Multiple Offer Market How To’s: Handling Competing Home Offers

If you’ve ever gone house-hunting in Richmond, you’ve experienced the excitement of searching for the perfect home, as well as the stress and confusion that may go along with it! Is Richmond currently a buyer’s or seller’s market? How do I even figure that sort of thing out?

On the flip side, if you’ve ever tried to sell your home, you know this can be a complicated process, as well. You may feel overwhelmed by the interest in your home, and be wondering what to do if you end up with multiple competing offers.

There’s a wealth of information out there on how to handle multiple offers from both a buying and a selling perspective. There are also professional, knowledgeable, and seasoned Richmond real estate agents who can help.

I’ve called RVA home for nearly 30 years, and have helped clients navigate multiple offers in a wide range of competitive situations. My goal is always to guide and educate clients throughout the process so the offers they either submit or accept are competitive, comfortably within budget, and as stress-free as possible. So, with education in mind, I wanted to put together this article to give you an overview of what to do when multiple offers are involved in either a purchase or a sale.

First off: from a buying perspective, what should you do if you’ve found your dream house, but you know your offer won’t be the only one on the table?

Make Your Offer Stand Out. 

While you can’t know all the possibilities that will sway a seller one way or another, there’s a lot you can do to make your purchase offer more appealing. This can include: 

• Being respectful of the seller’s closing timetable, offering to be flexible 

• Declining your right to a home inspection (a common home-buying contingency) or offering to waive a dollar amount in inspection repair items 

• Offering a pre-approval from your lender  to reassure the seller that you’re all set to get the mortgage amount you need

It’s also important to note that you may not get a chance to raise or modify your offer after you make it. You should start strong with your best and highest offer. This might mean that it should be at or above asking price, but this can help make sure your offer gets all the consideration it deserves. 

On the other hand, if you are selling a home in Richmond, Virginia and are lucky enough to have multiple offers flying in, there are several ways to choose the best one.

Accept the Best Offer Right Away. 

If you’ve received an offer that particularly catches your eye, you can choose to go ahead with this one and reject the rest outright. Factors that might make an offer “the best” can include it being the highest bid or having a faster timeline, depending on your selling needs and goals. 

A Realtor can help you determine what factors make an offer the best for you and your unique situation. We have worked with individuals and families in a wide variety of selling situations, and our expertise can help make sure that as many boxes as possible on your selling wish list are checked. 

With the right advice, accepting the best offer from the get-go can be a quick and easy way to sell if a drawn-out process isn’t your cup of tea.

Buy Into a Bidding War. 

If you’ve got a little more time on your hands, you might consider encouraging a bidding war. You can do so by letting potential buyers know that you’ve already received a strong offer(s), or share that you have several interested parties to kickstart the competition for your home. Together, we can create a strategy specific to your home to help
increase interest and bring in the best possible offers.

Accept Nothing Less Than the Best. 

Rather than starting a bidding war, you can ask potential buyers to bring you their “best and final” offers from the get-go. This way, you’ll still end up with multiple offers to choose from, and can be sure they’re the best ones you’ll get (rather than lowball offers). 

Still Feeling Overwhelmed? 

Don’t worry,  I wake up every day and work in the world of real estate. I will help you feel much more confident and at ease throughout the transaction, whether you are in the market for a home or trying to sell one.

I take great pride in my work and in helping my clients. If you need house-hunting or home-selling help, please shoot me an email at michelle.rosman@onesouthrealty.com or call/text my cellphone at (804) 833-2130.

– Michelle

PS: Stay healthy, safe, and relaxed during these crazy times. I’m here to help in any way I can––virtually, of course!