What do you do when a house falls out of escrow when there was a load of interest and/or offers?

Usually you’ll see the listing agent immediately throw the property back into the MLS’s active category, subject to cancellation of the previous escrow. If previously interested parties see that the listing is back in the actives, they will think that it will be another bidding war, and get discouraged.  Is that what’s best for the seller?

Hear me out on this tactical strategy.

I think it is better to go back to the interested parties first.

They have already been involved with the property, and are the most likely to buy it.  But they got their dreams stomped on when it went pending the first time, and most buyers try to forget all about it and move on.

The listing agent has to re-ignite the urgency.  If you come back and offer them an insider’s first shot at it, they will likely respond favorably, because that’s what every buyer wants – a clean shot at buying the house.

They will look it up on-line and see that it is still shown as pending – confirming the exclusivity. Give them a few hours or a day’s headstart – then change the listing to active again to spur them on further. The race will be on!

Once multiple offers are in, I pit the bidders against one another by telling them the other offers, and encourage them to beat them.

Most agents think it should be top secret, but it is in the seller’s best interest to make it easy for buyers to bid up the price.  If a buyer hears that if they don’t increase their offer, they are going to lose the property, then they will either respond accordingly, or at least know that they had a fair chance to buy it.

Here’s an example:

Pin It on Pinterest