Congratulations! You must have made the right decision if you have recently received multiple offers on your home. You may be excited that you could potentially get more than the listing price, something that often shocks people when this occurs. When you have just a couple of offers, or even just one, it is easy to handle. However, five or more offers can prove difficult if you are trying to choose the best offer that will cater to your expectations.
It can get highly stressful if you have 15 offers or more, which, believe it or not, is possible in the current market. However, if your home was priced according to the market, these fantastic results could be because many people are willing to make this type of purchase, regardless of the asking price. Below, Summit Way Realty dives into the top tips on handling multiple offers.
Top Tips for Handling Multiple Offers
Always Review Your Offers
Your agent can be beneficial in these situations, and you will want to review each offer you receive just to make sure you can find the best one out of all of them. In addition, they may give you recommendations based upon their experience, related to your obligations, the contract terms, and assist you with negotiating the terms of the deal.
An example of this would be deciding on the closing date. Maybe the potential buyer would like to close the deal within three weeks. But, for you, this might not be possible because of unforeseen circumstances or scheduling conflicts.
We give clients specific recommendations when facing these situations, especially with multiple offers. One of them is to simply initial each offer, usually at the top corner of each one reviewed, so that you know that each of the offers has been thoroughly looked over. These serve as reminders that you have already been through that offer, allowing you to move on to the next ones so you can eventually get through all of them.
Calculate Your Net Profit
There will always be expenses that impact your net profit when selling a home. Summit Way Realty prefers calculating how much will be made on the deal after expenses, and we do this with each client. Essentially, this is how much money you will leave escrow with once you close and can collect your money from the transaction.
Always Compare Apples To Apples
Summarize everything you have just gone over using a standard apples-to-apples comparison. This is a great way to look at each offer presented so that you will know exactly what to expect once you decide on the offer you are willing to accept.
When negotiating, here are key points to follow:
- The Sales Price
- Closing Date
- Earnest Money Deposit Amount
- Escalation Addendums
- Contingencies – home inspection, appraisal, financing
- Coinciding Settlement
- Special Requirements
- Pre-approval Letter
- Seller Paid Closing Costs
- Seller Paid Home Warranty
- As-Is Addendums
You want to be sure of specific points and other points you want to simplify. Doing this can provide the information needed to give to buyer agents, which may refer to selling your home by a specific date. It’s important to know exactly what you want to get out of the deal. Negotiating with fewer points will make the transaction much more effortless leading to the eventual closure of the deal and money in your pocket.
How To Deal With Preapproval Letters From Lenders
Pre Approval letters can be shown to your agent when working with loan officers, especially if there are questions from the potential buyer concerning getting final approval for the loan. It’s important to do this if you are not familiar with a lender from outside of the city where you are located. Work with a professional with a good track record in working with some other types of clients.
Escalation Addendums
Escalation Addendums can help, but you also need to have negotiating skills to help you close the deal and evaluate the deal. When considering escalation addendum information, here are some tips that you can use concerning appraisal contingencies.
Always Respond Quickly
In certain circumstances, gray areas must be identified when negotiating, some of which could be added later, or perhaps they are missing and need to be added to make the deal worthwhile to both parties. Keep in mind that there is no specific timeframe required when responding to an offer, yet it is always helpful to have a definitive date that both you and the potential buyer can look forward to.
Our real estate experts recommend responding by the first weekend so that everything continues to move forward. In our market there are expiration times and dates. So, you need to alert buyers that you will be able to respond by a specific day, such as Tuesday or Wednesday, giving them something to work with if you intend to close the deal. The context and expectation you provide will make the potential buyers much more confident that everyone is playing on a level playing field.
Perception is everything, so be sure your potential buyers do not think you are playing games by not responding to offers. This can compromise a potential deal. For example, in the previous year, some buyer clients did not submit offers for specific properties because their perception was that the seller response was slow and that they intended to create a bidding war. Of course, that may not have been the intention at all; however, because of perception, a buyer may decide to withdraw their offer if they feel a seller is not acting in good faith.
Last on Handling Multiple Offers
Receiving multiple offers is exciting and also comes with responsibility. We hope these tips help you handle multiple offers professionally and efficiently. For more tips and advice on real estate, visit our website! Summit Way Realty is a locally-owned and independent Kansas City real estate company committed to supporting communities and clients. Get in touch with us today to learn more!
