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We are in Illinois. We are first time buyers and having been looking for a home for an emotionally draining 2 months so far (That's probably not terribly long, but we are looking to buy immediately - new job, baby on the way, rent is more expensive than mortgage, etc etc, so the wait has been rough). So far we have made three offers on homes and all have unfortunately fallen through due to various issues, mostly on the sellers end. Recently, a home came on the market and we viewed it on the day 4 on the market. It was wonderful, we fell in love, and it was listed at 150k, well within our budget.
While viewing, the sellers (still occupied), said they received another offer already, but they would not disclose the amount. I had asked them for the amount since my wife and I really fell in love with the home and I wanted to beat out the other bidder. However, they would not disclose the information and my realtor (buyers agent) said it was not ethical/legal to disclose the dollar amount of other offers. He said it was ultimately the seller's decision whether they wanted to counter offer or start a bidding war, or basically ignore or accept an offer for whatever reasons regardless of price. Not having information about the home we decided to offer list price @ 150k. Well today I get the news that the sellers took another offer because it was CASH, and I'm annoyed we didn't get more information since we would have gladly offered the top of our preapproval amount of $170k for the home. There is of course the possibility the cash offer was higher than list, but we will never know because apparently you can't disclose the price of offers?! I would be somewhat surprised too if the cash offer was higher than 150k too.
My point is, can sellers/agents really not disclose the price amounts of multiple offers on a home? I always assumed that agents would say something like "X home already has an offer in at Y amount, you should offer higher if you really want it". That seems to make sense in the both the sellers and buyers interest honestly. Feeling very sad we missed out on this one when we could have easily offers 20-25k more than list for it, but I would love to know this information as we continue our home search in the future.
Last edited by the_grimace; 01-10-2016 at 03:30 PM..
Yes they can keep others offers from you and you missed out because you want something you cannot have.
If you really wanted the home you could have made another offer and kept offering until you came to the absolute highest amount you are willing to pay. Two months looking is not a long time, we looked for 5 years before we found our home.
So, find a home, set your highest price and make the offer.
One more thing, a lot of people will take cash over financing simply because it is quicker, easier and cheapter than waiting for someone to get final approval.
We paid cash and closed on the house in less than 30 days.
Yes they can keep others offers from you and you missed out because you want something you cannot have.
If you really wanted the home you could have made another offer and kept offering until you came to the absolute highest amount you are willing to pay. Two months looking is not a long time, we looked for 5 years before we found our home.
So, find a home, set your highest price and make the offer.
The thing that irks me is that we literally didn't have a chance to re-offer. We put the offer in last night, my agent called this afternoon saying they accepted the cash offer and wouldn't consider new offers getting put in. Like I said, I don't know the amount of the cash offer, but I do know that we could have offered up to 25k more for this home if given the chance. That's a substantial difference in my opinion if someone did 140-150k cash. I offered 150k because that was list, I had no other information about the other offers, and why pay 175k for something thats listed at 150k? It only makes sense to start offering more once you know that someone else has come in and said, hey, I'll actually pay 155k for that. That's when you offer 160k or more.
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
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Sellers have several ways to deal with multiple offers. Sellers can accept what they consider the “best†offer; they can inform all potential purchasers that other offers are “on the table†in hopes of creating a bidding war; they can counter one offer while putting the other offers to the side awaiting a decision on the counter-offer; they can counter one offer and reject the others or they can reject all offers if none suit their needs.
How multiple offers will be handled should be determined by the sellers, the listing agent generally discusses the various options with the sellers, then they select how they wish to proceed.
In some cases sellers may make other buyers aware that your offer is in hand, or even disclose details about your offer to another buyer in hope of convincing that buyer to make a “better†offer. In some cases sellers will instruct their listing broker to disclose an offer to other buyers on their behalf.
Some states have laws or real estate regulations that may limit the ability of listing agents to disclose the existence or terms of offers to third parties.
