Let’s talk about handling multiple offers.
Featuring:
Bob Nelson, Eugene real estate investment broker
Marcia Edwards, Eugene residential real estate broker
Marcia Edwards: We’ve been talking about pricing in this market and suggesting that you may not want to try to break a record out of the gate with the list price, but instead price it competitively and create the opportunity for multiple offers or kind of an auction setting.
Bob Nelson: Right. And it’s interesting, and that’s what happens if you clearly under price a property. Now, by clearly I’m not saying 50% on the dollar, maybe a little bit below what pretty much all of the residential brokers would understand there’s a good deal. And that then starts the feeding frenzy.
Marcia Edwards: That’s right, and under that circumstance with a realtor you may be able to have a deadline where it’s going to be available for seven days to view. And on the seventh day by 3:00 PM, all offers need to be into that realtor, that listing agent so they can look at it at the same time. That is a climate that’s very similar to an auction.
Bob Nelson: Yeah, it is. But at the same time, it’s very possible if somebody complains and says, “Well, that’s not ethical or that’s not proper.” You can say, “Okay, my seller’s out of town until such and such, he’s not available to view offers. Now what are you going to do?” You know, that’s the way it is period, end of story.
Marcia Edwards: You just need to make sure it’s consumer driven. So if the seller has decided they’re not going to view offers, or they’re unavailable until a certain date, they know that they have the possibility of missing some opportunities in the process. Let’s talk about getting more than one offer at a time as a seller. You’re the receiving person you’re looking at more than one opportunity on your home.
Bob Nelson: Well, first of all, anybody can write an offer. I could write an offer on toilet paper. If it has all of the essential ingredients, I sign it, that is an offer to purchase. A valid offer to purchase that would, again, if it had all the ingredients of a contract would be enforceable and so forth. Anybody can write an offer. Does that mean that they are financially qualified to perform as they offered? That’s the big question.
Marcia Edwards: Right? So the first thing you’ll want to do when you’re reviewing more than one offer is make sure that you’ve requested substantial evidence of a climate for success at the end of the sale. That is to say, do they have the lender who’s going to give them the loan? How well do they know that lender, and is a down payment liquid currently?
Bob Nelson: Exactly. So is this person capable of performing? And can you, as a seller demand evidence of that?
Marcia Edwards: Absolutely. You can say it’s a condition of the purchase. Also, you want to make sure that you look at the price, of course, and you want to make sure that you’ve given everyone opportunity to put the highest and best opportunity in front of you. So make sure that all parties know they’re in a multiple offer situation.
Join Eugene, Oregon, real estate experts: Bob Nelson, Real Estate Investment Broker with Pacwest Real Estate Investments, and Marcia Edwards, Residential Real Estate Broker with Windermere Real Estate, daily at 5:30pm on KPNW for the “Real Estate Today” radio show.
Leave a Reply