How to Confidently Navigate Multiple Offers

It’s easy to get caught up in multiple offers, pay too much, offer too little, or just walk away and not even submit an offer because you don’t like the idea of competing. 

It can be an emotional roller coaster, especially when you have found your dream home!

Here is how I walk through figuring out the best offer to submit.

First of all, don't panic. Knowing that you are going to be in a multiple offer situation can be stressful, as you really don't want to lose the home but also because you don't want to feel like you were forced to pay more than you wanted to, or more than what the home is worth.

In most cases the other buyers are feeling the same way you are. Take a step back and assess the situation, going into multiple offers with a clear head is always best.

Although a lot of properties will sell for over asking price, not all of them do. So don’t let that scare you away from still moving forward with an offer.

My thoughts are the you never know what a seller will accept until you try and you never know what the other buyers will offer, so what’s the harm in putting in an offer. The worst they can say is no!

Price does play a huge factor in coming out on top in multiple offers, so know the market. That’s where you can rely on your real estate agent to help you look at what homes have recently sold for in the area so that you can make an educated decision about the price.

You also want to put some value on your time too. If you are battling in your head over 2-3k on an offer price, ask yourself if going out on the road a few more times to look for another house is worth the extra $13 a month it will cost you in a mortgage payment. Or is this house really your dream house? Time is money.

Conditions play a big role in multiple offers too. The more firm your offer is, meaning the less conditions you have, the stronger it will be to the seller.

The 2 most common conditions are financing and home inspection. Ideally it is great if you can go in with no conditionals at all, but that is not always an option or you may not feel comfortable with that.

You may have the opportunity to speak with your bank or mortgage broker to see if they are ok with you waiving the finance condition in which case they could give you the green light or advise that you keep the clause in.

If time permits, you can also arrange to do a pre home inspection before the offer date. This allows you the ability to remove the condition from your offer and educate you on any issues the home may have before you submit your offer.

This list to this is that after doing the inspection and spending approximately $400-$500 you still may not win the bidding war. But I would rather lost $500 and know what I am getting into, rather than purchasing a home blindly for 750k and have a ton of issues once I take possession.

Ultimately, if removing conditions is not an option I suggest to buyers that we can tighten up the conditional period. So for example if the standard is 5 business days to firm up both your financing and home inspection clause, you may be confident that we could firm up in 2-3 instead. A shorter conditional period would be stronger against other offers that have the standard conditional period.

There are two final items to consider in attempts to make your offer stronger among the others. With any accepted offer a deposit is required. This could range anywhere from 15k - 50k or more depending on the purchase price of the home and is usually stated on the listing. If you have the funds available, consider increasing the requested deposit amount to show the sellers your commitment to purchasing the home.

Lastly, an item that can be just as important as the purchase price is the closing date. Some sellers may need a specific closing date due to another purchase. The more willing you are to match a seller’s close date preference, the stronger your offer will be.

I hope these little tips help guide you the next time you face a multiple offer situation! Good luck!