How to win an offer amongst multiple offers

Let's talk about the winning offers I've seen in my listings this year. I've listed 3 homes this year and every home has received multiple offers. Anywhere from 2-16 offers per house. It's very interesting to see how the offers differ from each other and what little things are tweaked here and there to further strengthen one buyer over the next.

One part all offers had in common was they all waived inspection. This means the buyers either conducted an inspection before the offer review date, or they simply waived it so it's not a part of the purchase and sales contract. This is big for sellers because it takes out a very big "out" for any buyer.

In the listing I had that received 16 offers, the winning offer did what no other competing offer could do. They waived the appraisal. The home escalated in price almost 10% over our list price. That's great for the seller, but if an appraisal is done and it comes in less than the contract price we're back at square one with having to negotiate. Nobody wants that. What this buyer did to win was they waived their appraisal protection so that no matter what value the appraisal came in at, they were still going to move forward on the purchase. This was a big relief to my seller and one less thing for him to worry about.

Finally, one of the intangibles that's so often forgotten is agent to agent raport. Building up a relationship with the buyers agent is very important to me. When potential buyer agents stay in touch with me over the course of the listing it signifies they're on top of their game and know what they're doing. Sometimes offers roll in at the last minute from agents I've never even talked to before. I know nothing about their buyer, themselves, or anything. Agent to agent report is very big in establishing that trust.