Multiple offers are something to avoid.
I was researching some properties today, mainly getting a sense of how much of the market is short sales, and bank owned properties. The below $350K price range is mostly short sales here in Seattle. In Everett, and Burien the price point of short sales is lower, and in the $200K range. Many of the out lying areas show short sales in the $100K range, but those are for properties that sold for $200k in 2007. That’s where the big price drop statistics come from.
My next search, in Seattle, was in the $350K to $500K range. To my surprise I was finding new listing with comments that offers would be reviewed at some later date. Some listings were to be viewed over this week end, with offers to be submitted on Sunday evening. We haven’t seen that in a while, but it is a standard trick to generate interest.
The same warning should be taken now, as it has been given in the past ten years. The buyer never wins in a multiple offer situation. No matter how good the property looks, there is something wrong with a tactic that creates hype. Make an offer if you want, there is no rush, and even make a low offer. Chances are that in a contrived hysteria the offer that gets accepted will be from some one who is responding to pressure. The chances are very good that the buyer will back out.
Just wait it out, there is something better out there.
