Be in it to Win it

It’s surprising how often buyers, upon learning their dream home has just sold, will lament not submitting an offer either because, “…we thought the owner wouldn’t have accepted it” or “…we didn’t have our pre-approval for finance yet.” Moreover, despite their interest in a property many buyers fail to convey their interest in the property to the representing agent.

The adage, ‘you have to be in it to win it’ comes to mind here. For some reason many buyers fear that by expressing interest in a property to the agent, they will lose the ability to manage their own destiny. Time and time again, we hear buyers say, “if I’d known the house would sell for that price, I would have bought it” or, “I’d have paid more than that!” Sometimes such comments are just talk, but often they portray genuine disappointed from a buyer who missed out.

Buyers will also say, “Yes, we’re interested and if someone else makes an offer please let us know.” Delaying a buying decision on this basis is almost always a bad move. Whilst it is the agent’s job to encourage buyers to submit formal offers, it is not their role to inform buyers of a third party’s interest in the property. In circumstances where multiple offers exist, the detail of each offer is not commonly disclosed to the alternate buyer. When competing with other purchasers, buyers are negotiating ‘blind’, unaware of the quality of the competing offer and can be cornered into offering more than they would have if they were negotiating alone.

Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to await another buyer’s interest in a property prior to submitting your offer. As market conditions improve, well priced properties are being snapped up in the early days of marketing, and buyers waiting to see if someone else makes an offer first to appease their concerns about the property’s desirability are destined to pay more than they hoped to or miss out altogether.

These comments are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the current opinions and policies of the Real Estate Institute of Australia.