Making an offer before the open house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a seller. I would not accept your offer till open house plus a couple of days. Even if you offer full price.

As a seller if you get a full price offer you likely have to accept it - read the terms of your agreement with your agent.

Why wouldn't you take a full price offer?

I don't recall anything about having to accept if full price offer. I could be wrong. Why not accept full price offer? May have multiple bids above list.

That's just a dumb way to think about things. Did you price it for the amount you wanted or not?

It's called greed.

[Anonymous]

Of course it's good to make an offer as soon as possible if you really want the house. Make an expiration date before the OH, as a PP said. (the expiration of the offer our realtors have usually suggested is 24 hrs). Make it a good offer. Full price if it's listed at a fair price. Then it's likely they'll take it. (If the expiration is before the OH, you don't have to insist they "cancel the open house".. as a seller that language would rub me the wrong way. If they're under contract with you, what would they gain from holding the OH anyway? I any case, whether they do it or not is non of your business as long as they honor the contract.

[Anonymous]

We made an offer this summer before an OH. They accepted and canceled the open house. They found a house they wanted and we gave them their choice of closing dates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course it's good to make an offer as soon as possible if you really want the house. Make an expiration date before the OH, as a PP said. (the expiration of the offer our realtors have usually suggested is 24 hrs). Make it a good offer. Full price if it's listed at a fair price. Then it's likely they'll take it. (If the expiration is before the OH, you don't have to insist they "cancel the open house".. as a seller that language would rub me the wrong way. If they're under contract with you, what would they gain from holding the OH anyway? I any case, whether they do it or not is non of your business as long as they honor the contract.

We did this in 2006. It worked and there were many who wanted our house.

[Anonymous]

^^ the house was under contract but the held it open anyway. back ups. Fine with us.

[Anonymous]

why would you do that? I would wait for all offers people typically will offer over asking price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a seller. I would not accept your offer till open house plus a couple of days. Even if you offer full price.

As a seller if you get a full price offer you likely have to accept it - read the terms of your agreement with your agent.

Why wouldn't you take a full price offer?

I don't recall anything about having to accept if full price offer. I could be wrong. Why not accept full price offer? May have multiple bids above list.

That's just a dumb way to think about things. Did you price it for the amount you wanted or not?

It's called greed.

No actually, it's called not being an idiot. If you accept an offer for less than your house is worth, regardless of the asking price, and there is no other incentive for you to accept the lower offer (better financing, rent back, etc.) then you are simply not that intelligent. It's an open market, not a family swap meet. Why wouldn't anyone be looking for the best deal they can get? Do you think the buyers would pay more if they could pay less?

[Anonymous]

in 2010 a house came into our price range on Thursday (50K price drop), and the open house was Sunday. we happily strolled to the open house on Sunday with the kids and the house never opened. it went under contract on Sunday morning. we were crashed, it would have been the perfect house, location, price for us. learned the lesson at that time, and went to see homes as soon as they would come on the market and make an offer if it was the right home for us, never waiting for the open house. so yes, I learned the hard way that people do it and sometimes they get the house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:in 2010 a house came into our price range on Thursday (50K price drop), and the open house was Sunday. we happily strolled to the open house on Sunday with the kids and the house never opened. it went under contract on Sunday morning. we were crashed, it would have been the perfect house, location, price for us. learned the lesson at that time, and went to see homes as soon as they would come on the market and make an offer if it was the right home for us, never waiting for the open house. so yes, I learned the hard way that people do it and sometimes they get the house

next time offer over asking price before the open house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Why not accept full price offer? May have multiple bids above list.

That's just a dumb way to think about things. Did you price it for the amount you wanted or not?

Sometimes sellers list a price for slightly below what they want at an Open House to encourage multiple competitive offers which they can use to play up competition and urge buyers to come in with "their best offer" to beat the competition. Only really works for good properties in desirable areas. But it's a common practice. And it works many times.

[Anonymous]

I know someone who did just this and his offer was accepted. Charming home in very exclusive neighborhood, and at the open house, and everyone in line brought an architect. The house is 2400 sq. ft. and has a water view. His wife looked in the windows, they left and made an offer. The owners asked if they planned to tear down their house, and after a NO, they were offered the house. The family loves the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this done? What's the downside? We have lost out on multiple competitive bids; I'm sick and tired of this game. Open house is this wknd. Can't we just offer above the list and set an expiration before the open house? Or is that just dumb and any seller would go through with the open house.

It doesn't hurt to make the offer, worst they can say is no. I had someone make a full price offer before the open house and I turned it down because I had already put in all the work to get the house ready for the open house and I knew I had a good chance to get above asking. it was a very hot market then and I priced it such that I wouldn't be giving it away ( it was probably at least what the last one in the neighborhood sold for) but I wasn't ambitious in trying to get 5K more than the last house sold. Worst case was likely getting a full price offer after the open house. It was a good move for me because we did get multiple offers with escalation clauses. The people that won it were the same that made the offer before the open house. I'm convinced they had some realtor intel because not only was their escalation exactly the same as another offer (a few thousands more) but they sweetened it with an all cash deal and informational inspection ( where I was still obligated to fix electrical, HVAC, and plumbing that didn't work) but not negotiating on other things.

So anyway, I think if you offered above list and set the date before the open house you probably have a good chance unless the owners really priced it low in hopes of a bidding war. I would probably have taken an above price offer. While I knew I could get a full price offer, I really didn't know how much above asking I could get and if I would have multiple people offering the same time with just the right escalation clause that were all equally strong in terms of financing, contingencies, earnest money etc. An above price offer would have become a bird in hand versus one in the bush.

[Anonymous]

You can try. Some sellers are just eager to sell and get out and don't want the hassle of staging/cleaning for an OH. Fortunately, that was our situation.

We made an offer the first day the house came on the market. It was accepted COB b/c the sellers wanted to just be done with the house (their new house was built and ready for move-in) and didn't want to be bothered with moving furniture to make it look more spacious, cleaning, etc.

The realator was kinda irked b/c he already paid all that money to print out colored flyers of teh house for the OH.

[Anonymous]

If someone is going to sell a house, and list it, for say $900K. Then they schedule an Open House. If a buyer offers $900K, the seller is under NO obligation to hit that bid. That bid could be contingent on the buyer selling their existing house, getting a mortgage w no money down, etc. If you were that seller, would you sell for $900K to someone needing 100% financing, or, a cash buyer offering $875K? We purchased our house before it listed; it was in the "coming soon" mode. We put in an offer $20K below what was going to be the ask, owner agreed, no open house, no nothing.

[Anonymous]

There was an open house on our street last week, about 7 offers by the end of the day, offers were being considered the next day. They were in a rush to sell. But the realtor told me that open houses do not sell houses, serious buyers call and organize a walk though.