This is the fifth post in a blog series on tips for selling a home in a bidding war. So far, we’ve covered Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. In my last article, we finished talking about competitive pricing and began our discussion of how to generate excitement and anticipation among buyers in the first week of your Northern Virginia real estate listing. Let’s continue by getting into more specifics about what your agent can do as you prepare for the first open house…
Tips for Selling a Home – Have Your Listing Agent Tell Interested Buyers and Their Agents That You are Waiting Until After the First Open House to Evaluate Offers
Instead of letting a buyer swoop in and purchase your home for list price, make buyers sweat over the next few days until the open house. Open houses for listings that are priced competitively can be mad houses, and buyers and their agents know this. A couple weeks ago, I called to set up a Monday showing for a property that I knew from my analysis was priced competitively. The listing agent told me 40 parties had come to the open house on Sunday, and I wasn't surprised. When it comes to economics, the numbers don't lie.
Quick tips for selling a home: The ideal day to list your property is Tuesday or Wednesday, since it gives your agent a perfect amount of time to promote the first open house.
Imagine you’re a buyer who wants to make strong offer on a property on say, Wednesday, the first day on the market, but you're told by your agent that the seller is waiting until the following Monday to consider offers. You’d start getting anxious and you’d worry that you’re going to lose this one. That’s the feeling that we want to instill in all of the interested buyers.
Read Part 6 in this blog post on tips for selling a home in a bidding war. We’ll finish discussing this particular strategy and we’ll talk about a positive side effect of telling other agents you’re going to wait until after the first open house to make a decision.
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