Do you set a deadline for offers or submit as they come in?

When offers come in, you can look at them two ways. Do you set a deadline for all offers to come in? Or do you submit to your seller as they come in?

The one thing for me, is there is no blanket policy. I take each listing, each seller and each situation as it is. The two ways to look at it are what you have in hand can be better than what what never comes. I have received dozens of calls over the years from agents who said they were sending an offer that never came. 

So here is the 2 situations. The first situation is a new listing. 8 showings on day 1 and assorted showings through out the rest of the week. Nearing the end of day 1,  4 offers come in. The debate was answer the offers in or Wait until the end of the week to see what any other offers may be. 

My thought and action was to present the 4 offers to he seller and go over each. 4 of the 4 were at or just over full price. I had told the seller his property would sell at full price. Next were to look if any were cash or financing. Lastly what are the contingencies. With a cash offer and no contingencies, there was no need to wait a week, but take this offer. They just do not get any better. Why risk losing such a good buyer and a good offer?

In situation 2, we had another condo listed by a big company. They have a blanket policy no offers until the first open house the followings Saturday after listing. Their listing came before mine. Sure they got offers on that Saturday the week after. My cash buyer spoke openly how they did not think it was fair to make buyers wait and they were not going to play those games. That he wanted to make his best offer when mine was listed, as he really likes this complex.  

In the end my seller was very happy. I got exactly the price i told him I would get. A price higher than the other unit. I got a buyer ready, willing and able to close quick and no contingencies. The other unit went under contract and then came back on the market when it fell out of contract a week later. I cant tell you why....

In the end, I have a happy seller, a happy buyer and sale heading to closing. In this case we had a great offer and there was no need to wait to see what else would come in and risk losing something already great. Had there been no good offers, countering the offers or waiting for others the end of the week could have been an option. I did what my seller wanted and that should mean everything to anyone thinking of selling.

The lesson and my infamous message is do not hire just anyone to list you home. Do not just hire the biggest company or agent. Take time to hire the BEST agent. The way I do business is to offer some of the best possible personal and professional service. To stand by them through each step of the buying and selling process. Let me show you the right agent CAN make a difference.