says the same thing in that an offer and terms can be disclosed with the Sellers permission. I said nothing about multiple offers or obtaining Buyers permission and the only reason I didn't say anything about that is because the Listing Contract doesn't mention that scenario.....only that the Listing Agent can disclose with Sellers permission.

You know as well as I do that a Realtor follows the terms of a contract. Asking Buyers permission to disclose is not a part of the Listing Contract BUT asking Sellers is.

I don't understand why some think that Real Estate practices could not possibly be different in my area than theirs.

I'm beginning to think that Summer has to be right about everything based on one state's laws.

The real estate laws are different in all 50 states.

I feel sorry for the OP who deserved an answer that didn't include a lot of bickering.

Code Of Ethics (because I know this will be the next question)

There are actually 2 options that a Seller can check in the disclosure process so I stand corrected in that regard but terms can be disclosed with Sellers permission.

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab12/summersatthelake2/res%202.jpg

Summer,

I am still confused... a simple yes or no to this question will suffice. I am not bashing you nor determining what is right or wrong. Just trying to determine if a seller can disclose terms of multiple offers to the buying parties w/o the buyer's permission. From what you have posted, it seems as though they can. Here, they can not.

I'm not trying to be difficult here either but I am not going to answer yes or no to your question because your question is not directly addressed in our Listing/Sales Contract. If you would ask me if a Seller can disclose the terms of offers on their property the answer is an emphatic YES they can according to our Listing Contract and if the Seller agrees to this in writing. There is no mention of Buyers consent.

My answer remains the same...in our State approved Listing Contract a Seller can agree to disclose the terms of "offers" on the property....offers is plural so....

In no state does a seller have standing to remove buyer's privilege, regardless of what they sign. The problem is whether or not real estate contracts are presumed privileged, in some states they are. In my state all real estate contracts are considered privileged and we are not a very progressive state, this includes inspections, offers, mortgage communications, etc. I have to sign a release so the inspector can send my agent a copy of the inspection report, said agent has a release on file from me but the inspection report has to have a release in it for her to further send it out. I assume this is what NC is referring to - I can release my privilege to the inspector, but he still has to release his privilege.

Other states may not presume privilege, but it can still be invoked. Which I assume is the case in summers's state. My purchase agreement still had a confidentiality clause in it, and distribution would not be allowed even in a state where privilege is not presumed. Something like, "this contract is intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited."