{"id":5706,"date":"2018-09-28T14:24:24","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T21:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=5706"},"modified":"2024-11-26T09:52:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T17:52:38","slug":"how-to-start-a-bidding-war-on-a-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-to-start-a-bidding-war-on-a-house\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways to Spark a Bidding War on Your Average, Run-of-the-Mill House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Any home can spark a bidding war. That\u2019s right\u2014you can generate multiple offers on your run-of-the-mill, average single-family house in the city just as you can brand-new construction<\/a> with a waterfront view and fancy features.<\/p>\n

In fact, the most in-demand inventory (that\u2019s real estate lingo for homes on the market) right now across the country is entry-level.<\/p>\n

Think you\u2019ve got a great home for one of those first-time buyers looking for an affordable gem? Well, you are in a prime position to bring in more than one offer.<\/p>\n

Now, it helps if your house has good bones and a desirable location. If that\u2019s the case, you don\u2019t want to miss out on commanding the highest price for your house simply because you weren\u2019t willing to put in the work.<\/p>\n

We asked the innovative Mary Lobos<\/a>, a top real estate agent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana<\/a> who\u2019s sold 76% more properties than her peers in the area, about how to start a bidding war on a house with smart prep work and a little creativity.<\/p>\n

\"how-to-start-a-bidding-war-on-a-house\"<\/a>
Source: (Adrienne Leonard\/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How to start a bidding war on a house with a big cleanout<\/h2>\n

Think of putting your home on the market like a production you prepare and practice for\u2014say, the halftime performance of the marching band at halftime, or the debut of a play at the theater.<\/p>\n

The audience never sees the painstaking hours spent marking time or rehearsing your lines. They only see the final product, which better be good.<\/p>\n

So the moment you pull the curtain back on your house, every nook and cranny needs to be in position and ready for buyer scrutiny. Buyer interest will be at its pique in the first day (and even hours!) in which your home sale \u201cgoes live.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can only whip it into tip-top shape by putting in potentially months of sweat equity cleaning and decluttering every room.<\/p>\n

Take one of Lobos listings\u2014a hoarder house in the $100,000-$120,000 range that generated 12 offers the day it was listed<\/b>.<\/p>\n

What kind of magic did she wield to pull that off, you ask?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cleaned it,\u201d Lobos says. And it really was that simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a gentleman that I hired half a day to empty the attic because of things like Hungry Jack TV dinner wrappers,\u201d Lobos says. \u201cSeriously, I\u2019ve never had a house like that. It was in a good location, it was a small subdivision with small houses. And the bones of the house were good. The yard was beautiful. It just took 6 months to clean it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seller was out of state the day his home went on the market\u2014he called Lobos and told her that every time he opened his email, there was another offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018I know, they just keep coming,\u2019\u201d Lobos recalls. \u201cHe was blown away\u2014because he helped me a lot to get it cleaned out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Source: (Tom Gowanlock\/ Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bring in more foot traffic (and bids) with a \u2018moving sale\u2019<\/h2>\n

Sayonara, garage sale. You\u2019ve been replaced with the much trendier \u201cmoving sale,\u201d a marketing event that you can pair cleverly with an open house.<\/p>\n

You see, when you sell your house, you have to juggle house showings with the moving and decluttering process\u2014and a garage sale is a great way to get rid of a bunch of stuff at once.<\/p>\n

This was the case for another one of Lobos\u2019 seller clients, who had been stressing out over the timing and logistics of his garage sale when Lobos had an idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, why don\u2019t we call it a \u2018moving sale,\u2019 and have an open house and the house hitting the market at the same time <\/b>over the course of a couple of days, starting on a Friday morning at 8 a.m.\u201d<\/p>\n

She scheduled a few other agents on her team to cover the open house in 3-hour shifts on Friday and Saturday so as people shopped at the moving sale, they also had the chance to tour the house right then and there.<\/p>\n

At 8:15 a.m. on Friday, she had her first call about an offer. By Saturday at 4 p.m., Lobos had two offers in hand and two others were on the way, until the buyers decided to withdrawal and remove themselves from the bidding war.<\/p>\n

Ultimately the home sold in less than 48 hours thanks to the increased foot traffic and a well-executed plan that led to multiple offers. Lobos tried the method again on another house, and it sold in less than a week.<\/p>\n

There are a few reasons why this strategy works so well to start a bidding war: An open house pits buyers against each other in person\u2014they can see their competition face to face, and that puts pressure on them to make an offer rather than wait around.<\/p>\n

The moving sale, meanwhile, provides that extra incentive to hop in the car and go somewhere, bringing more people to your home en masse who might have otherwise stayed home.<\/p>\n

One cosmetic change can launch a bidding war<\/h2>\n

Just as any home can start a bidding war\u2014the seemingly most beautiful, perfect house can also linger stale on the market to everyone\u2019s surprise.<\/p>\n

This was the case for one of Lobos\u2019 gorgeous 3,800 square foot listings that took a year and a half to sell and after 40 showings had not produced a single offer.<\/p>\n

Finally, Lobos says she got permission to have the interior walls painted a light gray after she \u201ccouldn\u2019t get the sellers to spend money\u201d on prepping the listing.<\/p>\n

This minor cosmetic shift from a darker, olive green color to a lighter neutral ended up being just the ticket\u2014after the paint job, the home sold in about 3 weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that the original paint was ugly,\u201d says Lobos. \u201cYou just didn\u2019t realize how dark it was until you did the light. And then it was just a night and day difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trust your agent\u2019s experience and intuition when it comes to the little touches that help a home sell\u2014a few hundred dollars spent to sell an asset worth hundreds of thousands is chump change in the end.<\/p>\n

Had the sellers been willing to make this small cosmetic tweak months earlier, they could have sold sooner or even generated multiple offers right away.<\/p>\n

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Source: (Christian Hillebrand\/ Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your bidding war marketing blitz handbook<\/h2>\n

As much as you want to make a big impression when your home hits the market, putting it in front of the public just once is a wasted opportunity.<\/p>\n

During the first two weeks, you should expect your agent to execute a multi-platform marketing blitz to promote your home locally and on the web.<\/p>\n

These marketing action items can give your home that exposure boost it needs to reach the right buyer, and even drum up enough interest to start a bidding war.<\/p>\n