Highest and Best Offer

In today’s Real Estate market we are seeing a lot of properties with multiple offers. This is true especially with foreclosed properties. The best properties are receiving a dozen of more offers in the first 3 or 4 days of listing, or offering a new price drop. Many of them are receiving bids over list price.

Its nothing new to deal with a highest and best offer situation. It should be expected when dealing with foreclosed properties. If you deal with foreclosures, you are going to experience the highest and best bid scenario. But in some cases the communication from the listing broker is lax to say the least. Often times Real Estate Agents receive an email asking for highest and best offers. Homepath, one of the most popular websites Real Estate Agents deal with on foreclosed properties relies solely on emails. No phone follow up, and no formal requests for highest and best bids.

To deal with the highest and best offer requires a constant monitoring of email accounts. Most often we are given about 24 hours to reply. It also requires a great deal of organization to have the information to fill in the counter offer, get it signed and submitted on time. Today’s technology allows us to do things quicker, but only if you have the information and programs available.

One of the features used by Real Estate Agents is E-sign. A counter offer can be quickly generated and e-mailed to a client for review and signature. Once it is returned, submitted to the Listing Agent, or uploaded to sites such as Homepath, the process continues and the Buyer is still in the running. The other alternative is to have a blank form available and meet personally with the Buyer for their review and signature. The key is to get the job done right and within the short time frame created by the Seller.

This exemplifies the need to have all the details in place before bidding. One of the biggest obstacles we face in Real Estate is Buyers dragging their feet, taking their time providing proof of funds, or a pre-approval letter from a licensed lender. Most Sellers, or asset managers will not consider an offer if it is not accompanied with proof of funds or a pre-approval letter. Once we enter the counter offer stage requiring a highest and best bid, it leaves little time to tie up loose ends.

The number of people calling me, thinking they know what it takes to buy foreclosed properties surprises me. Many of them watch online videos produced by companies which may, or may not exist, often paying fees to receive online advice. It seems online video viewers are the majority of unprepared buyers. They take advice from someone on an online video about Real Estate who may or may not have purchased foreclosed properties. They seem to know little or nothing about the actual process which causes the majority of delays. The very first step is getting the funding inline. Do you cash your check and put money in your wallet before or after you go to the store? How do you shop? Do you run around looking for the best bargains? Do you wait to find the bargain of your dreams then decide to make a payment on your charge card, wait for the funds to clear, then run back to the store to see if the item is still available? This seems to be the way some people like to shop for houses. By the time they take care of funding, the house is gone.

Straying from the tried and true process most often results in wasted time and energy.