I met with one of my newer agents the other day to review an offer he had written for one of our clients. The offer was beautifully prepared and technically perfect. The buyer had left no doubt that they wanted this house offering a full $20,000 above the asking price. It was on Tuesday. The seller had instructed their agent not to present any offers before Wednesday at 8:00 pm.
I had one question for my agent, “What if this is the only offer which the seller receives?”
If you’ve been listening to people talk you might believe that “everything is selling for more than the asking price.”Well, guess what. Everything is not selling for more than the asking price. Last week, 52% of the sales reported sold at or below the asking price.I’m hearing of more instances where the seller only receives one offer and if yours is the only offer on the table, you’re probably not going to feel very good about offering thousands of dollars more than they are asking.
If I were representing a buyer in a purchase, I might suggest that we wait until the offer presentation is almost imminent before a decision is made on the offer price. Then I might ask the seller’s agent if they have received other offers on the property. They don’t have to tell me but they almost certainly will if there are other offers. If they respond by saying, “my seller has asked me not to disclose the existence of other offers,” my client and I will have to make the call as to what that means. On the other hand, we may hear, “yours is the only offer at this time.” Perhaps that might influence the price which my client is prepared to offer. It would certainly influence the advice which I would offer the client.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra