It’s not unusual for buyers to say during or after home opens, when we’re doing our follow up calls, “We really like the property, can you please let us know if someone else makes an offer?”.
Agents love getting multiple offers for a property, it means that the focus shifts away from the buyers being able to negotiate one on one with the seller to the buyers having no choice but to submit their best and final offer for the property and compete with each other to win the keys – beautiful!
So for what reasons do buyers put themselves at a disadvantage, and risk losing the property they want to buy, by waiting until someone else has made an offer to do the same?
Firstly, it might be that a buyer doesn’t have their ducks in a row and need time to get their finance organised – that’s understandable and the last thing we would want is to write an offer for a buyer that’s not confident of what they can borrow.
Sometimes a buyer is new to the market or trying to hedge their bets, they’re scared to commit to buying a property in case something that they like better comes along.
In some instances it’s buyers misreading the market and thinking they have time – they’re hoping if they wait and watch the property for a little longer the price might come down.
And sometimes buyers don’t have confidence to make a decision to buy something unless they see that someone else is interested in the property too.
Whatever the reason, waiting until another buyer submits an offer before you make your own puts you in a significantly inferior negotiation position than you would have been had you been early with your offer and been able to negotiate one on one with the seller. You’ll either end up potentially paying for more for the home or missing out altogether.
So when you find a home you like and you’re confident of what you can borrow and able to buy, don’t make the mistake of sitting on the fence and waiting, test the waters with an offer. What’s the worst thing that could happen? You buy a home you like for a price you’re prepared to pay.
Photo by Joshua Wilking on Unsplash
Natalie Hoye is the Founder and Licensee of Red Fox Property Group – a boutique agency doing things differently in the suburbs surrounding Beaufort Street. We call it ‘real estate alchemy’: a genuine blend of science and intuition, marketing and magic, head and heart. The Red Fox Way. And we’d love to chat with you about your local real estate needs. Call us now on 0405 812 273.
