What to do with a bully offer?

Toronto’s active real estate sector is bringing on challenges for buyers who are looking to find good deals on the houses that they like. Many home buyers are being sideswiped by an approach called a bully offer that has become a popular way to seize houses off the market in advance of a bidding date. This situation has put many realtor agents and brokers in a dilemma of how to best serve their clients while maintaining consumer confidence in the bidding system intact.

The Bully Offer is hoping that:

• Only a small number of people have seen the house, thus the interest will be lower than it would be in 7 days.
• Those who have viewed the house, and are interested, will not be able to pull their resources together and put down an offer fast enough to contend – and if they do, that they may not have had time complete financing and home inspection done.
• The seller is so thrilled over the big numbers in the offer that they accept it.

Most agents act in the best interest of their buyers and a bully offer can provide security and assurance to the buyer that the house they want with will be theirs for a competitive price. It might mean paying a bit more for a house – or it might mean getting a good deal. It all depends on the Seller and the skills of the Realtors who represent the buyers.

So as the seller, what do you do with a bully offer?

We always counsel our clients who are trying to get multiple offers to oppose the urge to look at offers until the Bidding Date. We know that Bullies are trying to avoid the process and some are even hoping to get the house for less money. In almost all cases, if a buyer is ready to make an offer today, they’ll be back the following week to bid with all others. What’s good for the Bully is not always in the best interest of the Seller.

This advice has turned out to be most be sensible in most cases; however just as many are so intrigued by the offer that they are unable to say no. That is why we recommend you do a home inspection before you put your house on the market. A home inspection helps establish you as a conscientious seller. And the image you’ll project doing this just might give you the edge over other competing sellers.