I've had a couple of my agents use this with some succcess during the Holiday Market, so I thought I'd pass it along -

When was the last time you came across a really novel idea that motivated a buyer, who is represented by another agent, to make an offer on your listing? The technique is called a reverse offer and here's how it works.

Let's say you have a listing on a property for $575,000. The property is getting some activity, but no offers. And then a buyer visits the property for a second showing. The seller calls and says the buyer asked a lot of questions and stayed for almost an hour taking photos and notes. You call the buyer's broker for feedback and they confess your listing is one of the buyer's top two choices. The buyers are currently deciding which home to select.

A typical listing agent would pray their listing is selected. A creative agent would coach the seller into writing a reverse offer. The seller writes a contract for a specific price, let's say $550,000, and submits it to the buyer's agent. This causes the buyer to focus on this property and possibly consummate the deal. Even if the buyer declines the seller?s offer, the listing agent can then ask for a price reduction.

The optimistic agent may agree this is an aggressive way to force a hesitant buyer's hand, and possibly get the property sold. A pessimistic agent may conclude that this is an unorthodox method not worthy of consideration because they have never done it that way before. Eric Hoffer would say, in times of change, the learners will inherit the earth, while the knower's will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.