If you are seeking a home in the bank owned market, HUD home, and/or foreclosed home make sure you are using a Buyer’s Agent. You will find that many of these homes receive multiple offers on them before the bank chooses a new owner. A good agent can certainly help you navigate through all the bank homes and pick out the better deals.

Because most of the good bank owned deals attract multiple buyers they usually also attract multiple offers. You’ll want to be sure to be prepared with your finances prior to looking at any bank owned homes. These homes are mostly priced well and sell often within days. Once you see a great home make sure you don’t delay in submitting an offer. If you wait, you’ll most likely end up bidding against one or more other potential buyer’s and inevitably have to raise your price if you want the home.

If there are no other bids then yours at the time of submission you may still want to offer full or above list price so the bank doesn’t delay in accepting your bid. If you come in with an offer lower than list price, even by $1000, it opens the door to the bank for deliberation and seeking higher approval within the banking system. During that time, several other offers may be submitted and then all parties are issued the ‘Highest & Best” warning. This means that the bank will look at all offers and consider them at the same time. There is no room for counter offers or playing around. You can up your bid at this time only and hope, if you want the house, that your offer is the highest.

One of our clients bid $40,000 over asking (after losing out on 3 other homes to Highest & Best) in order to ‘win’ the house he had to have for his family. There were 11 other bids on the same home in one weekend and his offer was the best only by $1000! Of course, he got a house that was still a fantastic investment so he didn’t mind paying more then it was listed for.

So, when your agent tells you there are multiple offers or that the home won’t last long, make sure to listen. I’ve heard buyers say that they thought their agent was lying to try to get them to write an offer by creating a false sense of urgency. Well, that would be unethical. Be sure you have a good Buyer’s agent working for you so that doesn’t happen. If you want the house, assume this to be true. You’ll have a better chance of ‘winning’ the house by putting your best price forward!