I am fortunate and grateful to have a group of home buyers willing to make offers during the off-season. To give you a feel of what to expect ahead, here are the results of offers made since December 18th:
Purchase-offers submitted: 11
Bidding wars: 9
Bidding wars won: 3
My buyers tend to prefer the premium properties, so no surprise that other buyers would also be interested. But to have multiple offers on 9 out of 11 properties during a historically quieter time in the market probably means that the selling season will be raucous and highly competitive – and it starts Monday!
I usually have a better win ratio with bidding wars, but we strive to get the right discount for fixers. Today’s frustrated buyers make hasty offers without properly assessing the cost of repairs needed, and once the bidding war breaks out, they end up paying too much just to win a house.
Get Good Help!
P.S. This phenomenon is not restricted to the Oceanside-condo market. Six of the nine bidding wars were on properties listed over $900,000.
And I’m not counting the three bidding wars we had on one house. Remember the agent who didn’t want me to show the house until the bark was delivered?
We made a cash offer that was 5% under list and close in 2016. They took a higher offer that fell out, we upped our offer a tad, and they took another higher offer that also fell out, and then we went around a third time with our final offer just 2.5% under list and close in two weeks with seller rentback. Apparently they weren’t impressed, and each of the three times took a higher offer on a house that was in original condition, built around 2000. It is still pending.
One of the houses that didn’t have multiple offers was the guy who scoffed at our $1.3M offer, and insisted on $1,339,000 as his final offer on a house bought in the $700,000s. It’s still for sale.
sigh….
too much Million Dollar listing.
I am sure the listing agent is telling their client….”don’t worry, they will be back and we will stay firm again!!”