Every homebuyer’s biggest concern is winning a bidding war when they finally find their dream home. And every home in today’s market is part of a bidding war. How in the world will your offer be the best offer so the seller chooses yours over the others.
How things have changed over the years
I’ve been a licensed Realtor since 1987. Things have certainly changed since then. It used to be, you’d look through the MLS book of homes for sale to find homes you would show your buyers. Heaven forbid if you let those buyers take your book and find their own homes. That was forbidden.
Then every day, new hot sheets would come out of new homes on the market. Granted, this was before we had computers. You would go look at a house and maybe make an offer. I don’t ever remember being up against another offer.
Showing houses in 2021
Today, buyers find houses they want to see sometimes before I even see them. After we’ve looked at between 10-15 houses right off the bat, we narrow it down to what they are really looking for. After looking at a number of houses, buyers know what they like, what they don’t like, and what they want to see more of.
My typical buyer is set up on an automatic search through our local Multiple Listing Service and receives new listings as soon as they are entered into the system. With each buyer, there is always the best time of the day for them to look at homes.
So every day, I plan my schedule around my buyer’s best time of day. We typically look at one house a day, maybe two. Then they have to decide 3 things:
- do we like it enough to make an offer?
- how much over asking price will we offer?
- what other options will we offer to be the winning offer?
Winning a bidding war when making the offer
There are so many options anymore when making an offer. It’s no longer about price and the perfect closing date for the seller. And it’s definitely not about writing a Dear Mr. Seller letter.
What begins with feelings – ends up with paperwork.
Winning a bidding war has a lot to do with the Realtor you choose. As your Realtor, I want to know:
- what price will you offer?
- how much earnest deposit will you offer?
- what’s your preferred closing date?
- what is your escalatory price?
- how much over any other offer will you offer in the escalatory addendum?
- will you offer an appraisal addendum and if so, how much are you willing to pay should the house not appraise?
- will you sign the In Its Present Condition Addendum and are you willing to check box 2? I won’t let you check box 3!!!
Once we get past the price, earnest deposit and preferred closing date, the hard pieces of the puzzle come into play. And honestly, each piece builds on your past experience in writing offers.
Writing a winning offer
Writing an offer is tricky. It helps to know what other offers you’re up against and whether any of them are all cash. That’s not readily accessible information though. And very honestly, I’ve had sellers accept a higher-priced offer than an all-cash offer. So that technique doesn’t always work either.
You also need to know how offers on the home are going to be addressed. Will they:
- be presented as they come in
- collected for a few days or
- do they have a specific time the agent and sellers will be reviewing all offers?
With every home for sale, the whole scenario changes. You have different sellers, a different agent and a different offer rules.
But once you try one thing and it doesn’t work, the next offer you write will be stronger than the last one. You’ll take more chances and more risks the more offers you write.
Just remember, persistence pays off. And eventually, you’ll pull out all the guns and get your offer accepted. Hang in there.
In conclusion
If you’re looking for a great Realtor who has a good track record of winning the offer and has more persistence than you do, call or text me at (913) 515-3250 or contact me here to set up an appointment for a buyer consultation.
Be sure to check out today’s new listings in Overland Park below. Contact me if there is anything you’d like to see.
- List View
- Map View
-
-
Lot Size14,375 sqft
-
Home Size3,656 sqft
-
Beds5 Beds
-
Baths4 Baths
-
Year Built1983
-
Days on Market1
-
-
-
Lot Size8,399 sqft
-
Home Size1,660 sqft
-
Beds2 Beds
-
Baths2 Baths
-
Year Built1964
-
Days on Market1
-
-
-
Lot Size14,811 sqft
-
Home Size4,308 sqft
-
Beds4 Beds
-
Baths3 Baths
-
Year Built1983
-
Days on Market2
-
-
-
Lot Size5,785 sqft
-
Home Size1,543 sqft
-
Beds3 Beds
-
Baths2 Baths
-
Year Built2009
-
Days on Market2
-
-
-
Lot Size10,355 sqft
-
Home Size2,576 sqft
-
Beds4 Beds
-
Baths3 Baths
-
Year Built2022
-
Days on Market2
-
-
-
Lot Size8,203 sqft
-
Home Size2,247 sqft
-
Beds4 Beds
-
Baths3 Baths
-
Year Built1991
-
Days on Market3
-
-
-
Lot Size18,121 sqft
-
Home Size5,367 sqft
-
Beds4 Beds
-
Baths5 Baths
-
Year Built2014
-
Days on Market3
-
-
-
Lot Size3,686 sqft
-
Home Size2,432 sqft
-
Beds4 Beds
-
Baths3 Baths
-
Year Built2015
-
Days on Market3
-
-
-
Lot Size1,712 sqft
-
Home Size2,306 sqft
-
Beds3 Beds
-
Baths3 Baths
-
Year Built2004
-
Days on Market4
-
-
-
Lot Size7,841 sqft
-
Home Size960 sqft
-
Beds3 Beds
-
Baths1 Bath
-
Year Built1955
-
Days on Market4
-
-
-
Lot Size9,370 sqft
-
Home Size2,350 sqft
-
Beds4 Beds
-
Baths2 Baths
-
Year Built1968
-
Days on Market4
-
-
-
Lot Size10,019 sqft
-
Home Size3,663 sqft
-
Beds5 Beds
-
Baths4 Baths
-
Year Built0
-
Days on Market4
-
-
-
Lot Size11,121 sqft
-
Home Size3,963 sqft
-
Beds5 Beds
-
Baths4 Baths
-
Year Built2001
-
Days on Market7
-
-
-
Lot Size18,248 sqft
-
Home Size2,048 sqft
-
Beds4 Beds
-
Baths3 Baths
-
Year Built1964
-
Days on Market8
-
-
-
Lot Size6,321 sqft
-
Home Size2,029 sqft
-
Beds3 Beds
-
Baths3 Baths
-
Year Built1992
-
Days on Market8
-
-
-
Lot Size2,627 sqft
-
Home Size2,144 sqft
-
Beds3 Beds
-
Baths2 Baths
-
Year Built2002
-
Days on Market9
-
-
-
Lot Size1,307 sqft
-
Home Size1,452 sqft
-
Beds2 Beds
-
Baths1 Bath
-
Year Built1966
-
Days on Market10
-
-
-
Lot Size11,208 sqft
-
Home Size1,224 sqft
-
Beds4 Beds
-
Baths2 Baths
-
Year Built1956
-
Days on Market10
-
-
-
Lot Size13,082 sqft
-
Home Size3,184 sqft
-
Beds5 Beds
-
Baths4 Baths
-
Year Built2024
-
Days on Market10
-
-
-
Lot Size10,599 sqft
-
Home Size2,992 sqft
-
Beds5 Beds
-
Baths4 Baths
-
Year Built2024
-
Days on Market10
-
See all Real estate matching your search.
(all data current as of
9/21/2023)
Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.