The Market is Heating UP, Write Strong Offers

The Market is Heating UP, Write Strong Offers

I have a client who's been looking for a while.  This week a new home came on the market that met their criteria for the most part.  It is in a popular area and in great shape.  My CMA indicated that last few similar sales within a half mile had an average of only 14 days on the market; a long of 20 and a short of 7.  The 4 of the 5 of the homes had sold for 100% of list price, the other for 97.8%, for an average of 99.56% of list price. 

My clients toured the home and liked it.  It wasn't perfect, but was as close as any we'd seen.  They decided to write an offer.  Based on my research I suggested we would have to be aggressive.  This was further encouraged when I spoke to the listing agent who let me know another offer had come in, but hadn't been reviewed yet. 

I asked her what she could tell me about it.  (I'm often amazed at the information another agent will volunteer if I just ask)  She said they had some reservations and was hoping we would write a nice clean offer.  My clients are renting month to month, are pre-approved and can close very quickly.  We tailored the terms to what I believed the sellers would find attractive and met with my client to go over the details and decide on the offer price. 

My clients saw the data, liked the house, knew there was another offer and elected to come in low.  Not real low, but below any of the comps I had shown them.  It was against my advice, but I thought we still might have a shot because of the comments from the listing agent. 

My advice to come in strong was right, my hope to still have a shot was wrong.  Our offer was used to motivate the first buyers to upgrade their offer and resolve some of their other issues.  We weren't advised of any other conversations they had.

The moral of the story, believe your comps not the media from six months ago.  Some markets are seeing multiple offers; others might not be yet but may be soon.  Advise your clients when they find a house they want to buy, to make the offer they are willing to live or die with.