Today’s Realtor needs to know how to negotiate multiple offers

If you haven’t sold a home in a while, you may be wondering how to choose the right Realtor to get you the best return, or whether that really even matters in this market. Let me tell you, the Realtor you choose can and will make the difference in whether you get the very most or the very least for your home sale.

This is a good market, but it’s not magic. You still need to market your home and present it in the best possible way to ensure you will sell it for the best possible price. The goal is to have maximum exposure in the shortest amount of time to capitalize on the market rush and its fickleness.

In real estate, everything can change in a day. That is why who you hire to represent you and your home is the most important decision in the process. You need someone who has experience marketing properties and navigating offers. They will need to help you obtain the best offers and best price for your home very quickly.

It’s no secret that any licensed Realtor can list your house. Your neighbor, relative, friend. Having trust is important, but they also need to have experience.

We see it all of the time. Our experienced Realtors deal with this. One example is an experienced agent representing a buyer. The listing agent, who didn’t have much experience, got 20 offers on the house. Our Realtor had to help him figure out how to negotiate, do counteroffers, etc. Even though our agent had an offer in, he assisted the listing agent on how to accept offers and navigate this process. Ninety percent of the agents in Southern Nevada have never had to deal with negotiating multiple offers or are doing it for the first time in this environment.

How to negotiate multiple offers — this is key. You have to know what to do. What are the requirements? You can accept any offer at any time and not respond to anyone else. You can:

■ Counter multiple offers at one time.

■ Ask for highest and best all at one time.

■ Engage one and park the others while you’re engaging one.

There are multiple ways to negotiate. You need the skill set on how to handle the situation. Or handle the transactions. It’s key because what you want is maximum return on your property.

Here are examples of different types of offers you will run into: financing, different types of financing, cash, appraisal contingencies vs. non-appraisal contingencies, and as-is versus “with repairs.” All of those play a part in establishing the true value of the offer. Because, with any offer, the seller is still getting cash in the end. So any way you look at it, it’s cash to you, even if the buyer has a loan.

But you need to make sure the buyer making the financing offer is fully approved, which includes pre-approval, proof of funds and appraisal. Will the house appraise for the offered amount or not? If not, you need to do an appraisal waiver, which is common now. So if the house doesn’t appraise, the buyer has to make up the difference between the sale price and the appraised amount, in addition to the down payment.

You can actually get a higher price off a financed offer. And, you can instill the same basic safety measures as in an all-cash sale. In a cash offer, they can still walk away if they find something in the inspection they don’t like. Or, if they are buying with as-is or with repairs. You want an agent that is used to doing these types of negotiations and has a company behind them that has been in the marketplace.

Gordon Miles is president and COO Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Nevada Properties. His company operates in three states with 3,000 real estate sales executives and 32 offices. In 2020, the firm completed a record-breaking $7.1 billion in residential home sales throughout Nevada, Arizona and Southern California.