Before you get too excited with the possibility of receiving multiples offers on the sale of your property, keep in mind the few options available to you prior to negotiating, even before disclosing to the various buyers the existence of one or more offers on your table.

Yes, this is what I am suggesting: you do not have to disclose that you have received more than one offer before you decide it is the right thing to do. There are pros and cons to disclosing and as the seller you should be advised of your options and the risks associated with the various scenarios. Initially and in order to be strategic, only you and your agent should know about the various offers. No one needs to know about them until you decide to disclose this fact; no one needs to be informed until you authorise your agent to do so.

Keep in mind, it is not always a good idea to disclose the fact that you have more then one offers. Some buyers do not want to be in a multiple-offers situation or in a bidding war over a property and they are not likely to submit an offer if they are aware of other offers. They could even decide to withdraw their offer if they know that they are competing against other buyers.

So, before disclosing too early in the process, you should have an important conversation and an analysis of the situation with your real estate agent. This conversation could even take place at the time you list the property on the market as to how you wish to handle this situation.

Once you find yourself in the presence on more then one offer; the first important question being: why is it that you find yourself in a situation where more then one buyer is expressing interest in your property.  The reflection needs to consider whether this is a fluke or a coincidence or it is actually happening.  By a fluke I mean that the potential buyers are not aware of other existing offers and have selected your property as their first choice but if your property was not available, they would move on to another one; they can substitute it with a comparable one. If this is the case, these buyers are less likely to enter into a price war with other buyers since they know they would have to over pay and it is not necessary since similar properties are available.

However, if your property is unique, in high demand or both, there is a greater chance that the potential buyers would entertain entering into a multiple-offers situation. Keep in mind, if your property type attracts investors, they are unlikely to enter into multiple offers situation; as investors they aim to acquire properties for the lowest possible purchase price; they prefer to purchase bellow market value.

Being strategic is only possible if initially only you and your agents are aware of the presence of more then one offer. Together you will evaluate to disclose or not to disclose.

Connect with me if you have questions.

Andre Malenfant