In multiple offer situations only one offer will result in a sale, and the other buyers will often be disappointed their offers were not accepted. In your situation it may be that the sellers did not want to deal with the contingencies involved with a buyer that must obtain financing. Perhaps the other buyer made a cash offer and waived the right to inspections as well. Even though you may have been willing to pay $25k more, that does not mean the home would have appraised for the higher amount. Over the past 17 years I have been involved in multiple offers both as listing and buyer's agent and can tell you that the highest price does not always equate to acceptance of an offer. There are often a number of variables in play, with price being important but not always the deciding factor.
Location: Foothills of Maryland Blue Ridge mountains
993 posts, read 767,151 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CSD610
Yes they can keep others offers from you and you missed out because you want something you cannot have.
If you really wanted the home you could have made another offer and kept offering until you came to the absolute highest amount you are willing to pay. Two months looking is not a long time, we looked for 5 years before we found our home.
So, find a home, set your highest price and make the offer.
One more thing, a lot of people will take cash over financing simply because it is quicker, easier and cheapter than waiting for someone to get final approval.
We paid cash and closed on the house in less than 30 days.
Yep. If you have a desirable home on the hook, you have to be all in. We just bought a home for 10k over list but we were willing to go 30k over. We had an escalation clause written into our offer, with a 3,500 escalation factor. 10% earnest money. Ask your realtor about this if you haven't already
We are in our late 50s and this the 4th home we've bought. We learned our lesson early on. If you love the house, if you know it's the one for you, if you want it.you've got to bring your best offer at the first shot.
Some people enjoy it but I think house hunting is a PITA. You're right, it's emotionally draining. The listing agent isn't going to reveal what the other offers are. They are working for the buyer and it's their job to get top dollar. They want you to bid against each other.
I know 8 weeks seems like a long time but it isn't. Hang tight, another house is out there.
I offered 150k because that was list, I had no other information about the other offers, and why pay 175k for something thats listed at 150k? It only makes sense to start offering more once you know that someone else has come in and said, hey, I'll actually pay 155k for that. That's when you offer 160k or more.
If you like that format, try buying a house at auction. You can gladly overpay that way.
If they already accepted an offer legally they cannot accept your offer. An accepted offer is a contract.
Offer wasn't accepted. They said the offer was just presented that afternoon and we had already scheduled our showing that morning before the offer was given to them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by homeonthelittlemountain
Yep. If you have a desirable home on the hook, you have to be all in. We just bought a home for 10k over list but we were willing to go 30k over. We had an escalation clause written into our offer, with a 3,500 escalation factor. 10% earnest money. Ask your realtor about this if you haven't already
We are in our late 50s and this the 4th home we've bought. We learned our lesson early on. If you love the house, if you know it's the one for you, if you want it.you've got to bring your best offer at the first shot.
Some people enjoy it but I think house hunting is a PITA. You're right, it's emotionally draining. The listing agent isn't going to reveal what the other offers are. They are working for the buyer and it's their job to get top dollar. They want you to bid against each other.
I know 8 weeks seems like a long time but it isn't. Hang tight, another house is out there.
It's probably just my perspective and way of doing things, but I think you would get top dollar by starting a bidding war. You're not going to start a bidding war if you don't disclose the other offers! I think it's crazy to offer above list if you don't know if there is a higher offer out there.... Like I said though, that's just me. If I were selling my home, I would be all for telling interested buyers if we have higher offers already in so they aren't wasting their time making an offer lower than what is already offered and on the table. I don't think it's in the sellers best interest not to disclose other offers, but as others said, price isn't always the biggest factor.
Last edited by the_grimace; 01-10-2016 at 05:29 PM..
In NC it is illegal to disclose without the permission of all parties. The reason is because the offer belongs to the buyer who made the offer - not the seller who received it. The buyer would have to give permission to share the offer - and it's not in their best interest to do that.
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