Warning Agents an offer is coming a bad thing?

[Jeff Smith]

So i stumbled upon a short sale (that was supposedly bank approved) condo requiring minimal rehab (paint/sliding glass door/range) listed at 29900 which could easily rent for 650-675. The numbers seemed to work out great, I could do the work myself and still rent for over the 20% rule. Found this deal Friday evening had my agent contact the sellers agent saying we would be publishing an offer first thing Monday morning since nothing could happen on the week anyways. Sunday evening my realtor calls me saying they have upped the asking price to 35. Found that annoying but went through with my plan and offered 27000, a quick close, and playing my own closing costs Monday morning expecting to get a counter and settle somewhere around 31. Received a phone call last night from my realtor saying she received an email saying there was a verbal counter offer of 35000 (full list price) and they were looking for an answer tomorrow.

So is this a lesson to not give agents the courtesy of knowing you are submitting an offer after the weekend?

Also what are others opinions based on their experiences of the "verbal counter"? Is it common for a verbal counter of this nature with no paperwork or official correspondence of this nature? Maybe the bank/seller are just testing the waters trying to see if I will budge at all?

Thanks

Jeff

[Jeff Smith]

Thank you all for the sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience. Learning more and more each day, as this was only my second offer I will have to have a talk with my agent about our timeliness and that I want to jump immediately. Thankfully I am halfway through the class for my license so soon I will not be forced to depend on the reliability of others.

Thanks again!

Jeff