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I have a friend who says they have made three offers in the Seattle market on three different houses at the same time. Same agent wrote all three offers. They say they sat down at one session and wrote all three, their agent submitted them all, and they gave the sellers 48 hours to respond, saying that if they got a ratified contract they would pull their other offers.
I have never heard of this happening and am a bit skeptical that it even could happen but at the same time thinking "why haven't I been doing this??" As a buyer, it seems that the cards are stacked against you if a seller can get a bunch of offers and you have to wait for them to respond to your one and only. As a seller, I would probably look at an offer like this first and make an immediate response back to the buyer.
This apparently happened over the weekend so I am curious to see how it plays out. Anyone done this? Heard of this happening?
The seller doesn't necessarily know the buyer made multiple offers.
When I worked as an agent, the managing broker wanted us to NEVER do such a thing. It put the buyer at risk of getting multiple offers accepted. That said, even in the crazy years, it was never a market like Seattle or other hot markets.
My concern would be that before the buyer can look at any counteroffer or acceptance another accepted offer comes in. I'd also never give a seller 48 hours to respond no matter what the market looked like. 24 hours is sufficient.
This does create a problem with too many bogus offers on homes. If the Buyer gets several offers accepted then he walks on the ones he really does not want and creates a small problem for the seller who then has to go back out to the other buyers.
In our crazy market I understand Buyers making multiple offers out of desperation but it does come with it's problems for other Buyers and Sellers.
Worse is making offers on homes you've never seen then terminating during the Inspection period once you've seen the house. I would discourage any seller taking an offer from a Buyer who's never been inside the house.
This does create a problem with too many bogus offers on homes. If the Buyer gets several offers accepted then he walks on the ones he really does not want and creates a small problem for the seller who then has to go back out to the other buyers.
In our crazy market I understand Buyers making multiple offers out of desperation but it does come with it's problems for other Buyers and Sellers.
Worse is making offers on homes you've never seen then terminating during the Inspection period once you've seen the house. I would discourage any seller taking an offer from a Buyer who's never been inside the house.
Okay, but to play devil's advocate, how does it not cause a problem for the BUYER if the seller is entertaining multiple offers to really get to the one they want? As sellers, we have done this. As posted in my other thread, my husband has very specific criteria for accepting an offer. We have been lucky in that its not hard to get to that where we live, but we have absolutely held offers while waiting for more to come in, sometimes for a day or two, sometimes as long as a week. So how is that fair to a buyer who is tied to that single offer, competing against others, but still has no idea if theirs will be accepted? In a hot market that definitely means missing out on other properties.
The problem for the buyer, is that the purchase offer is a contract. If the buyer puts out 4 offers and two offers get accepted, the buyer is under contract to purchase two houses. Most buyers can't afford to buy two houses at the same time, and it is a contract, not just a nice note saying "gee, I'd like to buy your house unless I find something else, or change my mind, so wold you please hold it off the market for me for a week or so""
Sellers might be getting multiple offers but they aren't signing contracts with multiple people and then picking the best contract.
That's how we ended up with our house. A buyer put in offers on 3 houses and followed through with a different property so we were first in line when they backed out of our current house.
The problem for the buyer, is that the purchase offer is a contract. If the buyer puts out 4 offers and two offers get accepted, the buyer is under contract to purchase two houses. Most buyers can't afford to buy two houses at the same time, and it is a contract, not just a nice note saying "gee, I'd like to buy your house unless I find something else, or change my mind, so wold you please hold it off the market for me for a week or so""
Sellers might be getting multiple offers but they aren't signing contracts with multiple people and then picking the best contract.
In general, an Offer is just an Offer.
It can be pulled back any time, "At least where I am."
If I have a good, reasonable, qualified buyer in the current market, who wants to offer on more than one property in hopes of getting a contract on one, I could easily agree to write multiple offers.
Sellers entertain multiple offers, press for "Highest and Best," and push for offers over list price every day. This is one way for a buyer to get in front of sellers.
The problem for the buyer, is that the purchase offer is a contract. If the buyer puts out 4 offers and two offers get accepted, the buyer is under contract to purchase two houses. Most buyers can't afford to buy two houses at the same time, and it is a contract, not just a nice note saying "gee, I'd like to buy your house unless I find something else, or change my mind, so wold you please hold it off the market for me for a week or so""
Sellers might be getting multiple offers but they aren't signing contracts with multiple people and then picking the best contract.
The buyer has plenty of outs the first 14 days or so of a standard contract. So no, they aren't obligated to buy anything until after their due diligence period and mortgage clauses are exhausted
^some places they aren't. some places they are. In my market...
the Buyer actually does have basically a "scot-free" opportunity to be under contract on as many homes as they have the cash for negotiated due diligence fees. Then they have time to figure just which one of the many homes they really want to buy based upon price and condition.
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