How to Respond to Multiple Offers When Selling Your Home

September 5, 2011

 Okay, so you’ve decided to sell your property. You feel as if you’ve done everything correctly; you’ve hired an expert real estate professional and followed their advice to the letter.  Of course, nobody could do everything to perfect. But you worked closely together with your real estate professional and now you find yourself in the enviable situation of having multiple offers for your property.

Congratulations – You’re now in a Privileged Negotiating Position!

Due to the high demand for property in some areas of the GTA, homeowners often receive multiple offers for their properties.

These scenarios often occur because the property has been priced below its true market value. This is an indication of the pricing approach you may wish to take when selling your property. Often you will receive a higher final offer for your home if you create interest from multiple parties by setting a lower than average price.

How Can I Professionally Respond to Multiple Offers for My Property?

When you’re only responding to two offers, the negotiation process is relatively simple. You just have to decide which offer suits you best.

However, some GTA properties are in such high demand that you may receive as many as eight offers from motivated buyers. Could you imagine trying to respond to all these offers single-handedly? In this situation, you require an industry expert, such as a real estate broker, who can help you to achieve the best deal for you.

When working together with a real estate professional, you must find answers to the following questions for each of the parties that have put in offers on your property:

  1. Is the buyer pre-approved for the mortgage?
  2. With which lending institution did the buyer receive their pre-approved mortgage?
  3. Is there a written or verbal agreement between the lender and the buyer?
  4. Are they a first-time buyer?
  5. Does the buyer need to find someone to purchase their property before proceeding with the deal?
  6. Are there any additional questions that you have for the buyer?

By receiving answers to the preceding questions you will discover the buyer’s level of financial stability and also find out precisely how prepared the buyer is to purchase the property.

After responding to the buyer’s offer, the second hardest element of the process is responding to your own personal emotions. Of course, you want the best deal possible. Who wouldn’t? However, it’s important that you first STOP and think about the possible effects of different scenarios.

For example: what if you ask for too high of a price for the buyer and their budget? In this scenario you risk losing the buyer to another, more affordable, property and you thus losing the opportunity to sell your property.

And just because you receive a great offer that’s way above what you expected, it doesn’t mean the deal can go through right away. Sometimes the buyer’s mortgage lender will refuse to cover the inflated price tag. And again, you find yourself in a situation where you haven’t sold your property.

Remember – Every Deal is Unique

Working with an experienced and knowledgeable real estate professional can help you to negotiate the highest quality deal for your distinct property.

To become successful as a real estate agent, you have to know how to hammer out a deal and negotiate with tough clients.

I (as your agent) will ask careful questions of potential buyers to find the best offer for you. The questions I ask can vary from deal to deal. Sometimes it will be important to know what the buyer does for a living. Other times, it will be important to find out why the buyer put in an offer for your particular property.

I will also help you conduct research on potential buyers using all the tools available to me, as a real estate professional. In fact, you could begin the search yourself by putting the buyer’s name into a search engine. You might be quite surprised by the information you find.

 Picking out the Best Offer Means Examining the Details Closely!

As an industry professional, I advise each of my clients to choose the most practical offer for their property. In other words, choose the buyer who has the most solid financial background. They may not have bid the highest offer on your property but they are your best choice for a quick, painless and professional deal closing.

I wish you the best of luck responding to multiple offers on your property! But, remember – don’t be fooled by the large numbers. The deal isn’t complete until ALL the paperwork is signed!

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