what to do when you don't hear back from agent after putting an offer?

[Raj Vajir]

I recently put an offer for a house that needed some work through an agent.  They were asking $93K but I offered $80.  Current owners want to move out to build another bigger house.  How can I know if he actually submitted the offer to the sellers.  He is not responding.  Is there a way I can submit offer directly to seller or to their agent?  

[Kathryn C.]

It is good professional practice to always acknowledge offers received within 24 hours and at a minimum they should tell you if the offer was rejected however many times the agents are waiting on the sellers to respond and the sellers are waiting to see if they receive any other offers.  As far as I know all states require a written offer to be presented. We always send our offers with the first sentence stating "Please confirm receipt of our clients offer".. If they don't acknowledge it within 24 hours, the majority do, we send a follow up stating we sent it previously but never heard back.  If they don't respond to that we send it by fax to their office and call the broker, not the agent, and ask if the agent is out of town as we submitted an offer but cannot get a response.  Not the best way to build a relationship with the agent but will most certainly get you a response.