Effective Dealmaking in a Tight Market

this is a brag post

I gotta do it.

the scenario

Late November, Marc and I had a listing in Afton. The sellers were a dream come true, and the home was perfect. Really, just gorgeous. And a good amount of land, too. A total stunner.

We looked over comps and the sellers decided to list at $450 based on our recommendation and their own research into the local data. (Really, cannot say enough about how cool they are!) We had professional photos taken, and launched the listing and marketing. And on came the buyers!

In this market it’s important to be ready to be completely immersed in a new listing, because there are people waiting for exactly what that property has to offer. It’s like a bunch of hungry fish in a pond, and then you drop in the bait. It’s a bit of a swarm. We have seen this before, 2005 – 2008 or so.

the offers

Buyers are ready and looking and scouring, and when the listing drops that has what they have been waiting for, they jump. It’s normal! Tons of showings in a row, totally stacked one after another for a couple-few days. This deal was no exception. We received nine offers within three days.
Now I need to say that this is totally objective when I tell you that the two most well written and solid offers were constructed by my agents. Sarah Shilling and Roy Schneider. Both offers were a pleasure to receive, made sense, and instilled confidence.

Roy’s folks got the home for $510, cash. No inspections. Sarah’s folks had a loan, and were not willing to go quite as high. So that was that, and Sarah will find her folks the perfect thing.

The property closed a couple weeks ago, and the buyers and sellers are both ecstatic. And I could not be more proud of Sarah and Roy. They were up against agents from NOVA, the beach, Richmond, and a few other spots across the Commonwealth. A couple local folks, too.

In a market where buyers are trying hard to work strategies to win in a multiple offer situation, here is what shined about their submissions.

why they stood out

the paperwork was complete

This is a biggie with us. There was solid proof of funds attached to each. There were no initials missed. No misspellings or other errors showing that the agent was rushing or not competent in putting together a binding document. All disclosures were completed properly.

Even if they were not my agents, complete paperwork lends credibility. Sloppy paperwork does not.

Agents who make offers where this piece is tight get the job done, 9 times out of 10. Listing agents know and understand this. If you are a buyer, it is crucial that your agent is skilled here. Cannot overstate it.

the offers were reasonable & made sense

One of the offers we received escalated to $565,000. $115,000 over list price, with an appraisal contingency because the people needed a loan. They offered to pay $10,000 in any appraisal gap. This means that the home needed to appraise for $105,000 over list price in order to make this deal real.

Let me tell you, if any property that I list appraises this much over list price, I as the listing agent should be fired. Major red flag.

Clearly this agent does not understand how appraisals work, and so this offer is not worth the paper it is written on. The deal won’t fly, no matter now high the offer number is.

So if someone is getting a loan, and there is an appraisal involved, escalating up that high makes the agent look like they don’t know what they are doing. It’s one thing if it’s cash and the data does not have to support the value. But if a bank is involved, you can bet that they are going to want to see those numbers work.

This offer showed a knowledge gap around what was reasonable to propose, making it clear that this agent was likely not really sure how things work. Sad for their client! There was no real cash to flash, and it was clear.

they took into account what the seller wanted

You know how? They asked what the seller wanted! In this case the sellers had been running a short term rental. Did they want to leave the furniture? Take it? If they wanted to leave some, how much did they want for it? How much time did they need to clear things out to not have it be really stressful?

Does the seller want a fast close? A slower close? Is it more important that they have a little breathing space to finalize stuff or would they rather be done yesterday?

Timing is a huge thing in real estate (and in life!) If you have worked with us you will hear us all say: time, money contingencies. It’s the three things, you know? The three legs on the stool of the deal. Everyone thinks the most stressful or important component is money. And money is!

But it’s not the most.

The most potentially stressful component is time. 100%.

We talk about it a whole lot. It’s a key point of strategy, and we know how to work it. We drill on it.

Knowing that Sarah and Roy both had interested parties, and not knowing what they were going to bring as far as offers, it was thrilling to look at that complicated spreadsheet with our sellers and see that position 1 and 2 were our peeps. I really felt proud of their abilities to navigate the anatomy of a real estate transaction in such heavy competition. It was just awesome.

effective dealmaking

So if you have any questions about our brand of effective deal making, feel free to ask! The upcoming Spring will still be tight on inventory, so the most important thing to know is that it works.

My agents know what they are doing, and are getting properties under contract for their buyers in a super tight market. This is because they work really hard to put together a creative and solid snapshot that will get it done.

It was lovely to objectively be on the receiving end and just watch them both perform, beating out vets in the business with decades of experience from all over the Commonwealth. Made me so proud!

Sidenote:
When Terry and I were dating, he once told me that I strive to excel. I really appreciated that, and I will never forget it. It was so sweet, because I really do!

We all strive to excel at BRFP, and we can excel for you, too.

If you are thinking-about-thinking-about buying or selling in the next year or so, reach out and see if we are a good match. Love to talk about how we may assist.

Stay safe out there!