How Are Offers Presented ?

By Dian Hymer

After months of previewing dozens of listings that weren't quite right, you finally find one you like. Overwhelmed with excitement, you and your agent draft an offer and you instruct your agent to present it right away. Several hours later your agent calls to tell you that the seller won't be listening to offers until the next week. Your excitement quickly turns to frustration.

It's not unusual in active real estate markets for sellers to expose their listings to the market for a time before entertaining offers. By doing so, they hope that several buyers will show interest in the property. When there are multiple offers, the sale price can be bid up, often over the asking price.

When you find a home that really suits your needs, it's probably worth the wait to see if you and the sellers can work out a mutually acceptable purchase agreement. But, keep in mind that until your offer is presented to and accepted by the seller, you are free to withdraw it. If you see another property you like better, and those sellers are ready to hear offers immediately, you can withdraw your first offer and pursue the second property.

It's usually in the buyers' best interest to keep the contents of their offer confidential until it's presented. The reason for this is to keep competing buyers from using the information to better their offers. Also, make sure that the expiration date on your offer doesn't occur before the presentation date.

Occasionally, sellers will entertain offers earlier than the scheduled date, so be sure that the seller's agent knows that you have written an offer. Recently homeowners in Piedmont, California listed their home for sale. Their plan was to hear offers after the public open house. Several buyers expressed serious interest in the property days before the open house. The sellers changed their minds and decided to listen to offers early. The sellers accepted one of three offers and the open house was cancelled.

First Time Tip: Before writing an offer, find out when the sellers plan to listen to offers and how many offers are anticipated. When there are multiple offers, find out if any of the competing offers are written by the listing agent. If so, find out what provisions are being made to present those buyers' offers. The listing agent will be privy to the price and other details of all of the offers. Ideally, to be fair to all parties, the listing agent should only represent the seller when there are multiple offers.

Offers should be presented by the buyers' agent in person to the sellers and their listing agent. It's usually best to have offers presented in a professional environment like the listing agent's office. An in-person presentation gives the sellers and their agent the opportunity to ask any questions they have about the buyers and their offer.

Some sellers, however, don't want to meet face-to-face with buyers' agents. And some sellers will be out of town or otherwise unable to listen to offers. In these cases, the buyers' agent should prepare a cover letter to accompany the offer that includes a summary of the positive features of the offer, including the buyers' financial capabilities.

Make sure that your agent doesn't plan to simply drop off your offer at the listing office, or even worse, fax it to the listing agent.

The Closing: If the buyers' agent can't present the offer to the seller in person, he or she should at least present it in person to the listing agent.

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