Can You Mail or Call Owners Directly to Buy Property?

[Bob Asad]

If a property is on the MLS but you're not sure if the listing agent is being truthful or passing along your offer, can you use Propstream (or something that others recommend) to mail, email, or call the owner directly with your offer?

This way if they pass you along to their listing agent, at least you know the offer was seen. This is assuming that you're not even talking to the listing agent initially (skipping them) and going directly to the owner as the buyer.

Thoughts?

[Bob Asad]

Thanks for the detailed response. The challenge is knowing if the listing agent actually tells your offer to the seller or not.

For example, if a distressed property is $650k and you want to offer $620k, the listing agent says the lowest the seller may accept is $645k, but is that actually true or made up because the listing agent wants their commission?

So there's not a way to know unless you find out from the seller directly.