Every real estate market, "good" or "bad", has its challenges. Most of us still feel the lingering sting of depressed prices and endless days on market from our just-recovering recession. But the housing market is rebounding, and the Cape Cod market is a great example.Instead of properties languishing on the market for months, now agents hardly have time to get a sign in the ground before a listing is under contract. Where once a new listing was announced to an audience of crickets, now new inventory is pounced upon like fresh meat in the lion exhibit. Today's challenge is how to deal with multiple offers. Nice problem to have, you would think.
With multiple offers, things can get pretty dicey. A seller's agent needs to be mindful of their ethical obligations, and still work as hard as possible in the best interest of their client. According to Jeffrey D. Chute, Massachusetts Realtor and Instructor on Professional Conduct, here are your possible options:
- Reject all offers.
- Accept one offer if terms are acceptable to the Seller.
- Submit a counter-offer to ONE party at a time.
- The Seller does not accept nor counter ANY offer, but gives the parties a deadline (date and time) to submit their "highest and best" offer, whereupon the Seller may exercise any of the above.
When #4 is used, often all parties will feel they were given their best shot and those parties who are not successful won't lay the blame on others.
This very problem presented itself just last month. Shortly after a price reduction, one of our listings suddenly found itself with three healthy offers to choose from. We went with option #4, but the first buyer didn't stick! So we were really glad that there were two more still-happy buyers ready to make the deal. In the end, while not everyone got what they wanted, we were able to navigate a potentially awkward situation toward an amicable end.
Chute, Jeffrey. "Multiple Offers." Bay State REALTOR® Sales and Marketing. Massachusetts Association of Realtors, 1 May 2013. Web. 14 May 2013.