Here are four tips to remember for handling a bidding war as a seller.
As a seller, why should you care that much about a multiple-offer situation? You just need one offer to close, right? Well, if you have a multiple-offer situation, you’ll always get more money for your home and better terms in the contract.
This means it’s my goal as an agent to market and present your home so it attracts multiple offers. Once a bidding war has erupted for your home, there are four tips to remember to pick the right offer and close on time:
1. Don’t lose sight of the financial horsepower of each buyer. Some offer to pay using cash, some use FHA loans, while many others use conventional financing. Each method has pluses and minuses, and it’s up to you and your agent to rank each buyer’s financial capability so that no matter how high each offer is, you will ensure the one you pick can actually close on the home.
2. Remember that closing costs need to be negotiated. I recently helped a client buy a house, and in that transaction, the seller’s agent messed up the property tax proration and cost them $9,000 (ouch!). Make sure you and your agent take your time and read the sale contract thoroughly.
3. Look for hidden landmines in each offer. You never know where certain clauses and triggers may be hiding. I just negotiated a sale where the buyer, who was an Ohio State University graduate, had me put it in writing that the seller, a University of Michigan alum, had to remove all of their UM switchplates in the bedroom. I was fine with this, but the point is that you need to understand each clause in your offer. Don’t fall prey to signing a deal that blows up on you.
“We always put a plan together that results in a quick and lucrative sale.”
4. Don’t make the buyer back out before getting to the finish line. Some sellers get a little bloodlust and work over the winner of the bidding war so hard that they end up bowing out of the deal. They pit Buyer No. 1 against Buyer No. 2 and force the second buyer to make a great offer, but then the slightest hiccup down the road causes the deal to fall apart. Some sellers seem to think that every facet of every deal has to go their way, and that kind of thinking can prevent your home from selling at all.
When my team and I work with our home seller clients, we always put a plan together that results in a quick and lucrative sale. If you’re thinking of putting your home on the market, give me a call and we’ll be happy to put a plan in place that results in multiple offers and a top sale price.
If you have any other real estate questions, feel free to reach out to me as well. I’m here to help.
