There are many reasons why we say the first offer is the best offer, below we’ll explain why. When we say the first offer, we mean the first offer which is fully negotiated to the buyer’s highest price.  This statement might seem self-serving coming from realtors, but please give us a chance to explain!!

 

Janette has always said, never blow off a low-ball offer. We’ve negotiated for days after receiving low-ball offers, to come out to a reasonable sale price.

 

Active Buyers offer the most on your home

To make a point, lets assume there are only two types of buyers–Active Buyers and Passive Buyers. Active Buyers are seasoned, and ready to buy. Passive Buyers are starting their search, and they might make a move if the perfect house comes up. The problem with Passive Buyers, is that they do not quite understand market value yet. While Active Buyers know market value and want to move soon.

 

Within the first 2 weeks of being on the market, all the Active Buyers have seen your home. Below is an example of our listings online activity, and as you can see, at the 2 week mark activity drops.

There is a stigma about being on the market too long

There’s a sweet spot between when a home is just listed, and an offer coming in too soon might make the sellers think their home is worth more; and a when a home is listed too long and the buyer thinks the home might not be worth what the sellers want.

It’s like a game of poker.

Maximum Exposure of your home happens very quickly

As you can see from the above graph, within four days, the online views of our listing skyrockets. Below is the expected time frame for each website your home is listed on:

• MLS / Realtor.ca updates within 24-36 hours
• Sothebysrealty.ca / sothebysrealty.com updates in 1 day
• The DDF (Data Distribution Feed), which feeds all those websites like Zoocasa, Homefinder, Remax, Royallepage, point2homes etc… updates within 36-48 hours, and sometimes longer.
• If you’re selling with us, your home will also update to New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Juwai, Financial Times, Economic Times, James Edition, PropGOluxury, Forbes and more… these sites upload within a few days.

their highest bid is probably not the highest limit they are willing to pay

Now, there are many types of active buyers and passive buyers. They all have different social, religious, and cultural backgrounds, and they have different ways of negotiating. Just because someone sends you a low offer, doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t think the home is worth the asking price. We’ve had offer negotiations extend 3+ days, because the buyers only creep up $10,000 at a time, until we all reach an agreeable price. For some people, the process of low-balling, and then negotiating, helps relieve their anxiety of overpaying.

 

The cost of missed opportunity

Your relief that you’ve found a buyer for your home is worth something, and that number depends on you.