Do you ever set a time limit on the offer to end on a weekend since you might view it the day before? I've had agents not work the Sunday and Monday after an open and not give the offer to the vendors until the Tuesday.
The power of a deadline is real. I like using this whenever possible, it's ok to explain the reasoning... We love this property but want to be able to offer on another one if we miss out therefore our offer is valid until.... and written down is even better. Have found that works better than a take it or leave it approach, also it's more suitable when you have some negotiation power, if there are multiple offers on the property you would be better off asking 'what can I do to make my offer stronger?' rather than using an offer deadline.
One of the first 'rules' I learnt about negotiating was: "Always put the other party under time pressure BUT never allow yourself to be". I always put time limit on my offers, on conditions, etc.
I wouldn't work around the agents days at work. If the agent wants his commission he will work for it.
Agent already knows you are very interested by putting in an offer on the same day you view the property. Just put your offer price and reasonable deadline of a couple working days, probably till end of tuesday. You do not need to give justification for your deadline but be prepared to lose the property if the seller does not respond. In my experience most sellers will be able to say YES or NO within an hour or provide a counteroffer quicksmart. Even if there is one other offer higher than yours, the agent wont bother calling you back. The agent will be calling you back very quickly if yours is the highest offer or the only offer on the table. You will also get a call when all other offers higher than yours fall through. I've had agents calling me suddenly 2 months after a property was unable to sell. The agent will have your offer in a file even if it has expired. REA's are really only very busy on saturdays where they have to be on the ground at opens. I dun think they would take a day off and miss a big fat 10k-20k commission. Putting deals together even on sundays, its all just part of REAs work.
