The Guide | Selling your Home above Asking Price
Welcome to the heat of a Seller's Market! It's been over 10 years since we have experienced even close to this influx of buyers and shortage of listings. We touched on this in our October Blog Post - Multiple Offers Tips & Tricks. Now we'd like to highlight how we are working in our Seller's best interest and helping them achieve record-breaking sale prices.
Above is a snapshot of some of our recent listing sales (green is list price, red is purchase price). Multiple offers doesn't always mean asking price or over asking - a house is only worth what the Buyers currently shopping are willing to pay. If you want to stick to your price, it could take months or even years before the right person will emotionally connect with the property enough to justify the price. Our pricing strategies are only suggestions based on our market knowledge and experience. Not all properties are destined for multiple offer (and therefor over-asking) situations.
COMING TO MARKET
It is essential that the moment your listing hits MLS, there is an accurate and complimentary write up combined with professional photos. Buyers are on their devices 24/7 waiting for the right home to hit the market. First impressions are obviously very important, and there is nothing more frustrating than hitting "refresh" all day in anticipation of learning more about the property. We also want to make it as easy as possible for Buyer's Realtors to understand all of the details on the property and connect their Buyers without delay.
A floor plan PDF along with all available supporting documents (Property Disclosure Statement, Title Search, Site Survey, Permits, Septic documents, etc) should be posted. It is our job to remove all potential barriers and answer all questions before they've even been asked. This increases the liklihood more than one buyer will be quickly prepared to put their best foot forward on Offer Day. You also don't want to to prepare your home for a showing, only to have the buyer's feedback be that they want the kitchen on the ground level (that floorplan should be online before any showings!)
We typically advise our sellers not to consider any offers until approximately 3-7 days on the market. Frankly, not all Buyer's realtors have enough time to devote to each individual client while searching for the right property. This might mean that they don't even bring it to their client's attention until it's been listed on MLS for days. We don't want that Buyer's loss to be our loss as well.
In a less active market, a lot of Buyers won't engage in a multiple offer and will instead back away altogether. They have other listings available to them and they can avoid the pressure and stress of this situation. Asking buyers to wait a week while we attempt to generate multiple offers does risk losing some of them. But, it also gives more of them the opportunity to do their research and prepare their cleanest offers.
OFFER DAY
We try to give all new listings a few business days and 1 weekend on market, to ensure that very potential buyer has had an opportunity to view and seriously consider the property.
As the Seller, the ball is in your court. You can decide if you'd like the offers presented by each individual Buyer's agent, or simply have all of them emailed through along with a cover letter with information on the Buyers. Often, Buyer's Agents would like the opportunity to present the offer in person to build confidence in their Buyer's position and answer any questions you might have upfront.
If we also have a Buyer for your property, which is sometimes the case, we will advise you to contact our Managing Broker to make sure you understand how limited dual agency works.
CONSIDERING THE OFFERS
Sellers don't always choose the highest price (though of course that is near the top of the priority list!). There are other important factors to consider...
Size and deadline for Deposit can be a swaying factor - the larger the deposit, the more the Buyer has on the line. It's also best to have the deposit due as soon as possible (not waiting until subject removal date).
Are the dates the most convenient for you? This would include subject removal date (the sooner the better!) as well as the completion, possession and adjustment dates.
How many Subject To's are there? Every condition runs the risk of being an "out" for the Buyer, so the fewer the conditions, the better. Some offers even come in unconditional - meaning your house is SOLD as soon as you sign acceptance.
As a Seller, you are in the position to either accept one of the offers right away, or counter certain aspects of one of the offers. You can not engage in negotiations on more than one offer at a time (you run the risk of illegally selling your house to two parties).
A lot of our Seller's choose to take a night to 'sleep on it' and answer the Buyers the next day. It will make for a sleepless night for the Buyers and increase their anxiety, but the homeowner often needs the extra hours to feel comfortable with the decision.
It is also possible that a Seller might decide to accept an offer and then also counter the other "runner up" offer with a clause to make it a back up offer.
On our recent multiple offer situation on 2115 Mckenzie Avenue, there were 3 offers presented. The out-of-town Sellers (executers of an estate) ultimately chose an offer that was a few thousand less than the highest bid, because the offer was written with only 3 Subject To's. There was no Subject to Financing as the buyer used the 7 day delay on offers to have themselves and the home approved for a mortgage in advance. The deposit was larger and the dates were exactly what they were looking for. In their mind, it was a stronger offer, despite the price difference.
CHRISTOPH REAL ESTATE GROUP AVERAGES
Ultimately, when we are working on behalf of a Listing client it is our fiduciary duty to sell their property for the highest amount possible, with the most favourable terms. This is not only our minimum responsibility as professionals, but it is our #1 goal that we personally fully invest in and that we are devoted to when working for a Seller. Our pricing strategy and effective market exposure of your property will increase our chances that it will go into multiple offers and sell at asking price or, hopefully, over.