The term “bully offer” is now part of everyday language in hot real estate markets. If you’re not familiar with this term and are about to begin searching for property, read on.Most agents who list properties in hot markets utilize a marketing strategy whereby they hold offers on a listing well after the listing is brought to market. This is called the “bid date”.
Most buyers and agents adhere to this process and submit their offer on the bid date. A bully offer on the other hand is submitted by a buyer agent well in advance of the offer bid date. The intent is to potentially circumvent the bid date process and eliminate competition with multiple offers.
Truth is, this strategy is flawed. If the property has been shown by other agents prior to submission of a bully offer then ethically, a listing agent is bound to notify all agents who have shown their property in advance of presenting any bully offer. If no other offers are submitted, then it becomes the choice of the seller to deal with the bully offer. If other offers are submitted then all the offers are reviewed at the same time by the seller and therefore the landscape for all buyers is level.
Come back for more next week, if you need help or have any questions email us at chrisandsue@royallepage.ca
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