Ever heard that comment? Ever said it yourself?

Rather than 'dis' another agent, I simply relay an experience of mine:

My clients wanted to sell their home quickly as they had their eye on another property they wanted. They knew that going in conditional on selling their home was a weak approach. I informed them it would be better if we had the home sold, or at least on the market.

We listed Thursday night, had two viewings Friday, and an offer Friday night. The agent wanted to present the offer Friday night because we were doing an Open House Sunday and she didn't want competitive offers. I knew and understood this of course.

After countering, the offer was accepted $7,000 below list price. It was conditional upon financing and inspection for 7 days. Because we knew the house was popular (we'd had many calls for viewings during Friday), we could have asked for an escape clause (meaning we were able to continue offering the home for sale and if another offer came in that we liked, we could force the original Buyers to "firm up", in other words, remove their conditions). I didn't add the clause because we had a sale that was pretty much going to close in 7 days. As my clients were really happy that they were able to start looking for their new home, they agreed.

The next day, we had a call stating that another offer was coming in at asking price ($7,000 more than the original, accepted offer). The agent wanted his offer to be more attractive than the original one in the hope that when we gave the original buyers 24 hours to firm up, they wouldn't be able to. The original deal would then be null and void and the second, higher offer could be accepted. I informed him that there was no escape clause and that he would have to wait the 7 days to see if the deal fell through. That also meant the possibility of more interest from the open house and a possible bidding war. The same agent called again later and said this clients would now go over list but only if they could put the offer in before Sunday. He was preparing papers.

When speaking with my clients, they were, of course, annoyed that they hadn't waited for the higher offer. I told them that there are never guarantees and that the original offer was a good one and that they did well. I explained that the idea behind organized real estate is to find the "right" buyer for the property. Sometimes that takes time. But sometimes, that "right" buyer has been waiting for a house on that particular street to come onto the market. As soon as it does, of course, they are ready to offer.

Occasionally there are more than one "right" buyers for a house that is in an ideal location, priced perfectly, and timed perfectly. A good agent will know this and expect multiple offers; in fact, plan for them. That's a different story, though it did make me wonder momentarily whether I had miscalculated this one.

In the case we are discussing, the location wasn't one of the "sought after" locales. The price was right, yes, and that's why it attracted so many viewings.

Let's continue.

On Sunday, during our open house, which was, indeed, very busy, we talked to a lot of people looking for homes in the area but several asked if the owners were "flexible". Others loved it but left without any encouraging words about making an offer. We had told no one about the offer on Friday. By the way, the other offer hadn't arrived yet.

I suddenly had the feeling that although we had priced well, those interested from the open house--if they ever made an offer--were going to be around $10,000 below list price. Despite all the neighbours telling the owners they had sold too low, we were getting feedback that said, not only was it listed at the right price, but that most offers would be considerably lower due, in part, to the income level of people the home was attracting (first time and low income buyers).

I called the agent with the other offer. The people had come in on the Sunday--unbeknownst to us--and had changed their minds. They weren't going to put in a back-up offer.

In the space of 3 days, the whirlwind of people had everyone thinking the house could have sold for more, yet the facts showed that the right buyer had been waiting and swooped in right away. If we had not accepted that deal, thinking another was coming, the house could have sold for even less and stayed on the market longer.

As it happened, seven days later, the offer was firmed up and my clients went on to look for their new home. It all took just over a week. They were able to make a firm offer on a new home, allowing them to be aggressive on offer price; Everyone loves a sale that has no conditions (just an inspection which can happen in 48 hours).

If my clients felt they lost money on the sale, they gained it by being able to offer lower on the buy and have it accepted because they came in firm. They could not have made that offer if their home had been languishing on the market.

Should they have waited for more money?

What do you think?