Love them or hate them, multiple offers are still happening
A couple of years ago when the real estate market was white hot here in Kitchener-Waterloo all you had to do to get multiple offers on a home for sale is list it and set a date to look at offers. Those days were crazy. Crazy good for sellers and their agents. Crazy bad for buyers and theirs. For a while there, multiple offers were the rule not the exception. Now things have mostly returned to normal. But we ‘let the jeanie out of the bottle’ and multiple offers are still fairly common:
- For the right house
- In the right price range
- In the right neighbourhood.
Assuming your home for sale matches at least two of those three conditions, how do you encourage multiple offers on your home for sale?
Easy!
How to attract multiple offers
Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd.
Do everything you can to limit the viewing times of the home so that many potential buyers are viewing the place at the same time. When buyers at viewings and open houses see so many other potential buyers showing interest, their interest level will rise.
How low can you start?
Set a list price that informed buyers just can’t refuse. This is a gutsy move but if you want to attract a lot of interest, set your list price ridiculously low. Five percent below market price might not be enough to generate the interest you need. Depending on the conventions of your local real estate marketplace, you can try 10% below market price or even 20%!
Ready, set, set, set….wait…go
Create a buzz with coming soon signs and brokerage marketing, blogs and whatever your traditional marketing of choice might be. Build up anticipation before the listing launch.
Stage to sell
Homes that are perfect and modern, free of trouble and concern sell for a premium. When your potential buyers walk into a lifestyle magazine advertisement (your home) they will buy it.
Hold it open
An open house that seems more like a cocktail party will give you the social proof that build confidence in potential buyers that they should put in an offer.
Offer day
A week is the perfect amount of time to be on the market before taking offers. Many Realtors like to list homes on Wednesdays or Thursdays, giving potential buyers enough time to see the listing and either book an appointment of plan a visit to the weekend open house. Taking offers on Monday or Tuesday is perfect. Buyers cool off if list too long and let them cool off.
Competition and urgency
Competition and urgency are what you are hoping to create. We live in a world of abundance but the illusion of scarcity is all around us. A few years ago when the market was hot the acronym FOMO became widely used to describe one of the feelings that buyers felt — Fear of Missing Out.
The time is right
Although I like to say that you cannot time the real estate market, I think we would all agree that there are bad times to list, good times to list and best times to list. If you want to attract multiple offers then you should list when the most buyers are buying. That is likely late winter and into the springtime.
… A set of steak knives
Sweeten the pot by including the patio furniture around the pool or the man cave’s billiard table, the home entertainment system…
The multiple ways to get multiple offers
When it works well, home sellers shorten their time on market and sometimes avoid those pesky conditions that delay the sale. The above steps/methods for the perfect home, in the perfect location, at the perfect price will get you those multiple offers.
