Handling Offers Under Client’s Direction
Sticking with the theme of acting under our clients' direction, do you discuss how offers are to be handled with your sellers during the listing paperwork phase?
Handling offers, especially multiple offers, can be tricky. As listing agents, we are responsible for helping sellers achieve the highest price and most favorable terms while adhering to a Code of Ethics that mandates honesty to all parties. Striking this balance can indeed be challenging.
Consider this: if we inform another agent that an offer has been received, will it discourage their buyer from submitting an offer or motivate them to make a higher one? When asked if an offer exists, how do we determine whether answering is in the seller's best interest? What is fair? What is honest? Who decides?
The answer is simple! Decisions about how offers will be presented, negotiated, countered, and ultimately accepted are made by the seller—not by the listing broker.
To find a copy of the Offer Policy + Procedure that we review with our sellers, click here and if you thought this was helpful, I have a library of email templates that are also very well organized, concise and cover everything that you need for commuincation with your clients from the first interaction all the way to closing and then some!
