Only in Marin: Multiple Offers In A “Buyers Market”

There are multiple bid situations out there - I was in one a few days ago. We knew in the afternoon there were three offers, we just didn’t know how crazy it would get.

I can’t reveal names or prices, but it was a very unique property. Little did we know how unique.

I received a call at 7:30 Monday night saying the seller wanted to counter us at $100,000 over asking, because they had another offer at that price but our terms were better. I called my client; he said yes; I called back and said, “We have a deal.”

“Well not yet,” said the other agent. “The other party just called, and they’ve offered another $40,000, and they’re driving over here to sign something now.”

I called my client again, told him that if he wanted this we had to get in the car immediately and drive to the listing agent’s office.

As we’re driving through the first big rainstorm of the year to get there, I called the agent, and told her we’d raise the stakes. After we talked for a while, she said, “The only fair way to do this is to have both parties submit one more offer, and we’ll take the best one.”

We sat in the conference room, and saw the other group down the hall. Believe me, you don’t know what pressure is until you’re sitting with your client, it’s late, everyone’s exhausted, and you’re trying to figure out how much higher the other party will go, after they’ve already gone up $150,000. And you have too.

My client wanted the house. Badly. But no one wants to pay too much, and at some point, it’s just a house. So how much higher do you go?

We upped the ante another $120,000. I don’t remember how many times we said “this is insane” as we filled out the paperwork. We knew it was insane, but we thought it would do it.

However, we weren’t insane enough. The other party was crazier, and wanted it more. I don’t know by how much, but they’re now in contract.

Only in Marin.

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