60+ Offers Presented, Would YOU Write # 61...? What Are Your Chances?

What if you client ask you to write it? the seller can only accept ONE offer, what would be your contribution to this frenzy bidding? what about the other 59 Realtors? and their clients? At what point would you say, I am not going to be a part of this frenzy bidding. Apart from that, what type of an offer would you counsel your client to write in order to have a chance to be the highest bidder? What would happen if you go too high and then the appraisal does not measure up? What would happen then? who's fault is it that this one sale went out of control? How much time was spent here by would be home buyers and Realtors?

As I browsed this morning our MLS, looking for a house for a first time home buyer in Hayward, CA, I come across a very nice house in an average neighborhood slightly under-priced, (MLS # 40400913) It has been on the market for only 12 days, and I noticed the note from the listing agent "PLEASE NO MORE OFFERS, 60+ HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED, WAITING FOR A RESPONSE" My heart went out to this pour soul, I can imagine his fax machine spitting out offers at the tune of a minimum 17 pages per offer! 1,020 sheets of paper says my trusty calculator and then he/she will need about a day to sort them all out. And then fax that pile of paper to the bank. We are going to need another fax machine! The number of messages to be returned will need to be streamlined in a very unique way. Out of those 60 Realtors, there are bound to be some nasty calls about "What happened to my offer?"

This real estate market is showing us faces we have never seen before, this is early April 2009 in the San Francisco bay area, where according to the media prices have dropped, unemployment is high and nobody is buying... really? 59 out of these 60 buyers are disappointed and still without a house to buy.

There are some serious issues here. In the one hand the listing agent cannot put this house on the "Pending" side until an offer is accepted. On the other hand, the bank wants to see "any and all offers" so they can pick highest and best. Can a buyer sue you for NOT writing an offer on his behalf? Someone will have to take control of this mess and make the right call, choose the right offer, and hope the buyer does not flop before escrow closes, there will be a lot of people real mad if they have to run back up to that house to show it again and write another offer.

What would you do if a client ask you to write offer number 61? would you take the time to write it? If you were the listing agent, how would you handle such a mess. I truly want to know. I have been a Professional Realtor since 1985, I thought I had seen it all... I guess I haven't, enlighten me please. What would you do in both cases.

Antonio & Alexia Cardenas, "The Realtors In Motion" Selling the wonderful counties of Alameda and Contra Costa in the East Shores of the San Francisco Bay. Accepting Referrals to San Leandro, Castro Valley, San Lorenzo, Hayward, Pleasanton & Dublin. Visit us on line at www.ListedbyAntonio.com (510) 326-4263