Making an offer before the open house
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Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
| As a seller. I would not accept your offer till open house plus a couple of days. Even if you offer full price. |
Freeman
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| If you are ready to make an offer, go ahead and do it with whatever expiration date you want. There's not really any downside to waiting, and it has a potential of succeeding. It is up to the seller if they want to wait or not, and that will largely depend on how fair they think your offer is. If they decide to wait instead of accepting your offer, then they will at least be comparing others against your offer instead of the other way around. |
Anonymous
This was us in 2011. We could tell the level of interest and had one inquiry about making an offer before the OH on condition we cancel the OH. Agent replied we would only entertain a full price offer. It didn't come. We had 6 offers within 18 hours of the open house. |
Anonymous
| My realtor didn't particularly want to do an open house because she said that they mostly brought out the looky-loos, vs. serious buyers. In my neighborhood, houses were selling in two weeks or less, so we took a chance and didn't schedule an open house right away. Got an offer on the 8th day. So maybe the seller might welcome a good offer that keeps them from having to do an open house. Odds are, they may wait till after the open house to make a decision, but I don't think there's harm in offering. You'll probably want an escalation contract, though. |
Anonymous
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. |
Anonymous
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We did it and we required that the sellers accept or decline our offer the day before the open house and then if accepted, cancel the open house. Out initial offer was 10K lower than full price, they wanted full price so we came up. Done. It makes total sense to do it that way, if you are comfortable with a full price offer.
Good luck! |
Anonymous
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As a buyer we did this. Offered full price on the condition that they cancel the open house. They accepted.
If you are comfortable with the full asking price, it doesn't hurt to ask. Worse they can say is no. Open houses can be a hassle for both owners and Realtor, so there is some incentive for them to take your offer. Good luck! |
Anonymous
Not dumb - a good strategy. Offer the list with normal contingencies (inspections, financing); make the best earnest money offer you can; give an expiration before the open house. I don't see a downside. If they are doing what our sellers did - which was list low to get competing offers the sellers will be pissed but stuck. If they turn down your second price offer with an expiration date, i would then make a second offer for a lower price without the clause making sure that your agent communicates that the difference reflects the value of the rapid response. Include an esclation clause if this is the house that you really want. |
Anonymous
Why wouldn't you take a full price offer? |
Anonymous
| Our house went on the market on a Thurs. A couple saw it that day. OH was scheduled for the weekend. We would likely have taken an above purchase price offer that day depending on contingencies. |
Anonymous
Because you may get another offer that's over list, or you might get another full price offer with no contingencies. |
Anonymous
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. |
Anonymous
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We bought in the hot market of 2006 in upper NW. House came on the market on Thursday. We put a full price offer in on Saturday that expired Sunday at midnight. No contingencies. They told our agent they had other offers coming in but took ours. Whatever. Worked for us.
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Anonymous
That's just a dumb way to think about things. Did you price it for the amount you wanted or not? |