Skeemy real estate agents? They are backing up their behavior with "laws," but have been unable to send me the actual laws/rules. Please Help in this quest for answers!
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Ill set a tiny bit of background.

We got an email from the real estate agent saying that a house we were interested in lowered from 1650 to 1500. That was perfect for us, so we filled out the apps and paid the app fees (it may be worth mentioning it was a disorganized application process with lots of back and forth emails- thats probably ill relevant.) Once we turned everything in we get this email:

"Hi, thanks for your application and lease offer.  We have more than one interested party in this home.  In real estate we cannot discuss other offers, but must give each one the opportunity to change your lease offer if you desire.  This is not OUR policy but a policy that every real estate office must follow whether it is an offer to buy or to rent.  You do not have to change your offer, nor are we suggesting you do.  But we must give all people the opportunity to do so if they desire.  You can leave the offer/terms the same or change them by offering more monthly rent, increasing the lease length, etc. Please let us know asap so we can go to the owner with the offers.  Thanks!"

Are they required by law to start bartering once they have "more than one interested party?" I asked them to send me the laws. Its been four days and all I have gotten back are emotionally fueled responses, questioning myself, and stating that they are qualified and educated and legal. Don't worry, I am being pretty reasonable, just asking for the laws and giving them my feelings- I'm not an ass hole, maybe just a little prick? Anyway,

Is there a distinction between interested parties and actual offers? They only had interested parties.

From my perspective it seems that they are trying to get more money, nothing illegal there, just annoying. But they are saying that they are legally bound to do this. It seems to me they are reaching for and trying to apply possibly irrelevant laws that back up their agenda.

Thoughts? Laws?

Thank you!

The house in question is in Missouri. I believe they also have houses in Kansas.
[{"id": "evg5vq9", "text": "I think your wasting your energy asking for laws. They are just trying to get more money from you whether they have another offer or not. If I were in your shoes I\u2019d tell them they have the best offer I can give and that they 2 days to accept before I look elsewhere.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "evgjysy", "text": "Walk away. Those are shady tactics. If you want, you can file a complaint with your state's DOL, or at least threaten to, that might get the realtor to change their tune rather quickly", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "evgn5km", "text": "I am a broker in MO &amp; KS in the Kansas City area. I am not an attorney, and nothing I say should be taken as advice.\n\nAgents have to abide by federal laws, state laws, their MLS requirements, and their Association of Realtor bylaws, in addition to company policies. For this reason, many agents have difficulty distinguishing things they've learned on the job, so to speak.\n\nI happen to be an agent that seeks out the documentation that supports claims like your agent is making. Without more info, I can't suss out too much, of course, but I don't see anything that's incorrect about what they have done. I can't tell if you're talking about a rental or purchase when you say they've lowered the price from 1650 to 1500, but I can attest that price reductions often result in multiple people suddenly finding it within their price range.\n\nIf multiple offers do come in, we cannot negotiate terms with counter offers to multiple people at one time, which is a tradition and something of a \"standard operating procedure\" for many firms, but not a law. The reason in the Kansas City area is that the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors attorney (I think his name is Jim Phillips, but I could be mistaken) has instructed the KCRAR on this. The reason, we've been told, is that an agent/broker/seller could suddenly find themselves in a lawsuit over whether a verbal contract existed or have two people sign acceptance of a counter offer before the offers are delivered, creating a question of which one is valid. The potential for lawsuits is high on this, and therefore the tradition here is to request a \"highest and best\" offer. Many offices use a disclaimer that says something like yours - that you don't have to raise your offer, but that they're giving you as much possibility to obtain the property as is reasonably ethical to all parties concerned.\n\nI could ignore this principle at my own risk, but I'm the broker. I sure wouldn't be happy if my agents ignored it!\n\nI would say that as far as the verbiage \"interested parties,\" it could mean other offers or it could be someone who didn't make an offer. When there is an \"interest\" in a property, legally speaking that means that someone has a legal stake in the title, even if it's just a deposit they have placed, but in practical language use, people use \"interest\" to mean curiosity all the time.\n\nI normally tell my buyers to decide what a property is worth to them, and to make that offer without feeling pressured to go higher. You want to get the property, not engage in silly games.", "replies": [{"id": "evgtn58", "text": "Thank you for your reply. It sounds like a very confusing world of laws. \n\nSo if multiple parties show an \"interest\" in a property, real estate agents legally have send out a similar message to the above, to all interested parties? Because that is what they are telling me.\nI am also unsure if the agency was using colloquial or the legal use of the word \"interest,\" for that reason who you explain both possible scenarios of the word?\nThank you!", "replies": [{"id": "evioj33", "text": "Agents *can* legally do this, but are not technically required to by any state or federal law that I've ever seen. Their brokerage may have an office procedure that requires conformity, and our KC region MLS states firmly that we cannot counter offer more than one offer at a time.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "evgumj6", "text": "I would recommend you seek your own agent. Put an agent in your corner and have them navigate this for you.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]