This is the sixth post in a blog series on tips for selling a home in a bidding war. So far, we’ve gone over Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. In my last article, we began discussing the strategy you should use with interested buyers and their agents before the first open house. In this post, we’ll continue discussing that strategy and get into more specifics about what happens when you build anticipation this way…
Tips for Selling a Home in Northern Virginia – What Happens When Buyers Have to Wait Until After the First Open House?
As the weekend approaches, all of this anticipation provides the best chance of buyers competing with each other and bringing very strong offers to the table. It maximizes your chances for a bidding war.
When using these tips for selling a home by generating excitement and anticipation, another interesting phenomenon often occurs as the weekend approaches. In real estate, the threat of an open house is often more valuable than the actual open house itself. When a buyer agent sees a new home come on the market in a subdivision their buyer is very interested in, and the home is priced competitively, AND there’s an open house coming up that weekend, there’s an immediate sense of urgency.
How to Make Buyers Give You an Offer Too Good to Pass Up
When the buyer and their agent learn that the listing agent isn’t presenting offers to the seller until after the open house, this immediately gives the seller more control in the negotiation. The buyer realizes that in order to compete with the other buyers, they will have to bring a very strong offer.
Strategically, a good buyer agent will even go one step further in their effort to secure the home for their client, which is another reason these tips for selling a home are so effective. The only way to stop that open house from happening is to present the seller with an offer they can’t refuse. That puts you, the seller in a great position – you might get an early offer that is so high (perhaps above list price with some other fantastic terms), that you want to go ahead and take it before the open house. Or, you might not get that fairy tale offer just yet, which is fine regardless, since so many buyers are seeing the property over the next few days and at the open house anyway.
Bottom line, using this tactic in evaluating offers after the open house creates several win-win scenarios for sellers. Again, though, it only works if a home is priced competitively!
Okay, so now that we’ve covered the most important step in this process, let’s go to the next essential step in my blog series on tips for selling a home in a bidding war…Read Part 7.
Are you looking for more tips for selling a home in Northern Virginia? Email me at DarrenRobertsonHomes@gmail.com and subscribe to my email newsletter. It will give you valuable weekly tips on the home buying and selling process.