Do You Think You Can't Win With An Offer Date? Think Again!

If you’re a Buyer in the Toronto real estate market you know all about offer dates (so, we won’t bore you with the details!) but what happens when a property misses it’s offer date and what does it mean for you?

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Here is some important information to note about offer dates.

With many buyers facing steep competition for any one property in the city, when a property DOESN’T sell in competition it leaves many of you asking ‘Why, what’s wrong with it?’ And we don’t blame you! After all, the real estate market has conditioned you to be suspicious! Although there are many possibilities as to why the home didn’t sell we’d like to talk about an experience we had this week.

We previewed a 3 bedroom semi-detached home in the West End for our clients that we knew would be perfect for them. They agreed. It was listed at $399,000 with an offer date. We knew from looking at the comparable sales in detail that the list price on the house was not low enough most likely to generate multiple offers based on it’s market value. In other works the seller priced the house at what it was worth AND set an offer date. The seller wasn’t willing to take an offer before the offer date (called a bully offer) so we waited patiently and when the offer date passed with no offers we knew immediately and sprang into action. We secured the property the next day for our clients for asking price!

So, what was wrong with the property? The first problem was that there was no lockbox and all five family members had to be home for each showing! It’s difficult for most people to imagine themselves living in a home if they have the five current residents starring them down and finding a time to view the house that suited each family member was nearly impossible.

Also, the property had been listed by an out of town Realtor. As a listing agent knowing the market you’re working in is 99% of the job! The listing agent had priced the property at market value BUT had set an offer date a week from when the property was listed. Let us explain…95% of properties that we see in Toronto have offer dates and are slightly (or in some more recent cases – drastically) under priced to create increased interest in the property. This usually leads to a selling price that is higher than the list price. However, 5% of the listings we see in Toronto (the golden ones!) are listed at market value and are accepting offers anytime. The listing agent missed the mark by setting an offer date!

What does it mean for you as a Buyer? What it meant for our clients was that they were able to secure a conditional offer on the property with a home inspection condition (virtually unheard of in Toronto’s current market) because we acted quickly and knew the real value of the property.

In a market where hours could make the difference between buying a house or getting left on the curb you should be working with a real estate team that’s on the ball!

Are you looking to get into the market now but think you can’t compete? We have plenty of tips for Toronto home buyers.

All you need to do is say “hello,” and we’ll handle the rest.

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