There is nothing that makes a home seller happier than receiving multiple offers and having a bidding war on their home. It provides many benefits- even beyond the obvious of selling for more money- such as having more leverage with terms of the sale like dictating dates, deposit amounts, etc. It also makes sellers fall in love with their Realtor. We have always said that Realtors get more credit than they deserve when a house sells fast and more blame than they deserve when a house doesn’t sell. Here are 4 strategies to create a bidding war on your home.
1. Price it right
This one is first for a reason. There is nothing that will draw in lots of buyers and raise the chances of a bidding war like pricing a home right or even a bit on the low side. The lower you price it, the more buyers you will attract, the more buyers you attract, the more money you will receive. Remember, everyone wants what everyone else wants because people are naturally competitive. We have seen it time and time again. When a buyer who mildly likes a home and is considering making an offer finds out other people want it, they suddenly fall in love with the house! Pricing it right means pricing it in accordance with what similar homes have recently sold for in the neighborhood. Don’t price higher because you have one small feature that, in your opinion, is better. If buyers feel it is worth more, they will pay more. It happens every day all over the country.
2. List in the winter
You can create a bidding war on your home at any time of year if you use all of the other tips. But you can add to your chances and bottom line if you list in the winter or early spring when inventory is lower than in the summer or fall. Real Estate is a very simple business- it runs off supply and demand. When buyers have less to choose from and they know others are interested, they pay more. Therefore, the height of bidding wars every year is actually from February to May. Then by summer, bidding wars slow down. The other reason they slow down is because sellers continue to hear more and more about bidding wars and begin to price higher and higher. By doing so, they decrease the chances of a bidding war and end up making their house stay on the market longer. We have written about this extensively in the last couple of years.
3. Market more than anyone else
Marketing a home is an art. There is more to it than just putting it on MLS. Great brokers and real estate companies who truly market homes to the highest level are few and far between. Top agents often have special agreements with the top websites like Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia to be sure their listings come up more often and are in the top tier of those websites when buyers search. Just because they have access to these sites though doesn’t mean that all agents take advantage of them.
In addition to these websites and typical strategies, there are also many additional important methods such as posting the correct amount of high quality photos to Social media which can substantially assist in selling a home. We don’t mean simply posting a listing on Facebook, but by boosting and targeting the right group of buyers to put the listing in front of the people who are more likely to purchase it. Reaching more potential buyers equals more money for home sellers!
4. Hire an experienced listing agent
This one is very important to earn every last dollar possible with the best terms in a negotiation. An experienced listing agent who negotiates multiple offers all the time knows how to find the best buyer and knows how to get them up to the highest price possible. The difference between top dollar and giving up thousands could be completely up to who you hire.
To be sure you are hiring an experienced agent click here to read our blog: 5 MUST ASK Questions before hiring an agent to sell your home!
If you utilize all of these tactics, the chances of you getting multiple offers are almost 100%. As mentioned, a bidding war will not only earn you more money but will gain you more leverage in all other aspects of the negotiation as well.