Your partner must realise that the price of the property is not it's actual value
The sale price has nothing to do with actual value it is the figure that the owner would like to receive, the figure that he thinks is the very top of the market
The figure you offer is the figure you would like to pay
Hopefully in any negotiation you can reach a figure that you can both accept as a sale figure but to do that there has to be an offer put to the owner
Allthough I don't agree in principal of making an offer and then dropping it the negogiation of purchase is a mind game and you must be in charge to win.
As has been stated the Agent is compelled to present all offers. You should have insisted that the agent write up the offer for presentation to the owner, if he refuses just go straight to the owner and remind the owner that the agent has broken the law and as such the owner no longer has to pay him any commission so that increases the offer effectivly by about $10,000.00
