Sellers fielding multiple offers is a common situation in our current market. Since most properties that our clients want to bid on end up being multiple-offer situations, we have a couple of different tactics to help them get through the process and be prepared when it comes time to make the final decision.

In many cases, brokers will say that all offers must be submitted by a certain time on a certain day. Then, the game of chicken begins. Who’s going to be the first offer? How many offers will there be in total? Are we going to change our game plan if it’s one offer, five offers, fifteen offers?

The first thing we aim for is the first mover advantage. Let’s start the process off with a reasonable offer, whether it’s the asking price or slightly below asking, knowing there’s a strong chance that this will develop into a multiple-offer situation and we’re going to have to enhance our bid.

The nice thing is that with one simple document, we can change the price or any other conditions that are relevant at that point in time. So we recommend starting the bidding process that way, to press other people to make their move. Then, at that point, we can make a final decision based on how many offers are on the table, or simply based on what we already established as our final price.

By kicking things off, we never feel backed up against a wall or forced to make an overly emotional decision. We really try and decide what our absolute max offer will be before we know a single thing about anyone else’s bid. That really helps us stay within our budget.

Want to know more about strategically approaching a bidding war? We’ve seen it all! Reach out to our team for a chat – we’re always happy to help.