My client liked the house and wanted to submit an offer. We felt that time might be of the essence because the home had just hit the market and we wanted to put a solid offer in front of the Seller, hoping to avoid the listing getting lots of showings and more interested parties.
I ask the listing agent all the usual questions;
Do you have any offers?
What’s the Sellers desires or needs when it comes to possession?
Anything else that might help put us in a good spot?
The listing agent was courteous and answered all my questions as best she could, but there weren’t any secret clues or insights she could provide.
We submitted our offer and then had nothing to do but wait. We were notified that the Seller had received another offer and had a solid day of showings scheduled.
When it came time for the Listing Agent and Seller to review the offers they had received, ours was one of five.
“Thanks for your offer,” said the text…”but you’re not in our top three.”
Ugh! Not what I wanted to hear and certainly not what my client wanted to hear. So I figured I had nothing to lose. It was time to ask some questions. It doesn’t hurt to ask, right?
“We aren’t in your Top 3 as of now, but there is still time to change our offer, no?”
“Are we just low on price, or is it our terms?”
“Anything else you can tell us that might help us adjust our offer in order to benefit your client?”
I used to ask my new agents in training classes, “what are you allowed to ask a listing agent?” The easy answer is “anything you want.”
The Seller’s agent might not tell you certain things if it doesn’t benefit their client and there are some things they maybe shouldn’t tell you if it could affect their client’s negotiating position. But if it could help the Seller, and the Seller has given permission, it could be a good strategy to tell the other parties as much as you need to.
I took the intel I received to my client. We got the lender on the line to make sure our proposed changes would work financially. We decided to make some changes to our original offer, resubmit it quickly, and crossed our fingers.
I’m glad we asked the questions because it wasn’t more than an hour later when we put the final signatures on an accepted counter offer. We went from “out of contention” to “in contract” simply by asking a few questions.
So next time you’re in negotiations, send that text or make that extra phone call. Keep the lines of communication open and gather as much information as possible. Throw out that one final query so you feel like you have everything you need to help your clients make a good decision.
It never hurts to ask.