You see a property on realtor.ca that you absolutely LOVE. The price is right within your budget and you send it to your realtor to book a showing. Your realtor lets you know that the listing is holding offers until next Tuesday. What the heck does this mean? Here are the most common offer instructions you’ll see in today’s market;
“Holding offers until…”
This means the Seller doesn’t want to see any offer until a certain date and time. This strategy gets as many people through the home as possible therefore leading to more interest and greater potential for multiple offers. When there are multiple offers on the table, more often than not, the home will sell well above the asking price. Also note- when you see a listing holding offers, the listing price does not reflect Market value. It is listed below market value so it attracts a larger group of buyers and forces them to compete against each other.
“Holding offers until… but open to a pre-emptive offer”
This means the Sellers have set an offer date, but would consider accepting an offer before that date if it was worth it. A strong offer in this market typically means it is firm (no conditions on finance, inspection etc), and above the asking price. Submitting a pre-emptive offer can help avoid some of the competition you would’ve faced on the offer date.
“48 hours irrevocable on offers”
This means you can make an offer anytime, but it has to be irrevocable (unable to be changed or reversed, “good” until) for 48 hours. They can request this for different reasons. Maybe the seller is out of the country and they need the extra time to reach them. Since your offer is good for two days, there’s a possibility that other offers will come in during that time frame. In some cases, you can get away with not giving them the 48 hours and get a deal done!
“Offers anytime”
Run, don’t walk!!! Go see this property ASAP and get your offer in. Offers anytime indicates the listing has been priced at market value so the chances of being in competition are less. You have a better chance of being able to put conditions like financing or inspection in your offer as well.
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