Two offers

[Wacaggie]

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I am moving to a different state for my wifes residency and have been trying to sell our residence. We just found out today that we have two seperate offers.

For the first offer the buyer is pre-approved and is offering ~96.6% of our asking price. They want to close around the same time we are moving into our house we just closed on last week.

For the second offer the buyer is pre-qualified and is offering ~93.2% of our asking price. They want to close about three weeks after we move into our new house.

When I got the first offer I was almost ready to just accept it and move on then we got this curve ball. I don't know if I should just take the better offer and run or if I should try to use the two offers to try to get a better deal from one of them. I never thought I would have this sort of issue in this market.

All in all its great to know that we "should" be able to sell our residence before having to pay two mortgages. I know that wasn't the smartest thing to do but it seems to have worked out in my favor this time.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

What does your agent recommend? Usually, when there are multiple offers, the agents of the buyers will know about all of the offers and will "present" them to your agent. In that way, they have an opportunity to outbid each other, etc.

Personally, I would probably just take the first offer (its terms sound better all around,) assuming that you didn't set your asking price artificially low in the first place. Pre-approved, quick close, and 96.6% is GOOD. I'm happy if I can do 95% of a FAIR (not artificially high or low) asking price.

However, this is where you really need your agent's advice, because the amount of leverage you have really depends on the market conditions in your locale. How long was your house on the market before these offers? If short, then you are probably in a good position to negotiate, else, take the money and run!

Best of luck to you! (....and may the rest of your sales process go smoothly!)

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

I know in the states I've owned houses, if you counteroffer, the potential buyer can walk away. For the IL house, we conteroffered an early (pretty fair) offer, then went back to the proposed buyer after 1-2 months when no other offers came in; the buyer was no longer interested and had never responded to our counter.

Given the stress of selling the house, moving, etc. a 96% offer sounds pretty darn good to me as well. Hope my story can offer some caution of walking away from a good offer just because it's early..

 

[Wacaggie]

The asking price I had for the residence was on the low side of fair market value. Because of the quick closing and pre-approval I decided to just take the offer and run.

The second offer ended up just being a bargain basement shopper and never responded to our counter. I never countered the original 96.6% offer to keep that one on the table as long as possible (5 hours was all I could personally wait until I signed and sent the acceptance).

I am just happy that I can get this place sold because two mortgages would not have been an enjoyable experience even if I did plan for having that for a couple months.

Sol and Nontrad thanks for your input. I decided not to be greedy in this environment and just take a decent offer when I see one.

The residence was on the market for 7 months but brand new flooring was installed a month ago without a change in price so that is what finally sold this place. You have to do what you have to do sometimes.

 

[John Deere Gree]

The asking price I had for the residence was on the low side of fair market value. Because of the quick closing and pre-approval I decided to just take the offer and run.

The second offer ended up just being a bargain basement shopper and never responded to our counter. I never countered the original 96.6% offer to keep that one on the table as long as possible (5 hours was all I could personally wait until I signed and sent the acceptance).

I am just happy that I can get this place sold because two mortgages would not have been an enjoyable experience even if I did plan for having that for a couple months.

Sol and Nontrad thanks for your input. I decided not to be greedy in this environment and just take a decent offer when I see one.

The residence was on the market for 7 months but brand new flooring was installed a month ago without a change in price so that is what finally sold this place. You have to do what you have to do sometimes.

Seven Months? And you question which offer to take? Geez... 😱

Sorry to say this, but if the house is on the market that long, your price was too high. Today people are looking for houses that are practically being given away.

I'm glad you sold your house though, two house payments are not fun, no matter how short you have to pay them.

 

[Wacaggie]

John: I was going to take the first offer with no questions asked until I got the second offer and then I started to get greedy. Within 5 hours of getting the first offer I did realize that I am lucky to get out of paying two mortages with an offer that was not too low so I just took it and I am not looking back.

The floor issue caused the residence not to sell. I think the real listing time should be more like 1 month because that is how long it was on the market with brand new flooring. At that point there was a massive in-rush of prospective buyers. Not to mention there are a lot more buyers out there in April / May than there are in Oct-Mar.