So, here is a story of the ‘competing offer’ situation on a home that was on the market for 9 months! Remember all those market updates that told you it was a Buyer’s Market? Well, that is not always the case! This particular home was in the Kirkwood Neighborhood of Atlanta in Dekalb County and it sure is a cutie-pie renovation with no stone unturned. I had showed this particular home to a few sets of buyers and the objection always that the driveway was too steep. So the listing agent kept reducing it, and reducing it and…it became a ‘well priced’ stale listing!
Enter my lucky home buyers: Susanne and Robert
Many 1st time home buyers like to take their time and look at EVERYTHING on the market just to be sure…but what happens when your gut says ‘uh-oh’, I really like this house, it’s better then the other ones we’ve seen online or today…and it’s, well, affordable? YOU BUY IT! And you act fast.
All though general real estate stats point to a buyer’s market, you need to look at each neighborhood as it’s own market and even more so, each house and it’s situation can create a buyer or seller’s market. At the newest reduced price, although the home had a steep driveway as the only objection to this precious Kirkwood listing, this was now a GREAT deal!
We made an offer. And so did someone else at the same time. After 9 months…no offers, then BAM! 2 competing offers that were very similar. They asked us for highest and best. Now, here is my spiel to buyers (and seller’s I guess). When you price something RIGHT, it can create a bid effect….this certainly did! The biggest difference is they days on market. I guarantee if they priced it at $250K to start, they would have had an offer in 30-60 days at a higher price.
My buyer’s really wanted this house, but I wasn’t going to let them pay over market value. We offered $12K over the last listing price….and, as a nice touch, my buyers wrote a personal letter to the seller explaining why this house HAD to be their house!! About to get married, 1st home, etc…
Combined with offering what we thought was market value, not only did we win the house, we won the hearts of the buyer’s and sellers for this Kirkwood listing. Both highest-and-best offers were eerily close and the letter had sealed the deal!
Appraisal came back at $12K ABOVE our purchase price…and in a down market, that’s a WIN!
Take a look at Susanne and Robert’s happy ending (or beginning should I say!)
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