Buyers

Seller has contracted a real estate Broker/Agent and put their property for sale as an Exclusive or MLS Listing. At this time the listing agent has devised a selling plan and strategy based on the sellers wishes.

If the strategy of holding back offers is decided upon it usually means that the Listing Price of the property will be below market expectations in order to drive lots of traffic to the property and generate what is known as a bidding war.

At the time of listing the property an OFFER DATE is established setting the stage for sale date.

This is when the property is open to public viewing and if priced aggressively will generate heavy traffic.

On the offer presentation date, interested buyers prepare an Offer to Purchase with their agents and register their offer with the sellers brokerage.

This is when the results of the selling strategy become visible. In a sellers market when supply of properties is low and buyer demand is high, combined with the interest generated in your property from an aggressive listing price, you can expect several competing offers to be presented.

Here is where things go very well or take a turn in the wrong direction. This is were the skills of the agent become of paramount value.

We will not get into all the details associated with this stage as there are many factors that contribute to the outcome at this point. We will however highlight some of the concerning factors:

1. The offer process is secretive. It is treated as a silent bidding process.
2. Most successful offers will need to be unconditional and purchased firm in order to be given consideration.
3. By nature of secrecy the Buyer is unaware of competing offer prices and conditions.
4. Selling Agents can determine outcomes in many ways either intentionally or unintentionally. Either way, it is very difficult to maintain buyer fairness given the boundaries set through the selling agents code of ethics.

There can be several possible outcomes with traditional multiple offer presentations.

1. There will usually be one successful buyer whose offer conditions and pricing were preferred by the seller.
2. Buyer remorse can be high if the buyer ponders their purchase the next day when submitting their deposit. The question of whether or not the buyer ‘overpaid’ is a common challenge.
3. There is the risk that if the buyer overpaid for the property, the lending facility may not appraise the property at the same value. This would encumber the buyer to raise more money (which may not be available) in order to cover the mortgage shortfall. If the buyer cannot come up with the shortfall, legal proceedings may follow.
4. If the buyer and/or buyers representative feels that the conduct of the selling agent was unfair and violated certain codes of conduct, their is additional possibility of registered complaints and pending investigations.