An agent with experience is worth their weight in gold. Especially when there is this much on the line! Here are some questions, and examples to help prepare you for selling your home.
We were representing a seller/ listing once and had accepted a deal that was conditional on finance from the buyer. After our diligence in understanding why they were not going to be able to obtain the financing, we decided that it would be best for them to speak to our mortgage broker. He was able to qualify them and have the deal approved. Everybody walked away happy and we were able to save the deal that was in place.
A couple things to make sure of when you are reviewing the offer(s).
- Is the deposit cheque (bank draft) with them?
- Is there a need for financing if they have been prequalified? Ask for the prequalification letter. Maybe a condition of appraisal value is more appropriate. Read up on the condition. here: https://buschteam.ca/b/blog/buyers/clever-conditions.html
- Is the buyer paying an amount for the home they can afford? What is the down payment structure? Read up on a situation that can happen, not often, but can - if the bank appraisal comes in for an amount lower than what the buyer paid.
- Is there truly a need for a home inspection? In a hot seller's market we suggest that our buyers get a pre-home inspection done, this will increase the likelihood of the offers coming in without the condition of home inspection. Also makes us aware of items to fix before putting the home on the market.
- Am I making the right choice? Am I looking at the whole picture? Are the buyers who are presenting their offers to me going to carry through, even when these good times turn to hard times? I've seen sellers take $5,000 - 10,000 less for an offer with no conditions and the cheque in hand. It's our job to get each offer to bring their absolute best, and sometimes it's not always the highest offer you will choose.
- Do I truly know who the buyer is? Have I looked up their LinkedIn? Have we looked up the property they currently own?
With the way that the standard conditions are written it can act as an out for the buyer if they get cold feet. Truthfully if the buyer wants to use a condition to get out of the deal they can. Look for signs of a motivated buyer!
We also had another situation where we had 5 offers on a property, the highest bidder had no conditions in his offer. He was not able to bring the cheque on offer night either, with a promise as per the contract that the cheque would be delivered the following day. The cheque never came and the buyer got cold feet. Quickly coming up with a solution that would not upset our seller was paramount. We called one of the losing bids, offered them a second chance at the deal by offering to them for a price that was the same as the deal we did with the original buyer. They quickly agreed and I got to call my sellers with the bad news that was turned good. Lesson learned. Get the cheque when possible with the offers. As part of multiple offers, we do request that your buyer does bring the cheque however given tight timelines, understandably sometimes the cheque is brought the next day. Again make sure to look for signs of motivation towards moving forward with the deal. Essentially as per our legal counsel, in the above situation, if the second buyer had not come to the table, the initial buyer (with the undelivered cheque) would be liable for "damages, and performance" for any difference in the selling price.
When we are representing you as a buyer, we like to strategically position your offer, not only as the best in terms of $ but all the other factors as mentioned above. See how we present you to agents when we act for you as the buyer. https://buschteam.ca/b/blog/buyers/buyers-offer-email-template.html
