Multiple Contracts - 5 Tips for a Successful Outcome

by Chuck Roper 18. September 2017 09:21

This has been a year of multiple contracts on well-priced homes in desirable areas.  The buyers who lose out don’t understand why their near full price offer wasn’t accepted.  They wonder why the seller didn’t give them a second chance to improve their offer.   I hear “I would have paid more.”  In order to coach buyer’s agents on multiple offer situations, I encourage them to look at it from the seller’s perspective and consider the following:

  1. Use terms consistent with the Seller’s needs.  Does the seller have a desired closing date?  Are there fixtures, draperies or other attachments which the seller wants to exclude?   Provide significant earnest money to show the buyer’s commitment.  These are ‘win-win’ considerations which can make your offer appealing to the seller without compromising the buyer’s rights.
  2. Fewer Contingencies make your offer more desirable for the Seller.  Today’s standard Residential Sale Contract is written with terms favorable to the buyer, with rights to terminate or renegotiate the offer.   I often hear that a buyer missed out not because of the price, but because “the other offer had better terms.”  Consider removing the “walk away,” which is the buyer’s right to terminate the contract after the building inspection.  If the buyer is fully vetted and approved upfront, can you submit the offer without a finance contingency or appraisal contingency?  Can you limit the building inspection to only structural or environmental issues?  The last thing a seller wants is to accept an offer, take the home off the market and have the contract terminated weeks later. 
  3. Consider an Escalation Clause.   In highly competitive situations, buyers may offer to pay a certain dollar figure over any competing bid up to a maximum amount. 
  4. Timing is Important.  It’s important to find out from the listing agent when the seller is going to review the offers.  In our age of technology, being ‘too late’ is simply inexcusable.  Conversely, if you submit an offer days in advance of the seller’s response time, you risk having your contract used as leverage to recruit higher offers. 
  5. Follow the “First and Best” Principle - Put Your Best Foot Forward.  You can’t expect a Seller to revisit lesser offers if they have a wonderful contract in hand from someone else.  Buyers may not get a second chance, so submit your strongest offer without any remorse if someone else submits a higher and cleaner one.  

Janet Horlacher, Principal

Janet McAfee Inc.

 

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