As soon as I saw the listing yesterday morning, I knew this was the house for them.
We scheduled a tour to go through it in the afternoon, and already I knew that might not be quick enough.
When we saw the home, it had been on the market for about 7 hours, and we had to wait outside while a showing finished up, and we had another group waiting behind us to go in next.
Needless to say, this was a hot house.
We walked in, and within a moment – D called it the 11 Second Rule – they both knew this was the house they were going to make their home.
We were through the home in a few minutes, and quickly went to write up an offer. I wanted to be able to present that evening – to avoid competition with another group of buyers (or three).
After drafting the offer and speaking with the seller’s Realtor, a friend of mine I used to work with, it became apparent we weren’t going to be able to present right away – it was going to have to wait until morning.
Of course, by the time this morning came, there was another offer in.
Losing the property was not an option. This was the home they wanted, and I was determined to help them get it.
Here’s what we did
1) R and D wrote a lovely letter to the owners, telling them a bit about themselves, how excited they are to raise a family in the home etc. We also included a picture of their dog Parker, a picture from their wedding, and a picture of R riding her horse at their wedding. Cute stuff!
2) We were able to make a ‘cash’ offer – a clean offer with no conditions of the buyer selling their home, financing approval etc. – because we had done our legwork to ensure we were able to act when the right home came along.
3) We determined what price point they would be comfortable with someone else buying it, and at what price would they want to buy it. In this case, the price we came up with was slightly above list price.
3.5 ) Have your buyers outside while you present (you are presenting in person…. of course). I was able to tell the owners that my clients were so serious, they were outside in the car, in minus 5 weather (Yes, it really gets that cold in Canada!)
Moral of the story is my clients got the home, and are elated.
What strategies have you used in the past to help clients get a home in a multiple offer situation ?
