Case Study: due diligence pays off in multiple offers

Believe it or not but we ran into another multiple offer recently. These still can happen in a strong buyers market and often do happen when you’re looking on the lower end of price ranges. Which of course is the tune of the day in the real estate world. Here’s how it went down… I represented the buyers in this transaction. We went to put an offer in on a Wrigleyville condo and immediately upon notifying the listing agent of our intent, we were informed that they just received another offer, and in fact it was a relatively strong offer. I explained the pros and cons to my clients and they agreed that it was priced very well, and a strong fit for what they were looking for. So, we proceeded. Since we were not willing to go to full price, we came in relatively strong on price (leaving some room to go up slightly if need be). We also got the buyers and the property fully pre-approved in this case. I know what you’re thinking… How can u get a property pre-approved, typically it’s only the buyers and NOT the property. Not so, in today’s world a good agent and lender make it practice to make sure the building is just as finance-able as the buyer. We also offered to put all of the earnest money up front, before attorney approval period. This gives the seller piece of mind that the buyers are truly vested in the purchase. The sum in this case was $20,000. In any case, that shows serious intent. Additionally we opted for a relatively fast closing, 30 days. Since the home was empty we knew this would be ideal for the seller. All said, we were not in the lead after submitting the offer. Regardless, at the time the listing agent allowed both offers to come back with their highest and best offer. We came in now at full price with all other terms being the same.  In the end we secured the property and we didn’t even have the best offer. We found out later at the closing that the other offer was indeed higher in price. Here is what made the difference – after chatting with the other agent (to try and find out any nugget of information I could on how to get an edge) I realized that the seller really needed this to close as he had just recently identified an investment property that he wanted to purchase. I immediately knew the angle – they would probably bite on a lesser price if it was close and they knew the buyer was stronger.  He couldn’t afford to get 3 weeks down the road only to find that the buyer can’t really get the loan or something else had gone wrong. I proceeded to sell the listing agent on the fact that my buyer was working with an entire professional team (attorney, lender, home inspector) that I had previously worked with. I knew all these people to be highly competent and professional. It worked! Like in any industry – ego, laziness, and incompetence can kill a deal quickly. Luckily I had worked with the selling agent before so he knew me to be experienced and trustworthy. The seller saw value in this and our team. It felt like we got lucky but when I think back to all the phone calls and strategy discussions it took to make this happen, luck seemed less likely than good old fashion hard work and simple due diligence.