Waiting Hawk if you look in most classified ads there are sections for housing wanted. This is pretty much what you are proposing.
I would agree with SD Realtor about multiple offers. I am as bearish as anyone here. I also rent. Yet I do notice there is an animosity in many posts against alot of sellers. Look guys, I have many sellers who really really frustrate me, however it doesn’t do me any good to ridicule them. I tell them my thoughts, I am honest and up front, and it is a drag to watch some of them do the wrong thing. I almost pity them more then anything else.
As I have posted before I have several very prudent buyers. As a rule I do not submit multiple offers because it is not as productive as most all of you are proposing. As a Realtor if I have a client that is scatter brained enough to think that yeah any one of those five homes will do for me, then that tells me that this buyer is not a serious buyer. That more then likely even if one of the sellers accepts his offer, that my buyer will flake out because during the contingency period he will find that well, I got a good price but this house is not something I really love.
Yes the market will continue to deteriorate but some posting I see are so focussed on pricing and “getting back” at all these greedy sellers that they are loosing focus. Keep your eyes on the ball guys, don’t worry, these sellers that don’t get it will all get what they deserve. By the house you really love at the best price, not the home that is priced the best.
I believe simple logic is the best way to proceed when buying a home. As sdrealtor said, let your Realtor find out as much info about the seller as possible and then you can go as low as you want. Also whether I am sending or receiving a lowball, I am always cordial with the other party’s Realtor. It always pays off in the long run.
Finally if one of my listings received an offer and the buyers agent told me, hey we have 5 offers out, I would advise my seller that in my opinion, I would shy away from this offer because of the high probability of an escrow that will be a bust. I would continue to tell my seller that my advice would be to nicely tell the agent submitting the offer to let us know if any of the other four offers came in, and if none of them did, then we will consider responding to the offer. Even with that said, I would still advise my seller that if they were going to accept or to counter, that the likelihood is high that even if we strike an agreement, it would be likely that the buyer will bail out within the contingency period.
