Reverse Offer – a Guest Post
by Tom on October 20, 2008
in Education, Guest post, Realtor Thoughts
This comes from Todd Waller of Real Estate One in Ann Arbor Michigan. I’ve known Todd for quite a while and have come to appreciate his new and fresh outlook on selling real estate in difficult times. I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Is Your Agent Creatively Aggressive in Selling Your Home?
Michigan has been in the throws of a buyer’s market for at least 3, if not nearly 4 years. As a result, Michigan real estate agents have had to adapt quickly to a rapidly changing marketplace.
Creatively Aggressive is my term for how some agents are representing their clients’ interests in this tough market. In the examples given, the focus is on protecting the client’s interests and maintaining the fiduciary responsibility between client and agent.
Here’s an example of an agent being creatively aggressive :
The Reverse Offer
The seller has a property on the market, competitively priced, aggressively marketed, and the number of showings has been steady, but no one has put pen to paper to purchase the property. When a buyer shows interest in the property and returns at least one more time to see the property, it’s time to make a reverse offer.
The reverse offer is simply an offer from the seller to the buyer to begin the purchase conversation. Obviously the buyer is interested enough to see the property multiple times. That indicates that the price, location and value combination are making the property “sticky” in the purchaser’s mind.
What the reverse offer looks like is different from property to property, so consult with your Realtor(R) before an offer is put together. You may want to submit a reverse offer with a price lower than your list price, or you may want to submit an offer with a higher price and seller concessions.
What About the Buyer?
This option can also be utilized by a purchaser in a buyer’s market. The effectiveness varies, but I have found that it is totally dependent upon the seller’s willingness to try something unconventional. When my purchasers have indicated that they would be happy to purchase either home A, B, or C, I have asked the listing agents of those homes to submit an offer to my clients. I simply state that there are multiple homes they are interested in, it’s a buyer’s market and we are acknowledging and embracing this fact.
For my buyers, it’s an opportunity to not be tied to one contract to purchase and gauge a seller’s willingness. For my sellers, it’s an opportunity to end some of the suspense, and show purchasers that we are serious about moving the ball forward.
What have you seen used as a creatively aggressive way to sell homes? I’ve heard rumors of using eBay, selling the handmade, scale doll house, with the actual house thrown in for free (Great Marketing idea!), free cars…. What have you seen and what works, I suppose, are two different questions!
Todd Waller or call him at 734-564-7465
