Winning the Bidding War - Part I: Do your Research

The Boston real estate market has been full of competitive offer situations in the past two or three years. Even though we've seen a decrease recently in the number of offers for a single property, it is not at all uncommon for one home to have more than 5, 10, or even 20 offers! The lack of inventory coupled with the practice of seller's agents listing prices at (or even under) market value as opposed to service price has contributed to this being a common occurrence. For first-time homebuyers, or even for those individuals who are looking to trade up but bought at an inopportune time (2007-2008 being the most obvious), the Spring and Fall market can be a very frustrating time to be in the market for a home. That being said, in this series you will learn a few ways to combat the bidding war and win out, perhaps not even with the highest offer! Here is the first example some tactics that have worked for me and my clients in the past year:

1) Do the research: Supporting an offer price with comparable sales can help provide clarity to sellers who are blinded by dollar signs! Your agent should advocate for you and bring up any concerns in regards to whether the property will appraise (more on this in a future post). This practice does not work at all price points, but an agent knowledgeable about a neighborhood can tell you if this is an appropriate tactic for your situation. Unless you are working for yourself, your buyer's agent should be doing this research with you and explaining the process along the way.

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