A Home Can Be On The Market for a Year and Get Two Offers on the Same Day 

A reader from my homebuying forum on About.com asked me why there isn’t more transparency in real estate. This buyer was in escrow on a short sale when the seller received another offer from an all-cash buyer. That second buyer offered to sell the home to the first set of buyers at a higher price.

The reader put the blame of the housing bubble on agents pushing multiple offers that drove up prices, and implied that listing and selling agents are working together behind the scenes, devising secret plans to get higher prices so the agents can earn more money.

In all fairness, I can see how consumers might believe that, but it’s not really true. As I pointed out to that reader, a $10,000 increase in price means the agent might pocket another 100 to 200 bucks. To somebody who earns $15 an hour, that might seem plausible. But to an agent who earns thousands on a transaction, it’s not an incentive.

Second, I don’t care how long a home has languished on the market, there’s a mysterious rule in real estate that says the minute a buyer wants to write an offer on that passed-over house, so will another. I have witnessed this phenomenon over and over.

I believe the reason is buyers aren’t always all that different from each other. Many home buyers are looking in the same price ranges and in the same neighborhoods at the same time. Where I work in Sacramento, a buyer who wants to look at homes in Land Park may also want to consider homes in East Sacramento or Midtown or Curtis Park. Especially first-time home buyers who can’t exceed a certain price point.

In areas of falling inventory such as Sacramento, home buyers may find themselves becoming increasingly desperate to find that right home. It’s not unusual for buyers to compromise on their lists of wants and needs, either. When we have many buyers out looking at homes, the odds that two buyers will want the same home are extremely high.

That’s why I tell my buyers: When you find a home you want, don’t sleep on it; don’t ask Tom, Dick and Harry what they think about it. Instead, examine the comparable sales and immediately make an offer. Then cross your fingers and hope that another buyer doesn’t beat you to it.

A home can be on the market a year and get two offers on the same day for so many reasons. Call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors to sell your home in the shortest amount of time possible, period. We will sell your home in record breaking time as well. We can be reached at 916-233-6759.

— Elizabeth Weintraub

Weintraub & Wallace