How to Navigate Multiple-Offer Situations

Real Estate Podcast with Donald Payne

As the market heats up, homes that are priced well and are in good condition tend to attract buyers like bees to nectar. This is generally good news for sellers, since it means that they can get a good price for a home, but these scenarios can also become overwhelming to navigate. Today, my special guest Bree is here to ask a couple of key questions about how to handle multiple-offer situations: 1. How should sellers respond to receiving two or more offers on their home? The first thing to do is create a sense of urgency in your buyers. To do this, set a deadline for all the competing buyers to submit their highest and best offers. I recommend adding this deadline to your MLS listing, too, so that all interested buyers know when to submit their final offers. If you receive a large number of offers for your property—say, 10 or more—try organizing them all in a spreadsheet. On this sheet, we like to label the offers, write out their respective terms and prices, the type of financing each buyer plans to use, the timeline to close, and the earnest money deposits associated with each. This way, you can get a good feel for what each buyer’s strengths and weaknesses are and have an organized method of comparing them to one another. Once you’ve made a decision, be sure to notify all the other parties and their agents. “With their offers entered into a spreadsheet, you can get a good feel for what each buyer’s strengths and weaknesses are and have an organized method of comparing them to one another.” 2. What should buyers do to enhance their offer and increase their chances of getting it accepted? First, homebuyers need to make a decision about what their highest possible offer will be. Next, remember to keep the offer simple—some buyers use or waive certain contingencies in order to better position themselves in the seller’s eyes. For example, some will waive the inspection repair requests, others will increase their earnest money deposit to show how serious their offer is, and still others may offer to pay the difference between the list price and their offering price if the appraisal comes in short. In Columbus, the seller pays the title charges to transfer title to the buyer, so some buyers may offer to pay part or all of that fee. Finally, if it seems likely that the seller is going to accept an offer other than your own, I highly encourage buyers to ask the seller to consider them as their first backup offer, in the event that the accepted buyer’s part of the deal falls through—you never know what could happen until the deal closes. If you have any more questions about handling multiple-offer situations, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.